Tutankhamun’s Armies

Name: Tutankhamun’s Armies
Author: John Coleman Darnell and Colleen Manassa
ISBN: 0471743585

by John Coleman Darnell and Colleen Manassa

Yes. This is another very original little book, which actually goes far beyond what the title would suggest, because it is not just about Tut’s armies; it is also about foreign policy and internal security at the time of Tutankhamun, which is one of the most fascinating periods in the long history of Ancient Egypt. What it does is to vividly bring to life a particular period which many people are very interested in. This is the reign of Akhenaten, the so-called ‘heretic king’, who was Tutankhamun’s father. It really conjures up what life was like at that time. Normally we tend to focus on the great architectural achievements rather than wonder, ‘What was it like to live in a country ruled by a despot, with a huge personality cult and tremendous internal security apparatus?’ Well, this book uncovers that darker side of Ancient Egypt really brilliantly. It is something that I have also tried to bring out in my new book, because I think we often look at Ancient Egypt through rose-tinted spectacles: we are wowed by the pyramids and the temples, and we don’t often stop to think about the human misery that accompanied these great civilisations. This book is a useful tool to use in the task of re-balancing our interpretation of Ancient Egypt. Well, he had regular security patrols throughout his capital city. There was a network of tracks criss-crossing the city and all the areas around the city, and there seems to have been almost permanent paramilitary policing of his capital city. Probably the class of bureaucrats; Akhenaten had undertaken a thorough revolution, and had kicked out a lot of the old order, and there would have been large numbers of people who resented him for doing that. Every time he left the palace, he did so with military detachments – very like a president going forth with motorcycle outriders. It is a stark illustration of the way power was exercised in the ancient world. That is one of the enduring myths about Ancient Egypt that is not actually true! There was no slavery at the time of the pyramids. To put it bluntly, 95% of the population of Egypt worked on the land, and for three months of every year the land was underwater when the Nile flooded. So what do you do to feed and mobilise a work force that is otherwise idle and potentially restive? The answer is that the people were required to give their labour to the state as a form of taxation (in a pre-monetary economy). It was a brilliant way of deploying a huge work force. They didn’t have any choice about whether or not to pay their tax, just as we don’t. So to that extent, they couldn’t escape the call up. But we do know that the pyramid workers were well housed and well fed, and they were certainly given rations beyond those that your average worker would have received during the normal working year. And there is very good evidence of medical treatment. There are skeletons of pyramid-builders who had clearly suffered injuries that healed again.

Recommended by

Toby Wilkinson

"Yes. This is another very original little book, which actually goes far beyond what the title would suggest, because it is not just about Tut’s armies; it is also about foreign policy and internal security at the time of Tutankhamun, which is one of the most fascinating periods in the long history of Ancient Egypt. What it does is to vividly bring to life a particular period which many people are very interested in. This is the reign of Akhenaten, the so-called ‘heretic king’, who was Tutankhamun’s father. It really conjures up what life was like at that time. Normally we tend to focus on the great architectural achievements rather than wonder, ‘What was it like to live in a country ruled by a despot, with a huge personality cult and tremendous internal security apparatus?’ Well, this book uncovers that darker side of Ancient Egypt really brilliantly. It is something that I have also tried to bring out in my new book, because I think we often look at Ancient Egypt through rose-tinted spectacles: we are wowed by the pyramids and the temples, and we don’t often stop to think about the human misery that accompanied these great civilisations. This book is a useful tool to use in the task of re-balancing our interpretation of Ancient Egypt. Well, he had regular security patrols throughout his capital city. There was a network of tracks criss-crossing the city and all the areas around the city, and there seems to have been almost permanent paramilitary policing of his capital city. Probably the class of bureaucrats; Akhenaten had undertaken a thorough revolution, and had kicked out a lot of the old order, and there would have been large numbers of people who resented him for doing that. Every time he left the palace, he did so with military detachments – very like a president going forth with motorcycle outriders. It is a stark illustration of the way power was exercised in the ancient world. That is one of the enduring myths about Ancient Egypt that is not actually true! There was no slavery at the time of the pyramids. To put it bluntly, 95% of the population of Egypt worked on the land, and for three months of every year the land was underwater when the Nile flooded. So what do you do to feed and mobilise a work force that is otherwise idle and potentially restive? The answer is that the people were required to give their labour to the state as a form of taxation (in a pre-monetary economy). It was a brilliant way of deploying a huge work force. They didn’t have any choice about whether or not to pay their tax, just as we don’t. So to that extent, they couldn’t escape the call up. But we do know that the pyramid workers were well housed and well fed, and they were certainly given rations beyond those that your average worker would have received during the normal working year. And there is very good evidence of medical treatment. There are skeletons of pyramid-builders who had clearly suffered injuries that healed again."

Ancient Egypt · fivebooks.com