A rational discussion of Egyptian history and military organization requires an understanding of Egyptian geography. Above the delta, Upper Egypt was little more than a river valley stretching south along the Nile for about five hundred miles. Borders are always dangerous, and Upper Egypt was all border. Prudent statesmen draw the borders of nations along seacoasts-or when that is not feasible, down the channels of rivers. Egypt's river was the spine of the nation, not its border.

Small wonder then that Egypt had history's first standing army, for centuries not merely the best but the only standing army in the world. (The gripes so characteristic of infantrymen were first recorded in hieratic script.) This army was a large force organized along startlingly modern lines, with disciplined units similarly equipped. It consisted of two corps, one of infantry and the other of chariots. A third corps might be formed of mercenaries, most often from Nubia, less often from Greece or Libya. In one well-nigh incredible instance there was a fourth corps, of students from the Egyptian equivalent of West Point. The ships of the Egyptian navy were commanded by soldiers, and were considered a part of its army.

It would be easy to fill an entire book with details of Egyptian weapons and military practice. Two very different swords were in use, for example. One, apparently of Egyptian design, was a sharply curved scimitar. The other was long, straight, and double-edged; it seems to have been an importation, probably from Nubia.

Writing of the Sudanese more than two thousand years later, Kipling said, 'E 'asn't got no papers of 'is own,

'E 'asn't got no medals nor rewards, So we must certify the skill 'e's shown

In usin' of 'is long, two-'anded swords…

After describing these weapons, which are far older than Christianity, modern commentators sometimes theorize that they were copied from swords brought to Egypt by the crusaders. Spears, maces, angled war-clubs like that used by the narrator, daggers, hatchets, and broad-bladed battle-axes were in common use as well. Armor was light, and worn almost exclusively by the soldiers and officers who manned chariots. The Egyptian infantryman rarely had any protection beyond his big shield.