Ptolemaic Army

[Patrick Waterson]

Thanks, Duncan.

It looks as if the Egyptians of c.480 BC were noted for their swords, although in battle, or at least sea-battle, longer weapons seem to have been required.  This apparently universal sword-bearing habit could perhaps have carried over, together with the style of weapon, into Ptolemaic times; if so, one wonders whether the Egyptians enlisted in Ptolemy IV's army at Raphia would have worn them.

[Duncan Head]

It's not clear, of course, what type of sword Herodotos means - "machaira" can mean almost anything. The Egyptian throne-bearers at Persepolis have long straight swords, which are quite different from the curved swords on the Kom Madi painting (which look more like a Balkan sica than a Greek kopis, for instance). And to quote F-B, "those (machairophoroi) represented on a second-century mural from the Fayyum have been taken to be non-Egyptians. But it is the details of their clothing or hairstyle in the painting that give this impression..."  ("taken by" Bresciani in Kom Madi 1977 e 1978. Le pitture murali del cenotafio di Alessandro Magno, I think) and the papyri suggest that the Ptolemaic machairophoroi could be of various origins; so all in all the evidence for continuity is tenuous.

[Patrick Waterson]

Not least, one imagines, because of the traditional Egyptian predilection for the khepesh, which long survived contact with straight-sword mercenary types, judging by Egyptian reliefs.