[Josh MacNeil]

Hi all. I'm looking for images and readings about swords and other weaponry of Hellenistic Egypt. Specifically around the time of Cleopatra (69 BC – 30 BC). Feel free to share anything you might have on the subject. I'd love to get some discussions started. Thanks!

[Matthew Amt]

Ave!

Oooo, that's going to be a tough one! For all the popular press that Egypt gets, this period is pretty obscure. For starters, of course, the old "King Tut" days of bronze khopeshes and flat tanged axes are LONG gone. Military equipment (and a lot of clothing fashions!) had been heavily Hellenistic since Alexander tromped through in the 4th century BC. So very Greek-style swords, armor, helmets, etc. By the first century, there was a growing amount of Roman influence as well. In fact, the well-preserved shield from Fayum, long believed to be a Roman scutum and certainly constructed in Roman fashion, may simply have been used by a Ptolemaic Egyptian soldier.

Trouble is, I don't know of much in the way of surviving Hellenistic weapons from that era, not that I've looked very hard. Swords would have been derived from the Classical hoplite sword, but I don't know how much they might have changed over a few centuries. There could have been local variations on those or on Roman swords.

You might get a lot better information on the Roman Army Talk board, possibly in the "Allies and Enemies" section,

http://www.romanarmy.com/rat/

I've seen some good discussions lately on Hellenistic depictions of soldiers, so there has to be evidence that I don't know about. There's an Osprey volume, Rome's Enemies 5: The Desert Frontier, but don't remember if that has anything Egyptian in it or not.

Sorry, not much but I hope that helps a little! Vale,

Matthew

[Bryce Felperin]

I also seem to recall that the Ptolemaic Egypt of that period hired a lot of mercenaries from around the Mediterranean also. So you might have a variety of arms and armor in their military of the time.

[Hisham Gaballa]

Nick Sekunda wrote a couple of books on late Ptolemaic and Seleucid armies, published by Montvert books.

http://www.myArmoury.com/books/item.php?ASIN=1874101027

http://www.abebooks.co.uk/servlet/BookDetails...sortby%3D3

Just found this photo of a Ptolemaic grave stele from Sidon showing a Ptolemaic soldier from the 160ies BC, Dioskourides of Balboura.

[Felix Wang]

As far as I recall, native Egyptians were pretty much excluded from military service (and thus bearing arms) up to the battle of Raphia - when Ptolemy was forced to recruit natives into his phalanx in order to match the invading Seleucid army. It would seem likely that all of the arms in the earlier part of the Hellenistic era would be those of the Diadochi armies; i.e. Macedonian/Greek, or mercenary types.