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War in Ancient Egypt: The New Kingdom. By Anthony J. Spalinger. Malden, Mass.: Blackwell Publishing, 2005. ISBN 1-4051-1373-3. Maps. Photographs. Illustrations. Notes. General bibliography. Index. Pp. xx, 291. $29.95.
Warfare in Ancient Egypt. By Bridget McDermott. Stroud, U.K.: Sutton Publishing. 2004. ISBN 0-7509-3291-0. Illustrations. Appendixes. Bibliography. Index. Pp. xi, 212. £20.00.
Anthony J. Spalinger's War in Ancient Egypt leaves the reader puzzled at times but there is no doubt that this work is a valuable source for historians interested in the 600 years of warfare of the New Kingdom. That period coincides with the reign of Ramesses II, one of the most charismatic pharaohs (but not the greatest warrior; that, in my view, was Thutmose III), with Megiddo and Kadesh, two of the best known battles of the Ancient Near East, and with the triumph and eventual decline of Egyptian imperialism. Spalinger argues that the early XVIII Dynasty was a transitional period in military terms.
Originally the navy was the backbone of both conquest and defense. Ships on the Nile allowed the pharaoh's soldiers to respond quickly to any threat, especially in Upper Egypt but also in Lower Egypt. The navy remained an important instrument in the expulsion of the Hyksos, an Asiatic people perhaps from Transjordan, as Donald R. Redford thinks, or maybe from a more northerly location between Palestine and Lebanon, as...