with flint implements that may be the
heads of lances, &c., and thin leaf-shaped daggers of bronze. Stone
arrow-heads are common on the surface of the desert. Thin bronze
arrow-heads appear at an early date; under the Empire they are stouter
and furnished with a tang, and later still, towards the Greek period,
they are socketed (often three-sided), or, if of iron, still tanged. The
wooden club, a somewhat primitive weapon, seems to have been considered
characteristic of foreigners from very early times, and, in scenes
dating from the Middle Kingdom, belong principally to the levies from
the surrounding barbarians. The dagger grew longer and stouter, but the
sword made its appearance late, probably first in the hands of the
_Sherdana_ (Sardinian?), mercenaries of the time of Rameses II. A
peculiar scimitar, _khopsh_ [HRG], is characteristic of the Empire.
Slings are first heard of in Egyptian warfare in the 8th century B.C.
The chariot was doubtless introduced with the horse in the Hyksos
period; several examples have been discovered in the tombs of the New
Kingdom. Shields were covered with ox-hide and furnished with round
sighting-holes above the middle. Cuirasses of bronze scales were worn by
the kings and other leaders. The linen corslets of the Egyptian soldiery
at a later time were famous, and were adopted by the Persian army.
According to the paintings of the Middle Kingdom in the tombs of Beni
Hasan, the battlements of brick fortresses were attacked and wrenched
away with long and massive spears. No siege engines are depicted, even
in the time of the Empire, and the absence of original representations
after the XXth Dynasty renders it difficult to judge the advances made
in the art of war during the first half of the last millennium B.C. The
inscription of Pankhi, however, proves that in the 8th century
approaches and towers were raised against the walls of besieged cities.

_Priesthood._--The priesthood was in a great degree hereditary, though
perhaps not essentially so. In each temple the priests were divided into
four orders (until Ptolemy Euergetes added a fifth), each of which
served in turn for a lunar month under the chief priest or prophet. They
received shares of the annual revenues of the temple in kind, consisting
of linen, oil, flesh, bread, vegetables, wine, beer, &c. The "divine
servants" or "prophets" had residences assigned them in the temple area.
In late times the priests were always shaven, and