CAMBYSES (reigned 530–522 BC, in Egypt from 525 BC). Great King of Persia and ruler of Egypt. Cambyses was the son of Cyrus the Great, the founder of the power of the Persian Achaemenid dynasty. The Persian Empire had expanded rapidly with its conquest of Babylon and the Neo-Babylonian Empire and its defeat of the Median king Astyages, whose empire stretched across north Mesopotamia into Anatolia. Cyrus did not attempt to attack Egypt, under the rule of Ahmose II, but the country presented the major threat to Persian rule in western Asia. Preparations for the advance on Egypt involved the formation of a Persian navy and the consolidation of Persian control of the eastern Mediterranean. The Persians gained control of Egypt’s main ally, Cyprus, and sought assistance from the Arabs who controlled the difficult route across the Sinai Peninsula. The new Persian fleet was not ready for action until 526, and the opportunity for invasion came with the death of Ahmose and accession of his son Psamtik III.
The Egyptian and Persian armies engaged in the eastern Delta, near Pelusion. The Egyptians were defeated and retreated to Memphis. The Persian herald, who was sent to seek the city’s surrender, was killed, and Memphis was besieged, falling after 10 days. Psamtik III was taken into captivity and, accused of fomenting a rebellion, put to death. With the capture of Memphis, Cambyses received the submission of the Greek cities in Libya, Cyrene, and Barca.
The events of Cambyses’ invasion are recorded by Herodotos, but he is extremely hostile to the Persian ruler, as are other ancient traditions, particularly those from Egypt itself. Herodotos reports a failed attempt by Cambyses to invade Nubia, which probably masks actions on the southern frontier. The evidence suggests that the Persians did have some control of Lower Nubia, perhaps as far as the Second Cataract with the fortress of Dorginarti as their base. There was certainly diplomatic contact with Meroe, and the Kushite rulers supplied troops that fought in the Persian invasion of Greece. Kush appears as the last of the satrapies in Persian lists and probably represents Lower Nubia, the administrative districts later known as the Dodekaschoinos and the Triakontaschoinos.
Cambyses is also reported to have sent another failed expedition to the western Oases. Again, the hostility to the king in tradition may conceal a success. It is certain that Kharga Oasis was under Persian control in the reign of Cambyses’ successor, Darius I, who built the temple of Hibis and the chapel within the fortress of Qasr el-Ghueida.
A brief, but contemporary, Egyptian account of the Persian invasion is to be found in the autobiographical inscription on the statue of Wedjahorresnet, commander of the navy in the reigns of Ahmose II and Psamtik III.
The death of Cambyses and accession of Darius I saw widespread rebellion in the Persian Empire, although it is unknown whether Egypt was also involved.
CAMELS. The camel was domesticated in Arabia and first appears in a military context in the scenes of the war of Ashurbanipal, king of Assyria, against the Arabs in the seventh century BC. It was, until recently, thought that the camel was not used in Egypt until the Persian period. However, excavations at Qasr Ibrim identified camel dung within a sealed-context, which dates to early in the first millennium BC. Nevertheless, depictions of camels are rare before Ptolemaic and Roman times. The Seleukid kings of Syria deployed camel-borne troops, but they were used as pack animals for conveyance of supplies and baggage. The Roman army also used camel-borne troops, the dromedarii.
It was assumed that the acquisition of the camel was a contributory factor in the expansion of the Blemmyes, a people of the Eastern Desert of Lower Nubia, but in the light of the Qasr Ibrim material this must now be questioned. Nevertheless, the camel must have made the Blemmyan long-distance raids into Upper Egypt and Kharga Oasis feasible. There are two- and three-dimensional images of camels and riders from Meroe, and texts show that the desert routes from the Fourth Cataract were being used extensively in the first centuries AD.
CAMP. Scenes of battle of Qadesh show the camp encircled by a wall of shields with gateways flanked by images of lions. The royal encampment stands at the center with large tents. There are areas where chariots are being repaired and checked, and donkeys are being given fodder. Elsewhere, a footsore soldier is being treated; a man is drinking from a water skin; there is a dispute over rations; men are fighting, while others are sitting doing nothing and being berated for it.
CANAAN. Egypt’s nearest neighbor in western Asia, sometimes included in the looser term Retenu. The name is Kenaan in both Egyptian and Hebrew and Kinakhkhi or Kinakhni in Akkadian (e.g., the Amarna Letters). Canaan comprised the plain between the Mediterranean on the west and the Dead Sea and Jordan Valley on the east and included important towns, such as Gaza, Joppa, and Jerusalem. It extended north as far as the modern border of Israel and Lebanon. There is now evidence for a strong Egyptian presence along the coast of Canaan (from Gaza northward) in the Early Bronze Age, perhaps connected with the passage of ships to Byblos. In the later part of the Middle Bronze Age, southern Canaan became a stronghold of the Hyksos, who had a major base at Sharuhen. Following the Egyptian campaigns against the Hyksos and the capture of Sharuhen by Ahmose, the Egyptians absorbed Canaan in a series of campaigns, which caused massive destruction of towns. There is evidence for deportation of some of the population. Canaan was divided into city-states, although there were also some seasonally nomadic groups, such as the Shasu. The Egyptians installed garrisons and imposed tight control on the local rulers. There is considerable evidence about the region in the Amarna Letters. In the reigns of Sety I and Ramesses II, there was another series of campaigns to re-enforce Egyptian control in response to Hittite activities farther north. The region remained firmly under Egyptian control throughout the 19th and earlier 20th Dynasties. There is evidence for the destruction of major sites and the end of Egyptian rule in the reign of Ramesses VI.
CANAL. Although a regular feature of Egypt’s irrigation pattern, canals were also used for defensive purposes and were made to facilitate navigation through the First Cataract. The most important defensive canal was that which guarded the eastern border, through Tjaru, depicted on reliefs of Sety I as filled with crocodiles and called “the dividing waters.” The largest canal was that through the Wadi Tumilat begun by Nekau II and completed or enlarged by Darius I. Ptolemy II cleared the canal, and Trajan later extended it to Babylon. All canals needed regular maintenance and clearance to prevent them from either silting or sanding up.
CARCHEMISH (Karkamiš). City of north Syria on the River Euphrates. It was the site of a battle (605 BC) between the armies of Nekau II and Babylon, whose forces were led by Prince Nebuchadnezzar. The Egyptians had established themselves within the city. Ousted by the Babylonians, there was a second battle near Hamath as they retreated southward.
CATARACTS OF THE NILE. Major obstacles to navigation, some of which served as frontiers between Egypt and the kingdoms of Nubia. All of the cataracts lie within the region of sandstone, south of Gebel Silsila in Upper Egypt and are points where the underlying granite rocks break through, impeding the northward flow of the river and creating rapids and islands. The principal cataracts are numbered from north to south, smaller ones are named. From the First Cataract to the delta, there are no major obstructions to navigation (except sandbanks).
The First Cataract. The large island of Abu (Elephantine) stands at the foot of the First Cataract and was the site of an important settlement from late Predynastic times onward. Elephantine seems originally to have been an Egyptian trading center within Nubian territory, but by the time of the unification of Egypt it marked the southern frontier. Both Elephantine and the later mainland settlement of Syene (Aswan) always remained the southern border of Egypt, territories lying to the south generally coming under the rule of designated officials, from the beginning of the 18th-Dynasty-styled viceroy. At the head of the cataract was the fortress of Senmut, thought by some to have been on the island of Bigga, with a port on the mainland opposite. A military road and defensive wall connected Aswan with the port. Numerous inscriptions are carved on the granite rocks throughout the First Cataract region recording military campaigns. In the Roman period, a fortress was on the mainland opposite the island of Philae, part of a defensive network of watchtowers throughout Upper Egypt. A canal was constructed through the cataract near the island of Sehel in year 8 of Senusret I and called “The ways of Khakaure (Senusret I) are forever.” It was 150 cubits long (approximately 80 meters), 50 cubits wide (26 meters), and 15 cubits (8 meters) deep. The canal was cleared again in the reigns of Thutmose I and Thutmose III, doubtless to ease navigation of fleets into Nubia. Difficulties in keeping it clear of boulders could have led to the creation of the port at the head of the cataract.
The Second Cataract. Although there were smaller rapids and cataracts, such as the “Kalabsha Gate,” in Lower Nubia, the river was navigable as far as Buhen at the foot of the Second Cataract. The pharaohs of the 12th Dynasty, notably Senusret I and Senusret III established this cataract, actually an extended series of rapids and islands, as their southern border. The Second Cataract is situated in the barren Nubian Desert, where there is very little cultivable land on the riverbanks and islands. The cataract begins at Semna, where the Nile is forced through the narrowest point of its whole length. This rocky gorge was dominated by the forts of Semna and Kumma. Northward, for a distance of some 70 kilometers, there were islands and rapids, which made navigation difficult. This whole region was controlled by a series of small fortresses built on the west bank and islands at signaling distance from each other and controlling the separate small cataracts. These forts, Uronarti, Shalfak, and Askut, have similarities of design and were probably the work of one architect. At Mirgissa, boats were taken from the river and dragged over the great slipway. Buhen, at the foot of the cataract was a major supply and depot for the goods brought from the south.
The Dal Cataract. South of the Second Cataract lies an inhospitable region with relatively few ancient remains. At Tangur north of Dal are rock inscriptions recording military expeditions, notably of Thutmose III. South of the Dal Cataract there is more fertile land, notably the island of Sai.
The Third Cataract. The Third Cataract marks the northern end of the Dongola-Napata Reach of the Nile. This was a rich region of arable- or pastureland and was the center of the kingdom of Kush, with its main city at Kerma and, later the Kushite state, which conquered Egypt (the 25th Dynasty). With the Egyptian reoccupation of Lower Nubia in the reigns of Kamose and Ahmose, there were activities south of the Second Cataract, doubtless to secure it as a safe southern frontier. The fortress on the island of Sai was built in the reign of Ahmose or that of Amenhotep I. However, the power of the Kerma rulers continued and a fortress was built on the island of Tumbos in the Third Cataract. A rock inscription of Thutmose I at Tumbos indicates this as his southern border.
The Fourth Cataract. The Fourth Cataract marked the limit of Egyptian control along the Nile in Nubia in the New Kingdom. Coming from the south, the Nile and Atbara Rivers join, moving northward in a great arc through barren desert. This stretch of the river has numerous islands, no significant cultivable land, and when the river began to flow southwest, the crosswinds and currents render navigation impossible. The river becomes navigable again in the reign of the modern town of Kareima, close to the ancient sites of Napata and Gebel Barkal. Throughout history, the desert roads crossing the Bayuda between Sanam and Meroe have been preferred to the river route. The Fourth Cataract therefore marked a natural southern limit to Egyptian expansion. It is possible that the New Kingdom pharaohs crossed the Bayuda to Irem and Miu, but the location of these territories so far south is still controversial. The desert roads from Lower Nubia, leaving the river at Korosko, regained the river in the vicinity of Abu Hamed and Hagar el-Merwa, where rock inscriptions of Thutmose I and Thutmose III mark an Egyptian frontier. Egyptian security of this desert route was to protect the gold mines of Ikayta.
CAVALRY. The horses used in the 18th Dynasty seem to have been small, and it is only very rarely that a figure is shown riding one. Saddles were not used and the riding of horses seems to have been confined to scouts or moments of emergency: the Libyan prince, Tefnakht, is said to have mounted his horse and fled Memphis, without asking for his chariot. Cavalry did not become a significant force until the Late Assyrian period. Stephanie Dailey has charted the increasing use of cavalry as revealed by the Assyrian texts. These suggest that initially (e.g., at the battle of Qarqar in 853 BC) one horse and rider was acting alongside each chariot. In slightly later Assyrian reliefs, a pair of riders accompanies each chariot, but by the time of Sargon II cavalry were outnumbering chariots. Although the records of the battle of Qarqar show that cavalry was being used alongside chariots in Syria, some western states, such as Israel, had no cavalry at all. This was presumably due to preference, rather than inability to acquire cavalry horses. The inscription of Piye, the principal Egyptian text for this period, does not indicate the use of cavalry by either Egyptian or Kushite forces. Although chariots continued to be used, they were supplanted by the more versatile cavalry in later warfare. The cavalry were an important element in the army of the Ptolemaic period, placed on the wings, flanking the phalanx.
CHAONNOPHRIS (ANKH-WENNEFER) (reigned 197–186 BC) Rebel pharaoh in the reign of Ptolemy V, successor to Haronnophris. His reign appears to have begun in 197, but he continued the regnal years of his predecessor. Before the end of the year, Ptolemy V’s army regained control of Thebes and Chaonnophris went north, perhaps as far as the Lykopolite nome (Asyut). He successfully cut off the Greek army in Thebes. Although the region from Thebes to Abu (Elephantine) was controlled by the Ptolemaic army, it was cut off from the north. Around 194, the Greek troops in Thebes gave up the town and went upstream. Chaonnophris still controlled the Theban region in year 14 of Ptolemy V (189/188), but by the summer of 187 BC it was in the hands of Ptolemy V. Chaonnophris had been driven from Thebes and had fled to Nubia. On the 27 August 186 BC, Komanos, commanding the army for Ptolemy V, defeated Chaonnophris and his Nubian support.
CHARIOT. (Egyptian: wereryt or merkebet) The introduction of the light two-wheeled chariot driven by horses was the most radical development in early warfare. In the Early and Middle Bronze Ages (the Egyptian Old and Middle Kingdoms), infantry dominated warfare. In southern Mesopotamia (Sumer), four-wheeled chariots driven by four donkeys (or onagers) are attested from Ur. They were presumably heavy, relatively slow-moving vehicles, as they had solid, rather than spoked, wheels: a solid wheel of oak, one meter in diameter, can weigh over 100 pounds. These chariots seem to have served as fighting platforms. There is no evidence for anything similar from Egypt.
The chariot appeared in the Near East and Egypt in the middle of the second millennium BC and was rapidly adopted in all countries. Earlier scholarship attributed the appearance of the chariot and domesticated horse to new groups arriving in the region. These were thought to be Indo-European speakers and to represent a horse-breeding, chariot-owning aristocracy (the “Aryans”), which was to dominate the Late Bronze Age. The Kassite dynasty in Babylon, the Hurrians of Mitanni, and, more generally, a class called the mariyannu, were all thought to represent these northern invaders. It is now clear that the chariot developed in Eastern Anatolia not northern Europe. The supposed racial origins of the Kassites and Hurrians can also be discounted, and the mariyannu, although certainly charioteers, were not an ethnic group nor an exclusive warrior caste. The introduction of chariotry into Egypt is accredited to the Hyksos.
Surviving examples. The evidence for the chariot in Egypt comes from a number of sources. There are numerous depictions of chariots in Egyptian art. They appear in temple reliefs of battles and are found in scenes in private tombs showing hunting and official life. There are also complete examples and numerous fragments of chariots surviving. Eleven complete examples, all of the later 18th Dynasty, have been recovered from tombs at Thebes. One example, now in the Florence Museum, is from a private tomb, the remainder come from the Valley of the Kings. The body of a chariot was found in the tomb of Thutmose IV, decorated with scenes of battle. Complete examples were in the tomb of Yuya, himself a military official and father of Queen Tiye, wife of Amenhotep III. The largest number of examples, six in all, comes from the tomb of Tutankhamun. These included ceremonial chariots and light war vehicles. Fragments have been recovered from the tombs of Amenhotep II and Amenhotep III. The larger royal tombs of the Ramesside period had a room called the “house of gold” or “the chariot hall.” This hall is named on a papyrus with a plan of a royal tomb, probably that of Ramesses IV, now preserved in the Turin Museum.
Construction. Chariots are made of a frame of bent wood covered with leather. The heavier ceremonial chariots have gilded leather or wooden panels with colored glass and stone inlays. The chariots had a very wide wheel track to ensure stability on fast turns. The chariot in the Florence Museum has a narrower wheel track than the Tutankhamun examples. The car was approximately hip-high and fully open at the rear, which made it easy to jump into quickly. The car was wide enough to hold two people standing side by side: one from Tutankhamun’s tomb was 1.02 meters wide by 0.44 meter deep. The axle was made of ash and in one example measures 2.3 meters in length. In all surviving chariots, the axle is placed at the rear, although in some artistic representations the axle and wheel have been moved forward, making them central to the body. The flooring is a leather thong mesh. The pole, usually of elm, was heat-bent and about 2.89 meters long. The wheels had felloes of ash, spokes of evergreen oak, and spoke lashings of birch bark. The earlier chariots had wheels with four spokes; later chariots had six-spoke wheels. Thutmose IV is depicted in a chariot with six-spoke wheels in battle with Asiatics, who are using chariots with four-spoke wheels. In the scenes of Ramesses III’s battles, the Libyans drive chariots with both four- and six-spoke wheels. Chariot wheels, felloes, and spokes were made from heat-treated wood. To make a spoke, single pieces of wood were bent at 90 degrees (for 4-spoke) or 60 degrees (six-spoke) and glued back to back. Wet rawhide was bound around them at the nave and then lashed with birch bark for waterproofing. Tires were of leather. Egyptian chariots were lightweight, one modern replica weighing 34 kilograms.
Acquisition of chariots. Chariotry is first mentioned in the second stela of Kamose as belonging to the Hyksos. The earliest depiction of a chariot appears to be in the tomb of Renni at el Kab (Nekheb) of the time of Amenhotep I. Chariots then begin to appear more frequently in both texts and scenes. The accounts of battles, such as the texts of Ahmose son of Ebana, show that chariots were still rather rare in Egypt in the early 18th Dynasty and those captured were presented to the pharaoh. The capture of numerous horses and chariots in the campaigns of Thutmose III suggests that the Egyptians were still trying to increase their numbers. A fragment of a tomb painting from the tomb of Nebamun (reign of Thutmose IV) shows a chariot drawn by mules or hinnies (the offspring of a she-ass by a stallion).
The Amarna Letters also document the import of chariots as part of the royal gift exchange system. The surviving letters of the archive reveal a total of 31 chariots, each with its pair of horses, which were sent to Egypt as greeting gifts from Babylon and Mitanni. In addition there were several very special chariots, such as the royal chariot outfitted for Assur-uballit of Assyria, which he sent as a greeting gift with its two white horses. Some chariots were sent fully outfitted; others are specified as not outfitted. The lavishness of some of the royal chariot equipment is revealed by the detailed description among the gifts sent by Tushratta of Mitanni to Amenhotep III at the time of his marriage to the Mitannian princess, Tadu-Heba. The chariot was gilded using 320 shekels of gold. The equipment included one whip overlaid with five shekels of gold, with khulalu-stone mounts.
The letter details other items clearly related to horse trappings, some in leather with lapis lazuli, and gold amounting to 26 shekels, and 4 shekels of silver. There were also necklaces for the horses using 88 stones per string and 44 shekels of gold; a set of bridles with ivory blinkers, and ornaments of gold amounting to 60 shekels; a set of reins overlaid with silver and ornaments of gold totaling 60 shekels; one set of snaffles of silver, 50 shekels in weight; one pair of gloves trimmed with red wool; one leather halter with attachments of khulalu-stone inlaid with lapis lazuli and a centerpiece of khiliba-stone mounted on lapis lazuli, and with lapis and gold ornaments from the straps. The detail of the amounts of precious metal and stone used was not only a safeguard against theft, but also an important economic feature: corresponding amounts were expected in return. Elsewhere in the letters are references to a leather cuirass set for horses, with rings of bronze, and two helmets of bronze for horses.
Manufacture. It was once assumed that because the spoke lashings of birch bark had been applied while green, the wheels and chariots had been made in countries where the materials were available locally, probably in Armenia, somewhere between the Caspian Sea and Trebizond. However, it is now known that birch bark can be transported and used. Although chariots initially had to be imported and reserves built up through captures, scenes of chariot manufacture make it certain that the surviving examples, and probably the majority of chariots in use, were actually manufactured in Egypt. A scene showing the presentation of “gifts” to Hatshepsut in tomb 73 at Thebes shows chariots, along with a wide range of other products of royal workshops. Scenes in the mid-18th Dynasty tombs of Hepu, Puyemre, Qenamun at Thebes show the manufacture of chariots and wheels in the state (i.e., temple and palace) workshops. A late-18th Dynasty relief in the tomb of Ipuia at Saqqara shows a six-spoke wheel being made in a royal or temple workshop, where other artisans are producing statuary, a stela, and stone vessels. The surviving caption above one of the chariots in Theban tomb 72 reads “a great chariot (wereryt) of shendyt-wood of Kush, decorated with gold.” This presumably means that the chariot was made in the royal workshops from wood from Kush, showing an early adaptation to non-Asiatic supplies. A fragmentary wheel from the tomb of Amenhotep III uses tamarisk wood, an Egyptian native, with imported elm. Amenhotep II brought wood for chariots from Mitanni. It seems, however, that much of Mitanni was unwooded and the materials were being imported from even farther north. The chariot comprised a number of elements that were easily damaged or broken, axle, pole, and spokes, and there is evidence for the transport of extra chariot poles and other elements to allow for repairs in camp. The economic tablets from Pylos in Greece record 200 pairs of wheels and wood for 100 axles, suggesting that considerable numbers of spare parts might be retained. A papyrus document of the Ramesside period (pAnastasi I: British Museum EA 10247) notes the visit of an Egyptian charioteer in Canaan to a chariot repair shop in Joppa.
CHARIOTEER. Many monuments show charioteers of different ranks. From early in the New Kingdom, the elite were trained in the art of chariotry, and it is possible that some form of national service in the chariot corps was expected. Scenes of battle conventionally show the pharaoh alone in his chariot, the reins tied around his waist. In the account of the battle of Qadesh, Ramesses II specifically states that he had no charioteer with him, although he was accompanied by his shield bearer.
CHARIOT WARFARE. The Egyptian chariot was a lightweight vehicle that carried two people, the driver (ketjen or kedjen) and the warrior (seneny). The driver could also act as defender, carrying the shield. Egyptian chariot warriors were archers first but also carried weapons for hand-to-hand combat: the khepesh, axe, and spear. The reliefs of the battle of Qadesh show the regional differences, in part dictated by terrain. The Hittites used a heavier type of chariot, apparently with solid sides, which carried three people. Its axle was placed at the middle of the body. This made it a slower-moving vehicle than the Egyptian chariot. The soldiers it carries are shown with the short stabbing spear, and the Hittites appear to have used their chariots for close combat, charging lines of enemy infantry.
The records of battles indicate very large numbers of chariots being deployed, but whether they were all used at one time remains unclear. Ramesses II claims that there were 2,500–3,000 Hittite chariots at the battle of Qadesh.
There has been some dispute over how chariots were deployed in battle. It was once suggested that chariots were driven to a point, and that then the warrior dismounted and fired. It is certain that the chariot actually functioned as a moving firing platform: numerous reliefs indicate that the archers fired while the chariot was being driven. The construction of the Egyptian chariot allowed a small turning circle, perhaps enabling the chariot to be driven in one charge, arrows loosed, and the chariot swiftly turned for a second return charge. Battle scenes such as those of Qadesh show the two chariot lines charging at each other. Even with chariots arranged in several lines, the numbers reported in some conflicts would have resulted in very long lines, which would have been feasible only on flat plains. As the biblical narrative makes clear, soft sand also hindered chariots because it “clogged their chariot wheels and made them lumber along heavily.”
CHEOPS. See KHUFU.
CHEPHREN. See KHAFRE.
CHREMONIDEAN WAR (268/267 or 265/264–262/261 BC). Named after Chremonides, a politician in Athens, who negotiated an anti-Macedonian alliance. The resulting war beginning in 268/267 or 265/264 and lasting until 262/261 saw the active involvement of Ptolemy II in Greece. The Egyptians sent naval forces and established bases with garrisons on the mainland, at, for example, Methana in the Peloponnese, which was renamed Arsinoe. With the failure of the war, Chremonides and his brother Glaukon fled to Egypt. Chremonides later commanded the Ptolemaic fleet, which was defeated at the battle of Rhodes in circa 258 BC during the Second Syrian War.
CIVIL WAR. The nature of the evidence confines civil wars to the Intermediate Periods, to times of reunification, or the Ptolemaic period (which is better documented). The civil wars of the Ptolemaic period are in many cases dynastic wars, although there were also rebellions by disaffected groups. All documented civil wars before the Ptolemaic period were power struggles between elite factions: there is no evidence for “popular” uprisings. During the First Intermediate Period different nomarchs in Middle and Upper Egypt were supporting rival dynasts. There was a major civil disturbance in Thebes in the reign of Ramesses XI. There was opposition to Roman rule immediately after the conquest of the country by Augustus, and at later points. This was generally dealt with (not always successfully) by the prefect. In most of the instances noted, the opposition to the central authority was localized and is more properly “rebellion” by disaffected groups, rather than civil war involving the whole country and bulk of the population.
CIVILIANS. In all military actions it is the civilians who suffer. A common policy in ancient warfare was to cut down orchards and requisition, or destroy, crops. If not that, the impositions and foraging of armies on the move depleted food supplies. In the Asiatic battle scenes of Sety I and Ramesses II are the sieges of fortified towns with their occupants burning incense as a sign of surrender. The Egyptian conquest of Canaan in the early 18th Dynasty saw massive destruction of settlements, some of which were not reoccupied. Similarly, in Nubia, Kerma suffered destruction by fire. Following military raids and campaigns, both soldiers and civilians might be captured and taken to Egypt as slaves. The texts of Ahmose son of Ebana, among others, list such captives. The Egyptian authorities also used deportation to remove larger groups of civilians, such as the Canaanites who were transported to Kush. The kings of Assyria also used the policy of deportation extensively.
CLEOPATRA. See KLEOPATRA.
CLERUCHS. A Greek term for veteran soldiers given grants of land and settled in communities. The policy was begun by Ptolemy I, who wished to encourage Greek settlement in Egypt. His veterans were mainly of Greek or Macedonian origin, with some Asiatics (from the former Persian army). In the reign of Ptolemy II, much of the Fayum was brought under cultivation and cleruchies were established throughout the region. Initially, the land grants were only for the lifetime of the cleruch, but they soon became hereditary in practice, legally formalized by the philanthropa of Ptolemy VIII (118 BC) following the civil war. Following the battle of Raphia (217 BC), there were cleruchic grants to Egyptian machimoi, many in the Fayum, and in villages already with Greek cleruchs. There is evidence for a similar policy during the pharaonic period, such as the land grants by the pharaoh Ahmose to Ahmose son of Ebana and settlements of Libyan and Asiatic mercenaries in the Fayum and Middle Egypt. It is well documented from the Roman period, too.
COELE SYRIA. The name used for the Ptolemaic province of “Syria and Phoenicia” in western Asia. The name comes from the Greek koile meaning “hollow.” Coele-Syria was the region behind the coastal plain of Lebanon, including the Beqa Valley, the border being the Eleutheros River. It provided the Ptolemies with a buffer zone against the Seleukids, but was the constant source of dispute between the two kingdoms, resulting in the Syrian Wars. Who actually owned Coele-Syria was the subject of negotiations in the winter of 219/218 BC during a truce in the Fourth Syrian War. In 301 BC, Seleukos I had been granted the whole of Syria after the battle of Ipsos, but had tacitly accepted Ptolemy I’s control of it. The region continued to be disputed in the Fifth and Sixth Syrian Wars and was completely lost to Egypt in the reign of Ptolemy VI.
CONSCRIPTION. Evidence from the Old Kingdom shows that levies were made when an army was needed. In the Middle Kingdom, one text states that a levy of one man in 100 was taken. Doubtless, the system continued in the New Kingdom, even though there was a larger professional standing army. The Papyrus Harris states that in the reign of Ramesses III one man in ten was conscripted: this large number probably reflects specific circumstances. The literature describing the benefits of a scribal career in preference to all others make reference to the ways in which a man can be summoned to be a soldier. There is no clear evidence for any type of national service, but the records of careers of officials suggests the possibility that, following schooling, they spent some time in the chariot corps.
CORNELIUS GALLUS, CAIUS (Prefect of Egypt 30–26 BC). The first Roman prefect of Egypt and friend of Augustus, appointed in August 30 BC after the capture of Alexandria. Shortly afterward was a rebellion in the Thebaid, according to Strabo, against the collectors of taxes. The prefect’s victory and subsequent action in Nubia are recorded on a trilingual inscription (in Latin, Greek, and Egyptian hieroglyphic) found on the island of Philae near Aswan. The rebel towns included Koptos, Keramike (Medamud), Diospolis Megale, and Ophieion (the latter two were regions of Thebes). Cornelius Gallus then took the army into Lower Nubia. It is possible that Meroe had been taking advantage of the change of power in Egypt. There was a settlement with the Meroite representatives at Philae on the frontier. As a result, a tyrannos (local ruler) was installed in the Triakontaschoinos (Lower Nubia), although his identity is uncertain (possibly a Meroitic prince). In 26 BC, Cornelius Gallus was recalled by Augustus. Further developments were in Lower Nubia in the Prefecture of Petronius.
CYPRUS. Large island of the eastern Mediterranean close to the coasts of Phoenicia and Asia Minor. It was important in the sea-borne trade of the eastern Mediterranean. The tribute of Cyprus is recorded in the Annals of Thutmose III. As a trading partner with Egypt, Cyprus appears in the Amarna Letters (as Alashia), and gift exchange between pharaohs and its king is recorded. It was most important as a source of copper, bronze, and lead, although horses are also listed. Part of the island was seized by the last of the kings of the Hittites.
In the early first millennium BC there were new settlements of people from Greece and Phoenicia. The kings of the island paid tribute to the rulers of Assyria. In 570/569 BC, Cyprus gave naval aid, and Carian and Ionian soldiers, to help Wahibre regain his throne after the usurpation of Ahmose II. The island came under Egyptian domination when captured by Ahmose II in 560 BC, providing him with an important naval base close to the Syrian coast. It submitted to Persia in 545 BC and aided the invasion of Egypt by Cambyses in 525 BC. Later, Cyprus became a center of conflict between pro- and anti-Persian groups, regularly receiving support and ships from Athens. The Athenian fleet was diverted from Cyprus to aid the rebellion of Inaros in 459 BC. During his rebellion against the Persians, Evagoras, king of Salamis, allied himself with Hakor (389 BC).
The island came under the rule of Ptolemies in 312 BC and was held by them until it was seized by Rome in the reign of Ptolemy XII. It was in a vital strategic position for control of the Ptolemaic possessions outside Egypt, and garrisons were installed in many of its cities. Because of this naval importance, the office of governor, the strategos, was usually combined with that of nauarch (admiral). At several points, members of the Ptolemaic royal family fled to Cyprus or were sent there as rulers when evicted from Egypt in dynastic wars. There were some significant naval battles near the island, notably the battle of Salamis in 306 BC, at which the fleet of Ptolemy I was defeated by that of Antigonos Monophthalmos and his son Demetrios.
CYRENAICA. A region of Libya, being the eastern part of the modern state, from the Gulf of Sirte to the Gulf of Bomba. It is largely mountainous, with a narrow coastal plain from which the Jebel Akhdar rises steeply. The barren coast of the Gulf of Sirte, where the Sahara comes to the Mediterranean, made a natural border with the nearest power to the west, Carthage. This remained a significant division between Greek east and Latin west under the Roman Empire.
Cyrenaica might have been occupied by some of the Libyan tribal groups who entered Egypt in the later New Kingdom, the Libu, the Meshwesh, the Seped, but archaeological knowledge of this phase is still scanty. Greek colonists from Thera founded Cyrene (c. 630 BC), followed by other settlements at Apollonia, Barce, Euhesperides (modern Benghazi), and Taucheira. This was known as the Libyan Pentapolis. In the reign of Darius I (522–486 BC), the Persian satrap of Egypt sent an army in support of the ruling family of Cyrene, besieging and eventually capturing Barce. The whole of Cyrenaica came under Ptolemaic control in the reign of Ptolemy I, the border with Egypt being Paraitonion.
CYRENE. Greek settlement in Libya founded, according to tradition, about 630 BC. It was soon followed by a number of other towns in Cyrenaica. Its territory eventually stretched westward from a border with Egypt near Paraitonion.
Cyrene came under the rule of a dynasty of kings, the Battids, and soon established relations with Egypt. Wahibre sent an army against it, which mutinied and set up Ahmose II as pharaoh (570 BC). Ahmose himself entered into diplomatic marriage with the royal family, taking Ladike as his wife. During the reign of Darius I (522–486 BC), the Persian satrap of Egypt sent an army in support of a member of the ruling family to besiege Barce.
Ambassadors from Cyrene met Alexander the Great at Paraitonion (332 BC). Soon after he took over Egypt, Ptolemy I was invited by a disaffected group of the elite acting out of self-interest to take over the city and the region, which he did in 322/321 BC. Ptolemy installed a general, Ophellas, as governor. There was a rebellion against Egyptian rule in 313 BC, but Ptolemy sent forces that reinstated Ophellas. By 308 BC, Ophellas was acting on his own behalf, but he made no declaration of independence. Involving himself in the campaign of Agathokles of Syracuse against Carthage, Ophellas was murdered.
Another rebellion took Cyrene out of Ptolemaic control. Ptolemy I was preoccupied with events elsewhere and was unable to regain the territory until after the battle of Ipsos in 301 BC. He then installed his stepson, Magas, as ruler. Sometime early in the reign of Ptolemy II, Magas made himself independent and became king, entering into alliance with the Seleukids of Syria. Magas even launched an attack on Egypt, marching his army toward Alexandria, but it was forced to return by a revolt of Libyans, at Paraitonion. Following the death of Magas, in circa 250 BC, there was a brief internal struggle before Cyrene returned to the Ptolemaic Empire. This was sealed by the marriage of Magas’s daughter, Berenike, to Ptolemy III. Cyrene was now a possession of the Ptolemies with its own governors and a place to which dispossessed kings fled or were exiled (e.g., Ptolemy VI; Ptolemy VIII from 163–145 BC; Ptolemy IX). In 162 BC, the governor, an Egyptian named Ptolemaios “Sympetesis,” rebelled, but the uprising was quickly suppressed. Ptolemy VIII bequeathed it to his son Ptolemy Apion, who in turn left it to the Roman people in his will. Cyrene suffered extensive damage during the Jewish revolt of 115–117 AD.