Ancient Egyptian Navy

The Ancient Egyptian navy has a very extensive history almost as old as the nation itself. Our best sources over the type of ships they used and their purposes come from the reliefs from the various religious temples that spread throughout the land. While the early ships that were used to sail the Nile were often made out of reeds, the ocean and seagoing ships were then made out of cedar wood, most probably from the woods of Byblos in present day Lebanon. While the use of navy was not as important to the Egyptians as it may have been to the Greeks or Romans, it still proved its worth during the Thutmoside campaigns and even in defending Egypt under Rameses III. Thutmoses III understood the importance in maintaining a fast and efficient communications and supply line that would connect his bases in the Levantine region with Egypt. For this reason, he constructed his famous dockyard for the royal fleet near Memphis, whose sole purpose was to constantly supply the campaigning Egyptian army with additional troops as well as communication with Egypt and general supplies.

During the Old Kingdom all the way until the beginning of the New Kingdom, the navy and vessels of the ancient Egyptians were almost nonexistent other than to perform communication and transportation duties. However, through the massive reorganization of the Egyptian military in the New Kingdom and the aggressive foreign policy pursued by the Kings, the navy began to become ever more crucial in maintaining Egyptian power and influence abroad.

Ships were first constructed in a very basic manner in which they used reeds. These ships were in no way able to travel in the Red or Mediterranean Sea, and so their purpose was only to navigate through the Nile. Whenever ships were required to endure longer travels, Egypt often imported cedar wood from Byblos, with whom they had good trade relations. At the same time, they would ask other states that they traded with to supply them with a certain amount of ships. This is exemplified in the Amarna letters where we find a request to the King of Cyprus to construct ships for the Egyptian navy. By the time of the Battle of the Sea Peoples, the Egyptians had become experts in constructing ships. Their ships had a single mast with a horizontal square sail on it. One bow was usually decorated with a human skull being crushed by a lion’s head. These ships often had two rudder oars, since built in rudders were not invented at the time. At the same time, they could have been as heavy as 70 or 80 tonnes with around 50 rowers.

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