When Amenhotep IV/Akhenaten came to the throne he inherited a growing problem in Asia. The Hittites were pressuring Mitanni under their great king Suppiluliumas. They attacked north Syria and pushed the enemy aside (Kitchen 1962; Na’aman 1990). Border flare-ups became commonplace, and Egypt intervened, albeit indirectly, in the affairs of Kadesh and the Syrian province of Amurru. The aggressive intentions of Suppiluliumas and difficulties at home led to the weakening of Egyptian control so far north. Carchemish fell to the Hittite king, and Mitanni was reduced to a feeble rump kingdom. The Hittites and the Egyptians now stood to divide Syria; but, instead of negotiating a peaceful relationship, they fought, often by proxy. When the Hittites aimed their forces against Carchemish and Aleppo, the Egyptians feared for their zone of control. Princes of important Syrian cities such as Etaqama of Kadesh and Aziru, with his son Abdi Ashirta of Amurru, decided to swing their loyalties to the Hittite monarch. Egypt could not provide an effective counterbalance except through a major campaign. Tutankhamun was unable to achieve success in retaking the southern zones of Syria, nor was Horemheb (Murnane 1985: appendix 6; Martin 1989; Johnson 1992; van Dijk 1993: 41-54). Chariots and horses empowered the army, but inland warfare required foot-soldiers, which Egypt could not send in sufficient numbers. Larger border garrisons also were needed. Moreover, the northern enemy, Hatti, was in the advantageous position of being able to cross Syria from high ground to low.
In an orderly succession Horemheb’s fellow officer and general, later vizier, the elderly Ramesses I, established the Nineteenth Dynasty. His only son, Sety I, was already middle-aged when he took the throne. During their reigns structural changes were made to the Egyptian army and its relationship to the nation. The warrior class of chariot officers had come to rival, in importance, the scribal bureaucracies. By the Nineteenth Dynasty anti-soldier tractates circulated among civilian officials emphasizing their non-physical labor and independence from army life (Spalinger 2006: Chapter I). Much of this literature focused upon the lower ranks in the army, the foot-soldiers, but the young chariot men were also denigrated. The scribes set out to parody the daily life of the soldier, and their sharp reed pen underscores the alteration that had occurred in social standing. A schism had taken place in the corporate identities of military men and scribal officials, and certainly by the Nineteenth Dynasty the scribal class felt itself under attack.
World History
