* The army of Ramses II. at the battle of Qodshu comprised four corps, which bore the names of Amon, Ra, Phtah, and Sutkhu.  Other lesser corps were named the Tribe of Pharaoh, the Tribe of the Beauty of the Solar dish. These, as far as I can judge, must have been troops raised on the royal domains by a system of local recruiting, who were united by certain common privileges and duties which constituted them an hereditary militia, whence they were called tribes.

     ** These Ethiopian recruits are occasionally represented in
     the Theban tombs of the XVIIIth dynasty, among others in the
     tomb of Pahsukhir.

These auxiliaries were but sparingly employed in early times, but their numbers were increased as wars became more frequent and necessitated more troops to carry them on.  The tribes from which they were drawn supplied the Pharaohs with an inexhaustible reserve; they were courageous, active, indefatigable, and inured to hardships, and if it had not been for their turbulent nature, which incited them to continual internal dissensions, they might readily have shaken off the yoke of the Egyptians.  Incorporated into the Egyptian army, and placed under the instruction of picked officers, who subjected them to rigorous discipline, and accustomed them to the evolutions of regular troops, they were transformed from disorganised hordes into tried and invincible battalions.*

* The armies of Hatshopsitu already included Libyan auxiliaries, some of which are represented at Deir el- Bahari; others of Asiatic origin are found under Amenothes IV., but they are not represented on the monuments among the regular troops until the reign of Ramses II., when the Shardana appear for the first time among the king’s body- guard.

[Illustration:  313.jpg A PLATOON OF EGYPTIAN ARCHERS AT DEIR EL-BAHARI]

     Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from a photograph.

The old army, which had conquered Nubia in the days of the Papis and Usirtasens, had consisted of these three varieties of foot-soldiers only, but since the invasion of the Shepherds, a new element had been incorporated into the modern army in the-shape of the chariotry, which answered to some extent to the cavalry of our day as regards their tactical employment and efficacy.  The horse, when once introduced into Egypt, soon became fairly adapted to its environment.  It retained both its height and size, keeping the convex forehead—­which gave the head a slightly curved profile—­the slender neck, the narrow hind-quarters, the lean and sinewy legs, and the long flowing tail which had characterised it in its native country.  The climate, however, was enervating, and constant care had to be taken, by the introduction of new blood from Syria, to prevent the breed from deteriorating.*