Social Studies blog entry: The army in ancient Egypt

This article I have chosen explains about the army in ancient Egypt. It says that until the New Kingdom period, volunteers who agreed to join made up the army in Egypt. From the New Kingdom period, though, the ruler “established a permanent professional army.” By joining the army, soldiers were guaranteed gold, land, and prisoners, but most of all, a promotion in social status.

From this article, I figured that before the New Kingdom period, Egypt must have been very peaceful, or that the citizen in Egypt were all cooperative in fighting for their Empire. If Egypt had been very peaceful before the New Kingdom period, it explains how Egypt must have not needed a proper army to defend their Empire. If the citizens of Egypt were very cooperative, it shows that they probably had a lot of pride in their own Empire, or it may have been part of religion; they might have believed that if you die in fighting to defend your Empire, you could go to a better afterlife. I can connect this to what we talked in class, since we discussed how the Egyptians were very religious and cared much about afterlife.

From the New Kingdom period, though, a proper, professional army was made. As a promotion in becoming part of the army, soldiers were guaranteed many rewards from the pharaoh. One of the rewards was a promotion in social status. Many citizens became a part of the army just for the promotion in social status. This shows me how the Egyptians must have also valued social status. Overall, I concluded that the Egyptians have valued much in their lives, mostly spiritual things, since they care about social status and religion, and not material things like money and land.