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Short description

These native Egyptians serve as a cheap but cost-effective archer unit.

Description

The Machimoi Archers (machimoi: μάχιμοι, ‘the pugnacious’, or ‘troops fit for action’) are mainly comprised of native Egyptians serving in the Ptolemaic army. Only lightly armoured with a quilted linen cuirass in the Kushite style, these archers should stay out of close combat with heavier infantry and especially cavalry (Fischer-Bovet, Army and Society in Ptolemaic Egypt (2014), p. 131). The extra range provided by their composite bows and reed arrows gives the machimoi the edge over Hellenistic archers, although their arrows are not quite as deadly (Western/McLeod, Egyptian Bows, 1995).

HISTORICAL BACKGROUND

For the reign of Ptolemy I Soter, the founder of the Ptolemaic dynasty, the historian Diodorus of Sicily (1st century BC) describes the employment of great numbers of natives at the Battle of Gaza in 312 BC. The army contained 18,000 infantry and 4,000 cavalry consisting of Macedonians and mercenaries, but, in addition to these, Egyptians served as attendants and baggage carriers and some even as soldiers (Diod. Sic. XIX. 80. 3). Although Diodorus does not mention what they exactly did in the battle, it is likely that they were lightly armed infantry used in an auxiliary role.

Egypt had a long tradition of archery, perhaps rivalled by none, which would have proven useful when recruiting native Egyptians into the Ptolemaic army (McLeod, Egyptian Composite Bows in New York (1962), p. 13). Even pharaohs in the period of the New Kingdom boasted about their skill in archery, the first being Tuthmosis III (1490-1436 BC), who was said to have killed 120 elephants in a hunt in North Syria, while Tutankhamun (1352-1343 BC) was buried with at least 27 angular composite bows and a beautiful bow-case that depicts the young pharaoh on the hunt (McLeod (1962), p. 13-14). This tradition of archery even extended south, in the lands of Kush or Nubia, which was described as a "land of bows" by those that had seen warriors of the nearby regions or had visited the area (Isma’il Kushkush, In the Land of Kush, 2020). Thence, the Kush-style padded armour would have been adopted by the Egyptians.

The employment of native Egyptians in the Ptolemaic army had considerably increased by the 2nd century BC, when the natives became better integrated into Ptolemaic society, and continued well into the 1st century BC. To help the Greeks in the Chremonidean War (266 BC), Egyptian troops were sent by the Ptolemies as auxiliaries, and Ptolemy IV Philopator (244-204 BC) recruited additional 20,000 native Egyptians into his phalanx to prop up his numbers for the battle of Raphia 217 BC (Paus. 3.6.5; Polyb. V.65.9). This increased reliance on native Egyptian troops improved their socio-economic condition and closed the gap between them and Greek klerouchoi (landholders). The Egyptians made up most, but probably not all, the machimoi in Ptolemaic Egypt. Greeks may have served among them, too, however, as listed in the 3rd century list P.Petr. III 100 (b2), ll. 9–29. Machimoi cultivated land allotments, 5-10 arouras in size, and served as reserves, in garrisons, as guardsmen, or as police forces (Burckhardt, s.v. ‘‘Machimoi’’, in: Brill’s New Pauly (2006); Fischer-Bovet, Army and Society (2014), p. 215).

How long machimoi served as archers for the Ptolemies is debatable. While Egyptians were recruited into the phalanx at the end of the third century BC and are commonly attested as guardsmen, police and phalanx reserves, the Ptolemies relied on mercenaries to fill specialist roles like Cretan, Persian or Ethiopian archers (Johnsto, The Army of Ptolemaic Egypt (2020), p. 7; 54; 93). Perhaps, machimoi archers and light infantry still served as garrisons for frontier posts, but how prominent they were in the timeframe of our mod is difficult to determine.