As part of Egypt’s Ministry of Antiquities plan to promote tourism in Egypt, Germany is to witness the first Egyptology conference in May, in which a number of Egyptian scientists are to tackle the military wars of Ancient Egypt.
Under the name of “Perspectives on the Ramesside Era Military System in Ancient Egypt”, the conference will take place at the Egyptian Art Museum in Munich.
The Director General of Scientific Research at Alexandria Antiquity Area Mohamed Raafat Abbas told the Middle East News Agency (MENA) that he is the first Egyptian professor to be granted the Fritz Thyssen Foundation scholarship in organising scientific conferences, through which he, in cooperation with the German Egyptologist professor Friedhelm Hoffmann at Ludwig-Maximilians University, will organise the conference.
The conference is to focus on the military system and the wars that took place during the Ramesside Era, which, according to Raafat, is “one of the golden eras when it comes to soldiery at the ancient Egyptian civilisation.”
The Egyptologist also explained that the conference will include interactions from researchers from all over Europe to disclose several scientific studies and research papers on Egypt’s military backgrounds during that era.
The Ramesside Era is a part of the New Kingdom. It took place from the 19th to 20th Dynasties. It was named after the 11 Ramses pharaohs that ruled Egypt after Ramses I, who founded the 19th Dynasty. The era that lasted for over two centuries, witnessed some of Egypt’s most draining wars which lasted for several decades. The Battle of Djahy and the Battle of the Delta are the two most famous battles of the time, in which pharaohs brawled to protect against seaside invasion.
Raafat explained that this era is one of the most enriching periods in the documentation of the military preparations and wars, adding that the historical chronicle of wars Egypt went through at that era is rich and various.
“The inscriptions of Egypt’s most famous wars cover the walls of various temples including Karnak and Luxor,” Raafat told MENA.
The devoted researcher has published a number of papers on the topic of Ramesside wars and the preservation of the antiquities depicting them.
Among his in focus topics, was the cities in which the wars have taken place.
According to one of Raafat’s researches, “the Canaanite town was very remarkable in the war scenes and texts of the Ramesside Period, where it has been depicted and mentioned in some of the most important Ramesside military historical sources; as the northern war scenes of Sety I at Karnak, the First Beth-Shan stela of Sety I, and the triumph hymn of Merenptah.”
