Nine Bows

Not one is raising his head among the Nine Bows.

The peoples covered by this term changed over time, as enemies changed, and there is no true list of the nine bows.

They are particularly well known for their clashes with the Egyptians, who called them the "Nine Bows."

The nine foreign lands used for the Nine Bows are also iconographically shown inside of cartouches, with their names.

The "nine bows" is a term the Egyptians used to refer to their enemies - the actual enemies varied according to time and circumstance.

The "Nine Bows" symbolize the various peoples that had been ruled over by the pharaoh since Egypt was united.

The nine bows is a term used in Ancient Egypt to represent the traditional enemies of Egypt.

The Nine Bows (foreigners or rebels)

One spelling of the foreign peoples, the Nine Bows, is represented by the hill country hieroglyph, "t", and nine single strokes.

This confederacy, known as "the Nine Bows," went to war against Merneptah in the western delta during the 5th and 6th years of his reign.

In Ramesses' Year 8, the Nine Bows appear again as a "conspiracy in their isles".

One inscription from 1190 BC describes a great victory over the Nine Bows, from whom he took hostages.

When illustrated the nine bows are usually shown as dressed differently from each other, as they each personify a specific enemy relevant to the time period.

After six hours, the surviving Nine Bows threw down their weapons, abandoned their baggage and dependents, and ran for their lives.

Pharaoh-King Tutankhamun has a famous representation of the Nine Bows, and the nine foreign enemies.

The fortress (hieroglyph) iconography was still being used in Ramesses II's time to identify placenames of defeated locations, referring to the Nine bows.

At Karnak Shoshenq I portrayed 39 cartouches of nine bows, in 3 rows of cartouches; each rebel group or state, is named in egyptian hieroglyphs.

One of the oldest representations of the Nine bows is on the seated statue of Pharaoh Djoser-his feet rest upon part of the nine bows.

This derivation is analogous on the one hand to the possible derivation of Dorians and on the other fits the Egyptian concept of "nine bows" with reference to the Sea Peoples.

Before then, the various cultural labels (like Egypt's "Nine Bows") that all basically referred to the Sea Peoples were applied to such persons by their victims and enemies, not titles they assumed themselves.

Foreign people, likewise, are generally lumped in with the "nine bows", people who threaten pharaonic rule and the stability of maat, although peoples allied with or subject to Egypt may be viewed more positively.

The Nine Bows were acting under the leadership of the king of Libya and an associated near-concurrent revolt in Canaan involving Gaza, Ashkelon, Yenoam and the people of Israel.

Most notable on the Battlefield Palette is the standard (iat hieroglyph), and Man-prisoner hieroglyph, probably the forerunner that gave rise to the concept of the Nine Bows (representation of foreign tribal enemies).

As he is called the "Ruler of Nine Bows" in the relief of the east side, these events probably happened in Year 8; i.e., his majesty would have used the victorious fleet for some punitive expeditions elsewhere in the Mediterranean.

Protodynastic hieroglyphs are difficult to read, but the dead lapwings (meaning Lower Egyptians) and the nine bows (meaning the traditional enemies of Egyptians) found on the macehead are interpreted as evidence that he began the attacks on Lower Egypt which eventually resulted in Narmer's victory and unification of the country.