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Title: Saite Kings and their Mercenaries
Author(s): SMOLÁRIKOVÁ, Kvĕta
Journal: Ancient West & East
Volume: 22    Date: 2023   
Pages: 159-180
DOI: 10.2143/AWE.22.0.3292245

Abstract :
Psamtek I established a novel state strategy and, more than anyone before, accented the military independence of the country through a series of very effective measures, for example, intensive hiring of mercenaries all over the eastern Mediterranean, who brought modern military tactics and arms. He and his descendants formed broad alliances with Egypt’s neighbours and supported the formation of a modern navy fairly comparable with other, long-established world maritime powers, the Phoenicians and the Greeks. Archaeologically well-documented are Saite military fortifications built in the most threatened and strategically important parts of the country, where the Egyptians had installed well-equipped garrisons.

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