NeferetIsis wrote:
Hey, I know this is probably a really dumb question but i was watching the Mummy Returns and i was wondering if women really could learn to use weapons like that.....i was just thinking maybe if there fathers/brothers/husbands let them....well, anyway....hope to hear from you..
also, what kind of weapons did they have?
Hi NeferetIsis, It isn't a dumb question it has been asked before.

Egyptian culture gave women unheard of rights before the law. However there was a real seperation of what men and women did. In the case of war, men went, women stayed home.
There are no documented cases of Egyptian warrior women. In it's 3,000 year history there is only one known woman who might have taken up arms. Queen Atthotep I, mother of the founder of the 18th Dynasty. Pharaoh Ahmose makes the claim that his mother after the death of her husband( the only Pharaoh known to have died in battle). Took up arms against the Hyskos and continued the fight. She is also the only woman, known to be buried with the Egyptian Gold Fly. An award normally won for showing personal valor against an enemy on the field of battle.
Hapsheput, Tiye, and Nefertiti all of the 18th Dynasty line that Queen Atthotep founded. Are shown as defeating enemies or make claims to have done so.
Not really surprising they would make such claims being of that bloodline. There is no actual proof of any of these latter queens leading armies, or stomping down Egypt's enemies.
The puzzle that Atthotep creates, is did she, or didn't she? Isn't helped in that she doesn't make the claim. Her son did!
What weapons did Egyptian have? Javlins (a weapon in between a spear, and sword), spears, a wicked looking sword that resembled a harvesters sickle, knives, sling shots, bows and arrows, and sticks. The long fighting sword didn't make its appearence into Egypt until the reign of Merenptah (19th Dynasty). The Egyptians also had armor made of and decorated with cattle, crocodile, hippo hides, and turtle shell.
Pharaoh Tutankhamun supposedly had armor made of linked gold.
Hand to hand combat which was in the movie, didn't really exist in ancient Egypt. Warfare was mostly fought at a distance with warriors favoring javlins, bows, sling shots, spears, and sticks. If you looked at a pre-Merenptah sword you would understand. It was not a very effective sword, it looked far worse than it really was.