Armour has been around almost as long as there have been soldiers. In Pre-Dynastic times, through to the Old Kingdom, Egyptian soldiers wore only a linen kilt and carried a shield, but, as their enemies' weapons became more varied and deadly, so the Egyptians began to develop body armour to protect their troops.

The Basic Protection

The most common type of protection worn by Egyptian soldiers was not really much in the way of armour; two wide bands of leather crossed the chest and back. This provided a little protection from reed arrows, but was more useful for fending off glancing cuts from knives.

This type of armour could be worn by any soldiers, but was most commonly seen worn by charioteers, perhaps as protection against small stones thrown upward by the wheels. The Pharoah also wore a variant of this, with a corselet - golden, in the case of the example found in Tutenkhamun's tomb - around the belly and kidneys. This was as much for show as for protection, making the King appear to have a torso of gold.

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