Dr. Magda Abdullah, Professor of History and Archaeology and Head of History at The Faculty of Literature, Kafr Al-Sheikh University, said that, while examining a study on the conditions and rights of prisoners of war (POW) in ancient Egypt and other ancient civilizations, we have confirmed that the rights of prisoners have not been known in many ancient societies and civilizations since the dawn of history and perhaps even now in some modern societies.
As a result, we are now listing some issues that emphasize the abuse, torture and killing of prisoners of war today.
In Egypt, the ancient Egyptians did not forget that they are “human beings” who represent humanity on earth as “the shepherd of God”; therefore, they gave the prisoner the right to live, offered them medical care, and did not to assign them hard tasks, but consider them as a labor force in various work.
The country’s authorities sometimes used their military skills and conscripted them as soldiers under the authority of Egyptian leaders; the authorities allowed the captured men to marry prisoners and establish a family but under the auspices of the Egyptian state.
However, the situation of families was severing all link between family members, sometimes limiting the authority of fathers over children.
Everyone was considered a special human belonging to the king who can keep them as slaves in his palace or work on his land, or take them in large numbers to work in the temples. The king was keen to provide them with food, clothing and drink; he also used to offer these prisoners payments on a regular basis for their work in the old Egyptian society.
The ancient Egyptians honored “captive women”, as they did not use to handcuff her like men, and this indicates that they- ancient Egyptians- respected and appreciated women in general and captives in particular.
Images in the oldest war scene were found on the walls of the rocky cemetery of Ente In Dawasa (dated in the last half of the fifth family or the beginnings of the sixth dynasty) – the era of the old state – the view of the siege of one of the castles named Nadia and Ain Ain in southern Palestine. Also, in this images, one of the Egyptian soldiers appears carrying on his shoulder a captive woman who couldn’t walk.
The ancient Egyptians engraved the forms of his foreign families on the walls of temples, palaces and cemeteries; it is possible that their photography on the walls of temples was for achieving a religious and funeral goal at the same time. Certain rituals conducted by the king or priests, guaranteed the deceased king’s control in the other world over enemies and conquer them just like he conquered them in his temporary world.
Regarding the treatment of captives by ancient Egyptian kings, as they were brought in front of the king while their arms were tied, walking in rows under the guard of heavily armed soldiers, in a procession of celebration.
The king used to slaughter a number of them before the gods to thank them for the victory they have given him. Despite these practices, the ancient Egyptians did not forget that humanity is the parish of God, so they dealt with those who survived humanly in comparison to any other contemporary society in the Near East.
It is clear to us, through different wars scenes, that the ancient Egyptian dealt with captive women with utmost mercy, and sometimes they were carried by Egyptian soldiers because of the stress inflicted on her due to walking. Only one image depicted a captive woman being beheaded, it is shown in a cemetery in Asasif; the soldier resorted to this behavior with the captive to prove his seriousness and merit in performing his work on the battlefield.
Therefore, the ancient Egyptians and soldiers were considered the most civilized and human in their dealings with their captives of enemies, compared to the harsh treatment faced by prisoners of enemies in other societies of the ancient Near East, especially in Mesopotamia and Persia to name but a few.
