Editing Sahure (section)

==== Military campaigns ====

[[File:Egyptian - Royal Seal of King Sahure - Walters 571748 - Side D.jpg|thumb|right|100px|alt=Small cylinder of grey silver with hieroglyphic signs inscribed on it|Silver cylinder seal of king Sahure, [[Walters Art Museum]]{{sfn|Walters Art Museum website|2015}}]]

Sahure's military career is known primarily from reliefs in his mortuary complex. It apparently consisted of campaigns against [[Libya]]ns from ''Tjemehu'', a land possibly located in the northern [[Libyan Desert|Western desert]].{{sfn|Altenmüller|2001|p=598}} These campaigns are said to have yielded livestock in huge numbers{{efn|group=note|The relief say that the following was taken as bounty: over 123,440 cattle, more than 223,200 donkeys, 232,413 goats and 243,688 sheep.{{sfn|García|2015|p=78}} In another scene, 212,400 donkeys are said to have been taken.{{sfn|Borchardt|1913|loc=pl. 1–5 & 19}}{{sfn|Sethe|1903|pp=167–169}} Even if these numbers are overestimates, they show that ''Tjemehu'' was seen by the Egyptians as a rich land,{{sfn|García|2015|p=78}} and that economic considerations motivated Egyptians attempts at controlling the neighboring lands.{{sfn|Bresciani|1997|p=228}}}} and Sahure is shown smiting local chieftains. The historical veracity of these depictions remains in doubt as such representations are part of the standard iconography meant to exalt the king.{{sfn|Altenmüller|2001|p=598}} The same scene of the Libyan attack was used two hundred years later in the mortuary temple of [[Pepi II Neferkare|Pepi{{nbs}}II]] (2284–2184 BC) and in the temple of [[Taharqa]] at [[Kawa, Egypt|Kawa]], built some 1800 years after Sahure's lifetime.{{sfn|Wright|Pardee|1988|p=156}} In particular, the same names are quoted for the local chieftains. Therefore, it is possible that Sahure too was copying an even earlier representation of this scene.{{sfn|Baines|2011|pp=65–66}}{{sfn|Kuiper|2010|p=48}} Nonetheless, several overseers of the Western Nile Delta region were nominated by Sahure, a significant decision as these officials occupied an administrative position that existed only irregularly during the Old Kingdom period and which likely served to provide "traffic regulation across the Egypto-Libyan border".{{sfn|García|2015|p=79 & 99}} At the same time, Sahure's mortuary temple presents the earliest known mention of pirates raiding the Nile Delta, possibly from the coast of [[Epirus]].{{sfn|Eisler|Hildburgh|1950|p=130}}

Sahure's pretensions regarding the lands and riches surrounding Egypt are encapsulated in several reliefs from his mortuary temple which show the god [[Ash (deity)|Ash]] telling the king "I will give you all that is in this [Libya] land", "I give you all hostile peoples with all the provisions that there are in foreign lands" and "I grant thee all western and eastern foreign lands with all the Iunti and the Montiu bowmen who are in every land".{{efn|group=note|The Iunti and Montiu were Nubian and Asiatic nomads, respectively.{{sfn|Bresciani|1997|p=268}}}}{{sfn|Bresciani|1997|p=268}}{{sfn|Redford|1986|p=137}}