Note 637 — Chapter IV · Egypt

Meyer, Ges. d. Alt.1 I. 384; cp. Mallet, Prem. Étab. pp. 43, 80. Mallet, ibid. pp. 79–80, makes Herodotus’ μάχιμοι a sort of militia, but this hardly suits their description as a caste. Egyptian documents do indeed show that, in spite of Herodotus II. 164, VI. 60; Plato, Tim. 23–24; Isocr. Bus. 15–17 (224); Diod. I. 28, 73–74; Strabo XVII. 787; there was no hard caste system in ancient Egypt; cp. Wiedemann, Hdt. II. 164; Mallet, Prem. Étab. p. 411. But the μάχιμοι, though not a caste, were plainly a sharply defined class.