Although the Egyptians ascribed their victories to divine aid, they accomplished them through physical means that included weaponry. The military success during the New Kingdom was due, at least in part, to advances in Egyptian weaponry, vastly improved over what the Egyptians had used before the time of the Hyksos. During the Old and Middle Kingdoms, the Egyptians had relied on maces (clubs with heavy stone balls at the end, used to crush an opponent—see Fig. 3.3), spears, battle-axes with