When the ancient Egyptians defeated Libya around 1208 BC, Pharaoh Merneptah's soldiers collected 6,359 penises from slain Libyan warriors as battle trophies, meticulously recorded on the Great Karnak Inscription.
Ancient Egypt's Gruesome Body Count: 6,359 Trophies
The ancient Egyptians were meticulous record-keepers, documenting everything from grain harvests to military victories. But one particular monument at Karnak reveals just how dark and methodical their battlefield accounting could get. After Pharaoh Merneptah's decisive victory over Libyan forces around 1208 BC, scribes carved an unsettling inventory into stone: 6,359 penises severed from slain Libyan warriors.
This wasn't random brutality—it was standard operating procedure for the Egyptian military during the New Kingdom period, specifically under Pharaohs Merneptah and Ramesses III. The Great Karnak Inscription provides exact figures broken down by enemy group, functioning as an ancient spreadsheet of carnage.
The Gruesome Body Count
The monument lists trophies with bureaucratic precision:
- Libyan generals: 6 phalluses
- Libyan soldiers: 6,359 phalluses
- Sherden (Sea Peoples): 222 phalluses
- Etruscans: 542 phalluses
- Greeks: 6,111 phalluses
Why genitals instead of other body parts? Egyptian soldiers also collected severed hands, but genital mutilation served a particularly symbolic purpose: violent feminization of the enemy. By removing this marker of masculinity, Egyptians weren't just killing opponents—they were symbolically unmanning them, stripping away their warrior status even in death.
Cultural Context
The hieroglyphic term ḳrn.t (phallus shaft with foreskin) appears repeatedly in these inscriptions. Interestingly, there's evidence Egyptians sometimes spared the genitals of circumcised enemies, with some texts referring to "Libyans slain whose uncircumcised phalli were carried off." Circumcision held religious significance in Egypt, creating a twisted exemption in their trophy-taking practices.
In campaigns against Nubian forces, genital collection was especially practical—Nubian warriors often fought unclothed, making this verification method faster than counting hands. The practice served dual purposes: proving kills to command (soldiers were rewarded based on body counts) and performing ritualized domination of conquered peoples.
A Legacy Carved in Stone
The Battle of Perire, where most of these trophies originated, was a crucial defensive victory. Merneptah faced a massive coalition of Libyan tribes and Sea Peoples threatening Egypt's western border. His triumph secured the kingdom's borders for decades—and he made sure future generations would know the exact, anatomical cost to his enemies.
These inscriptions weren't meant to shock—they were propaganda, demonstrating Egypt's military supremacy to both subjects and rivals. The precision of the numbers (not "thousands" but exactly 6,359) served to emphasize Egyptian organizational superiority and divine favor. Today, the Great Karnak Inscription stands as one of history's most visceral reminders that ancient warfare combined religious ritual, political theater, and methodical brutality in equal measure.