The nine bows is a term used in Ancient Egypt

Ancient Egypt

Ancient Egypt was an ancient civilization of Northeastern Africa, concentrated along the lower reaches of the Nile River in what is now the modern country of Egypt. Egyptian civilization coalesced around 3150 BC with the political unification of Upper and Lower Egypt under the first pharaoh...

 to represent the traditional enemies of Egypt. The peoples covered by this term changed over time, as enemies changed, and there is no true list of the nine bows. When illustrated the nine bows are usually shown as dressed differently from each other, as they each personify a specific enemy relevant to the time period.

Pharaoh Djoser

One of the oldest representations of the Nine bows is on the seated statue of Pharaoh Djoser

Djoser

Netjerikhet or Djoser is the best-known pharaoh of the Third dynasty of Egypt. He commissioned his official, Imhotep, to build the first of the pyramids, a step pyramid for him at Saqqara...

–his feet rest upon part of the nine bows. The Rekhyt bird-(lapwing) is often associated in the iconography

Iconography

Iconography is the branch of art history which studies the identification, description, and the interpretation of the content of images. The word iconography literally means "image writing", and comes from the Greek "image" and "to write". A secondary meaning is the painting of icons in the...

, with the phrase: "all the peoples give praise".

Tutankhamun's tomb

Pharaoh-King Tutankhamun

Tutankhamun

Tutankhamun , Egyptian , ; approx. 1341 BC – 1323 BC) was an Egyptian pharaoh of the 18th dynasty , during the period of Egyptian history known as the New Kingdom...

 has a famous representation of the Nine Bows, and the nine foreign enemies. The tomb was closed with a knotted rope, and the rope impressed with a clay seal. The seal contains an impression with Anubis

Anubis

Anubis is the Greek name for a jackal-headed god associated with mummification and the afterlife in ancient Egyptian religion. In the ancient Egyptian language, Anubis is known as Inpu . According to the Akkadian transcription in the Amarna letters, Anubis' name was vocalized as Anapa...

, reclining as a jackal, at the top list of the Nine foreign rebels, in a long, vertical cartouche-image.