Tahtib or Tahteeb (Egypt)

For many centuries, the stick has a special role in Egyptian social life, especially in rural life, because it accompanied with fallahs (the peasants) in their daily lives and is a sign of masculinity. The stick being the main tool of tahtib, the stick was a tool that accompanied the man since he inhabited the earth, so it was initially a supporting tool for him to carry wherever he went, then developed to a longer hand that he used to pick up the fruits far from his reach, or turned into a third foot that helps him to move.
Stick then developed to be a major tool in cattle grazing, to become a symbol of the shepherd's authority over his own herd. With with the escalation of human conflict, the stick became a weapon used in self-defense against threats.
The name, tahtib, is derived from the Arabic name of branches of dry trees (Hatab).
Tahtib is an original martial art using a stick,it has been known since the fifth Egyptian dynasty of King Sahourêh (2600 BC). The oldest signs of Tahtib were discovered in the figures from the archaeological stand of Abusir, a vast necropolis from the Old Kingdom period, located in the southwest suburbs of Cairo. Some reliefs of the Sahure Pyramid (V Dynasty, about 2500 BC), as well as paintings and signatures, are extremely accurate, depicting what appears to be military training with a stick. Tahtib, archery and wrestling were then mandatory elements of training soldiers.

Engravings at the Abusir necropolis showing scenes of archery, wrestling, and stick fighting.

In three of the 35 tombs of the Beni Hassan necropolis (XI-XII dynasties, 1900–1700 BC), drawings of Tahtib scenes can be found near the city of Minya. Similar images can be seen at the archaeological stand of Tell el Amarna (XVIII Dynasty, 1350 BC), about 60 km from the south of Minya.

Tahtib is considered a martial art by using a stick to achieve the physical and mental perfection.
The art of tahtib, through its technical and rhythmic means that has evolved throughout its very long history, brings positive and consistent energy for both competitors and the audience as well.
The art of tahtib convey huge contributive potentials at the social and cultural levels in Egypt and abroad.
With the dawn of ancient civilizations, the ancient Egyptians invented the rules and origins of this sport and took great interest in it, as tahtib was not specific to a certain social group, and the ancient Egyptian artists engraved it on many walls of ancient pharaonic cemeteries and temples. In Giza governorate, inscriptions were found that belonged to King Sahoo Ra II of the Fifth Dynasty, which included symbols of tahtib. On the other hand, tahtib symbols appears as a ceremonial art in the era of the modern state 1500 - 1000 BC on the archaeological walls of the regions of Luxor and Saqqara, and archaeological inscriptions were also found in Minya Governorate, and that was during the reign of the eleventh and twelfth dynasties in the Temple of Medinat Habu, which the king Ramesses III built in the twentieth dynasty of the era of the modern state 1183-1152 BC, also found symbols depecting men playing with sticks in "Khro AiF" cemetery in the tombs of the nobles in Al Asasef, the western mainland in Luxor.
Tahtib in the Roman era:
It has been mentioned in primitive Christian literature that tahtib was practiced for entertainment and a form of folk art appears on holidays and weddings.
Tahtib in the Islamic era:
This sport was not limited to the Pharaonic era, but we find it in the Islamic era depicted in a Mamluk manuscript for equestrian sports dating back to the ninth Hijri century (15th century), preserved in the Museum of Islamic Art in Cairo with record number (18019 -18021). This manuscript has five pictures, three of them in The Museum of Islamic Art and two in the Sharif Sabri collection and photographs and they are depicting men playing with sticks, either standing - on their feet - or on horseback.
Also, "the stick" and "stick play" have been mentioned in the Holy Qur’an and the prophet Muhammad's narrations many times.

Today, this sport is perceived more as an artistic event than a sport competition, which expresses the attitude and skills of the body, strengthened by music played by folk musicians using traditional instruments derbouka / tabl (drum), mizmar (oboe).

Tahtib au quartier Bab - Sidra. Alexandrie 1906