sentences:  The "Iliad" notably describes the battles of the Trojan war as a series of single encounters on the field, and the medieval code of chivalry, partly inspired by this, encouraged the single combat between individual knights on the battlefield, in which the loser was not usually killed but taken captive for ransom.This tradition ended in the 14th century due to the use of the longbow and the pike square against mounted knights (Battle of Crécy, Battle of Laupen), and the tradition of single combat was continued away from the battlefield, with the "pas d'armes" and the early modern duel.An important episode in "The Tale of Sinuhe", one of the most well-known works of Ancient Egyptian literature, concerns the protagonist – an Egyptian exile in Upper Retjenu (Canaan) – defeating a powerful opponent in single combat.