Editing Ramesses III (section)

==Tenure of constant war==
{{further|Battle of Djahy|Battle of the Delta|Ramesses III prisoner tiles}}
[[File:Statue of Ramesses III at the Rockefeller Museum, Jerusalem.jpg|thumb|Statue of Ramesses III at the [[Rockefeller Museum]], Jerusalem]]
[[File:Weihrauchopfer RamsesIII aus KV11.jpg|thumb|right|Ramses III offering incense, wall painting in KV11.]]
During his long tenure in the midst of the surrounding political chaos of the [[Late Bronze Age collapse]], Egypt was beset by foreign invaders (including the so-called [[Sea Peoples]] and the [[Ancient Libya|Libyans]]) and experienced the beginnings of increasing economic difficulties and internal strife which would eventually lead to the collapse of the Twentieth Dynasty.

In Year 8 of his reign, the Sea Peoples, including [[Philistines|Peleset]], [[Denyen]], [[Shardana]], [[Meshwesh]] of the sea, and [[Tjekker]], invaded Egypt by land and sea. Ramesses III defeated them in two great land and sea battles. First, he defeated them on land in the Battle of Djahy on the Egyptian Empire's easternmost frontier in Djahy or modern-day southern Lebanon. The second one was the Battle of the Delta, in which Ramesses enticed the Sea Peoples and their ships into the mouth of the Nile, where he had assembled a fleet in ambush. Although the Egyptians had a reputation as poor seamen, they fought tenaciously. Rameses lined the shores with ranks of archers who kept up a continuous volley of arrows into the enemy ships when they attempted to land on the banks of the Nile. Then, the Egyptian navy attacked using grappling hooks to haul in the enemy ships. In the brutal hand-to-hand fighting which ensued, the Sea Peoples were utterly defeated. The [[Papyrus Harris|Harris Papyrus]] states:
{{blockquote|As for those who reached my frontier, their seed is not, their heart and their soul are finished forever and ever. As for those who came forward together on the seas, the full flame was in front of them at the Nile mouths, while a stockade of lances surrounded them on the shore, prostrated on the beach, slain, and made into heaps from head to tail.<ref>Hasel, Michael G. "Merenptah's Inscription and Reliefs and the Origin of Israel" in The Near East in the Southwest: Essays in Honor of William G. Dever" edited by Beth Albprt Hakhai ''The Annual of the American Schools of Oriental Research'' Vol. 58 2003, quoting from Edgerton, W. F., and Wilson, John A. 1936 ''Historical Records of Ramses III, the Texts in Medinet Habu, Volumes I and II''. Studies in Ancient Oriental Civilization 12. Chicago: The Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago.</ref>}}

Ramesses III incorporated the Sea Peoples as subject peoples and settled them in southern [[Canaan]]. Their presence in Canaan may have contributed to the formation of new states in this region such as Philistia after the collapse of the Egyptian Empire in Asia. During the reign of Ramses III, Egyptian presence in the Levant is still attested as far as [[Byblos]]<ref>{{Citation |title= The levantine war-records of Ramesses III : changing attitudes, past, present and future |last= James|first= Peter|year= 2017 |pages=71}}</ref> and he may have campaigned further north into Syria.<ref>{{Cite book |title= Ramesses III: The Life and Times of Egypt's Last Hero |last= Kitchen |first= K.A. |publisher= University of Michigan Press |year=2012 |pages=14}}</ref><ref>{{Citation |title= The Historical Background of a Topographical List of Ramesses III |last= Kahn|first= D.|year= 2016 |pages=161–168}}</ref> further south inscriptions of Ramses III have been found in [[Wadi Rum|southern Jordan]] and [[Tayma|northern Saudi Arabia]] which were inscribed as the pharaoh led an army through the area according to archaeologists.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://arabnews.com/saudiarabia/article182756.ece |title=Pharaonic inscription found in Saudi Arabia |website=arabnews.com |date=2025-04-28 }}</ref> He was also compelled to fight invading Libyan tribesmen in two major campaigns in Egypt's Western Delta in his Year 5 and Year 11 respectively.<ref>Nicolas Grimal, A History of Ancient Egypt, Blackwell Books, 1992. p.271</ref> By the early 12th century, Egypt claimed overlordship of Cyrenaican tribes. At one point a ruler chosen by Egypt was set up (briefly) over the combined tribes of Meshwesh, Libu, and Soped.<ref>{{cite journal |author1=David O'Connor |author1-link=David O'Connor (Egyptologist) |title=Expedition Magazine - Penn Museum |website=www.penn.museum |volume=29 |issue=3 |url=https://www.penn.museum/sites/expedition/egyptians-and-libyans-in-the-new-kingdom/ |access-date=4 August 2022 |publisher=University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology}}</ref>