2584 AM · 1177 BCE · world history
Ramesses III and the Sea Peoples
Egypt beats off the invasion of the Sea Peoples, but comes out of the war bled white.
From the north, by land and sea at once, come confederations of tribes the Egyptians call the Sea Peoples: the Hittite kingdom, the cities of Syria and Cyprus have already fallen before them. Ramesses III meets them in the delta, lures their ships into the river mouth and burns them; the scenes of battle are carved on the temple walls at Medinet Habu, along with the list of tribes. Egypt survives, but exhausted: harvests fail, the tomb-builders strike, there is a conspiracy in the palace. One of the defeated tribes, the Peleset, settles on the southern coast of Canaan — the future Philistines.