Ramessids
When Horemheb died, apparently childless, he was succeeded by another general who, as Rameses-I (r.c.1295-c.1294 BC), founded the nineteenth dynasty.
The main priority of his son Seti-I (r.c.1294-c.1279 BC) was to regain Egypt’s authority over Palestine/Syria which had been compromised by increasing pressure from the Hittites. In his first regnal year he led a campaign against the Shasu in southern Palestine and conducted several campaigns in Palestine/Syria. After a war against the Hittites, Seti seems to have reached an understanding with the Hittite leader Muwatalli II (r.c.1295-c.1272 BC) that settled for Egyptian influence ending just south of Kadesh.
In his second regnal year Seti’s son Rameses II the Great (c.85; r.c.1279-c.1213 BC) defeated Sherden pirates in a sea battle off the Mediterranean coast. In his fourth year he campaigned in Palestine/Syria. In his fifth year the Egyptian army marched to Kadesh where Rameses blundered into a Hittite ambush but managed to rally his troops and the battle ended in a stalemate. Further campaigns followed against the Hittites until in his twenty-first regnal year Rameses concluded a peace treaty with Hattusili III (r.c.1267-c.1237 BC).
To defend himself against the Libyans, Rameses built a series of fortifications in the western Delta. In his fifth regnal year Rameses’ son Merneptah (r.c.1213-c.1203 BC) defeated a combined force of Libyans and Sea People in a six-hour battle in the western Delta. Thousands of them were killed but many more were captured and later settled in colonies.
The excessive length of Rameses II’s reign again resulted in the problem of succession. Amenmesse (r.c.1203-c.1200 BC), thought to be a usurper, was replaced by Merneptah’s rightful heir Seti II (r.c.1200-c.1194 BC), who seems to have kept the land in relative peace. As Siptah (r.c.1194-c.1188 BC) was a young boy it is possible that his stepmother Tausret (r.c.1188-c.1186 BC).acted as regent.
It seems that the power behind the throne during the declining years of the nineteenth dynasty was a powerful official Chancellor Bay who was defeated by the first king of the twentieth dynasty Sethnakht (r.c.1186-c.1184 BC). Sethnakht was succeeded by his son Rameses III (r.c.1184-c.1153 BC).
Since the days of Merneptah, the Sea People had destroyed the Hittite Empire (c.1420-c.1200 BC) and devastated the entire region. In his eighth regnal year Rameses repelled a combined land and sea assault by the Sea People on the Delta. In his fifth and eleventh regnal years he fought off Libyan invasions, but he seems to have allowed the Libyan population to increase in the western Delta by peaceful infiltration.
All the eight remaining kings of the twentieth dynasty had the name ‘Rameses’. Dynastic troubles flared up again and a slow decline of royal power began. Egypt was beset by droughts, civil unrest and official corruption.
During the reign of Rameses XI (r.c.1099-c.1069 BC), the viceroy of Nubia, Panehay, appeared in Thebes with Nubian troops to restore order. He was driven back by the king’s army, almost certainly led by a general called Piankh. Piankh then styled himself vizier and when Amenhotep died he became high priest of Thebes. After the death of Piankh his son-in-law Horihor took over all his functions. Real power was now divided between Horihor in the south, and Smendes from Tanis in the north.
Sea People
Around the twelfth century BC there was a great migration of people probably displaced by widespread crop failures and famine. Among these migrants were the Sea People, a loose federation of groups whose individual names are believed to have come from the Aegean and Anatolia. The Sea People were probably active as early as the reign of Akhenaton. These were probably the Sherden (or Shardana), Denen and Lukka. Attempts have been made to link the various groups with their homelands or with the places in which they settled: Ekwesh and Denen with the Achaean and Danaan Greeks of Homer; Lukka with Lycia in Anatolia; Sherden with Sardinia; Teresh with the Etruscans, Shekelesh with the Sikels who gave their name to Sicily; Libu who gave their name to Libya, and Peleset with the biblical Philistines who gave their name to Palestine. Soon after the mid-twelfth century BC the Sea People disappeared but the events with which they are associated – the fall of Troy, the destruction of the Hittites and other states – resulted in a dark age in the Aegean and Anatolia.
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