4 – Battle of the Delta – 1175 BC?
After managing to fend off the Sea Peoples with victory at Djahy, Rameses used this breathing space to create a plan to end the threat of this dangerous enemy. According to the ancient Medinet Habu inscriptions, the Pharaoh looked at the sea and saw thousands of enemies. He knew the Sea Peoples were a great threat to his empire so he began preparations for a huge sea battle.
His first step was to line the Nile Delta shores with archers ready to shoot thousands of arrows at any enemy ships that came close to land. Rather than engaging with the Sea Peoples on the open water (which would spell almost certain defeat), Rameses cleverly lured their ships into the Nile’s mouth where he had an ambush waiting. This trap consisted of numerous Egyptian ships which pushed their enemy’s vessels towards the shore and the waiting archers.
These men, along with the archers located on the ships, let off volley after volley of arrows and utterly destroyed the enemy. The Sea Peoples were only armed with swords and spears so there was no way for them to counterattack. Their ships were overturned; many of their men drowned and most of those that survived the initial attack were either captured or killed on the shore.
The Battle of the Delta was unquestionably one of the most crucial battles in the history of ancient Egypt. Had Rameses III been defeated, it is almost certain that the empire would have met the same fate as destroyed civilizations such as the Hittites. Yet the victory came at a heavy cost. The Egyptian Treasury was completely drained and its army was severely depleted. While immediate destruction was prevented; the empire began a steady decline in any case. Once Rameses died, things got worse as the Philistines took all of Egypt’s territory in the East.