Battle of the Delta 1178 BCE
The Battle of the Delta has known recorded on the temple walls of the mortuary temple of pharaoh Ramesses III at Medinet Habu. The battle is said to have occurred between the Egyptians and the Sea Peoples. The Sea Peoples were a seafaring confederation of groups that are believed to have sailed around the eastern Mediterranean and invaded Anatolia, Syria, Canaan, Phoenicia, Cyprus and Egypt near the end of the Bronze Age. The invasions by the Sea Peoples were believed as part of the reason for the end of the Bronze Age.
Ramesses had fought the Sea Peoples before and had defeated them on land in Syria. After Syria, he headed back to Egypt where preparations had already been made for an invasion by the Sea People. Ramesses was outnumbered and knew that he would be defeated in a sea battle. He lined his archers on the shore and told them to volley arrows at any ship that attempted to land. Next, he decided that he had to face the Sea People on the water somehow and decided that he would even the odds.
He enticed the Sea Peoples to guide their ships into the mouth of the Nile where his own fleet was waiting to ambush them. The Egyptian fleet forced the Sea Peoples’ ships close to the shore where they were within range of the archers. Archers on land and on ships were able to destroy the Sea Peoples. Their ships were overturned and many of them were killed, captured or dragged to shore where they were killed.
The Egyptian victory at the Battle of the Delta ensure that Egypt did not suffer the same fate as Hatti, Alasiya and other great Near Eastern powers. There is no record that the Egyptians pursued the Sea Peoples after their defeat. Some believe that what was left of the Sea Peoples settled in the Southern Levant after the death of Ramesses.