'Aper-dagar, who also carried a despatch to the overseer of the
peasantry, while a third envoy came in the reverse direction, from the
city of Meneptah, "in the land of the Amorites."

In the troubles which preceded the accession of the twentieth dynasty
the Asiatic possessions of Egypt were naturally lost, and were never
again recovered. Ramses III., however, the last of the conquering
Pharaohs, made at least one campaign in Palestine and Syria. Like
Meneptah, he had to bear the brunt of an attack upon Egypt by the
confederated hordes of the north which threatened to extinguish its
civilization altogether. The nations of Asia Minor and the Ægean Sea had
poured into Syria as the northern barbarians in later days poured into
the provinces of the Roman Empire. Partly by land, partly by sea, they
made their way through Phoenicia and the land of the Hittites,
destroying everything as they went, and carrying in their train the
subjugated princes of Naharaim and Kadesh. For a time they encamped in
the "land of the Amorites," and then pursued their southward march.
Ramses III. met them on the north-eastern frontier of his kingdom, and
in a fiercely-contested battle utterly overthrew them. The ships of the
invaders were captured or sunk, and their forces on land were decimated.
Immense quantities of booty and prisoners were taken, and the shattered
forces of the enemy retreated into Syria. There the Philistines and
Zakkal possessed themselves of the sea-coast, and garrisoned the cities
of the extreme south. Gaza ceased to be an Egyptian fortress, and became
instead an effectual barrier to the Egyptian occupation of Canaan.

When Ramses III. followed the retreating invaders of his country into
Syria, it is doubtful whether the Philistines had as yet settled
themselves in their future home. At all events Gaza fell into his hands,
and he found no difficulty in marching along the Mediterranean coast