Sidon, and Beyrout are all conspicuous by their absence. Even Joppa is
unnamed. After Gaza we have only descriptive epithets like "the Spring"
and "the Cistern," or the names of otherwise unknown villages. With
Kamdu in Coele-Syria the catalogue of cities begins afresh.

It is plain that the northern campaign of the Pharaoh was little better
than a raid. No attempt was made to capture the cities of the coast, and
re-establish in them the Egyptian power. The Egyptian army passed them
by without any effort to reduce them. Possibly the Philistines had
already settled on the coast, and had shown themselves too strong to be
meddled with; possibly the Egyptian fleet was acting in concert with the
troops on land, and Ramses cared only to lead his forces to some spot on
the north Syrian coast, from whence, if necessary, the ships could
convey them home. Whatever may have been the reason, the fact remains
that Gaza alone of the cities of the Canaanitish coast fell into the
hands of the Pharaoh. It was only in the extreme south, in what was so
soon afterwards to become the territory of Judah, that he overran the
country and occupied the large towns.

With the lists of Ramses III. our knowledge of the geography of
Patriarchal Palestine is brought to a close. Henceforward we have to do
with the Canaan of Israelitish conquest and settlement. The records of
the Old Testament contain a far richer store of geographical names than
we can ever hope to glean from the monuments of Egypt. But the latter
show how little change after all was effected by the Israelitish
conquest in the local nomenclature of the country. A few cities
disappeared like Kirjath-Sepher, but on the whole not only the cities,
but even the villages of pre-Israelitish Canaan survived under their old
names. When we compare the names of the towns and villages of Judah
enumerated in the Book of Joshua with the geographical lists of a