13 - Egypt: from the Twenty-Second to the Twenty-Fourth Dynasty

Summary

THE RISE OF LIBYAN SUPREMACY

Before the end of the Ramesside period bands of Libyans belonging to the tribes of the Mashwesh and the Libu were conducting sporadic raids against the inhabitants of the Theban region, but there is nothing to suggest that these marauders attempted to establish themselves on Upper Egyptian soil, at least in any appreciable numbers. In the Delta, however, a very different state of affairs was developing, partly, and possibly mainly, as a result of the policy adopted by the very pharaohs who had defended Egypt against invasion from the west. If a satirical letter may be accepted as historical evidence, Ramesses II engaged as mercenaries in his army a contingent of foreign troops, among whom were some who belonged to the Mashwesh. How they came to be in Egypt is not stated; they may have been either descendants of prisoners taken by Sethos I or prisoners taken by Ramesses II himself in skirmishes with the Libyans, perhaps when he was constructing a chain of forts along the north-western coastal road. Merneptah also brought back prisoners, but the numbers given are not large. Ramesses III, however, is recorded as having captured many thousands of men, women and children, transporting them to prison-camps across the Nile, doubtless in various places in the eastern Delta. In time they and their offspring obtained their freedom and many of the men served as mercenaries in the Egyptian army, receiving tracts of land in payment for their services.