It was in the fifth year of Meneptah (B.C. 1276).  Egypt was threatened by formidable enemies.  The Libyans advanced against it by land, the nations of the Greek seas attacked it by water.  Achaeans came from the north, Lycians from Asia Minor, Sardinians and Sicilians from the islands of the west.  The Delta was overrun by swarms of barbarians, who pitched their tents in front of Belbeis at the western end of the land of Goshen.  Plague after plague descended upon the Egyptians, and the freedom of his serfs was wrung from the Pharaoh.  They fled by night, carrying with them the spoil they had taken from their masters, only to find that the gate of the great line of fortification which protected the eastern frontier of Egypt was closed against them.  Meneptah had repented of his act, and a squadron of six hundred chariots was sent in pursuit of the fugitives.

But a violent wind drove back the sea from the shallows at the southern extremity of the forts, and enabled the Israelites to cross them.  While their pursuers were following in their footsteps, the dropping of the wind caused the waters to return upon them, and chariots, horses, and men were alike overwhelmed.  The Israelites were saved as it were by miracle, and the Pharaoh lost his bondsmen.

But Egypt also succeeded in repelling the storm of invasion which had fallen upon it.  The Libyans and their northern allies were annihilated in a decisive battle, their king, Murai, fled from the field, and a countless amount of booty and prisoners fell into the hands of the victorious Egyptians.  Canaan, however, was lost, with the exception of Gaza, which defended the road from Egypt, and was still garrisoned by Egyptian troops.  But Gaza, the Calais of Egypt, was not destined to remain long in their power.  Already the coast-road was made dangerous by the attacks of Philistine pirates from Crete; and it was not long before the pirates took permanent possession of the southern corner of Palestine, and established themselves in its five chief towns.  The Egyptian domination in Asia had passed away for ever.

After Meneptah’s death the Nineteenth dynasty soon came to an inglorious end.  Civil war distracted the country, and for a time it obeyed the rule of a foreign chief.  Then came the rise of the Twentieth dynasty, and a third Ramses restored the prestige and prosperity of his kingdom.  But once more the foreign invader was upon its soil.  The nations of the north had again poured southward, partly by land, partly by sea, greedy for the wealth that was stored in the cultured lands of the Oriental world, and eager to find new settlements for an expanding population.  Greek traditions spoke of the movement as a consequence of the Trojan war, and delighted to dwell on the voyages of its heroes into unknown seas, of the piratical descents to which it led, and of the colonies which were planted by it.  The Philistine occupation of southern Palestine was one of its results.