It was not long after repulsing this attack upon the independence of Egypt that Ramesses undertook his “campaign of revenge.”  Starting with a fleet and army along the line that his assailants had followed, he traversed Palestine and Syria, hunting the lion in the outskirts of Lebanon, and re-establishing for a time the Egyptian dominion over much of the region which had been formerly held in subjection by the great monarchs of the eighteenth and nineteenth dynasties.  He claims to have carried his arms to Aleppo and Carchemish, in which case we must suppose that he defeated the Hittites, or else that they declined to meet him in the field; and he gives a list of thirty-eight conquered countries or tribes, which are thought to belong to Upper Syria, Southern Asia Minor, and Cyprus.  In some of his inscriptions he even speaks of having recovered Naharaina, Kush, and Punt; but there is no evidence that he really visited—­much less conquered—­these remote regions.

The later life of Ramesses III. was, on the whole a time of tranquillity and repose.  The wild tribes of North Africa, after one further attempt to establish themselves in the western Delta, which wholly failed, acquiesced in the lot which nature seemed to have assigned them, and, leaving the Egyptians in peace, contented themselves with the broad tract over which they were free to rove between the Mediterranean and the Sahara Desert.  On the south Ethiopia made no sign.  In the east the Hittites had enough to do to rebuild the power which had been greatly shattered by the passage of the hordes of Asia Minor through their territory, on their way to Egypt and on their return from it.  The Assyrians had not yet commenced their aggressive wars towards the north and west, having probably still a difficulty in maintaining their independence against the attacks of Babylon.  Egypt was left undisturbed by her neighbours for the space of several generations, and herself refrained from disturbing the peace of the world by foreign expeditions.  Ramesses turned his attention to building, commerce, and the planting of Egypt with trees.  He constructed and ornamented the beautiful temple of Ammon at Medinet-Abou, built a fleet on the Red Sea and engaged in trade with Punt, dug a great reservoir in the country of Aina (Southern Palestine), and “over the whole land of Egypt planted trees and shrubs, to give the inhabitants rest under their cool shade.”

The general decline of Egypt must, however, be regarded as having commenced in his reign.  His Eastern conquests were more specious than solid, resulting in a nominal rather than a real subjection of Palestine and Syria to his yoke.  His subjects grew unaccustomed to the use of arms during the last twenty, or five and twenty, years of his life.  Above all, luxury, intrigue, and superstition invaded the court, where the eunuchs and concubines exercised a pernicious influence.  Magic was practised by some of the chief men in the State, and the belief was widely spread that it was