Domination and resistance: Egyptian military activity in the southern Levant during the Late Bronze/Early Iron Age transition

Abstract

Military activity by Egyptians, Israelites, "Sea Peoples," rival city-states and other factors have been promoted as causative agents for the destructions that sweep across the southern Levant and eventually bring about the collapse of Bronze Age civilization. The association of wide scale destruction and historical military campaigns are primarily made on the basis of chronological factors. There is no systematic analysis of the correlates of destruction and little work to ascertain whether they correspond to the claims of original historical sources. Yet decisive conclusions continue to be made concerning (1) sociopolitical history; (2) chronology; and (3) archaeological interpretation. This dissertation focuses on Egyptian military activity during the Late Bronze/Early Iron Age transition. The research design is formulated from questions pertaining to the identification, history, and chronology of specific sites; the destruction correlates that provide the focus, means, extent, and content of military activity; and elements of continuity/discontinuity. These questions are directed to Egyptian military documents, iconography, and sites in the southern Levant. Chapter One presents an introduction to the problem, the purpose, research design, and methodology of the study. Chapter Two contains the first comprehensive analysis of Egyptian terminology and iconography of Dynasties XIX through XX. Chapters Three and Four discuss the extent of Egyptian presence in the southern Levant and analyze sites, socioethnic and geographical/sociocultural entities located in the southern Levant and mentioned in Egyptian military documents. The appendices contain complete concordances of Egyptian military terminology, toponym determinatives, and analyze the structure of the final hymnic-poetic unit of the Merenptah Stela. A paradigm for Egyptian military activity during the Late Bronze/Early Iron Age transition is suggested based on the wholistic analysis of all sources presently available.