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