7), better known to us as Petra. Of
Jacob-el we have already had occasion to speak.
It is in the ruined temple of Medinet Habu that Ramses III. has recorded
his victories and inscribed the names of the peoples and cities he had
overcome. We gather from the latter that his armies had followed the
roads already traversed by Ramses II., had marched through the south of
Palestine into Moab, and had made their way along the sea-coast into
Northern Syria. One after the other we read the names of Hir-nam or
Har-nam, called Har-Nammata in the _Mohar's Travels_, of Lebanoth, of
Beth-Anath and Qarbutu (Josh. xv. 59), of Carmim, "the vineyards," and
Shabuduna or Shebtin, of Mashabir (?), of Hebron and its 'En or
"Spring," of the "district of Libnah," of 'Aphekah and 'Abakhi (Josh.
xv. 53), of Migdal--doubtless the Migdal-Gad of Josh. xv. 53--and
Qarzak, of Carmel of Judah and the Upper District of Debir, of Shimshon
and Erez Hadasth, of the district of Salem or Jerusalem and the "Lake of
Rethpana," of the Jordan, of Khilz the fortress, of Korkha and of Uru. A
second list gives us the line of march along the shores of the
Mediterranean Sea. First we have 'Akata, perhaps Joktheel in Judah
(Josh. xv. 38), then Karka and [Zidi]puth, Abel and the district of
Sela', the district of Zasr and Jacob-el, Rehuza, Saaba and Gaza,
Rosh-Kadesh, Inzath and the "Spring," Lui-el, which we might also read
Levi-el, Bur, "the Cistern," Kamdu, "Qubur the great," Iha, Tur, and
finally Sannur, the Saniru of the Assyrian texts, the Shenir of the Old
Testament (Deut. iii. 9). This brings us to Mount Hermon and the land of
the Amorites, so that it is not surprising to find after two more names
that of Hamath.
One point about this list is very noticeable. None of the great
Phoenician cities of the coast are mentioned in it. Acre, Ekdippa, Tyre,
Sidon, and Beyrout are all conspicuous by their absence. Even Joppa is
unnamed. After Gaza we have only descriptive epithets like "the Spring"
and "the Cistern," or the names of otherwise unknown villages. With
Kamdu in Coele-Syria the catalogue of cities begins afresh.
It is plain that the northern campaign of the Pharaoh was little better
than a raid. No attempt was made to capture the cities of the coast, and
re-establish in them the Egyptian power. The Egyptian army passed them
by without any effort to reduce them. Possibly the Philistines had
already settled on the coast, and had shown themselves too stron
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