Pharaoh Merenptah

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Merenptah was fairly advanced in years when he ascended the throne .
He sent several military expeditions abroad: not only to Nubia , but also into Palestine , where he subdued the rebellions of Ashkelon , Gezer and Yenoam . The 'victory stela' that records these victories also contains the first reference in Egyptian sources to Israel , not as a country or city but as a tribe .
The major event of his reign occurred in the 5th year , at launching a campaign against the Libyans . There had been a problem even during Merenptah's father and grandfather's reigns , but the fortresses Ramses II had built along the western borders of the Delta were obviously unable to prevent the invasion of a massive coalition of Libyan and other tribes .
According to a long inscription at Karnak (between the 7th pylon and the central part of the temple) , Merenptah had actually sent grain to the starving Hittites , who were still Egypt's ally in the East . Many important centers of Mycenaean Greece had been violently destroyed and the western fringes of the Hittite Empire had begun to collapse . The 'Sea Peoples' had also reached the coast of North Africa between Cyrenaica and Mersa Matruh . In this area , the Sea Peoples joined the Libyan tribes and with a force of some 16 . 000 men marched on Egypt . Bringing their women and children with them , as well as cattle and other belongings , indicate to their obvious planning to settle in Egypt . They had actually penetrated the Western Delta and were moving southwards , threatening Memphis and Heliopolis , when Merenptah confronted them and in a battle that lasted for 6 hours , managed to defeat them .
The rest of Merenptah's reign appears to have been peaceful , and the King used it to build at least two temples and a palace in Memphis . He must have realized that he did not have many years left , as his mortuary temple on the Theban west bank is constructed almost exclusively from blocks removed from earlier structures , particularly the nearby temples of Amenhotep III .
He died in the 9th year of his reign .