Hypothetical campaign of Pepi I

HYPOTHETICAL CAMPAIGN OF PEPI I, c. 2350 BCE

The sole historical information on Palestine from the Early Bronze Age is an Egyptian inscription telling of five military campaigns in the time of Pepi I (2390–2361 BCE) to the "land of the Sand-Dwellers", the ancient Egyptian name for the lands to the east of Egypt. One campaign is described in detail – the Egyptian army set out in two columns, one by land and one by sea; the sea group arrived earlier and landed behind a prominent ridge, the “Nose of the Antelope’s Head,” possibly the Carmel headland. The conquered land was evidently the plain of Acco and a part of the Jezreel Valley, where the Egyptians destroyed fortresses, sacked settlements, uprooted fig trees and vines, and took booty. A picture of the settlements flourishing at the time, especially in the coastal plains, is conjured up by this vivid description. Obviously, the “Sand Dwellers” in this ancient Egyptian text were not nomads but settled agriculturalists. Evaluation of Canaanite society must be based on the ecological (agricultural) facts and not on Egyptian pejorative terms for foreign peoples.

Article abstract from The Sacred Bridge