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Around 1285 BCE, the sun shone on Syria, and a scene of devastation.

A fortified town atop a hill lay under a pall of smoke.

Its mud-brick walls, crannulated, were chipped by arrow-fire, battered by pecks, and stained with blood.

The city's wooden gate lay trampled and broken, torn down by the axes of a furious army.

The soldiers of Egypt, led by their king, Wasmuria Satypnaria, or Remeses II, had invaded the lands of Syria.

Having regained their footing after Kadesh, the royal soldiers counterattacked.

In the eighth year of Ramesses reign, they had marched into northern Kanan, around the sea of Galilee and neighboring lands.

They recorded victories over many towns, bringing forth prisoners whom they subjugated as vassals or took home as captives.

Simultaneously, another army marched east, passed the Dead Sea into a land we know as Moab. Now, with victories in the east and

the north of Canaan, Ramesses was ready to go further. Within the conquered town, victorious warriors

ravaged the populace. Families were rounded up, adults and children both, and taken into captivity.

Livestock were gathered, to bring southward to Canaan, or perhaps even to Egypt itself.

Houses were burned, the hinterland was savaged. According to royal inscriptions,

Egyptian troops would attack orchards and vineyards, cutting

...