The Battle of Bitter Lakes was a part of the military campaign of
Shoshenq I into Asia in 925 BCE where he conquered many cities and towns. The location of the conflict was at
Bitter Lakes
The Great Bitter Lake ( ar, البحيرة المرة الكبرى; transliterated: ''al-Buḥayrah al-Murra al-Kubrā'') is a large saltwater lake in Egypt that is part of the Suez Canal. Before the canal was built in 1869, the Great Bitter L ...
, that we can identify with the lakes to the north by the frontier
channel that was developed in part to guard the eastern
border
Borders are usually defined as geographical boundaries, imposed either by features such as oceans and terrain, or by political entities such as governments, sovereign states, federated states, and other subnational entities. Political borders c ...
of
Lower Egypt, although it is not certain that the channel reached that far south. The
fortresses at the
boundary
Boundary or Boundaries may refer to:
* Border, in political geography
Entertainment
* ''Boundaries'' (2016 film), a 2016 Canadian film
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*Boundary (cricket), the edge of the pla ...
served as checkpoints for
Asiatics who attempted to enter Egypt. This would also serve to block the attacks such as this one mentioned in a stele of Shoshenq I in
Karnak
The Karnak Temple Complex, commonly known as Karnak (, which was originally derived from ar, خورنق ''Khurnaq'' "fortified village"), comprises a vast mix of decayed temples, pylons, chapels, and other buildings near Luxor, Egypt. Constr ...
.
Battle
The battle began as a result of a border incursion by nomads. According to some scholars, Shoshenq used these forays as an excuse to launch an invasion to Judah. Paul Ash suggests that they may have been marauding nomads
in the area of the shores of the
Bitter Lakes
The Great Bitter Lake ( ar, البحيرة المرة الكبرى; transliterated: ''al-Buḥayrah al-Murra al-Kubrā'') is a large saltwater lake in Egypt that is part of the Suez Canal. Before the canal was built in 1869, the Great Bitter L ...
, in
Lower Egypt. The pharaoh was followed by his royal
scribe Hori, and chariotry, to the
battle
A battle is an occurrence of combat in warfare between opposing military units of any number or size. A war usually consists of multiple battles. In general, a battle is a military engagement that is well defined in duration, area, and force ...
field. Not much is known about the actual battle besides the fact that Shoshenq won after surprising the enemy at the shores of Bitter Lakes.
Records of the battle
Previously mentioned stele of
Shoshenq I, discovered at Karnak (specifically the
Great Karnak Inscription
The Great Karnak Inscription is an ancient Egyptian hieroglyphic inscription belonging to the 19th Dynasty Pharaoh Merneptah. A long epigraph, it was discovered at Karnak in 1828–1829. According to Wilhelm Max Müller, it is "one of the famous ...
in Hall K), mentions this much about the battle:
''"Now, My Majesty found that
... theywere killing
... army-leaders. His Majesty was upset about them Š
is Majesty went forth,his chariotry accompanying him without (the enemy's) knowing it. His Majesty made great slaughter among them, Š at the edge of the Bitter Lakes." A contemporary, Hori, had been a real royal scribe,
ollowingthe king at his incursions into the foreign lands
The additional details include a list of the cities (or nearby locations) Shoshenq's armies invaded, including Taanach, Esdraelon, Aijalon, Megiddo, Zemaraim, Bethel, and Tirzah. A Shoshenq stela in Megiddo may also attest to this incursion.
Biblical Shishak
Sheshonk I is frequently identified with the Egyptian king "
Shishaq
Shishak, Shishaq or Susac (, Tiberian: , ) was, according to the Hebrew Bible, an Egyptian pharaoh who sacked Jerusalem in the 10th century BCE. He is usually identified with the pharaoh Shoshenq I.Troy Leiland Sagrillo. 2015.Shoshenq I and bib ...
" (שׁישׁק ''Šîšaq'',
transliterated
Transliteration is a type of conversion of a text from one script to another that involves swapping letters (thus ''trans-'' + '' liter-'') in predictable ways, such as Greek → , Cyrillic → , Greek → the digraph , Armenian → or L ...
), who, according to the
Books of Kings, invaded Judah in the time of king
Jeroboam
Jeroboam I (; Hebrew: ''Yārŏḇə‘ām''; el, Ἱεροβοάμ, Hieroboám) was the first king of the northern Kingdom of Israel. The Hebrew Bible describes the reign of Jeroboam to have commenced following a revolt of the ten northern I ...
. The biblical record in 1 Kings 14 and 2 Chronicles 12 deal with Jerusalem's perspective on the attack, but the record of Sheshonk I gives greater detail of other battle grounds.{{citation needed, date=November 2020
See also
*
Retjenu
Retjenu ('' rṯnw; Reṯenu, Retenu''), was an ancient Egyptian name for Canaan and Syria. It covered the region from the Negev Desert north to the Orontes River. The borders of Retjenu shifted with time, but it generally consisted of three reg ...
*
Shasu
The Shasu ( from Egyptian ''šꜣsw'', probably pronounced ''Shasw'') were Semitic-speaking cattle nomads in the Southern Levant from the late Bronze Age to the Early Iron Age or the Third Intermediate Period of Egypt. They were organized in cla ...
*
Twenty-second dynasty of Egypt
The Twenty-second Dynasty of Egypt is also known as the Bubastite Dynasty, since the pharaohs originally ruled from the city of Bubastis. It was founded by Shoshenq I.
The Twenty-first, Twenty-second, Twenty-third, Twenty-fourth, and Twenty-f ...
Notes
Bitter Lakes
The Great Bitter Lake ( ar, البحيرة المرة الكبرى; transliterated: ''al-Buḥayrah al-Murra al-Kubrā'') is a large saltwater lake in Egypt that is part of the Suez Canal. Before the canal was built in 1869, the Great Bitter L ...
Bitter Lakes
The Great Bitter Lake ( ar, البحيرة المرة الكبرى; transliterated: ''al-Buḥayrah al-Murra al-Kubrā'') is a large saltwater lake in Egypt that is part of the Suez Canal. Before the canal was built in 1869, the Great Bitter L ...
10th century BC
Shoshenq I