The siege of Dapur occurred as part of Pharaoh

Ramesses II Ramesses II (sometimes written Ramses or Rameses) (; , , ; ), commonly known as Ramesses the Great, was an Pharaoh, Egyptian pharaoh. He was the third ruler of the Nineteenth Dynasty of Egypt, Nineteenth Dynasty. Along with Thutmose III of th ...

's campaign to suppress

Galilee Galilee (; ; ; ) is a region located in northern Israel and southern Lebanon consisting of two parts: the Upper Galilee (, ; , ) and the Lower Galilee (, ; , ). ''Galilee'' encompasses the area north of the Mount Carmel-Mount Gilboa ridge and ...

and conquer

Syria Syria, officially the Syrian Arab Republic, is a country in West Asia located in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Levant. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Turkey to Syria–Turkey border, the north, Iraq to Iraq–Syria border, t ...

in 1269 BC. He described his campaign on the wall of his mortuary temple, the

Ramesseum The Ramesseum is the Temples of a Million years, memorial temple (or mortuary temple) of Pharaoh Ramesses II ("Ramesses the Great", also spelled "Ramses" and "Rameses"). It is located in the Theban Necropolis in Upper Egypt, on the west of the Ni ...

Thebes, Egypt Thebes (, , ''Thēbai''), known to the ancient Egyptians as Waset, was an ancient Egyptian city located along the Nile about south of the Mediterranean. Its ruins lie within the modern Egyptian city of Luxor. Thebes was the main city of the fo ...

. The inscriptions say that Dapur was "in the land of Hatti". Although Dapur has often been identified with Tabor in

Canaan CanaanThe current scholarly edition of the Septuagint, Greek Old Testament spells the word without any accents, cf. Septuaginta : id est Vetus Testamentum graece iuxta LXX interprets. 2. ed. / recogn. et emendavit Robert Hanhart. Stuttgart : D ...

, Egyptologist

Kenneth Kitchen Kenneth Anderson Kitchen (1932 – 6 February 2025) was a British biblical scholar, Ancient Near Eastern historian, and Personal and Brunner Professor Emeritus of Egyptology and honorary research fellow at the School of Archaeology, Classics and ...

argues that this identification is incorrect and that the Dapur in question was in Syria, north of

Kadesh Qadesh, Qedesh, Qetesh, Kadesh, Kedesh, Kadeš and Qades come from the common Semitic root "Q-D-Š", which means "sacred." Kadesh and variations may refer to: Ancient/biblical places * Kadesh (Syria) or Qadesh, an ancient city of the Levant, on ...

.M. Healy, ''Qadesh 1300 BC: Clash of the warrior kings'', 87 Egyptian reliefs depict Dapur as a heavily fortified settlement with both inner and outer walls and situated on a rocky hill, which was usual for

Bronze Age The Bronze Age () was a historical period characterised principally by the use of bronze tools and the development of complex urban societies, as well as the adoption of writing in some areas. The Bronze Age is the middle principal period of ...

settlements in Syria and abroad,

Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...

was also fortified. Contemporary illustrations of the siege show the use of

ladders A ladder is a Vertical direction, vertical or inclined set of rungs or Step (footing), steps commonly used for climbing or descending. There are two types: rigid ladders that are self-supporting or that may be leaned against a vertical surface ...

chariot A chariot is a type of vehicle similar to a cart, driven by a charioteer, usually using horses to provide rapid Propulsion, motive power. The oldest known chariots have been found in burials of the Sintashta culture in modern-day Chelyabinsk O ...

s, and mounted

cavalry Historically, cavalry (from the French word ''cavalerie'', itself derived from ''cheval'' meaning "horse") are groups of soldiers or warriors who Horses in warfare, fight mounted on horseback. Until the 20th century, cavalry were the most mob ...

with Egyptian soldiers climbing scale ladders supported by archers. Six of the sons of Ramesses, still wearing their sidelocks of youth, also appear on those depictions of the siege. Those include: File:Ramesseum siege of Dapur.jpg, Relief from

showing the siege of Dapur in 1269 BC

References

* James Henry Breasted, ''Ancient Records of Egypt,'' Part III § 359. 13th century BC Sieges of antiquity Battles involving ancient Egypt Battles involving the Hittite Empire

Siege A siege () . is a military blockade of a city, or fortress, with the intent of conquering by attrition, or by well-prepared assault. Siege warfare (also called siegecrafts or poliorcetics) is a form of constant, low-intensity conflict charact ...

2nd-millennium BC conflicts Sieges involving Egypt {{siege-stub