Battle of Bitter Lakes

Infobox Military Conflict
conflict=Battle of Bitter Lakes
partof=
campaign=Military campaign of Shoshenq I to Palestine


caption=
date=925 BC
place=Bitter Lakes
casus beli=Disturbance in the eastern Egyptian border
territory=
result=Egyptian victory|combatant1=Egypt
combatant2=Bedouins
commander1=Shoshenq I
commander2=Unknown
strength1=Unknown
strength2=Unknown
casualties1=Unknown
casualties2=Many killed

The battle of Bitter Lakes was a part of the military campaign of Shoshenq I to Palestine in 925 BC where he conquered many cities and towns including Jerusalem. The location of the conflict was at Bitter Lakes, that we can identify with the lakes to the north by the frontier channel that was developed in part to guard the eastern border of Egypt, although it is not certain that the channel reached that far south. The fortresses at the boundary served as a 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.

Battle

The battle begun as a result of a border incursion by bedouins. According to some scholars, Shoshenq used these forays as an excuse to launch an invasion to Palestine. Paul Ash suggests that they may have been marauding nomads [cite book | last = Ash | first = Paul S | authorlink = | coauthors = | title = David, Solomon and Egypt: A Reassessment (JSOT Supplement) | publisher = Sheffield Academic Press | date = November 1999 | location = | pages = 52 | url = http://books.google.com/books?id=4V8eB8Ouq8MC&pg=PA52&dq=battle+%22bitter+lakes%22+shoshenq&ei=LRE9SNCUEpHCyQSsj_jzAg&client=firefox-a&sig=ACsUOiDmRtJvX3EiKyI9Q2B_WYw | doi = | id = | isbn = 978-1841270210 ] in the area of the shores of the Bitter Lakes, in present-day Egypt. The pharaoh was followed by his royal scribe Hori, and chariotry, to the battlefield. 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, mentions this much about the battle:

"Now, My Majesty found that [ ... they] were killing [ ... ] army-leaders. His Majesty was upset about them Š [His 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, [following] the king at his incursions into the foreign lands of Retjenu [i.e., Palestine] "."

See also

*Shoshenq I
*Twenty-second dynasty of Egypt
*Great Bitter Lake
*Retjenu
*Shasu

Notes