Battle of the Delta in the context of "Mortuary Temple of Ramesses III"

The Sea Peoples were a group of tribes hypothesized to have attacked Egypt and other Eastern Mediterranean regions around 1200 BC during the Late Bronze Age. The hypothesis was proposed by the 19th-century Egyptologists Emmanuel de Rougé and Gaston Maspero, on the basis of primary sources such as the reliefs on the Mortuary Temple of Ramesses III at Medinet Habu. Subsequent research developed the hypothesis further, attempting to link these sources to other Late Bronze Age evidence of migration, piracy, and destruction. While initial versions of the hypothesis regarded the Sea Peoples as a primary cause of the Late Bronze Age collapse, more recent versions generally regard them as a symptom of events which were already in motion before their purported attacks.

The Sea Peoples included well-attested groups such as the Lukka and Peleset, as well as others such as the Weshesh whose origins are unknown. Hypotheses regarding the origin of the various groups are the source of much speculation. Several of them appear to have been Aegean tribes, while others may have originated in Sicily, Sardinia, Crete, Southern Italy, Cyprus, and Western Anatolia.

Medinet Habu (Arabic: مدينة هابو, romanized: Madīnat Hābū; Ancient Egyptian: ḏꜣmwt; Sahidic Coptic: (ⲧ)ϫⲏⲙⲉ, ϫⲏⲙⲏ, ϫⲉⲙⲉ, ϫⲉⲙⲏ, ϫⲏⲙⲓ; Bohairic Coptic: ϭⲏⲙⲓ) is an archaeological locality situated near the foot of the Theban Hills on the West Bank of the River Nile opposite the modern city of Luxor, Egypt. Although other structures are located within the area and important discoveries have also been made at these sites, the location is today associated almost synonymously with the largest and best preserved site, the Mortuary Temple of Ramesses III. It was an important New Kingdom period temple structure in the West Bank of Luxor in Egypt. Aside from its size and architectural and artistic importance, the mortuary temple is probably best known as the source of inscribed reliefs depicting the advent and defeat of the "sea peoples" during the reign of Ramesses III (c. 1186–1155 BC), including the Battle of the Delta. Some of the buildingmaterials were re-used from earlier monuments including the destroyed mortuary temple of Tausret (c. 1191–1189 BC) the last known ruler and the final pharaoh of the Nineteenth Dynasty of Egypt. The Greco-Roman period temple to Isis, Deir el-Shelwit, lies4 kilometers to the south and re-used inscribed blocks from Medinet Habu were found there.

The site of these temples included an inhabited human settlement since pharaonic times, which continued until the 9th century, by which time it was a Coptic center called Jeme. The last remnants of the former town were cleared during the excavations at the end of the 19th century.