The Battle of Megiddo was a major battle fought between the Egyptian army of Pharaoh Thutmose III and a Palestinian alliance of Canaanite city-states and the Kingdom of Mitanni. The Egyptian victory at Megiddo resulted in the re-establishment of Egyptian control over the Levant.
History[]
Pharaoh Thutmose III led an army out of Egypt to suppress an alliance of the princes of Megiddo and Kadesh in Palestine. The army took 10 days to march to Gaza, drinking from wells that had been dug along the desert roads. After halting to rest and scout out the ground ahead, Thutmose took a huge gamble. Instead of proceeding around the mountains that lay to the north, he marched his men through the narrow Aruna Pass, thus exposing them to easy attack if caught. But the gamble paid off; the Egyptians' swift advance surprised the king of Kadesh, who had expected Thutmose to take the longer route around the mountains. Thutmose, leading his forces in a chariot of electrum (an alloy of gold and silver), overawed the forces of Kadesh, which fled toward the safety of the fortress of Megiddo. The town's gate was firmly closed, but those inside hauled the escaping soldiers over the walls with ropes made of clothing. The Egyptians collected plunder from the battlefield, and then began a siege of the fortress. Those inside surrendered after seven months.