Irsu "the Ravager" was a Canaanite tribal chieftain who ruled over a band of Shasu cattle nomads during the Late Bronze Age. Irsu helped trigger the Late Bronze Age collapse due to his conquest of Canaan and the sacking and looting that came with it; his invasion of the Nile Delta of Egypt resulted in a weakening of Egyptian sovereignty until the general Setnakhte expelled Irsu's Asiatics from the country after 1189 BC.
Biography[]
Irsu was born in Tadmor, Canaan (now Palmyra, Syria), and he became the chieftain of a band of warlike shasu nomads during the Late Bronze Age. During the civil war between Egyptian rulers Amenmesse and Seti II in 1203-1197 BC, Irsu led a rebellion among Egypt's Asiatic subjects and seized control of Canaan from Carchemish and Ugarit in the north to Ashkelon and Beersheba in the south. As Egypt faced near-collapse due to both internal and external threats, Irsu became known as the most feared raider in the Levant, battling the Egyptian governor of Sinai, Ramesses III, with fury and vigor; he had a thousand wounds to show for his years of fighting and pillaging. After invading and conquering the Sinai and the Nile Delta, Irsu set the whole of Egypt as tributary to himself, united his companions, and plundered Egypt's possessions. The Egyptian ruler Twosret formed an alliance with Irsu, who acquired substantial power in Egypt under her rule in exchange for his help against her opponents. However, after 1189 BC, Twosret's successor Setnakhte expelled the Asiatics and recovered much of the gold, silver, and copper they had looted from Egypt.
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