The Siege of Sumura occurred in 1281 BC during the Egyptian conquest of the Levant.
Background[]
Under Pharaoh Ramesses II, Egypt embarked on several campaigns of conquest, with its most important campaign being Prince Amun-her-khepeshef's conquest of the Levant. Starting in 1290 BC, New Kingdom Egypt reasserted its dominance in the region by conquering the Canaanites, assimilating their new subjects as followers of Kemetic cults, and challenging the Phoenician city-states' dominance of Levantine trade. Aware that they would soon come into contact with the powerful Hittites of Anatolia, the Egyptians sought to form alliances to secure their borders. In 1282 BC, the Egyptians formed an alliance with the Syrian Amorites, who had expanded southwards at the expense of the Phoenicians. Ramesses initially saw this as a means to secure his eastern borders during his advance up Phoenicia, but the alliance fell apart for two major reasons: Egyptian jealousy over the Amorites' designs on Damascus and the Amorites' refusal to allow Egyptian armies to set foot on their soil. Rather than let the Amorites dictate to him, Ramesses set about asserting Egypt's power first by diplomacy, and then by force. In the winter of 1282 BC, the Egyptian diplomat Paser bribed the defenders of Damascus to welcome Egyptian rule, having held out against numerous Amorite siege attempts. This was intended to both slight the Amorites as well as widen the breadth of Egypt's Levantine territories, as a continual northward expansion would leave the Egyptian coastal provinces overextended. In 1281 BC, Paser informed the Amorite nobleman Ibiranu that Egypt and Amurru were no longer allies, and this was followed up with an Egyptian invasion of Amorite lands.
Siege[]
Amun-her-khepeshef and his 1,176-strong Egyptian army proceeded to march north and besiege the Levantine port city of Sumura, which the Amorite king Duppi-Teshub had seized from the Phoenicians and converted into his people's capital. For a capital city, it was underdefended, with only 261 Amorites manning the defenses. Egyptian diplomats bribed nearby Amorite relief armies to defect or disband, and the defectors were then sent to garrison other Egyptian cities and disappear into Egypt's vast pool of soldiers. Sumura was then taken by storm, with the Egyptians employing siege engines in the assault. Sumura had already been devastated by the Amorite takeover, so, when the Egyptians decided to enslave the populace, only 193 slaves were taken. Shortly after, Ibiranu was bribed to defect to Egypt and surrender Qadesh to the Egyptian army.