Many great changes had begun to occur in the Egyptian Empire during the reign of Ramesses III because of the invasion of Syria by peoples from Asia Minor and Europe.

His successors lose their hold over Canaan; the Twenty-first Dynasty no longer intervenes in the affairs of Syria.

In The Story of Wen-Amon, a tale of an Egyptian religious functionary sent to Byblos to secure cedar around 1100, the episode of the functionary's inhospitable reception shows the extent of the decline of Egypt's authority in Phoenicia at this time.

Tiglath-Pileser secures command of the high road to the Mediterranean by the possession of the Hittite town of Pethor at the Jordan River; thence he proceeds to …

…the Phoenician cities of Gubal (Byblos), …

…Sidon, and finally to …

…Arvad, where he embarks onto a ship to sail the Mediterranean, on which he kills a nahiru or "sea-horse" (which A. Leo Oppenheim translates as a narwhal) in the sea.

The Phoenician trading cities pay him tribute, and Egypt, closely linked by trade with the Syrian coast, makes overtures of friendship.

The city of Damascus becomes the center of a powerful Aramaean state called Aram Damascus in the late twelfth century BCE.

The sources for the early history of Aram-Damascus are almost nonexistent.

A collection of annals dating to Tiglath-Pileser I (1114-1076 BCE) states that Aramaean people have begun settling in the southern half of Syria.

The ruins of the Aramean town most probably lie under the eastern part of the old walled city.

Tiglath-Pileser is passionately fond of the chase.

He is also a great builder: the general view is that the restoration of the temple of Assur and Hadad at Assur is one of his works.

He carries out extensive building work in Ashur, …

…Nineveh, and other cities, and texts from his library are still extant.

The Egyptian empire has shrunk since the time of Ramesses III and all ambitious royal building programs have failed.

The independence of officials has increasingly impeded government, as offices have become hereditary and corruption and inefficiency multiplies.

The New Kingdom ends in a civil war under Ramesses XI.

Egypt splits after 1085, between a northern Twenty-first dynasty claiming national recognition and a line of Theban generals supported by the high priests of Amun (the actual controllers of the south).

Tiglath-Pileser I of Assyria conquers Mesopotamia and the eastern Mediterranean, defeating Babylon and exacting tribute from the Phoenician city-states.

The Aramaeans take Babylon after his death and destroy Assyrian power, driving the Canaanites south.