1503-1449 b.c.—Eighteenth Dynasty. In the twenty-second year of his reign, 1481 b.c. (according to Sayce), Thothmes III made his first determined attempt to subdue Canaan. Gaza was occupied with much difficulty. The fortress of the Prince of Gaza is mentioned in the great expedition of Thothmes III.
c. 1444 b.c.—Eighteenth Dynasty. Amen-hetep II, successor of Thothmes III, has hieroglyphic inscriptions in Gaza, which have been lately discovered. They show that a temple had been built by this Egyptian king to the goddess An Mut.
c. 1366 b.c.—Nineteenth Dynasty. Seti Mer-en Ptah I, the father of Rameses II, drove the Beduins before him from the frontiers of Egypt to those of Canaan, and established a line of fortresses and walls along "the way of the Philistines," which ran by the way of the shore to Gaza (Sayce).
1348-1281 b.c.—Nineteenth Dynasty. Rameses II, User-Maāt-Ra (the Great), continued to hold Gaza till at least 1292, or later.
c. 1225 b.c.—Twentieth Dynasty. Rameses III, Hik-An, captured Gaza, but it does not seem to have remained long in the possession of the Egyptians (Sayce).
734-732 b.c.—Tiglath-pileser III, the founder of the second Assyrian Empire, plundered Gaza, and made it subject to Assyria. It soon revolted against its new masters, relying, no doubt, upon help from Egypt, but in vain.
c. 720 b.c.—Hanno, King of Gaza, called to his aid So (Shabaka), King of Egypt (2 Kings xvii. 4), against the Assyrian general Sargon, and commenced that gigantic struggle between Asia and Egypt, of which Gaza was the centre. Sargon chastised the rebels. In 715 b.c. Rabshakeh (the title of the officer sent by Sennacherib) reproached Hezekiah: "Thou trustest upon the staff of this bruised reed, upon Egypt; whereupon if a man lean, it will go into his hand, and pierce it: So is Pharaoh King of Egypt unto all that trust on him" (2 Kings xviii. 21).
701 b.c.—Gaza remained subject to Sennacherib, the Assyrian king. Sennacherib died in 681 b.c. Tirhakah, the last king but one of the twenty-fifth (Ethiopian) dynasty, began to reign in 691 b.c. (2 Kings xix. 9).
674 b.c.—Esar-haddon, son of Sennacherib, one of the greatest Assyrian kings, retained Gaza (2 Kings xix. 37).