A Berber-origin ancient Libyan tribal group (Egyptian abbreviation 'Ma'), first recorded in Egyptian texts under Amenhotep III (c. 1390-1350 BC) as a source of cattle traded to the royal palace at Malkata. Through the 19th and 20th Dynasties (c. 1295-1075 BC) the Meshwesh were in near-constant conflict with Egypt, repeatedly raiding and settling the western Nile Delta, including a joint invasion with the Libu that Ramesses III defeated.
Meshwesh settlement in the western Delta intensified during the late 21st Dynasty; the line first took the Egyptian throne under Osorkon the Elder, and after an interregnum of native Egyptian kings, Meshwesh chiefs (Shoshenq I, Osorkon I, Osorkon II, Shoshenq III, Osorkon III, etc.) ruled Egypt through the 22nd and 23rd Dynasties. Meshwesh-descended rule in Egypt ended with the Kushite 25th Dynasty conquest (c. 715 BC), after which distinct Meshwesh political identity faded from the record; Kingdom of Kush (already in dataset) covers the successor era.
Same standard volume as for Libu; directly covers the Meshwesh-descended 22nd-23rd Dynasty rulers. Open-Library-verified (ISBN 9789042922389, Peeters, 2009).