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The Sea Peoples is the term used for a confederacy of seafaring raiders who sailed into the eastern shores of the Mediterranean, caused political unrest, and attempted to enter or control Egyptian territory during the late 19th dynasty, and especially during Year 8 of Ramesses III of the 20th Dynasty.[1] The Egyptian Pharaoh Merneptah explicitly refers to them by the term "the foreign-countries (or 'peoples'[2]) of the sea" (Egyptian nȝ ḫȝt.w n pȝ ym[3][4]) in his Great Karnak Inscription.[5] Although some scholars believe that they "invaded" Cyprus, Hatti and the Levant, this hypothesis is disputed.[6]
Historical contextThe Late Bronze Age in the Aegean was characterized by raiding and resettling of threatening and migratory peoples, sometimes used as mercenaries by the Egyptians, and operating primarily on land. They were not listed as Sea Peoples. Among them were the 'prw (Habiru) of Egyptian inscriptions, or 'apiru of cuneiform ("bandits"), and the Mariyannu, who had Indo-European names. Some people, such as the Lukka, were in both categories. Sandars uses the analogous name, "land peoples."[7] The Hebrews receive excellent mention in the Old Testament, but the Philistines, who were among the sea peoples, are seen as the enemy in that source. In Egyptian records they are all equally troublesome or useful.
The evidence shows that the identities and motives of these peoples were not unknown to the Egyptians; in fact, many had been subordinate to them or in a diplomatic relationship with them for at least as long as the few centuries covered by the records. Moreover, the only accident that distinguished them from all the other combatants of the times in Egyptian eyes was the fact that they often attacked by ship. There were not only no unknown peoples but no unsuspected or unanticipated attacks on totally peaceful populations. Documentary recordsEarly Amarna ageEthnicities[8] later considered among the sea peoples appear first in the Amarna Letters, perhaps of Amenhotep III or his son Akhenaten, around the mid-14th century BCE. A Shardana man is an apparent renegade mercenary,[9] and three more are inimical to the Egyptians.[10] The Danuna are mentioned in another letter[11] but only in passing reference to the death of their king. The Lukka are being accused[12] of attacking the Egyptians in conjunction with the alashiyans, or Cypriotes, with the latter having stated that the Lukka were seizing their villages. Reign of Ramses IIImage:RamessesII-ColoredRelief BrooklynMuseum.png Ramses II, painted relief. Records or possible records of sea peoples generally or in particular date to two campaigns of Ramses II, a pharoh of the militant 19th Dynasty: operations in or near the Delta in the Year 2 of his reign, and the major confrontation with the Hittite Empire and allies at the Battle of Kadesh in the Year 5. The dates of the pharaoh's reign are not known for certain but they must have comprised nearly all of the first half of the 13th century BCE.[13]
Another stele usually cited in conjunction with this one is the "Aswan Stele" (there were other stelai at Aswan), which mentions the king's operations to defeat a number of peoples including those of the "Great Green." If the latter term means "sea", the "sea peoples" seem to be indicated even at this early date, but if it means the swampy Delta region, then the peoples need not have been of the sea. It is plausible to assume that the Tanis and Aswan Stelai refer to the same event, in which case they reinforce each other. The Battle of Kadesh was an outcome of the campaign against the Syrians and allies in the Levant in the Year 4. The imminent collision of the Egyptian and Hittite empires became obvious to the both of them and they both prepared campaigns against the strategic mid-point of Kadesh for the next year. Ramses divided his Egyptian forces, which were then ambushed piecemeal by the Hittite army and nearly defeated. The arrival of the last of the Egyptians turned the tide of battle and the king was able to escape, leaving Kadesh in Hittite hands.[15] At home Ramses had his scribes formulate an official description that has been called "the Bulletin" because it was widely published by inscription. Ten copies survive today on the temples at Abydos, Karnak, Luxor and Abu Simbel, with reliefs depicting the battle. A poem, the Poem of Pentaur, describing the battle survives also.[16] The poem relates that the previously captured Shardana were not only working for his majesty, they were formulating a plan of battle for him; i.e., it was their idea to divide Egyptian forces into four columns. There is no evidence of any collaboration with the Hittites or malicious intent on their part, and if Ramses considered it, he never left any record of that consideration. Ramses had defeated the Kheta, or Syrians, the previous year. The poem relates that the Kheta were at Kadesh now with a force "like grasshoppers". The list is mainly "land peoples", but the Lukka are there as well. Reign of Merneptah
The major event of the reign of the Pharaoh Merneptah, 1213 BC to 1203 BC.[17], 4th king of the 19th Dynasty, was his battle against a confederacy termed "the Nine Bows" at Perire in the western delta in the 5th year of his reign. Depredations of this confederacy had been so severe that the region was "forsaken as pasturage for cattle, it was left waste from the time of the ancestors."[18] The pharoh's action against them is attested in four inscriptions: the Great Karnak Inscription, describing the battle, the Cairo Column, the Athribis Stele (which last two are shorter versions of the Great Karnak) and a stele found at Thebes, called variously the Hymn of Victory, the Merneptah Stele or the Israel Stele. It describes the reign of peace resulting from the victory.[19] The Nine Bows were acting under the leadership of the king of Libya. Exactly which peoples were consistently in the Nine Bows is not clear, but present at the battle were the Libyans, some neighboring Meshwesh, peoples from the eastern Mediterranean including the Kheta, or Syrians, and (in the Israel Stele) for the first time in history the Israelites. These land peoples must have arrived in the western delta by fleet. In addition to them the first lines of the Karnak inscription include some sea peoples:
Later in the inscription Merneptah receives news of the attack:
Image:Base obélisque Athribis 04.JPG Athribis Stele, garden of Cairo Museum. "His majesty was enraged at their report, like a lion", assembled his court and gave a rousing speech. Later he dreamed he saw Ptah handing him a sword and saying "Take thou (it) and banish thou the fearful heart from thee." When the bowmen went forth, says the inscription, "Amun was with them as a shield." After six hours the surviving Nine Bows threw down their weapons, abandoned their baggage and dependents, and ran for their lives. Merneptah states that he defeated the invasion, killing 6,000 soldiers and taking 9,000 prisoners. To be sure of the numbers, among other things, he took the penises of all uncircumcised enemy dead and the hands of all the circumcised, from which history learns that the Ekwesh were circumcised, a fact causing some to doubt they were Greek. Letters at UgaritImage:800px-Ugarit 01.jpg The ruins of Ugarit. Some sea peoples appear in four letters found at Ugarit, the last three of which seem to foreshadow the destruction of the city around 1180 BCE. The letters are therefore dated to the early twelfth century. The last king of Ugarit was Ammurapi, or Hammurabi (c. 1191–1182 BC), who, throughout this correspondance, is quite a young man. The earliest is letter RS 34.129, found on the south side of the city, from "the Great King", presumably Suppiluliuma II of the Hittites, to the prefect of the city. He says that he ordered the king of Ugarit to send him Ibnadushu for questioning, but the king was too immature to respond. He therefore wants the prefect to send the man, whom he promises to return. What this language implies about the relationship of the Hittite empire to Ugarit is a matter for interpretation. Ibnadushu had been kidnapped by and had resided among a people of Shikala, probably the Shekelesh, "who lived on ships." The letter is generally interpreted as an interest in military intelligence by the king.[21] The last three letters, RS L 1, RS 20.238 and RS 20.18, are a set from the Rap'anu Archive between a slightly older Ammurapi, now handling his own affairs, and Eshuwara, king of Alashiya. Evidently Ammurapi had informed Eshuwara that a fleet had been spotted at sea. Eshuwara writes back that if that is so, he had better wall the city in and man it with troops. Where are your troops? he wants to know. In the reply the young king, clearly upset, and calling Eshuwara "my father", relates that his troops were in Hatti and Lukka, and several ships had raided and plundered villages in the state of Ugarit. Eshuwara replies "don't blame me", that those several ships were Ammurapi's countrymen, that the fleet spotted was 20 ships, and he Eshuwara, would like to know where they are. Reign of Ramses IIIImage:Luxor, Medinet Habu, Egypt, Oct 2004 A.jpg Temple of Ramses III at Medinet Habu. Pharoh Ramesses III, second of the 20th Dynasty, reigning for most of the first half of the 12th century BCE, was forced to deal with another invasion of the Sea Peoples in his eighth year. This is their last appearance on the stage of history as such; that is, the power of Egypt diminished after Ramses III and Egyptians did not record sea peoples any longer. Some of these peoples were known by the same names in classical times[citation needed], such as the Achaeans, Lycians, Sardinians, Sicilians, Etruscans and Philistines, or adopted other names[citation needed], such as the Phoenicians, but the mystique of the Egyptian view of them was gone. No man can stand before themThe ends of several civilizations around 1175 BC have instigated a theory that the Sea Peoples may have caused the collapse of the Hittite, Mycenaean and Mitanni kingdoms. The American Hittitologist, Gary Beckman, writes that
Ramesses' comments about the scale of the Sea Peoples' onslaught in the eastern Mediterranean are confirmed by the destruction of the states of Hatti, Ugarit, Ashkelon and Hazor around this time. As the Hittitologist Trevor Bryce observes,
This situation is confirmed by the Medinet Habu temple reliefs which show that
Checking the onslaughtImage:111605main image feature 294 deltanilo.jpg The Nile delta today. The inscriptions of Ramses III at his Medinet Habu mortuary temple in Thebes record three victorious campaigns against the sea peoples considered bona fide: Years 5, 8 and 12, as well as three considered spurious: against the Nubians and Libyans in Year 5 and the Libyans with Asiatics in the Year 11. During the Year 8 some Hittites were operating with the sea peoples.[24] The inner west wall of the second court describes the invasion of Year 5. Only the Peleset and Tjeker are mentioned, but the list is terminated by a lacuna. The attack was two-pronged, one by sea and one by land; that is, the sea peoples divided their forces. His majesty was waiting in the Nile mouths and trapped the enemy fleet there. The land forces were defeated separately. The sea peoples did not learn strategy from this defeat, as they repeated their mistake in the Year 8 with a similar result. The campaign is recorded more extensively on the inner northwest panel of the first court. It is possible but not generally believed that the dates are only those of the inscriptions and both refer to the same campaign. In the Year 8 the Nine Bows appear again as a "conspiracy in their isles." This time they they are revealed unquestionably as sea peoples: the Peleset, Tjeker, Shekelesh, Denyen and Weshesh, which are classified as "foreign countries" in the inscription. They camped in Amor and sent a fleet to the Nile. His majesty once more was waiting. He had built a fleet especially for the occasion, hid it in the Nile mouths and posted coast watchers. The enemy fleet was ambushed there, their ships overturned, the men dragged up on shore and executed ad hoc. The land army was attacked and routed as it crossed the Egyptian border. Additional information is given in the relief on the outer side of the east wall. The land battle occurred in the vicinity of Zahi against "the northern countries." When it was over several chiefs were captive: of Hatti, Amor and Shasu among the "land peoples" and the Tjeker, "Sherden of the sea", "Teresh of the sea" and Peleset. The campaign of the Year 12 is attested by the Südstele found on the south side of the temple. It mentions the Tjeker, Peleset, Denyen, Weshesh and Shekelesh. Papyrus Harris I of the period, found behind the temple, suggests a wider campaign against the sea peoples, but does not mention the date. In it the persona of Ramses III says: "I slew the Denyen (D'-yn-yw-n) in their isles" and "burned" the Tjeker and Peleset, implying a maritime raid of his own. He also captured some Sherden and Weshesh "of the sea" and settled them in Egypt.[25] As he is called the "Ruler of Nine Bows" in the relief of the east side, these events probably happened in Year 8; i.e., his majesty would have used the victorious fleet for some punitive expeditions elsewhere in the Mediterranean. SurvivorsA few states such as Byblos and Sidon managed to survive the Sea Peoples' invasions unscathed. Despite Ramessess III's pessimism, Carchemish also survived the Sea Peoples' onslaught. King Kuzi-Tesup I is attested in power there and was the son of Talmi-Tesup who was a contemporary of the last ruling Hittite king, Suppiluliuma II.[26] He and his successors ruled a small empire from Carchemish which stretched from
from c.1175 BC to 990 BC.[27] Hypotheses about the Sea PeoplesA number of hypotheses concerning the identities and motives of the sea peoples described in the records have been formulated. They are not necessarily alternative or contradictory hypotheses; any or all might be mainly or partly true. Philistine hypothesisThe archaeological evidence from the southern coastal plain of modern day Israel and the Gaza Strip, termed Philistia in the Hebrew Bible, indicates a disruption of the Canaanite culture that existed during the Late Bronze Age, and its replacement (with some integration) by a culture with a possibly foreign (mainly Aegean) origin. This includes distinct pottery, which at first belongs to the Mycenaean IIIC tradition (albeit of local manufacture) and gradually transforms into a uniquely Philistine pottery. Mazar says:
Artifacts of the Philistine culture are found at numerous sites, in particular in the excavations of the five main cities of the Philistines: the "Pentapolis" of Ashkelon, Ashdod, Ekron, Gath, and Gaza. Some scholars (e.g. S. Sherratt, Drews, etc.) have challenged the theory that the Philistine culture is an immigrant culture, claiming instead that they are an in situ development of the Canaanite culture, but others argue for the immigrant hypothesis; for example, T. Dothan and Barako. Minoan hypothesisTwo of the peoples who settled in the Levant have traditions that may connect them to Crete: the Tjeker and the Peleset. The Tjeker may have left Crete to settle in Anatolia and left there to settle Dor.[30] According to the Old Testament[31] the Lord brought the Philistines out of Caphtor, which is accepted by the mainstream of Biblical and classical scholarship as Crete, but there are alternative minority theories.[32] Crete of the times was populated by peoples speaking a good many languages, among which were Mycenaean Greek and Eteocretan, the descendant of the language of the Minoans. It is possible but by no means certain that these two peoples spoke Eteocretan.
Greek migrational hypothesisThe identifications of Denyen with the Greek Danaans and Ekwesh with the Greek Achaeans are long-standing issues in Bronze Age scholarship, whether Greek, Hittite or Biblical, especially as they lived "in the isles." If the Greeks do appear as sea peoples, what were they doing? Michael Wood gives a good summary of the question and the hypothetical role of the Greeks (who have already been proposed as the identity of the Philistines above):
Wood would include also the Sherden and Shekelesh, pointing that "there were migrations of Greek-speaking peoples to the same place at this time." He is careful to point out that the Greeks must only have been an element among the peoples, and that their numbers must have been relatively small. Mycenaean fratricidal war hypothesisThis theory suggests that the Sea Peoples were populations from the semi-literate city states of the Greek Mycenaean civilizations, who destroyed each other in a disastrous series of conflicts lasting several decades. There would have been few or no external invaders and just a few excursions outside the Greek-speaking part of the Aegean civilization. The city states were semi-literate in the sense that very few individuals could master the complex syllabary used to write Linear B and other written forms of the early Greek language, and, thus, relatively few documents were produced in daily life to bear witness to the fratricidal nature of the wars. In contrast, the completely alphabetic writing system which started to appear around 800 BC was relatively easy to learn and use, thus giving rise to the production of many documents, both epic and ritual.[citation needed] Italian peoples hypothesisIn addition to the interpretation of relevant textual records, the archaeological record provides a substantial basis to believe that peoples from Southern Europe and the Italian peninsula may have contributed to the Sea Peoples phenomenon. Pottery and bronze weapons of distinctly Italian types have been found in quantity at excavations of structures built atop the charred ruins of cities believed to have been burnt to the ground by the Sea Peoples[citation needed]. Attempts have been made to identify certain Sea Peoples with Italian peoples; for example, some scholars have speculated that the Shekelesh can be identified with the Sicels of Sicily. There is a theory that after being repulsed from Egypt, many of the Sea Peoples settled elsewhere around the Mediterranean in lands which they then renamed after themselves: the Shekelesh in Sicily, the Tursha in Etruria, the Sherden in Sardinia; this does not contradict a theory that before the war the Sherden came from the Sardis area.[citation needed] Black Sea adversity hypothesisA recent theory proposed by Sanford Holst[34] is that the Sea Peoples, facing starvation, migrated from Anatolia and the Black Sea, in cooperation with the Phoenicians, seeking food and land upon which to settle. Supporters of the theory point to the Phoenicians being uniquely not attacked by the Sea Peoples but this can also be explained by assuming that the Sea Peoples were also from a maritime trading culture and therefore had a different and already existing relationship with the Phoenicians. Invader hypothesisOne thing about this period which demands explanation is that many "Sea Peoples" sites involve the violent conquest and destruction of rich cities. The invaders apparently made no attempt to retain the cities' wealth, but instead built new settlements of a lower cultural and economic level atop the ruins. This demonstrates a cultural discontinuity, and is somewhat inconsistent with the theory of Mycenean warfare. It seems unlikely that the traditional Helladic warrior classes would have so discarded the spoils of victory, if the writings of Homer are to be considered a guide.[citation needed] Soldier of fortune hypothesisTextual and archaeological records show that Greek and Egyptian state structures used mercenaries from the north and west. It is possible that these mercenary groups eventually allied themselves with indigenous slave classes to bring down a number of complex but ossified state structures in Greece and the Near East.[citation needed] Notes
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