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One of the great mysteries of the ancient world was just who were the mysterious seafaring peoples who arrived in the eastern mediterranean sea region (1300's b.c.-1175 b.c.?) to attack and terrorize all the kingdoms and empires in the region as the Egyptians sure wrote about them as did the Ugarits along the Syrian coastline and as mysterious as they appeared they disappeared forever from history about a hundred years later as this still has archaeologists stumped
Surely people back then didnt have the ability to make a boat that would withstand a voyage anymore strenuous than from somewhere in the Mediteranean area. So the invaders had to be from no farther west than what is now Spain? But apparently the mysterious peoples werent trading partners with the Egyptians or they wouldnt be "mysterious."
Some think the Sea Peoples came down from the Balkans. Others think they were from Asia Minor and were a group there that for whatever reasons went on the move.
The Sea People, who we are told of on reliefs at Medinet Habu and Karnak, as well as from the text of the Great Harris Papyrus (now in the British Museum), are said to be a loose confederation of people originating in the eastern Mediterranean.
Of which the Greeks were one group.
In some respects they resemble the later Vikings...
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"No land could stand before their arms, from Hatti, Qode, Carchemish, Arzawa and Alasiya on, being cut off at one time. A camp was set up in one place in Amurru. They desolated its people, and its land was like that which has never come into being. They were coming toward Egypt, while the flame was prepared before them. Their confederation was the Peleset, Tjeker, Shekelesh, Denyen, and Weshesh, lands united. They laid their hands upon the land as far as the circuit of the earth, their hearts confident and trusting: 'Our plans will succeeded!' Medinet Habu Inscription
They raided by sea throughout the Middle and Near East
The Sea Peoples is the term used for a confederacy of seafaring raiders of the second millennium BC who sailed into the eastern 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"
There is a dispute how far afield they raided.
The Egyptians stressed their use of ships as an identifying trait.
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Some groups were not included in the Egyptian list of Sea Peoples, as they operated primarily on land. Among them were the 'prw (Habiru) of Egyptian inscriptions, or 'apiru of cuneiform ("bandits"). Sandars uses the analogous name "land peoples."[7] Some people, such as the Lukka, were included in both categories. Some scholars suspect that one of the groups of Habiru were the Hebrews.
Common theories include their comming from Crete, Mycean Greece, or Italy. Whole civilizations such as the Hitites may have collapsed under this onslaught.
Well Ramesses III stated that ''no land could stand before their arms'' and so since they started invading from around 1300 B.C. to about 1175 B.C. ?? they may have had the possibilty of knowing how to smelt Iron which gave them superior weapons as that era was at the ending of the Bronze Age so if that is correct then they would have to be from a region that had the early knowledge of Iron technology. Also they were a seafaring peoples so they had to be somewhere by the sea and yet they were mysterious to almost all in the mediterranean so they possibly weren't from the kingdoms that surrounded it so where could they have possibly come from ?
Well i can only find one group of peoples who fit that criteria from around that time frame as i'm just going to throw out my theory and that is they were the ''Trialeti Culture'' peoples of the northeast caucasus region of the Black Sea. Firstly they were very seaworthy and secondly that region is one of the earliest places in the world where iron smelting possibly started and thirdly they had developed ties with the Aegean Greeks from their many voyages to and fro across the Black Sea as they probably learned from them about the surrounding mediterranean kingdoms including the riches of Egypt etc.
Where did they finally go ? My guess is somewhere in southeastern Anatolia along the coastline as once they conquered the Hittites who had ruled that area they then seem to have disappeared as they probably merged into the peoples of the region i.e. possibly the Phoenicians although it's anybodies guess.
Anyway that's just my thought about who they were and what eventually happened to them as it's kind of neat to ponder it .
Last edited by Six Foot Three; 03-16-2010 at 06:45 PM..
Well Ramesses III stated that ''no land could stand before their arms'' and so since they first started invading from around 1300 B.C. to about 1175 B.C. they may have had the possibilty of knowing how to smelt Iron and give them superior weapons as that era was at the ending of the Bronze Age so if that is correct then they would have to be from a region that had the early knowledge of Iron technology. Also they were a seafaring peoples so they had to be somewhere by the sea and yet they were mysterious to almost all in the mediterranean so they possibly weren't from the kingdoms that surrounded it so where could they have possibly come from ?
One of the named Sea Peoples, the Sherden, seemed to have been involved in altercations with the Egyptians during the time of Ramses II, possibly in collision with Libyans.
I believe some Sea Peoples may have been mentioned in the Amarna Tablets from around Akhenaton time or his dad's.
The Libyan/Sea People connection is very interesting because egyptologist Frank Yurco links the Trojan War to the conflicts involving the Sea Peoples.
Colleen Manassa mentions that the Meshwesh were the Libyan tribe must connected to the Mediterranean world evidenced by the arms they used.
Manassa also points to depictions of Sea Peoples in the Sahara and it is documented that the Libyans allied with Sea Peoples in their campaigns against Egypt.
The Meshwesh were also known as the Ma by the Egyptians.
Given Herodotus report that the Maxyes descend from Troy and the many legends stating that the Libyans came from the eastern Mediterranean even before the coming of the Canaanites (Phoenicians), Northwest Africa may have strong ties to the story of the Sea Peoples.
Oh, I believe it was some time after the Sea Peoples defeated the major powers that the Iron Age actually began.
It appears that they were not just one tribe but various tribes, possibly from different places. Some event, famine, wars in their homeland, better economic possibilities set them in motion much as the various viking tribes were set in motion by such in the 9th century.
The Hitties had iron weapons and they were apparently defeated by these groups.
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