Changes

When the Sea Peoples erupted on the historical scene in the late thirteenth century BC, the Late Bronze Age Mediterranean was quite a civilized and orderly place. Beginning around 1500 BC and lasting until the advent of the Sea Peoples, the major kingdoms of the region developed a global system that stretched from Egypt to Persia and from Anatolia down to the Arabian Peninsula. The kingdoms of Egypt, Mittani, Hatti, Babylon, and later Assyria and Alyshia comprised the core of this Late Bronze Age system, which modern scholars often term the “Great Powers Club.” <ref> Mieroop, Marc van de. <i>A History of the Ancient Near East: ca. 3000-323 BC.</i> 2nd ed. (London: Blackwell, 2007), p. 129</ref>

The purpose of the Great Powers Club was similar to global systems from other periods in world history – it encouraged stability in the region and the development of wealth among member kingdoms through trade. The major powers used diplomacy to avoid major conflicts in order to keep the trade routes open, which led to the greatest period of international trade in the Bronze Age. <ref> Redford, Donald B. <i>Egypt, Canaan, and Israel in Ancient Times.</i> (Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1992), p. 241</ref> But the wealth and stability that the Great Powers Club brought to the ancient Near East proved to be ephemeral. As long-distance trade was being conducted in the region, numerous bands of warriors and pirates were making their way into the region from the western Mediterranean and Europe with only one thing on their minds – plunder.

[[File: Ramses_III.jpg|300px|thumbnail|right|Granite Statue of Ramesses III Being Crowned by the Gods Horus and Seth]]

The origins of the historical context in which the Sea Peoples arrived on the scene in the Late Bronze Age Mediterranean are just as enigmatic as the genesis of the various tribes. The collapse of the Bronze Age is difficult for people today to contemplate, but experts of the period have claimed that it was arguably the worst disaster in the ancient world, even more so than the downfall of the Roman Empire. <ref> Drews, Robert. <i>The End of the Bronze Age: Changes in Warfare and the Catastrophe ca. 1200 BC.</i> (Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1993), p. 3</ref> Most scholars are in agreement with Drews that the collapse of the Bronze Age was a catastrophe like none other, but disagreements persist concerning what brought about the collapse.

Finally, there is evidence that overpopulation in the Aegean region, specifically mainland Greece, contributed to the movements of the Sea Peoples. For instance, the region of Messenia on the Peloponnese peninsula reached a peak population of 50,000 just before the Sea Peoples invasions began. <ref> Sandars, Nancy. <i>The Sea Peoples: Warriors of the Ancient Mediterranean.</i> Revised Edition. (London: Thames and Hudson, 1987), p. 77</ref> The reality is that a combination of two or more factors probably contributed to the invasions. Overpopulation in Greece may have led some there to become pirates, while in Anatolia where there was drought groups formed to find new land. Whatever the reason, or reasons, for the movement of peoples at the end of the Bronze Age, once the lid was opened it would prove impossible to close.

[[File: Merenptah.jpg|300px|thumbnail|right|Cartouche (Name) of Merenptah at Karnak Temple]]

The reason why modern scholars know as they do about the Sea Peoples, which is admittedly lacking in several areas, comes from a combination of modern archaeology and extant ancient Egyptian texts. Egypt suffered at least two major attacks by the Sea Peoples – one in year five of King Merenptah’s (ruled ca. 1224-1204 ) reign and the other in Ramesses III’s (reigned 1186-1153 BC) eight year of rule, or about 1219 BC and 1176 BC respectively. Merenptah’s victory over the Sea Peoples was commemorated on the walls of the Karnak Temple, which names the individual Sea Peoples tribes involved along with their Libyan allies. It states:

“The countries . . . the [Northerners] in their isles were disturbed, taken away in the fray . . . at one time. Not one stood before their hands, from Kheta, Kode, Carchemish, Arvad, Alasa, they were wasted. [The]y [set up] a camp in one place in Amor. They desolated his people and his land like that which is not. They came with fire prepared before them, forward to Egypt. Their main support was Peleset, Thekel, Shekelesh, Denyen, and Weshesh, (these) lands were united, and they laid their hands upon the land as far as the Circle of the Earth. Their hearts confident, full of their plans.” <ref> Breasted, Henry, ed. and trans. <i>Ancient Records of Egypt.</i> Volume 4, The Twentieth through the Twenty-sixth Dynasties. (Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 2001), pgs. 37-38</ref>

[[File: Relief_Sherden_Breasted.jpg|300px|thumbnail|left|Modern Drawing of the Sherden/Shardana from the Temple of Medinet Habu]]

Thanks to the ancient Egyptians, the names of the Sea Peoples are known, but it has been the task of modern scholars to identify those names with either the tribes’ places of origins, or in some cases with their ultimate region of settlement. By viewing the Sea Peoples in this way, more light has been cast on their mysterious origins and identities. Perhaps one of the most mysterious of all the Sea Peoples was the Ekwesh. The Ekwesh are only mentioned in the Merenptah inscriptions, which is certainly important when one considers their appearance in Egypt after the legendary Trojan War. Many modern scholars believe that Ekwesh was simply the Egyptian pronunciation of “Achaioi,” the ancient word for the “Achaeans,” who were the pre-Classical or Mycenaean era Greeks. <ref> Cline and O’Connor, p. 114</ref> This theory posits that essentially remnants/renegade bands of Mycenaeans first sieged Troy and then sailed across the Mediterranean to attempt to do the same to Egypt. <ref> Redford, p. 253</ref> Besides the philological similarity between “Achaean” and “Ekwesh,” there is a passage in the <i>Odyssey</i> where the Greek/Achaean/Mycenaean heroes arrive in Egypt after their destruction of Troy, but are defeated by the locals. <ref> Homer. <i> The Odyssey.</i> Translated by E.V. Rieu and D.C. Rieu. (London: Penguin Books, 2003), XIV, 240-70</ref>

According to the Egyptian sources, some of the Sea Peoples actually stayed in Egypt once the wars were done. The Weshesh tribe is the least known of all the Sea Peoples, but a text from the reign of Ramesses III states that they along with the Sherden/Shardana were held in Egypt as captives. <ref> Cline and O’Connor, p. 116</ref> Of all the Sea Peoples tribes, the Egyptians had the most contact with the Sherden/Shardana. Members of the Sherden were employed as mercenaries by the Egyptians as far back as Ramesses II (ruled ca. 1290-1224 BC) and some were even depicted at Medinet Habu as fighting with the Egyptians against the Sea Peoples. It is believed that they either originated in or settled the island of Sardinia. <ref> Redford, p. 243</ref>

The impact that the Sea Peoples had on world history was massive. They destroyed the Hittite Empire, brought down the city-state of Ugarit, and sent Greece into a dark age. But as quickly as the Sea Peoples entered the historical record, they vanished almost as fast. The precise origins of the Sea Peoples may never be known, but based on a combination of modern archaeological work and the available ancient Egyptian texts a reasonable conclusion can be drawn. The Sea Peoples originated from different parts in Europe and Anatolia before they coalesced into a confederation that attacked several of the major Bronze Age powers. After the destruction was done, some went back to Europe while others settled in the Levant.