Sea People

The ancient Near East saw monumental changes in the 13^th century BCE. The palace cultures of Crete, Mesopotamia, Canaan, and Hattu vanished en mass. Though the reasons for their disappearance remains difficult to pin down, one major factor appears to have been the migrations of the Sea Peoples. We first hear of the Sea peoples during the reign of Merneptah (1224-1214 BCE) who describes a group of mixed ethnic affiliation attacking his Western frontier by land, and Northern flanks by Sea. The mention of Libyans among the Sea Peoples as arriving in wagon hordes with families suggest that the movements were economically motivated or the result of a large-scale famine. The Sea Peoples are again mentioned during the reign of Merneptah’s successor Ramesses III (1182-1151 BCE) who in his eight year states:

"The foreign countries formed a conspiracy in their islands. All at once the lands were removed and scattered in the fray. No land could stand before their armies; they desolated people(s). They came toward Egypt; their confederation included the Philistines, Tjaker, Shekelesh, Danuna, and Weshesh, lands united."

Since several of the groups named do not appear also in Merneptah’s list, scholars have seen this second movement of Sea People as symptomatic of a larger Near Eastern crisis. The Philistines, who first appear here, emerge later in the biblical record as the archenemies of the Israelites. In any event, the result of the Sea People’s attack was disastrous for Egypt, for Egypt was plunged into a sort of dark age.