The Sea Peoples!

[Mission]

If you thought citing sources for the GAoP was tough, check out some of those for the Sea Peoples - a mysterious confederacy of seafaring raiders of the second millennium BC.

(Depiction of the Shardana (Sherden) Sea People, Battle of the Delta, 1178 BC, Mortuary Temple of Ramesses III, Luxor, Egypt)

(Sea Peoples Warship, Battle of the Delta, 1178 BC, Mortuary Temple of Ramesses III, Luxor, Egypt)

(A naval battle against the sea-peoples. Soldiers cling to masts, fall into the sea, drown. Bodies drifting in the waves. From the outer facade of the Temple of Ramses III, 1198-1166 BCE. Luxor, Egypt)

Sea people attack

Let's see you cite THAT to make your point!

[Tartan Jack]

One of my professors in college (and seminary) was a top-scholar on near-east (esp. Egyptian and Israel/Paelstine areas). We discussed the Sea People over the years a number of times.' He didn't publish much, but studied under John Bright, student of the famous Dr. Albright. My prof was Dr Bill Kyrkendall. (If I remembered that spelling correctly)

His ABSOLUTE certainty:

The Sea Peoples were the people Thera/Santorini and Crete made refugees when the Thera volcano blew up is 1500 BC. The refugees that fled to Egypt, their major trading partner and rival, who settled the Sea People in modern day Israel. They became known as the Philistines there.

Their "old" civilization is now commonly termed the "Minoans" (after King Minos in Greek myth/legend) and probably inspired Plato's "Atlantis" in 600 BC (900 years after Thera-go-boom).

He backed it up with a HUGE amount of evidence, the most convincing for him is that the little bit of Philistine linguistics we know and the little bit of Minoan linguistics we know dove-tail together perfectly (he was primarily an ancient near-eastern linguist).

The topic was one of his favorites and he brought it up whenever he could make it relevant (which is quite a bit in early Egyptian, Greek, and Hebrew/Israelite history during classes).

He pasted away a decade ago. He was an AMAZING man, friend, and a breathtaking scholar who saw history as more real than anyone I've met. He inspired many of the ways I view history.

One of my professors in college (and seminary) was a top-scholar on near-east (esp. Egyptian and Israel/Paelstine areas). We discussed the Sea People over the years a number of times.' He didn't publish much, but studied under John Bright, student of the famous Dr. Albright. My prof was Dr Bill Kyrkendall. (If I remembered that spelling correctly)

His ABSOLUTE certainty:

The Sea Peoples were the people Thera/Santorini and Crete made refugees when the Thera volcano blew up is 1500 BC. The refugees that fled to Egypt, their major trading partner and rival, who settled the Sea People in modern day Israel. They became known as the Philistines there.

Their "old" civilization is now commonly termed the "Minoans" (after King Minos in Greek myth/legend) and probably inspired Plato's "Atlantis" in 600 BC (900 years after Thera-go-boom).

He backed it up with a HUGE amount of evidence, the most convincing for him is that the little bit of Philistine linguistics we know and the little bit of Minoan linguistics we know dove-tail together perfectly (he was primarily an ancient near-eastern linguist).

The topic was one of his favorites and he brought it up whenever he could make it relevant (which is quite a bit in early Egyptian, Greek, and Hebrew/Israelite history during classes).

He passed away a decade ago. He was an AMAZING man, friend, and a breathtaking scholar who saw history as more real than anyone I've met. He inspired many of the ways I view history.

Edited June 12, 2012 by Tartan Jack

[Tartan Jack]

The surviving parts in Crete overlapped the later Egyptians and the Mycean Greeks, but in a much diminished form from the pre-Thera period, when they were THE dominant superpower of the Mediterranean Sea.

Of course, when your capital and (most likely) central records are incinerated and blown to pieces, due to it being built in middle of the caldera on Thera/Santorini . . . that doesn't help them being less "mysterious," would it . . .

At one time, I read A LOT about them. But, it's been a LONG time (15 years) and they were Bill's private/personal books and papers. I don't have access anymore. I don't even have an idea of where those might even BE now!

(Edit: reading primary sources from pre-standardized spelling days plays HELL on one's spelling- despite your best efforts.

Edited June 12, 2012 by Tartan Jack

[Mission]

Yeah, you're telling me. Especially when you read the same authors over and over - you begin to misspell on purpose!

Very interesting. The Sea Peoples were engaged in piracy for over 200 years according to some of the websites I read. Now THAT'S a golden age of piracy!

Hey, I just came across this page that has a wonderfully organized and documented account of the Sea Peoples on the University of California Riverside website. Very good reading if these folks interest you.

[Tartan Jack]

Oh and the term "sea peoples" is a typical Egyptian written description of foreign peoples. Their hieroglyphics are quite blunt and rather NOT politically correct. They termed the peoples that lived south, up the Nile (the African-Africans) the "kinky-head peoples" and another culture the "stinky peoples." There were others that were even worse!

NONE of the names were what the other peoples called themselves or what other records would have had. The ancient Egyptians were a rather odd and interesting culture!

There are theories linking the SeaPeoples to all sorts other cultures, which have varying degrees of probability. I'm convinced that the SeaPeople ARE the superpower culture behind Plato's Atlantis, but one that was fractured and broken in one massive volcanic explosion, which also decimated their entire Aegean-based settlement. The tsunami moved the palace in Crete many feet back and wiped out anything actually on the coast. The same was for the entire sea basin. But, as that WAS the main settlement areas for a sea-based culture.

There are also LONG lasting legends of the origins of the Scoto-Irish (the Scots were immigrants from Ireland in the mid first millennium AD, who merged with the Picts already in the Northern part of the Britain island) were originally from Egypt. That is taken further back that they were royal Sea People refugees who intermarried with Pharoah's family then left with Egyptian blessing, by sea, to settle a new area-> Spain then Ireland. Obviously, only the leaders would have been royals, but the idea was that the rest were those under their leadership.

The coracle technology is one of the tangible links between the Sea Peoples and ancient Ireland . . .

Today, the Egyptian connection of Ireland was discounted as complete myth, but is being revisited as having some truth-> the debate is how much.