Public DomainThe Sea Peoples terrorized Bronze Age civilizations, but very little is known about them.In the 12th century B.C.E., Bronze Age civilizations began to fall like dominoes.The Hittite Empire, the Mycenaean kingdoms, and the Amorite states collapsed entirely, while societies in Egypt and Assyria weakened dramatically. What caused this collapse? The reasons are myriad, but historians believe that one factor was the Sea Peoples mysterious and violent tribes that raided kingdoms across the Mediterranean.In whats now Syria, a king wrote about enemies whod burned cities and done evil things in my country. In Egypt, ancient records recalled invaders who came from the sea in their war ships and none could stand against them.So, who were the Sea Peoples? They certainly left their mark on the ancient world. But their identity stands as one of the greatest historical mysteries of all time, and scholars debate their origins to this day.Who Were The Sea Peoples?The term Sea Peoples (peuples de la mer) was first coined by 19th-century French Egyptologists. But the history of the Sea Peoples began long before that. Rmih/Wikimedia CommonsSea Peoples taken captive by Ramses III, as seen in a relief at the temple of Medinet Habu.Sources from the 13th and 12th centuries B.C.E. describe several attacks from these oceanic raiders. The Sea Peoples seemingly struck places in Egypt, the Hittite Empire, the Levant, and elsewhere in the Mediterranean. Ancient records give them various names, including Denyen, Ekwesh, Lukka, Peleset, Shekelesh, Sherden, Teresh, and Weshesh.Even to this day, no one knows for sure who the Sea Peoples were. Their name derives from ancient accounts that refer to them as from the sea or the islands though these do not specify which sea or islands. However, present-day historians have some theories. The Sea Peoples may have come from western Asia Minor, the Aegean, the Mediterranean islands, or southern Europe. They could have been Etruscans, Trojans, Italians, Philistines, Mycenaeans, or Minoans. Its likely that they were driven into the Mediterranean by environmental factors, like drought.Empires of Bronze/Gordon DohertyA map of the ancient world showing a number of empires that were attacked by the Sea Peoples, including the Egyptians, the Hittites, and the Assyrians.Sometimes, the Sea Peoples were mentioned as allies, sometimes as mercenaries. But more often than not, they were described as enemies. Curiously, they were seemingly more like migrants than soldiers, as their ships were said to carry women, children, and household goods, as if they hoped to establish permanent settlements.Whoever they were, they had a massive impact on ancient history. As contemporaneous sources recorded, their attacks were sudden, surprising, and devastating.None Could Stand Against ThemMost of what we know about the Sea Peoples comes from Egyptian accounts, specifically those written during the reigns of Ramses II (1279 to 1213 B.C.E.), Merneptah (1213 to 1203 B.C.E.), and Ramses III (1186 to 1155 B.C.E.). Speedster/Wikimedia CommonsA depiction of Ramses II with conquered enemies. He routed the Sea Peoples during a battle, but they would return to challenge his successors. One account from Ramses IIs reign mentions a battle in 1274 B.C.E. between the Egyptians and the Hittites in which Sea Peoples are described as both Hittite allies and Egyptian mercenaries. Another account tells how the Sea Peoples once sailed into the Nile Delta only to be met by the forces of Ramses II. As Kenneth Kitchen notes in his book Pharaoh Triumphant: The Life and Times of Ramses II, the battle was later recorded on the Tanis Stele II, which reads:[T]he unruly Sherden whom no one had ever known how to combat, they came boldly [sailing] in their warships from the midst of the sea, none being able to withstand them.Ramses II neutralized the threat and conscripted some of the Sherden into his army but the Sea Peoples continued to harass his successors. During Merneptahs reign, the Sea Peoples aligned with the Libyans. The Egyptians described them as coming from the seas to the north and dubbed them Ekwesh, Teresh, Lukka, Sherden, and Shekelesh.Merneptah was able to soundly defeat them, an accomplishment he immortalized on the walls of the Karnak Temple Complex and in his funerary temple at Thebes. An article by Egyptologist Mohamed Raafat Abbas translates parts of the pharaohs inscribed Triumph Hymn, which ends: Everyone who travels has been subdued by the King of Upper and Lower Egypt.Public DomainThe Great Karnak Inscription, which includes details about Merneptahs victory over the Sea Peoples.Despite this, attacks by the Sea Peoples were also recorded by Merneptahs successor, Ramses III. One such attack around 1175 B.C.E. and the subsequent Egyptian victory was recorded at the Medinet Habu, the pharaohs mortuary temple. According to the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago, it reads: Now the northern countries, which were in their isles, were quivering in their bodies. They penetrated the channels of the Nile mouths. Their nostrils have ceased (to function, so that) their desire is [to] breathe the breath. His majesty is gone forth like a whirlwind against them, fighting on the battlefield like a runner. The dread of him and the terror of him have entered into their bodies; (they are) capsized and overwhelmed in their places Their weapons are scattered in the sea.Mohammed Moussa/Wikimedia CommonsThe Temple of Ramses III at Medinet Habu in Thebes, which records the pharaohs triumphs over the Sea Peoples. However, his victory came at great economic cost to the Egyptians.After this point, the Sea Peoples mostly disappear from the historical record, leaving more questions than answers. Where did they come from? Why did they leave their home territory and attack the Egyptians and other ancient societies? How were they so effective in their attacks? And what happened to them after the reign of Ramses III? No one knows for sure. But scholars believe that the Sea Peoples, who harassed societies for centuries, helped trigger the collapse of the Bronze Age in the 12th century B.C.E.The Sea Peoples And The Bronze Age CollapseIn the 12th century B.C.E., a number of civilizations including the Hittite Empire, Mycenaean kingdoms, Kassites, Ugarites, and Amorite states collapsed entirely. Others, including the Egyptians and Assyrians, survived in a greatly weakened state. Some scholars believe that this stunning global collapse which plunged the world into the Greek Dark Ages was caused, in part, by the Sea Peoples. In Egypt, for example, Ramses III drained his treasuries fighting the Sea Peoples. Elsewhere, archaeological evidence suggests that the Sea Peoples burned down entire cities. Hattusa, the ancient capital of the Hittite Empire, and Megiddo, an important city-state in Canaan, were both apparently destroyed by enemy invaders. So were port cities in Cyprus, Syria, and Palestine, as well as Greek palaces in Mycenae, Tiryns, and Pylos. Bernard Gagnon/Wikimedia CommonsThe ruins of Hattusa, the capital of the Hittite Empire. Some believe that raids by the Sea Peoples led to the citys destruction at the end of the Bronze Age.Archaeologists discovered a clay tablet found in Ugarit a wealthy port city in whats now northern Syria that was seemingly written by its last king, Ammurapi. It read: My father, behold, the enemys ships came (here); my cities were burned, and they did evil things in my country May my father know it: the seven ships of the enemy that came here inflicted much damage upon us.Were the Sea Peoples the cause of this widespread destruction? Perhaps. But while they may have been one reason for the Bronze Age collapse, historians agree that the catastrophe had many factors. From 1250 to 1100 B.C.E., the ancient world suffered from a megadrought. Though Egyptians and Babylonians benefited from their proximity to rivers during the dry years, people in other civilizations were forced to flee their native lands. Indeed, this may have been what happened to the Sea Peoples. At the same time, between 1225 and 1175 B.C.E., the world was also rocked by a number of earthquakes. Vclav Moravec/Wikimedia CommonsThe ruins of Tiryns, one of the Greek palaces destroyed possibly by Sea Peoples during the Bronze Age collapse. This, combined with internal strife, the disruption of trade relations, and invasions like those of the Sea Peoples helped lead to the Bronze Age collapse. Civilizations fell, trade agreements ended, and some written languages, including ones used by the Mycenaeans and the Hittites, disappeared entirely. From the ashes of the Bronze Age, other civilizations grew. But the Sea Peoples werent one of them. Maybe they were wiped out; maybe they were assimilated into other societies. But today, their fate and their influence on the Bronze Age remains a lingering historical mystery.After reading about the Sea Peoples, discover some of the most fascinating sunken cities of the ancient world. Then, learn about the Egyptomania craze that gripped the world in the early 20th century.The post Who Were The Sea Peoples? The Mystery Of The Mediterranean Tribes Who Waged War Against Ancient Egypt appeared first on All That's Interesting.