The Ethnicity of the Sea Peoples - RePub - Erasmus Universiteit ...

Libyans (year 5) as well as successive ones against the
Libyans (year 11), again, and the Asiatics (considered to
be fictitious). 97 The depictions of the land- and sea battle
against the Sea Peoples are located central on the outer
east side of the monument (nos. 31 and 37-9), whereas the
texts describing the wars of year 5 and year 8 are situated
on the inner west side of court 2 (nos. 27-8) and inner
north side of court 1 (nos. 44 and 46), respectively. Yet
another text referring to a military engagement with Sea
Peoples – this time in year 12 –, the so-called Südstele, can
be found on the outer south side of the temple (no. 107)
(Fig. 4).
Fig. 4. Plan of Ramesses III’s temple at Medinet Habu, Thebes (after
Cifola 1991: 12).
The scenes of the land- and sea battles are embedded
in a pictorial narrative, which starts with the religious (1.
command of the god, 2. pharaoh leaves the temple) and
military (1. equipping the troops, 2. king’s departure, 3.
march) preparations and ends with the military (1. seizure
of prisoners, 2. celebration of victory, 3. return in triumph)
and religious (presentation of prisoners to the god) outcome.
The central military action in form of the land- and
sea battle is broken in two by a lion hunt in the middle,
97 Widmer 1975: 68.
51
whereas this cluster is followed by a town siege. 98
The information on the wars with the Sea Peoples of
Ramesses III’s Medinet Habu memorial is supplemented
by the text of the Stele from Deir el Medineh and the Papyrus
Harris.
Medinet Habu
Inscription of year 5 (= 1179 BC)
“The northern countries quivered in their bodies,
namely the Peleset, Tjek[er, …]. They were cut off
their land, coming, their spirit broken. They
were thr-warriors on land; another (group) was on the
sea. Those who came on [land were overthrown and
slaughtered]; Amon-Re was after them, destroying
them. They that entered the Nile mouths were like
birds ensnared in the net (…). Their hearts are removed,
taken away, no longer in their bodies. Their
leaders were carried off and slain; they were cast
down and made into pinioned ones (…).” 99
Inscription of year 8 (= 1176 BC)
“As for the foreign countries, they made a conspiracy
in their isles. Removed and scattered in the fray were
the lands at one time. No land could stand before
their arms, from Hatti, Kodi, Karkemis, Yereth [=
Arzawa], and Yeres [= Alasiya] on, (but they were)
cut off at (one time). A camp (was set up) in one
place in Amor. They desolated its people, and its land
was like that which has never come into being. They
were coming, while the flame was prepared before
them, forward toward Egypt. Their confederation was
the Peleset, Tjeker, Shekelesh, Denye(n), and Weshesh,
lands united. They laid their hands upon the
lands to the (very) circuit of the earth, their hearts
confident and trusting ‘our plans will succeed!’
Now the heart of this god, the Lord of the Gods,
was prepared, ready to ensnare them like birds. He
made my strength to exist, while my plans succeed.
(…). I organized my frontier in Zahi [= southern Levant],
prepared before them, (to wit,) the princes, the
commanders of the garrisons, and the Mariannu [=
charioteers]. I caused the Nile mouth to be prepared
like a strong wall with warships, galleys, and coasters,
equipped, for they were manned completely from
bow to stern with valiant warriors, with their weapons;
the militia consisting of every picked man of
Egypt, were like lions roaring upon the mountain
tops. The chariotry consisted of runners, of picked
men, of every good and capable chariot-warrior.
Their horses were quivering in every part of their
bodies, ready to crush the countries under their hoofs.
98 Cifola 1991: 15-6.
99 Edgerton & Wilson 1936: 30; cf. Breasted 1927: Vol. IV, no.
44; Pritchard 1969: 263; Strobel 1976: 8; Peden 1994: 17.