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Sea People
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Ancient Egyptian relief showing Philistines in feathered headdresses with arms raised, being led away by Egyptians at Ramses III's mortuary temple, Medinet Habu, Thebes.
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Ancient Egyptian relief showing Philistines in feathered headdresses with arms raised, being led away by Egyptians at Ramses III's mortuary temple, Medinet Habu, Thebes.
Sea People Captive Sea People being led away after an unsuccessful battle against Egypt, from a relief at Ramses III's mortuary temple at Medīnat Habu, Thebes, Egypt.

Sea People

ancient people
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Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree....
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Top Questions

What are the principal sources of information about the Sea Peoples?

What groups have been tentatively identified as Sea Peoples?

Sea People, any of the groups of seafarers who arrived in eastern Anatolia, Syria, Palestine, Cyprus, and Egypt toward the end of the Bronze Age, especially in the 13th century bce. In the traditional scholarly view they are held responsible for the destruction of old powers such as the Hittite empire. However, more recent research suggests that the Bronze Age collapse was caused by a variety of factors, and the role that the Sea Peoples may have played is debated. Because of the abrupt break in ancient Middle Eastern records, the precise extent and origin of the upheavals remain uncertain. Principal but one-sided evidence for the Sea Peoples is based on Egyptian texts and illustrations; other important information comes from Hittite sources and from archaeological data.

Wars with the Egyptians

The Egyptians waged two wars against the Sea Peoples: the first, in the fifth year of King Merneptah (reigned c. 1213–1203 bce); the second, in the reign of Ramses III (c. 1187–1157 bce).

Identification of the Sea Peoples

Tentative identifications of the Sea Peoples listed in Egyptian documents are as follows: Ekwesh, identified as a group of Bronze Age Greeks (Achaeans; Ahhiyawa in Hittite texts); Teresh, identified as Tyrrhenians (Tyrsenoi), known to later Greeks as sailors and pirates from Anatolia, ancestors of the Etruscans; Luka, identified as a coastal people of western Anatolia, also known from Hittite sources (their name survives in classical Lycia on the southwest coast of Anatolia); Sherden, probably Sardinians (the Sherden acted as mercenaries of the Egyptians in the Battle of Kadesh, 1275 bce); Shekelesh, probably identical with the Sicilian tribe called Siculi; and Peleset, generally believed to refer to the Philistines, who perhaps came from Crete and were the only major tribe of the Sea Peoples to settle permanently in Palestine.

Further identifications of other Sea Peoples mentioned in the documents are much more uncertain.

The Editors of Encyclopaedia BritannicaThis article was most recently revised and updated by Teagan Wolter.