In the last issue, we said, who is the sea nation?
Based on the various hypotheses of the above generations of scholars about their origin, attempts to specifically attribute maritime peoples to a specific identity and territory are as follows:
- The Peleset is also known as the Philistines, from which the name Palestine is derived.
- Lukka refers to the Lycian people from the Anatolia region.
- The Ekwesh and Denens are thought to be the Greek Achaeans and Danaeans mentioned in Homer's epics.
- The Sherdens probably have deep roots with Sardinia.
- Teresh, some scholars believe that it is the Greek name of the Etruscans, and some scholars believe that it is the western region of Anatolia.
- The Skekelesh or Shekresh may have meant Siculi or Sicili.
Of course, it is also possible that the so-called sea peoples originally refer to those sea nomads who have no fixed place to live and wander around, and a large part of the reason why they make a living at sea may be caused by a large-scale grain harvest or a severe famine; It is also possible that they lived by the sea, engaged in trade or fishing, and of course engaged in piracy, and so on.
The years have passed, and the study of the peoples of the sea has mainly relied on the extremely simple information in the few inscriptions that can be seen today, and their historical activities, armed migration movements, and the significant impact on history. We can only rely on reasonable associations and archaeological and chronological conclusions to try to get close to them. But we must know that even the archaeological and chronological conclusions drawn by the means of rescience and technology are not conclusive, and they still have hypothetical elements.
But then again: whoever they were, they had a huge impact on the Mediterranean world at the time, there should be no doubt about that.
The ancestor of pirates - the seamount people
Therefore, when the protagonists in the diplomatic scene of West Asia were defeated one after another, such as the more powerful kingdoms of Ugarito, Hittites, Cyprus, Amulu and so on, the amazing news spread quickly.
By this time, Ramses III had reigned for 8 years, and he had enough time to prepare for the coming large-scale invasion.
One of the main reasons why the maritime peoples, mainly the Philistines, were invincible and unstoppable was that they had already widely used iron tools, because iron was still very precious and rare in the 13th century BC.
So, if you still have an impression of the Battle of Kadeshi, then you should know why the rest of the Eastern Mediterranean, with the exception of Egypt, was relatively successful in resisting it.
The battle between Egypt and the sea peoples is recorded in the temple of Ramses III in the city of Habu. In a series of reliefs documenting scenes of war, the first shows the pharaoh addressing the commanders of various units through Pel-Ramses' "Pharaoh's Window of Appearance." Pharaoh's message to the commanders was as bad as it was to be expected but disturbing: "These foreigners have crossed the sea from their country and are confidently heading to Egypt. So Pharaoh's entire logistics department went all out to prepare the army with military supplies for war. However, this was not easy for the Egyptians, who had to face the enemy army twice before finally defeating the enemy completely and driving them out of the delta.
The reliefs record two battles: the first on land and the second on both sea and land. Archaeologists have found no clues that point clearly to the place where the two armies met. However, we can guess that the Egyptians, aware of the great threat hanging over their heads, would do their best to stop the enemy far from the Sila River valley. It is therefore possible that land warfare will take place somewhere between the eastern border of the delta and the southern coast of Palestine. The Egyptian side has had enough time to lay a web of time and implement the well-developed military strategy without mercy. The Egyptian soldiers would face an extremely large number of enemies.
According to the reliefs, the peoples of the sea marched together like a moving city, in which soldiers lined up in front of heavy ox carts carrying their personal belongings and families. The invasion of the sea peoples was not only to plunder the spoils, but also to find new settlements. In order to eliminate the threat, the Egyptians mercilessly launched a surprise attack on them, and successfully achieved victory ... However, it was only partially successful.
Since the maritime peoples are not a political entity, but are composed of multiple peoples, they cannot be considered a unified nation. Although Ramses III's forces annihilated one of the detachments, the others posed a threat to Egypt's stability. In the amphibious battle, the Egyptian army defeated the second detachment, which is also recorded in relief.
According to the relief, a fleet of ships from the Gentiles (without oars) traveled unimpeded through what looked like a waterway to the Egyptian coast to allow soldiers to land. The sea peoples did not know that their every move was under Egyptian surveillance, so the Egyptian navy launched a surprise attack before they could complete their troops. As war broke out, the Egyptian navy and the maritime nation fleet threw weapons at each other, and in the end, Egyptian soldiers successfully boarded one of the warships and drove the other ships ashore, and the sea warriors who came ashore were surrounded by Egyptian infantry. In the chaotic battle, the pharaoh and the remaining archers shot arrows at the sea nation soldiers, annihilating the enemy in one fell swoop. As the fighting died down, Egyptian soldiers counted the captured prisoners and stamped them with the captives on them.
As recorded in the documents of the eighth year of Ramses III's reign, the "peoples of the sea" or "peoples from the northern islands" were not the last army that Ramses III would face. In addition to a possible campaign in Palestine (about which little is known today), the eleventh year of Ramses III's accession to the throne, the Libyans also made a comeback in a more organized way. Their goal was not to conquer or destroy Egypt, but to settle in the Nile Valley, as some maritime peoples did. Like the peoples of the sea, the reliefs depicting scenes of Egyptian-Libyan battles depict women, children and herds. In the relief, Pharaoh drives a chariot and defeats a group of Libyan soldiers on the march. In this battle, 2,000 Libyans were killed, and Egypt captured 2,052 prisoners of war, including 1,200 soldiers.
There were two major incursions of the Sea Peoples into Egypt, in the fifth year of the nineteenth dynasty's king Merneptah and in the eighth year of the twentieth dynasty's king Ramesses III, which occurred around the same few decades.
In addition, in ancient Egyptian texts, there are four documents related to the invasion of Egypt by the first maritime peoples: the Great Karnak Inscription, the Cairo Column, the Athribis Stele, and the "Hymn of Victory" (or Merneptah Stele or Israel Stele); Literature on the Second Sea Peoples invasion of Egypt includes the relief inscription at the temple of Medinet Habu and the famous Great Papyrus Harris.
The last 10 years of the 13th century BC were a period of peace and prosperity in the history of the ancient Near East, but also a prelude to the frequent and turbulent wars that followed. It can be said that the activities of the maritime peoples have had a profound impact on Egypt, a relatively closed ancient civilization. At the same time, to some extent, it also influenced the development pattern of the ancient Near East and the Mediterranean world. Therefore, it can also be said that the large-scale invasion of the sea peoples was the largest turmoil and war in the Near East before Alexander's series of conquests.
Although the reign of Ramses III seems to have been quite successful, one problem stood out: at the end of Ramses III's reign, serious socio-economic problems arose in the Nile Valley. The extraordinary measures taken by workers in the village of Deir-el-Medineh to recover their wages are undoubtedly the strongest evidence of the deterioration of the situation in Egypt at the time. The event is well documented on Egyptian papyrus and is now preserved in the Turin Museum in Italy.
The workers in these villages were directly employed by Ramses III to build the royal tombs in the nearby Thebes region. These important craftsmen, whose social status should generally be not low, sometimes knew some of the local nobles of Dibbis because they had to make coffins and build mausoleums for these people.
Initially, workers expressed their dissatisfaction by writing letters to their superiors, informing them that they owed them large rations. Not only are food rations late, sometimes not at all, but they end up receiving grains such as barley and wheat that are often of such poor quality as not to be eaten.
Later, the inhabitants of the village of Del El Medina realized their importance to the pharaoh: it was entirely up to them to build and install the mausoleum in time to welcome the pharaoh's body and protect him in the afterlife. Without a mausoleum worthy of status, the pharaoh risked not surviving in the afterlife, meaning that the inhabitants of the village of Del El-Medina were equipped to pressure the pharaoh to ensure that the pharaoh considered their demands. So, when the workers' initial plea was not met, they chose to use the strike as a powerful weapon and decided to stop working until their superiors paid them the wages they owed.
It was the first documented strike in history in which a group of workers chose to strike as a means of coercion in order to receive the wages they deserved. Initially, part of the arrears of wages had to be paid to the workers, with the promise that this would not happen again. However, this promise proved to be nothing more than empty words, and the workers went on strike again, even demanding that Visir solve the problem directly. In the end, Visir (Prime Minister) compensated the workers for the losses suffered. Aware of the dangers that the strike could bring, Visir threatened the workers not to repeat such demonstrations of force at the risk of punishment. However, his threats did not have any effect, since we know that a few years later, during the reign of Ramses IV, there were several more strikes in the village of Del El Medina.
The problems that have arisen in the artisan village of Del El-Medina are but an outward manifestation of the gradual disintegration of the Egyptian administration. Of course, the constant "harassment" of the Egyptian border by foreigners wishing to settle in the Nile Valley did create an atmosphere of insecurity for the Egyptian people, but this was by no means the cause of corruption that spread throughout the 20th dynasty government since the reign of Ramses III. The tax collector collects a higher amount of tax than they should pay to enrich his own pockets, while the clerk increases or decreases the number of goods entering and leaving at will until it reaches the amount of tax payable by the store.
This crisis also appears in an important element of Egyptian culture – justice (not forgetting the importance of "ma'at" in Egypt). For Goddess Ma'at was the embodiment of order and justice in Egypt. Previously, it was thought that the court and, if necessary, Visir and Pharaoh would do justice to the plaintiffs, but since then, the outcome of the trial has sparked distrust in the judges, who they say are much more lenient to the rich than to the poor.
At that time, corruption in Egypt was extremely obvious, sometimes appalling, such as the excavation of the tombs of pharaohs in the Valley of the Kings. Apparently, everyone knew what was going on: there were rumors that an official in charge of preventing tomb robberies threatened his subordinates that he would report some of the stolen goods if they did not honor him; Another rumor is that a jailed grave robber was freed after giving some of the stolen goods to the jailers, and his accomplices subsequently redistributed the stolen goods to make up for his losses. Eventually, the situation intensified, so much so that Pharaoh ordered a series of investigations from the capital onwards. The tomb robbers were arrested, and their confessions were recorded in writing in documents or papyrus, describing some specific details of the tomb, such as the various rumors mentioned earlier.
In this context, it is not surprising that the relationship between the Egyptian people and the gods has changed so much, and everyone has come to believe in their chosen gods in exchange for the protection that is missing in the real world. Thus, each believer began to see the gods (the gods of their choice) as personal patrons rather than guardians of the universe, which may be explained by the fact that the politics of divinity soon appeared in Egypt. The god Amun was the most worshipped deity of the Egyptian monarchs, and the temple of Karnak, dedicated to the god Amun, became one of the most important economic forces in the Nile Valley. Soon after, the High Priest of Amun also converted his religious and economic power into political power.
The fact that royal power was no longer considered sacrosanct undoubtedly indicated that the situation had rapidly deteriorated at the end of Ramses III's reign. Some ambitious courtiers organized a great conspiracy to assassinate the pharaoh and elect one of his many sons to the throne. Of course, this was not the first assassination in Egyptian history, and previous pharaohs such as Pepy I and Amenemhet I were victims of such a conspiracy, and the latter died in a conspiracy, but there are many surviving trial documents about this conspiracy, which provide some extremely interesting details.
The mastermind of the assassination of Ramses III was one of his side concubines, who hoped to put Baiji's son on the throne and thus become the "mother of kings". The Egyptian pharaoh's harem, an Egyptian administration that aimed to house the pharaoh's wives and children and meet their needs, was key to the conspiracy. Although the Houguan was not a closed space separating concubines from their children, it was undoubtedly one of the main sources of political tension in ancient Egypt. For such a place where the pharaoh might not frequent, it was difficult for him to control the ambitions of harem concubines. In this assassination of the pharaoh, many important people were involved: six liquor officers, ten government officials, a general, and a treasury servant commanded it (his sister was a member of the harem).
The conspirators used every conceivable tactic, even witchcraft. One of the conspirators admitted that he had summoned wizards to cast spells on the royal guards so that those responsible for carrying out the assassination could approach the pharaoh effortlessly. Despite their efforts, the assassination ended in failure and the conspiracy was exposed. In the end, Tiyi failed to see her son Pentaour ascend to the throne.
"Let's get our people excited! Provoke their hostility towards His Majesty. "This is the last message sent by the assassination mastermind to his accomplices outside the palace.
The ensuing investigation revealed everything, including the details of the assassination and the names of those involved in the conspiracy, but it was revealed in a very peculiar way: in fact, given that the Egyptians believed that leaving the names of the conspirators in the royal archives would give them immortality, in order to deprive them of this right, their names were replaced by another name that was very similar but had a very negative meaning. For example, the mastermind of the assassination of Ramses III (with the exception of Princess Tiye) may have been called "Servant of the God Amun", but his name in the literature was changed to "Paybakkamen", meaning "blind servant". The names of the other assassins have also been modified accordingly.
Although his assassination failed, Ramses III died soon after, more than 30 years after he ascended the throne of Egypt. The throne fell to one of his many heirs, also known as "Ramses," the fourth person to sit on the Egyptian throne under that name.
Marked by military success, administrative degradation and a crisis of values, the mighty Egyptian Empire, which had built magnificent stone monuments and dominated the Mediterranean, ceased to exist with the end of Ramses III's long reign. It is difficult to explain the reasons for Egypt's decline, but there are still records of merchants sailing to Egypt to trade with goods, and it is clear that Egypt's economy is still prosperous, although there are information that it is sometimes difficult to recover the money for goods sold, and the courts often have to deal with economic dispute litigation. The constant pressure exerted on Egypt by foreigners who wanted to invade Egypt may be the source of widespread Egyptian dissatisfaction and domestic change, but it may also be the result of all of the above factors constantly eroding Pharaoh's power.
It stands to reason that after the glorious reign of Ramses III, at least some of his successive heirs should have inherited his majesty, but this was not the case. Although they are all named after the illustrious ancestor of the 19th Dynasty, "Ramses", none of them can be compared to Ramses II, both in foreign and domestic affairs.
And the successors who followed, Ramses IV, V, VI, and VII, all reigned for a relatively short time, each ruling Egypt for no more than 7 years.
In the first two years of the reign of Ramses VII, the Amun temple of Karnak sent expeditions to the eastern desert in search of gold and galena. From the 5 extant odes of Ramses VII, we can speculate about the predicament Egypt faced at that time, especially the conflict between the delta region and Egypt's traditional enemies and the conspiracies of neighboring countries to divide Egypt. However, the conflict was not confined to the political sphere: the seven years of Ramses VII's reign saw food prices continue to rise sharply, which is undoubtedly strong evidence of the economic crisis and social unrest in the Nile Valley at that time.
In such a dynasty with few records of the rule of the pharaohs, Ramses VIII became the least known pharaoh due to his obscurity and short reign.
Ramses VII died without descendants, and according to current tradition, Ramses III's son should succeed him to the throne. By this time, however, Ramses III's last son had also died, and the throne should have fallen to his son. However, this was not the case, as the usurpation of Ramses VIII (who may not be a direct descendant of Ramses III) interrupted the lineage of Ramses III, but he only stayed on the throne for 3 years. Some scholars believe that Ramses VIII was indeed the last surviving son of Ramses III, but this hypothesis is very unreliable. The name of this pharaoh appears only on a stone tablet and in the tombs of two officials from this period.
The identity of the next pharaoh, Ramses IX, is also uncertain, but it is likely that he was the grandson of Ramses III. Ramses IX ascended the throne of Egypt after his father's death and was not crowned. Apparently, he considered himself a legitimate successor to the throne and regarded the previous pharaoh as a usurper, because he never commemorated Ramses VIII in the same way that Ramses VI and Ramses VII were commemorated.
During this period, unable to maintain the external prestige it once enjoyed as a great power, Egypt became closed to the country, unable to influence neighboring countries, and even the oases were invaded by Libyans and no longer owned by Egypt. However, the Nubian region remained under Pharaoh's control, as the three Nubian governors (grandchildren) are more detailed in the surviving literature. Unfortunately, this sense of powerlessness crept into internal affairs, with the country falling into the hands of corrupt officials who profited from neighboring invasions of the Nile Valley and sometimes even encouraged foreign enemies to invade Egypt. The Valley of the Kings, the Valley of the Queens, and the tombs of the nobles were systematically excavated, further highlighting Ramses IX's ability to maintain internal order. The excavation of the mausoleum continued even after the investigation by Camoacete, the mayor of Visier and Thebes, although the series of investigations interrupted the robbery for several years.
One of the hallmarks of this chaotic period is that, although Ramses IX reigned long enough (18 years), it is still difficult to gather information about events that took place during his reign. After Pharaoh's death, he was succeeded by his son Ramses X. The lack of information about Ramses X is so severe that even his full royal title is unknown. Of the 5 royal titles that make up the name of Ramses X, his two goddesses and the golden Horus name are unknown. This lack of information is not only due to the short duration of his reign, which lasted only 9 years, but also partly to archaeologists who did not have the time or shown enough interest to extend the claim to a few meters in front of Ramses X's tomb in the Valley of the Kings (KV 18). In any case, it is surprising that a monarch who has reigned for nearly a decade has left almost no relevant documentation.
Ramses XI, who was crowned monarch of two lands after Ramses X, may have been the son of Ramses IX. Unlike his father, he reigned for a very long time, and some documents mention what happened during his 27th year of his reign. However, his rule was limited to Lower Egypt.
Due to the continuous Libyan invasion and prolonged famine, the Theban region was thrown into chaos, causing widespread discontent among the people, and then Egypt's internal conflicts continued. After nearly 30 years of rule, Ramses XI died, and his ministers gradually seized rule in Upper and Lower Egypt, and the once relatively unified Egypt finally began to divide, and the 20th Dynasty ended.
Les Mesaventures d'Ounamon offers the most eloquent portrayal of the period when Egypt's international reputation was lost.
This papyrus tells a story that some scholars believe is based on official documents of the time. The protagonist of the story is Unamon, who is employed by the temple of Karnak Amun under the jurisdiction of Hrihol and sent to Bibros to find the wood needed to build the holy ship for the god Amun. Despite being burglarized during his journey, he managed to reach Bibros and meet the ruler of Bibros in the hope that he could supply timber to Egypt. Since Egypt was no longer powerful at this time, the monarch of Bibros reprimanded Unamon and showed him an official register, showing that despite Egypt's ability to influence the fate of the city of Bibros, Egypt had never previously obtained timber without paying a reasonable fee. The monarch of Bibros made it clear to Unamon that the two lands had lost their credibility as powerful empires and that it no longer had the ability to buy on credit. Unamon had to write to Pharaoh Smondis (Pharaoh of Lower Egypt) asking him to borrow money in the name of Hrihol (Pharaoh of Upper Egypt) and God Amun. A few months later, Unamon received a loan from the pharaoh and was again humiliated by the monarch of Bibros when he made the payment. Unamon was eventually able to return to Egypt with timber, but he had to disembark off the coast of Cyprus after being pursued by Cheker (Asia's maritime peoples). Given the poor preservation of the papyrus, it is impossible to know exactly how the story will end.
The Unamished Affair of Unamon brings to an end to an era in Egypt that began centuries ago with the monarchs of Thebes successfully expelling the Hyksos from the Nile valley, and when the pharaoh's army marched all the way to the southern coast of Syrian-Palestine, the first great achievement of this era of external expansion. Syria-Palestine has always been an area that the Egyptians have sought to occupy. Egypt has long been regarded as one of the region's trading powers and one of the main political players in the Eastern Mediterranean. Later, several great monarchs of Egypt did occupy vast territories in West Asia and North Africa, realizing their great dreams. But with the death of several great pharaohs, it seems that all this has returned to the beginning.
The turbulent and little-known period of the reign of the descendants of Ramses III marked a turning point in Egyptian history, sounding the death knell for the end of one era and the beginning of another, the Third Intermediate Period.
The Ramses family went through the best and worst stages in the history of Pharaoh's rule. It is best because the reign of Ramses III flourished, royal power was preserved (despite numerous sacrifices to the temples, especially to Amun at Karnak), and to some extent kept chaos away from the Nile Valley. It was called the worst because Ramses III clearly felt that social corruption was spreading throughout the country. This can be seen in the diminished importance of his assassination and his successor. In today's view, the rule of the Ramses family perfectly ushered in the third intermediate period, a non-centralized era.