Hey guys, it's Mike Chen.
You know, I've always been interested in historical civilizations,
mass empires, groups of people who conquered their way across the world
like the Persians or the Mongolians.
And usually we know a lot about this invaders
because, well, they invaded a lot of territories and left behind a lot of their heritage and culture.
But there is one aggresive group of feared invaders in history
that we know supprisingly little about.
In fact, we know so little, their entire existence is shrouded in mystery.
So, let's talk about that.
In the region of the eastern Mediterranean between the 13th and 12th century BCE,
records of ancient history spoke of a powerful confederacy
of naval warriors known as the "Sea People."
According to one ancient inscription,
this band of sea-faring raiders
"came from the sea in their war ships"
and that they were such a force to be reckon with that
"none could stand against them."
They launched attacks against several ancient civilizations
that resided in the Mediterranean
and wreaked havoc on nations and empires
like Egypt, the Hittite Empire, Syria, Palestine, and Turkey.
But despite their legendary place in human history
for supposedly being a fierce group
that contributed to the catastrophic collapse
of several eastern Mediterranean civilizations during the Late Bronze Age,
like I mentioned before, not much is known about who these Sea People really were
and where they actually came from.
Scholars and experts have presented several theories
about the potential origins of the mysterious Sea People,
but there's hardly a consensus on which is the better theory
that answers the enigmatic identity of these ancient maritime warriors.
This is why the extensive discussion over their main homeland and nationality
continues to spark controversy even to this day.
Now most of the limited information that historians and experts have about the Sea People
came from the ancient civilizations
that fought against this mysterious naval confederacy once or in several occasions.
The ancient Egyptians, in particular, were in conflict with them on many instances.
In fact, three of the great pharaohs of Egypt
– such as Ramesses II, Merenptah and Ramesses III
– recorded their encounters with the Sea People.
Not only did these Egyptian leaders boasted in their inscriptions
about their victories against their formidable adversaries,
they also provided the most detailed narratives
referring to this mysterious civilization of sea-faring raiders.
The existence of the Sea People was first revealed
and described in the middle of the 19th century
by a man named Emmanuel de Rougé,
who served as the Louvre's curator at the time.
His interpretations about the Sea People came from the famous Medinet Habu inscriptions,
which is considered as the main source
as well as the basis of various discussions
about the sea-faring confederacy in the Mediterranean region.
But it has been agreed on by various experts
that the earliest possible record of the Sea People
is traced all the way back to the reign of Ramesses II,
the third pharaoh of the 19th Egyptian Dynasty.
Early in the reign of Ramesses the Great,
the Egyptians came into conflict with the Hittites,
and they, in 1274 BCE, seized the trade site of Kadesh
- which is now located in modern-day Syria.
Ramesses utilized his army and attempted to expel the Hittites
- an effort which he claimed resulted 'a great victory for the Egyptians'
although this is disputed by the account of the Hittites.
But regardless of whether or not Ramesses II defeated the Hittites during this clash,
what really makes his inscription so valuable
is what the pharaoh said about the Sea People.
So based on his account, the Sea People were the allies of the Hittites
who were also mercenaries that served under his own forces.
He also mentioned how he thwarted the naval attack of the Sea People
by sinking their war ships
and how after their defeat, many of them joined Ramesses' army
and even became a part of his elite group of guards.
However, the pharaoh made no mention of their nationality or where they came from,
and experts suggest that this implies
that the Sea People required no introduction
to those who would have heard the pharaoh's story
because the citizens of that time probably already knew a lot about them.
It was Ramesses II's successor Merenptah
who encountered the Sea People again
during the fifth year of his reign in 1209 BCE.
During Merenptah's rule, the Egyptians battled against the Libyans
when they tried to invade the Nile Delta.
The pharaoh wrote about the conflict and mentioned in his writings
that the Libyans brought allies during their invasion
and they were naval forces that came "from the seas to the north."
He listed their territories
which included Teresh, Ekwesh, Lukka and Shekelesh.
Now if those names don't sound familiar to you, don't feel too bad.
Because while many scholars have tried to figure out
where these lands were located in terms of the modern world we live in today,
they did not achieve much success in answering this mystery.
But what is known for certain is that
Merenptah was particularly proud of his feat of suppressing these sea-faring adversaries
that he made sure that the tale of his army's triumph
was immortalized in his inscriptions
which were found on the walls of the Temple of Karnak
as well as on his funerary temple at Thebes.
But despite Merenptah's success in securing the Egyptian borders
from the members of the Sea People
who were trying to establish permanent settlements in the country,
the naval confederacy returned once again to mount another invasion
during the reign of Ramesses III, the second pharaoh of Egypt's 20th Dynasty.
The Sea People allied themselves once again with the Libyans,
and this time, they launched an attack at the trading center in Kadesh
and raided establishments along the coast.
They also attempted to occupy and take control of the Delta
but failed to do so when Ramesses III's forces
managed to thwart their efforts in 1180 BCE.
In his victory inscription,
Ramesses III listed several countries that united to form the maritime confederation,
and they included the Peleset, Shekelesh, Tjeker, Weshesh and Denen.
It is believed that Peleset occupied approximately the same region as today's Palestine,
and that Tjeker is located somewhere in Syria.
Ramesses III also noted in his inscription
that the Sea People were confident in "coming forward toward Egypt"
as they had already brought the Hittite state to its knees in 1200 BCE.
Now in order to defend Egypt
from the occupation of the naval confederacy and the Libyans,
Ramesses III formed a strategy
that avoided engaging the Sea People in the battlefield.
Instead, he resorted to guerilla tactics
and utilized archers to shower the enemy's war ships with flaming arrows.
This led to the destruction and sinking of the invaders' vessels.
The remaining forces of the Sea People that managed to reach land were also defeated,
and the battle to protect Egypt officially concluded
with the fall of enemy forces in the city of Xois in 1178 BCE.
Supposedly, members of the Sea People suffered from various fates.
Some died from the conflict while those who survived were either imprisoned,
sold as slaves, or forced to join Egypt's army
and were subsequently assimilated into Egyptian culture.
And for almost a century,
the Sea People were probably the most feared naval warriors
in the Mediterranean region around three thousand years ago.
But for some reason, they eventually vanished from the face of the earth,
leaving very few traces behind.
Historical evidence we have today are only enough for us
to be aware that they once existed,
but do not give us much to go on in determining
where they came from and what happened to them
after their several invasion attempts that tested the might of Egypt.
As for who they really were,
there are probably dozens of theories and hypotheses
presented by scholars that claim to answer this mystery.
Some have suggested that the Sea People
could be related to the Philistines, or even the Trojans,
There is even a speculation that the enigmatic Sea People could be connected
to the little-known Luwian civilization of that time,
which is a coalition of kingdoms believed to have brought the downfall of powerful ancient civilizations
by the end of the Bronze Age in the Mediterranean region.
Not only did the Luwians supposedly destroy the Hittite Empire,
they also weakened and destabilized the Egyptians.
It purportedly took the Mycenaeans to band together
and form a coalition of their own
to successfully topple the Luwians and destroy their key cities,
which included Troy.
However, as the last civilization standing,
the Mycenaeans eventually fought amongst themselves,
and their civil war led to the total collapse of the Mediterranean area.
So overall, there are just way too many blanks for us to fill
before we could accurately determine the real identity
and origin of the mysterious Sea People
Their existence is so mysterious.
The clues to their culture, their origin, their existence are so few
that some researchers are basically gave up,
saying that there is no longer a necessity for mankind
to passionately pursue the uncovering of the identity of the Sea People
since it's a venture that can never come into fruition.
I don't know how much I like that.
That kind of remind me of tax class in college.
Staring at a book for, like, 3 hours and finally going, you know what,
no one can really figure this out.
I didn't even know researchers could actually do that,
just go, yeah, it's just not possible.
I mean, there're still people out there looking for Noah's Ark.
But this, they give up.
Anyway guys, like I said, I really wanted to cover this topic
because this ancient civilization has always been really intriguing for me.
So hopefully you like this video.
Thank you all so much for watching.
I'll see you later.
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