Description

This title features up-to-date historical and archaeological research into the mysterious and powerful confederations of raiders who troubled the Eastern Mediterranean in the last half of the Bronze Age.

Research into the origins of the so-called Shardana, Shekelesh, Danuna, Lukka, Peleset and other peoples is a detective 'work in progress'. However, it is known that they both provided the Egyptian pharaohs with mercenaries, and were listed among Egypt's enemies and invaders. They contributed to the collapse of several civilizations through their dreaded piracy and raids, and their waves of attacks were followed by major migrations that changed the face of this region, from modern Libya and Cyprus to the Aegean, mainland Greece, Lebanon and Anatolian Turkey.

Drawing on carved inscriptions and papyrus documents – mainly from Egypt – dating from the 15th–11th centuries BC, as well as carved reliefs of the Medinet Habu, this title reconstructs the formidable appearance and even the tactics of the famous 'Sea Peoples'.

Table of Contents

Introduction: who were the Sea Peoples?
Chronology
The historical sources: the Byblos obelisk; the Armana letters; Rameses II and the Battle of Kadesh inscriptions; the Libyan despatch to Merneptah; the Medinet Habu reliefs of Rameses III; the Onomastican of Amenemope
The different groups: Shardana
Sherden, Danuna, Karkisha & Lukka, Peleset, Shekelesh
Tjekker, Sea Wheshesh
Clothing & military equipment: headdress, helmets; corselets; shields; spears & javelins; swords & daggers; chariots
Military organization: chariots and infantry; siege warfare; naval warfare
Campaigns: as pirates and Egyptian mercenaries, 14th century BC; the Kadesh campaign, 1285 BC; first Egyptian campaign, 1207 BC; fall of the Hittite Empire, c.1200 BC; the War of the 8th Year, 1184 BC; Libya, 1180 BC; Western Mediterranean, c.1100 BC
Sites, museums & bibliography
Index

Product details

Published Feb 20 2015
Format Ebook (PDF)
Edition 1st
Extent 64
ISBN 9781472806826
Imprint Osprey Publishing
Illustrations 58 col
Series Elite
Short code ELI 204
Publisher Bloomsbury Publishing

About the contributors

Author

Raffaele D’Amato

Raffaele D'Amato, PhD, is the author of some 40 bo…

Author

Andrea Salimbeti

Andrea Salimbeti has had a lifelong interest in an…

Illustrator

Giuseppe Rava

Giuseppe Rava was born in Faenza in 1963, and took…

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