During the 14th century B.C., extensive maritime commerce linked the Aegean world with the Hittite and Egyptian empires in the Levant. Archaeological discoveries indicate substantial wealth was accumulated at major harbor cities, but contemporary documents also reveal that piracy was reaching alarming levels.
Archaeologist Robert Stieglitz examines how seafaring raiders, collectively termed the Sea Peoples by the Egyptians, caused widespread regional upheavals and brought an end to the Bronze-Age empires about 1200 B.C. Several of these tribes, notably the Philistines, established new homelands in Canaan.
9:30 to 10:45 a.m. Pirates of the Mediterranean
Many pirates were based in southwest Asia Minor, in regions then called Achaean territory and Lukka lands, and their raids focused on the sea lanes around Cyprus. Some fearsome warriors, such as the Shardana, served as mercenaries for the Egyptians. By the end of the 13th century B.C., Pharaoh Merneptah battled a coalition of Sea Peoples that included the Lukka, Shardana, and Tursha (Etruscans).
11 a.m. to 12:15 p.m. From the Aegean to the Promised Land
Rameses III alleged he repelled another Sea Peoples’ confederation that assaulted Egypt by land and by sea. He named five groups, led by the Philistines, that included Danaans (Mycenaeans), who advanced on Egypt from their bases in southwest Anatolia, Syria, and Lebanon. Troy was captured by a grand Danaan alliance in 1184 B.C., and the Trojan ceramics unearthed at several Philistine sites in southern Israel offer a tantalizing glimpse into the ties the Sea Peoples maintained to that city.
12:15 to 1:30 p.m. Lunch (participants provide their own)
1:30 to 2:45 p.m. Sea Peoples in Canaan
After the dust and waves subsided, archaeology, Egyptian records, and biblical narratives provide details about the Sea Peoples’ dominance. The records tell us that several of the Sea Peoples settled in Canaan. The Philistines, for example, conquered no less than five Canaanite city-states. Another Sea Peoples site unearthed at Tell Qasile was perhaps founded by Danaans. At Dor, south of Mount Carmel, the Sikala group established a kingdom and authority inland and at sea, and some evidence suggests Shardana resided in Akko.
3 to 4:15 p.m. Philistines in the Iron Age
The Sea Peoples dominion gradually ended in the 10th century B.C. Prior to his reign, King David was exiled among the Philistines, and after becoming king succeeded in defeating them. Solomon took over Dor, and the Sea Peoples intermingled with the native coastal dwellers. By the 7th century B.C., the Philistines lost their ancestral language and script and adopted the Phoenician language and alphabet. However, they retained the worship of their ancient mother goddess called Mistress Gaia. In Roman times, only traces of the Sea Peoples’ Aegean Bronze-Age heritage were preserved in Palestine.
Stieglitz, a professor emeritus at Rutgers University, specializes in ancient maritime interconnections. He has excavated at various harbors in Greece and Israel, and has led many archaeological tours in the eastern and western Mediterranean.
