Julie Cheng
History 134
May 17, 2015
Military History: Sea People
Joshua J. Mark, defines sea people as “a confederacy of navel raiders who harried
the coastal towns and cities of the Mediterranean region between approximately 12761178 BCE”. i Little to none is known about the Sea People’s identity, the only known
facts about the Sea people is that they are known for their military strength. Many have
attempted to seek further light about the Sea-people’s identity by using Egyptian records
on tribes, researchers have found that many of the “Sea People come from the north of
the Mediterranean and from Asian Minor”. ii But even with the names, because of the
Sea-people’s constant migrations throughout the Mediterranean. “It’s impossible to locate
them exactly in Asia Minor, for by classical times many names have been duplicated”. iii
There’s also mentions of some Sea People being “allies of the Hittites by
Ramesses II in his record of the Battle of Kadesh in 1274 BCE”, but in the second year of
Ramesses II reign he defeated them in a naval battle off the coast of Egypt. iv At this
particular point in time, it seem like the Sea-people were trying extremely hard to
establish a permanent settlement in Egypt. During the reign of Pharaoh Ramesses III, the
sea-people attempted to overtake a part of Egypt, but to no avail, they lost. But they
returned with more forces later, only to be overpowered by Ramesses’s ambush. Mark
writes that “after their defeat by Ramesses III the Sea Peoples vanish from history” and it
is believed that the survivors of the battle have somehow adapted into the Egyptian
culture. v
i
Joshua J. Mark, a freelance writer and part-time Professor of Philosophy at Marist College, New York and
author of the article Sea People published 02 September 2009 in the Ancient History Encyclopedia
ii
G.A Wainwright journal on Some Sea-Peoples And Others In The Hittite Archives
iii
G.A Wainwright journal on Some Sea-Peoples And Others In The Hittite Archives
iv
Mark, Joshua. "Sea Peoples." Ancient History Encyclopedia. 2 Sept. 2009. Web. 18 May 2015
v
Mark, Joshua. "Sea Peoples." Ancient History Encyclopedia. 2 Sept. 2009. Web. 18 May 2015
Work Cited
Mark, Joshua. "Sea Peoples." Ancient History Encyclopedia. 2 Sept. 2009. Web. 18 May
2015.
Article published on the Sea People in ancient times. There's a general definition
of who the sea people are. Mark also talks about the Sea people's collaboration
with the Hittites and they're attempts to settle in Egypt, which did not end in
success.
Raban, Avner. "The Harbor of the Sea Peoples at Dor." The Biblical Archaeologist 50.2
(1987): 118-26. JSTOR. Web. 18 May 2015. .
Wasn't able to read the whole thing, but this article pin-points one definite place
that the Sea-people made port at. It'll give readers and researchers a sense of
where majority of the Sea-people where either from or would associate with.
Wainwright, G.A. "Some Sea-People And Others In The Hittite Archives." The Journal
of Egyptian Archaeology 25.2 (1939): 148-53. JSTOR. Web. 17 May 2015. .
I used the journal to describe the nature of who the Sea-people are. This journal
allow me to prove that the identity can only be generalized, like the general
location that these people are from. But there's no way to know exactly who they
were.