The Shekelesh (
Egyptian language: ''šꜣkrwšꜣꜣ'' or ''šꜣꜣkrwšꜣꜣ'')
were one of the several
ethnic groups the
Sea Peoples
The Sea Peoples are a hypothesized seafaring confederation that attacked ancient Egypt and other regions in the Eastern Mediterranean, East Mediterranean prior to and during the Late Bronze Age collapse (1200–900 Common Era, BCE).. Quote: ...
were said to be composed of, appearing in fragmentary historical and iconographic records in
ancient Egyptian from the
Eastern Mediterranean
Eastern Mediterranean is a loose definition of the eastern approximate half, or third, of the Mediterranean Sea, often defined as the countries around the Levantine Sea.
It typically embraces all of that sea's coastal zones, referring to commun ...
in the late 2nd millennium BC.
Earliest records
The Shekelesh first appears in Egyptian records during accounts of the
pharaoh Merneptah's military campaigns in modern
Libya in the closing years of the
13th century BC
In music or music theory, a thirteenth is the note thirteen scale degrees from the root of a chord and also the interval between the root and the thirteenth. The interval can be also described as a compound sixth, spanning an octave ...
, as recounted on the
Great Karnak Inscription. In the text, the Shekelesh, alongside other clans of the Sea Peoples, are described as auxiliary troops of the Libyan ruler
Meryey, and Merneptah recounts he killed between 200 and 222 of them.
Nearly thirty years later, the Shekelesh are mentioned within the exploits of
Ramesses III, where they, along with the
Peleset,
Tjeker
The Tjeker or Tjekker ( Egyptian: ''ṯꜣkꜣr'' or ''ṯꜣkkꜣr'') were one of the Sea Peoples.
Known mainly from the " Story of Wenamun", the Tjeker are also documented earlier, at Medinet Habu, as raiders defeated by Pharaoh Ramesses III ...
,
Denyen
The Denyen ( Egyptian: ''dꜣjnjnjw'') is purported to be one of the groups constituting the Sea Peoples.
Origin
They are mentioned in the Amarna letters from the 14th century BC as possibly being related to the "Land of the Danuna" near Ugarit. ...
, and
Weshesh The Weshesh ( Egyptian: ''wꜣšꜣšꜣ'', ''wꜣšš'') were one of the several ethnic groups the Sea Peoples were said to be composed of, appearing in fragmentary historical and iconographic records in ancient Egyptian from the Eastern Mediterra ...
, are described as forming a foothold in the
Amurru kingdom Amurru may refer to:
* Amurru kingdom, roughly current day western Syria and northern Lebanon
* Amorite, ancient Syrian people
* Amurru (god)
Amurru, also known under the Sumerian name Martu, was a Mesopotamian god who served as the divine per ...
during the 8th year of his reign. Ramesses, per his inscriptions, vanquished the coalition, and portrays himself leading a glorious procession of captured Sea Peoples as prisoners.
Origins
In 1867, Egyptologist and philologist
Emmanuel de Rougé
''Vicomte'' Olivier Charles Camille Emmanuel de Rouge (11 April 1811 – 27 December 1872) was a French Egyptologist, philologist and a member of the House of Rougé.
Biography
He was born on 11 April 1811, in Paris, the son of Charles Camil ...
identified the Shekelesh as coming from
Sicily, given the phonetic similarities of the two names. Joining him was fellow Egyptologist
François Chabas, in 1872. The following year, the identification was disputed by
Gaston Maspero
Sir Gaston Camille Charles Maspero (23 June 1846 – 30 June 1916) was a French Egyptologist known for popularizing the term "Sea Peoples" in an 1881 paper.
Maspero's son, Henri Maspero, became a notable sinologist and scholar of East Asia ...
, who believed the Shekelesh were
Anatolian in origin, instead opting to identify them with the ancient city of
Sagalassos
Sagalassos ( el, Σαγαλασσός), also known as Selgessos ( el, Σελγησσός) and Sagallesos ( el, Σαγαλλησός), is an archaeological site in southwestern Turkey, about 100 km north of Antalya (ancient Attaleia) and 30 ...
.
In 1928,
Eduard Meyer
Eduard Meyer (25 January 1855 – 31 August 1930) was a German historian. He was the brother of Celticist Kuno Meyer (1858–1919).
Biography
Meyer was born in Hamburg and educated at the Gelehrtenschule des Johanneums and later at the univer ...
proposed an identification with the
Sicels, who are known to have inhabited Sicily during the Sea Peoples' conquests, although the Sicals are often identified with the Tjeker, another group of the Sea Peoples. Today, it is still uncertain where the Shekelesh originated from, and if they indeed embarked from Sicily, it is similarly debated whether or not Sicily was their original homeland, or if they were originally settlers which came from some other location.
The Shekelesh have also been identified with the ''Shikalayu'' (
Hittite: 𒅆𒅗𒆷𒅀𒌋 ''ši-ka-la-ia/u-u'') mentioned by the
Hittite king
Šuppiluliuma II in a letter to the governor of
Ugarit. Per Šuppiluliuma, the ''Shikalayu'' were ones "who dwell/live on ships",
[Heike Sternberg-el Hotabi: ''Der Kampf der Seevölker gegen Pharao Ramses III.'' Rahden 2012, S. 49.] and, given his wordage, seemed to be largely a mystery to the Hittites. Given their association with ships, these scholars conclude the ''Shikalayu'' were a pirate group who hailed from a place, presumably an island, known as ''Shikala''.
References
{{reflist
Sea Peoples