The Weshesh (

Egyptian ''Egyptian'' describes something of, from, or related to Egypt. Egyptian or Egyptians may refer to: Nations and ethnic groups * Egyptians, a national group in North Africa ** Egyptian culture, a complex and stable culture with thousands of year ...

: ''wꜣšꜣšꜣ'', ''wꜣšš'') were one of the several

ethnic group An ethnicity or ethnic group is a group of people with shared attributes, which they collectively believe to have, and long-term endogamy. Ethnicities share attributes like language, culture, common sets of ancestry, traditions, society, re ...

s the

Sea Peoples The Sea Peoples were a group of tribes hypothesized to have attacked Ancient Egypt, Egypt and other Eastern Mediterranean regions around 1200 BC during the Late Bronze Age. The hypothesis was proposed by the 19th-century Egyptology, Egyptologis ...

were said to be composed of, appearing in fragmentary historical and iconographic records in

ancient Egypt Ancient Egypt () was a cradle of civilization concentrated along the lower reaches of the Nile River in Northeast Africa. It emerged from prehistoric Egypt around 3150BC (according to conventional Egyptian chronology), when Upper and Lower E ...

ian from the

Eastern Mediterranean The Eastern Mediterranean is a loosely delimited region comprising the easternmost portion of the Mediterranean Sea, and well as the adjoining land—often defined as the countries around the Levantine Sea. It includes the southern half of Turkey ...

in the late 2nd millennium BC.

Records

Of the various groups which made up the Sea Peoples, the ''Weshesh'' are perhaps the least attested. Along with the ''

Ekwesh The Achaeans or Akhaians (; , "the Achaeans" or "of Achaea") is one of the names in Homer which is used to refer to the Greeks collectively. The term "Achaean" is believed to be related to the Hittite term Ahhiyawa and the Egyptian term Ekwe ...

'', the ''Weshesh'' are found only in documents pertaining to the reign of

Ramesses III Usermaatre Meryamun Ramesses III was the second Pharaoh of the Twentieth dynasty of Egypt, Twentieth Dynasty in Ancient Egypt. Some scholars date his reign from 26 March 1186 to 15 April 1155 BC, and he is considered the last pharaoh of the New K ...

, namely the second pylon of his mortuary temple at

Medinet Habu Medinet Habu (; ; ; ) is an archaeological locality situated near the foot of the Theban Hills on the West Bank of the River Nile opposite the modern city of Luxor, Egypt. Although other structures are located within the area and important disco ...

, and the

Great Harris Papyrus Papyrus Harris I is also known as The Great Harris Papyrus and (less accurately) simply The Harris Papyrus (though there are a number of other papyri in the Harris collection). Its technical designation is ''Papyrus British Museum EA 9999''. At 4 ...

. No visual representation of the ''Weshesh'' has ever been identified.Heike Sternberg-el Hotabi: ''Der Kampf der Seevölker gegen Pharao Ramses III''. Rahden 2012, S. 50. According to the inscriptions at Medinet Habu, the ''Weshesh'' were camped in Amurru alongside the ''

Peleset The Peleset () or Pulasati are a people appearing in fragmentary historical and iconographic records in ancient Egyptian from the Eastern Mediterranean in the late 2nd millennium BCE. They are hypothesised to have been one of the several ethnic ...

'', ''

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 of ...

'', ''

Sherden The Sherden (Egyptian: ''šrdn'', ''šꜣrdꜣnꜣ'' or ''šꜣrdynꜣ''; Ugaritic: ''šrdnn(m)'' and ''trtn(m)''; possibly Akkadian: ''šêrtânnu''; also glossed "Shardana" or "Sherdanu") are one of the several ethnic groups the Sea Peoples wer ...

'', and ''Denyen''. The apparent coalition was decimated by the pharaoh and his armies, and Ramesses III records himself as leading a glorious procession of Sea People prisoners on the return journey.

Identification

Being so sparsely attested to, the identification of the ''Weshesh'' with any number of other peoples is more contested in comparison to other Sea People groups. In 1872, François Chabas identified the ''Weshesh'' with the Oscians, a South Italic people, based on the phonological similarities between the two peoples' names. A year later, in 1873,

Gaston Maspero Sir Gaston Camille Charles Maspero (23 June 1846 – 30 June 1916) was a French Egyptologist and director general of excavations and antiquities for the Egyptian government. Widely regarded as the foremost Egyptologist of his generation, he be ...

published his "

Anatolia Anatolia (), also known as Asia Minor, is a peninsula in West Asia that makes up the majority of the land area of Turkey. It is the westernmost protrusion of Asia and is geographically bounded by the Mediterranean Sea to the south, the Aegean ...

n hypothesis" which hypothesized the Sea Peoples originated in

Asia Minor Anatolia (), also known as Asia Minor, is a peninsula in West Asia that makes up the majority of the land area of Turkey. It is the westernmost protrusion of Asia and is geographically bounded by the Mediterranean Sea to the south, the Aegean ...

; connecting the ''Weshesh'' with the

Caria Caria (; from Greek language, Greek: Καρία, ''Karia''; ) was a region of western Anatolia extending along the coast from mid-Ionia (Mycale) south to Lycia and east to Phrygia. The Carians were described by Herodotus as being Anatolian main ...

n settlement '' Wassos''. In 1922, the Egyptologist Henry R. Hall connected the ''Weshesh'' with the ''Waksioi'' of

Crete Crete ( ; , Modern Greek, Modern: , Ancient Greek, Ancient: ) is the largest and most populous of the Greek islands, the List of islands by area, 88th largest island in the world and the List of islands in the Mediterranean#By area, fifth la ...

. Others connected the ''Weshesh'' with the Achaeans, an identification often made with the fellow Sea People clan of the ''

'', based on phonological similarities.

References

{{reflist Sea Peoples

Records

Identification

See also

References