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Sherden

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Sherden

The Sherden (Egyptian šrdn, š3rd3n3 or š3rdyn3, Ugaritic šrdnn(m) and trtn(m), possibly Akkadian še–er–ta–an–nu; also glossed “Shardana” or “Sherdanu”) are one of several groups of "Sea Peoples" who appear in fragmentary historical and iconographic records (Egyptian and Ugaritic) from the Eastern Mediterranean in the late second millennium BCE.

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On reliefs they are shown carrying round shields and spears, dirks, or swords, perhaps of Naue II type. In some cases they are shown wearing corselets and kilts, but their key distinguishing feature is a horned helmet which, in all cases but three, features a circular accouterment at the crest. At Medinet Habu the corselet appears similar to that worn by the Philistines. The Sherden sword, it has been suggested by archaeologists since James Henry Breasted, may have developed from an enlargement of European daggers, and been associated with the exploitation of Bohemian tin. Robert Drews has recently suggested that use of this weapon amongst groups of Sherden and Philistine mercenaries made them capable of withstanding attacks by chariotry, making them valuable allies in warfare, though Drews' theory has been widely criticized by contemporary scholars.

Connection with Sea Peoples

The Sherden seem to have been one of the more prominent groups of pirates that engaged in coastal raiding and the disruption of trade in the years surrounding the 13th century BC. They are first mentioned by name in the Tanis II rhetorical stele of Ramesses II, which says in part “As for the Sherden of rebellious mind, whom none could ever fight against, who came bold-hearted, they sailed in, in warships from the midst of the Sea, those whom none could withstand; but he plundered them by the victories of his valiant arm, they being carried off to Egypt.” It is possible that some of the Sherden captured in the battle recounted in Tanis II were pressed into Egyptian service, perhaps even as shipwrights or advisers on maritime technology, a role in which they may have assisted in the construction of the hybrid Egyptian warships seen on the monumental relief at Medinet Habu showing the naval battle between Egyptians and Sea Peoples.

Michael Wood has suggested that their raids contributed greatly to the collapse of the Mycenaean civilization. However, while some Aegean attributes can be seen in the material culture of the Philistines, one of the Sea Peoples who established cities on the southern coastal plain of Canaan at the beginning of the Iron Age, the association of the Sherden with this geographic area is based entirely on their association with this group and the Sea Peoples phenomenon writ large, rather than on physical or literary evidence (of which almost all testifies to their presence in Egypt rather than their port of origin).

Origins

No mention of the Sherden has ever been found in Hittite or Greek legends or documents, suggesting that they did not originate from either sphere of influence. Some, who draw attention to the etymological connections between Sherden and Sardinia, Shekelesh with Sicily, and Trs-w (Teresh or Tursci) with Etruscans, suggested that these people came from the Western Mediterranean. Others think that this theory is archaeologically not satisfactory, arguing that there is evidence that these people arrived in the areas in which they lived after the period of Ramesses III, rather than before.

Eastern origin theory

Archaeologist Margaret Guido concludes the evidence for the Sherden, Shekelesh or Teresh coming from the western Mediterranean is flimsy. Guido in 1963 suggests that the Sherden may ultimately derive from Ionia, in the central west coast of Anatolia, in the region of Hermos, east of the island of Chios. It is suggested that Sardis, and the Sardinian plain nearby, may preserve a cultural memory of their name. Until recently it was assumed that Sardis was only settled in the period after the Anatolian and Aegean Dark Age, but American excavations have shown the place was settled in the Bronze Age and was a site of a significant population. If this is so, the Sherden, pushed by Hittite expansionism of the Late Bronze Age and prompted by the famine that affected this region at the same time, may have been pushed to the Aegean islands, where shortage of space led them to seek adventure and expansion overseas. It is suggested that from here they may have later migrated to Sardinia. Guido suggests that if a "few dominating leaders arrived as heroes only a few centuries before Phoenician trading posts were established, several features of Sardinian prehistory might be explained as innovations introduced by them: oriental types of armour, and fighting perpetuated in the bronze representation of warriors several centuries later; the arrival of the Cypriot copper ingots of the Serra Ilixi type; the sudden advance in and inventiveness of design of the Sardinian nuraghes themselves at about the turn of the first Millennium; the introduction of certain religious practices such as the worship of water in sacred wells - if this fact was not introduced by the Phoenician settlers".

Weapons and armour similar to those of the Sherden were found in Sardinia dating only to several centuries after the period of the Sea Peoples. If the theory that the Sherden moved to Sardinia only after their defeat by Ramesses III is true, then it could be inferred from this that the finds in Sardinia are survivals of earlier types of weapons and armour. On the other hand, if the Sherden only moved into the Western Mediterranean in the ninth century, associated perhaps with the movement of early Etruscans and even Phoenician seafaring peoples into the Western Mediterranean at that time, it would remain unknown where they were located between the period of the Sea Peoples and their eventual appearance in Sardinia.

Western origin theory

The theory that postulates a migration of peoples from the Eastern Mediterranean into Sardinia during the Late Bronze Age had been firmly rejected by Italian archaeologists like Massimo Pallottino and, more recently, Giovanni Ugas, who identifies the Sherden with the indigenous Nuragic peoples. He excavated the so-called Hypogeum of Sant'Iroxi, discovered accidentally in 1987, where were found several arsenical bronze swords and daggers dating back to 1600 BC, that suggested that the Nuragic peoples of Sardinia actually used these types of weapons since the mid 2nd millennium BC, as is also demonstrated by the Nuragic bronze sculptures depicting warriors wearing an horned helmet and a round shield dating back, the earliest examples, to 1200 BC. Similar swords are depicted on the statue menhir of Filitosa, in southern Corsica. Giovanni Lilliu noted that the period in which the Sherden are mentioned in the Egyptian sources coincides with the apogee of the Nuragic civilization.

In 2010 Nuragic pottery had been found at Kokkinokremnos, Cyprus, a site attributed to the Sea Peoples.

References

Sherden Wikipedia