The Reflection of the War in the North-West of Anatolia in the Inscriptions of Ramses III
Safronov Alexander V.
The author reconstructs a fragment of the inscription dated by 5th year of Ramses III reign (lines 51-52, Fig. 2) and gives his own translation: «The northern hill-countries quivered in their bodies, namely Peleset, Tjeker, [Tursha]. Someone devastated their land, their spirit came to the end». The author points out that the suffix-pronoun of the third person of plural -w could be used in indefinite-personal sentences in Late Egyptian. The author supports his translation by the Ramses III inscription dated by 8th year of this pharaoh's reign (lines 34-35; Fig. 4): (As for) foreign land [...] their towns were destroyed, devastated at the moment. Their trees and their people became ashes. They asked their hearts: «Where shall we go?» Their chiefs went [....on] their backs to Egypt». In author's opinion both inscriptions witness the devastation of the homeland of Peleset, Tjeker and Tursha as a result of the war. Then the author examines the Egyptian names of the Sea peoples - Tjeker, Peleset, Tursha. He criticizes A. Rainey's and E. Edel's identification of the tribal name Tkrw in Egyptian with Sicules. The author considers the Tjeker as TeuKpot, the inhabitants of Troas that were mentioned in the Greek tradition. As for the Peleset, they are identified with ПеА.сшуо{ whose the initial form is reconstructed as *Pelastoi on the base of Hesihius' gloss (Hesich., 1296). The Tursha are identified as Tursenoi. The author notes interchangeability of Pelasgoi and Tursenoi in the Greek tradition. He believes that this fact points at the close connection between those tribes, which is confirmed by the Egyptian sources that record a joint attack of the Peleset and Tursha on Egypt in the reign of Ramses III (KRI. V. P. 91.8). On the base of the archaic Greek tradition the author places both tribes in the north-west of Asia Minor. The migration of the inhabitants from this region to the Eastern Mediterranean is maintained with the data from the Greek tradition about the arrival of the population from Troas to Cyprus and Palestine after the Trojan war, as well as archeological data (so-called Grey Trojan Ware in Cyprus, pithos burials in Troas and Palestine in 13-12 BC). In the author's opinion, the reason which caused Peleset, Tjeker, Tursha to migrate to Syria and Palestine was the war in the north-west of Asia Minor mentioned in Ramses' inscriptions. According to the author, the Trojan war is the only equivalent to this historical event. The author believes that the unknown enemy who devastated the homeland of those tribes was the Achaeans of the Greek tradition. At the end of the article the author reconstructed the order of the events in the Aegean and Eastern Mediterranean in the late 13 - the early 12 BC. The destruction of the Mycenaean centres in South Greece at the end of 13 cent. BC caused the Achaean population to leave their homeland for the Eastern Mediterranean. One of the waves of migrating groups was aimed at Troas. The war between the arriving Achaeans and the autochthone population resulted in the devastation of the north-west of Asia Minor and migration of the inhabitants of this region to Cyprus, Palestine and Egypt. This war left traces both in Egyptian inscriptions about the devastation of the homeland of Peleset, Tjeker and Tursha and was engraved in Greek memory as cycles of legends about the great battle for Troy. Palestine after the Trojan war, as well as archeological data (so-called Grey Trojan Ware in Cyprus, pithos burials in Troas and Palestine in 13-12 BC). In the author's opinion, the reason which caused Peleset, Tjeker, Tursha to migrate to Syria and Palestine was the war in the north-west of Asia Minor mentioned in Ramses' inscriptions. According to the author, the Trojan war is the only equivalent to this historical event. The author believes that the unknown enemy who devastated the homeland of those tribes was the Achaeans of the Greek tradition.