Based on New Kingdom Egyptian text,  The Danuna are considered one of the major groups of the Sea Peoples.

Based on New Kingdom Egyptian text,  The Danuna are considered one of the major groups of the Sea Peoples.

The Danuna are known from Egyptian, Hittite, and classical sources. In the historical sources, the Danuna are known by many different names such as Denyen, Danunites, Danaoi, Danaus, Danaids, Dene, Danai, Danaian. 

The Danuna next appear during the reign of Ramesses III eighth year in 1188 BCE at his mortuary temple of Medinet Habu. The relief tells that their was a confederation of Philistines, Tjeker, Shelelesh, Denyen, and Weshesh that united to attack Egypt (Pritchard 1969:262-263). 

  I  slew the Denyen in their islands, while the Tjeker and the Philistines             were made ashes. The Sherden and the Weshesh of the Sea were             nonexistent, captured all together and brought in captivity to Egypt like             the sands of the shore (Pritchard 1969:260-261). 

There are several theories on where the Danuna came from: 1) Eastern Cilicia, 2) Mycenae, 3) Canaan. The first theory is that the Danuna came from Cilicia is based on the name of Adana, a city in the eastern part of Cilicia. Under the name Adaniya which,  was named by Telepinus whose reign is now dated at 1525-1500 BCE (Wainwright 1963:150). According to Barnett (1975:10), the Danuna lives in Cilicia in the ninth century BC, and caused alarm to their neighbors Amanus, Kalamu of Sam’al . Not only the Danuna of el-Amarna, but the Dnn of the Egyptian sources as well were the inhabitants of the Cilician Adana, without any connection with Greece. The “islands” where Ramesses III situated the Danuna were tiny islets and capes of the Cilician coast . The Danuna are also known from the Karatepe inscription, which mentions the legendary Greek hero named Mopsus. Mopsus is said to have found Aspendos, which is identical to the town, that Azitawadda in Cilicia. The event according to the Greeks are supposed to happen after the fall of Troy in 1180 BCE (Barnett 1953:142).   

.Many scholars associate the Danuna with the Greeks because all Greeks were referred to as Danaans by Homer. The fact that Homer lends the name Danaans to the Greeks is a credible suggestion because the Danaans came from Mycenae. Greek tradition suggests that the Danaoi settled in Argos and were named after the Danaos.

The Danuna and other Sea Peoples return to the Levant as a counter migration. While many of the Danuna, went to the Aegean and Mycenae and became known as the Danaans. Others went to Asia Minor and some of the Sea Peoples return to the Levant. The Danuna were accepted into the confederation of the tribes of Israel called Dan (Jones 1975:23). The Danuna were part of a confederation in the Levant with other groups of Sea People especially the Philistines. They were part of the sea battle against the Egyptians, which is depicted on the relief at Medinet Habu

Tribe of Dan was very close to the People of the Sea.

The tribe of the Danai originated in the east, and the introduction of the alphabet to Greece is attributed to it. Its members were outstanding seamen who had special connection with sun worship. The association with the Tribe of Dan is because their was two different tribes (the Danites and the Danai) with identical names and similar characteristics which operated in the same geographical region and period or there is a link between the tribe of Dan and the tribe of Danai, and possibly a certain measure of identity (Yadin 1968:22).