World History Honors

they did manage to invade Egypt's northern coast and apparently mounted campaigns against the Egyptians on more than one occasion.

when it came was a complete success for the Egyptians. The Sea Peoples, on land, were defeated and scattered but their navy continued towards the eastern Nile delta.

Between 1200 and 1176 BC, the chaos that occurred in that region was probably a direct outcome of Sea People activity, and may be one reason why we find it difficult to find historical documentation beyond that date in Asia Minor.

It would seem that, rather then bands of plunderers, the Sea People were probably part of a great migration of displaced people.

As they began to enter Egypt, the warriors were usually accompanied by their wives and families, and it appears that they carried their possessions in ox-drawn cards, prepared to settle down though whatever territory they transverse.

However, the Sea People's alliance appears to have remained strong, for afterwards they destroyed the Hittite empire, ransacking the capital of Hattusas, and were probably responsible for the sacking of the client city of Ugarit on the Syrian coast, as well as cities such as Alalakh in northern Syria. Cyprus had also been overwhelmed and its capital Enkomi ransacked. It was clear that their ultimate goal was Egypt.

The Sea People, who we are told of on reliefs at Medinet Habu and Karnak, as well as from the text of the Great Harris Papyrus (now in the British Museum), are said to be a loose confederation of people originating in the eastern Mediterranean.

Although the Egyptians had a reputation as poor seamen

The Zhou Dynasty is divided into subperiods.

Their capital was divided into two sections, one for the Zhou, that contained the imperial court, and the other half for the transported Shang.

Mandate of Heaven

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). 

extended their influence toward Syria

their migration pushed other populations southward

culture and Indo-European language

irst conquest was the town of Nesa (near modern Kayseri, Turkey), followed by the capture of Hattusas (near modern Bogazkoy).

He was the first major Hittite conqueror to spread his control throughout Asia Minor to the coast. Labarna's successors pushed their borders southward to Syria. Mursilis I raided deep into the old empire of Babylonia, captured Aleppo, and set the kingdom's southern boundary in Syria. The Hittites spent the next two centuries quelling internal disturbances and fighting the Mitanni of upper Mesopotamia.

He laid down strict succession guidelines and possibly established a code of law

he two powers remained rivals for the next century

During a time of Egyptian weakness under King Akhenaton, the Hittites made gains in Lebanon at Egyptian expense

They also spread their power to the Aegean Sea, Armenia, and upper Mesopotamia.

The key battle in the ongoing conflict with Egypt took place in 1275 BC at Kadesh on the Orontes River. Pharaoh Ramses II led his army of Numidian mercenaries north to force his will on the Hittites once and for all. When two captured Hittite deserters informed the pharaoh that their army was still many days' march away, Ramses rode ahead of his army to set up camp near Kadesh. The two prisoners turned out to have been planted by the Hittite king Muwatallis, and the Hittite Army attacked the pharaoh without most of his troops. Ramses fought bravely until his army arrived; their appearance forced a Hittite retreat into the city of Kadesh. Without siege equipment, Ramses could not force their surrender, so he withdrew

The secret of the Hittites' expansion and superiority lay in the fact that they were the first power to develop the process of smelting iron in large quantities, a method that was probably discovered in about 1400 BC. In a time when everyone used bronze for weapons, iron weaponry gave its possessors a great advantage. Despite that advantage, however, the bulk of the Hittite Army was made up of mounted troops and chariots, from which archers fought. Iron weaponry conferred less of an advantage on those troops, but the Hittite infantry carried iron swords and iron-tipped spears and fought in a phalanx formation.

The Hittite kingdom recognized a supreme ruler, but a strong aristocracy made absolute rule difficult

An early form of feudalism was the basic social and governmental structure, with the local lords being responsible for providing troops in time of emergency.

The king maintained a standing army, however, especially as the empire expanded and garrisons were necessary to maintain control over subject populations. Further, the king maintained a personal guard of about 1,200 (possibly as many as 12,000) soldiers from Elam, and other mercenaries were employed as well.

Xia-Shang-Zhou Chronology Project

scholars in disciplines including archaeology, astronomical history, early manuscripts and the parsing of inscriptions on bronze vessels and divination bones had made many new discoveries and synthesized the sketchy evidence.

''A history without chronology is no history at all,'' Mr. Song wrote in a newspaper article this fall. ''It can only be called rumor or myth.''

Yellow Emperor

771 B.C., when the Zhou Dynasty fell

had little authority and was forced to rely on the support of eastern dukes to maintain order.

growing millet in the north and rice in the south, cultivation of wheat, oats, barley, and lentils

.  Peasants served the nobles by farming specific designated areas for their respective lords

, each peasant was assigned acreage on which he could cultivate crops for his family.