- Question
Who were the Sea People who attacked Egypt and the Eastern Mediterranean during the Late Bronze Age Collapse?
During the 12th Century BC sea-faring invaders contributed to what is known as the Late Bronze Age Collapse. Greece, Egypt, the Levant, and the Hittites were all impacted. Known in the Egyptian sources as a confederation of ethnic groups, the identity and origins of the Sea People is contested.
The Sea People were Mycenaean Greeks
According to Greek history the Mycenaeans carried out pirate raiding trips around the Mediterranean. Some of these seafaring Greeks became the Philistines, one of the groups potentially identified in the Egyptian sources.
The Sea People were migrants fleeing famine.
Difficult climatic conditions and evidence of famine has led some scholars to argue that environmental pressures, particularly in Anatolia and the Levant, may have created the Sea People. Material culture and origin myths from Italy support this claim.
The Sea People were an emerging Anatolian power
The disturbances in this period started in the Hittite empire and may have emerged from a power struggle in the region. Based on the etymology, there is good reason to believe at least some of the Sea People came from Anatolia.
The Sea People were created by invaders passing through the Balkans
Archaeological finds indicate turbulent events in the Balkans prior to the Bronze Age Collapse, possibly caused by movements of people from Eastern and Central Europe. Illyrian raiders may have filtered down into the Meditteranean displacing other groups in Greece and Anatolia, causing widespread banditry.
The Sea People were bandits and raiders.
Far from causing the Bronze Age Collapse, the Sea People were some of its victims. Loose confederations of pirates and raiders were forced into a life of crime due to the chaos of the Late Bronze Age. They represent no one nation or ethnic group, and no one cataclysmic event. A complex series of events in this period saw a sharp rise in opportunistic banditry.