Philistines as Sea Peoples, Etc.

[Stanley Friesen]

At 10:05 PM 2/5/01 -0600, David L. White wrote:

>> It is more likely that the Philistines are represented in Egyptian records
>> by the name 'Plst' (usually written out as Peleset).

>         Perhaps the Philistines are considered "Sea Peoples" mainly by
>modern historians.  But I believe that the same groups that other people
>often called "Sea Peoples" (the term is not, I think, a modern invention)
>were called "Turshas" by the Egyptians, though it would be par for the
>course if different groups wound up being considered the same, different
>peoples had different ideas about which groups were and were not "Sea
>Peoples", etc.

The term "Sea Peoples" (or as the Egyptians called them "the nations of the
sea") is generally a cover term for several confederacies of marauders
during the time around 1200-1000 BC.  The Egyptian records name many
different tribes as being involved in these groups.  ONE of these groups
was the "Turshas" (Egyptian Teresh), others included the "Peleset",
Shardana (?Sardinians), Lukka (Lycians from southern Anatolia), Shekelesh
(?Sicilians), and Ekwesh (?Achaeans).  Of these the Turshas, Shardana, and
Sikel were apparently the core members of the coalition.

>         And while I am on the subject I might as well note that even if
>"Tursha"-"Troy"-"Etruria" and so on are the same word, the people in
>question might no more be the same than are the various people called
>"Welsh"-"Vlach"-Waloon", and so on.

The association of the Turshas/Teresh with the Etruscans is an old and
respectable idea (mentioned in my 1980 reference), though certainly not
proven.  It is certainly conceivable as the Sea People era as a time of
considerable relocations, much like the later Volkerwanderung around the
time of the collapse of Rome.  Thus the idea that a tribe called Turshas,
perhaps from Anatolia, joined a coalition of peoples attacking the major
empires of the time, and then resettled in Etruria is quite *reasonable*
(much like many of the Suevi resettled in north-western Spain when Rome
abandoned it, leaving a remnant behind to become the Schwabians in Germany).

>question were the same, that puts a different light on things.  Perhaps the
>Aeneid, like the Iliad, is not as much sheer invention as some would have
>it.  But the sad truth is that the truth of this matter is probably
>unrecoverable, within standards of certainty or near-certainty that will
>satisfy all observers.  Sometimes information is truly lost, and cannot be
>made good.

Sans a time-viewer or some such future-tech solution.

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May the peace of God be with you.         sarima at ix.netcom.com