next article in this issue  |
|
Document Details : Title: 'Sea Peoples' and Canaan in Transition Author(s): LIPIŃSKI, E. Journal: Orientalia Lovaniensia Periodica Volume: 30 Date: 1999 Pages: 1-36 DOI: 10.2143/OLP.30.0.583574 Abstract : The Levant underwent significant changes and transformations between 1200 and 950 B.C., a period which corresponds to the end of the Late Bronze Age and to Iron Age I. The Bronze Age Canaanite and North-Syrian city-state system was then replaced by an ethno-political structure in which the various regions of the Levant were inhabited by different peoples. This change was accompanied by the collapse of the Hittite empire, by a considerable shrinking of the Assyrian power basis, and by the evanescence of the Egyptian control in Syro-Phoenicia and in Canaan, with concomitant and widespread destructions of the urban centres. The consequence was the abrupt and of historical records provided by the cuneiform archives of Hattusha, Emar, and Ugarit, which were not replaced by a sufficient amount of reliable indigenous sources. Only a few inscriptions, especially from Byblos, and some passages hypothetically distinguishable in the biblical accounts can be considered as historical sources related to this period. This lack of indigenous documents is by no means filled by the rare external references in Egypt and in Assyria, although one cannot neglect the “Israel Stela” of Merneptah, the Medinet Habu inscriptions and reliefs, which describe the wars of Ramses III against the “Sea Peoples” in his 8th year, the statement in Papyrus Harris I, that Ramses III settled his defeated foes in his strongholds, the Tale of Wen Amon and the Onomasticon of Amenope, two literary works from the 11th century B.C., as well as the annals of Tiglath-pileser I (1114-1076 B.C.). The approximative date of the end of the Ugarit and Emar archives has also its importance, while the archaeological evidence is crucial in establishing the chronology of this period and in setting the broad limits of the areas occupied by the different peoples. |
|
