Tjeker And Sherneptah Essay

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in search of new settlement. Yet the fertile lands they had encountered were occupied and need a larger group of people to assist in the overthrowing of their rulers. And so they called to their Anatolian brethren to help harvest the fruits of others. The Egyptians identify one of these accomplices as the skrS, this a curious identification for a long time until it was later tied to older Egyptian texts. It is important to clear up some of the translations of the name for skrS, pronounced in English as Shekelesh and why it should be associated with the name Tjeker and eventually the Sherdens. As with all language terminology changes, this is the study of linguistics and scholars have come to find that there were differences between the reign …show more content…

It must also be conceded, then, that "Sicilians" was rendered in Egyptian hieroglyphs in two ways. The older orthography, attested first in the reign of Merneptah, is transliterated as skrS. This name has traditionally been vocalized in English as Sheke-lesh (Drew, 2000, Pp178-179) .
The contention that the Shekelesh are etymologically related to Teucer is far-fetched due to it being only a possible translation rather than a known name for a people being Greek speakers. The Shekelesh were identified by three dynasties of Egyptians as Greek speakers, this brings a greater bearing on the translation. Drew also posits that the Shekelsh were likely to commit acts of piracy when occasion arose and once these occasions became fewer these same people began to extend their ventures further …show more content…

This does not indicate that the Sherden later were exclusively aligned with Egypt however it does denote that they did not have any specific alliance and did operate as an individual tribe rather than a society as a whole. However the Sherden are indicated in the Papyrus Harris to have been obliged to pay tribute to Rameses III, indicating their subjugation to him and his empire.
This was also one of the tribes to be distinct from the Philistines because of their practice of circumcision.
“In The Great Karnak …the Sherden were recorded to be circumcised, which may offer a clue as to their ethnic origins. (By contrast, it is interesting to note the Old Testament emphasis on the Philistines as an uncircumcised people.)” (Salimbeti & Raffaela, 2015, p 8)
There are also various accounts of the actions of the Sherdens. From them being vanquished enemies or slaves, to being the Egyptian king’s army and even his personal guards. Even though both the Pelesets and

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