Shards

Shards in hieroglyphics

Scherden / Schardana
(Scha-r-da-na)
Šrdn / Š3-r-d3-n3
Sardinians

Scherden at the time of Ramses II on a relief from Abu Simbel

Sherden (also Serden ; Shardana , Sardana ) is from the New Kingdom , the Late Egyptian term for an ethnic group, some of which attacked Egypt, is partly occupied as auxiliaries in Egyptian services. The earths are mentioned in various records, beginning in the Amarna letters of the 18th dynasty up to the time of Osorkon II , the fifth pharaoh of the 22nd dynasty .

Mentions of the earths

Amarna

The Scherden is first mentioned as Scherdenu around 1345 BC. In Amarna , in the letters of the northern vassals , in which RibAddi , king of Byblos , asked Akhenaten for military assistance . Rib-Addi complained that attacks by enemies decimated his Scherden mercenaries, who apparently formed his bodyguards or belonged to a special force. Other Levant princes also had mercenaries from the Scherden, always smaller groups of foreign warriors. Evidence of such mercenary troops also exists for Ugarit and Cyprus.

Ramses II and Merenptah

Under Ramses II the Scherden are described as a threatening naval force that was difficult to defeat. In a stele from Tanis it says:

“The Shardana, of rebellious heart, which for ages no one has known how to fight, they came while [their hearts] were strengthened; [They approached] in warships from the middle of the water, (and) one did not know how to withstand them. "

- KRI II, 290

In the Battle of Kadesch (1274 BC according to the short chronology ), however, Scherden were used by Ramses II as a separate force alongside infantry and chariots. According to Ramses, these are captured shards, who possibly got captured during a war campaign of this pharaoh and then got a chance as mercenaries.

In other Egyptian sources, the earths are mentioned in connection with the so-called sea peoples , e.g. B. in the Libyan War in the 5th year of Merenptah's reign .

Ramses III.

Depiction of the Scherden at the mortuary temple of Ramses III. in Medinet Habu (first courtyard)

Under Ramses III. took place in Egypt in 1186 BC. Another attack by the sea peoples . This battle was captured in pictures on a relief in Medinet Habu . However, the name Scherden is missing from the list of sea peoples by name. Her name is first mentioned in the Great Harris Papyrus . This contradiction could not be explained until today. The assignment of the Scherden as a participant in the battle can be regarded as certain, but their participation in the Sea Peoples Alliance against Egypt is only a scientific assumption.

Ramses II recruited the Scherden as guard units that were deployed on Egyptian ships. They continued to fight with their own equipment and as a sign of belonging to the Egyptian fleet, their helmets were decorated with the Aton emblem. For these reasons, a derivation from the images on the relief by Medinet Habu cannot be made automatically.

origin

According to the portrayals in Medinet Habu, the shearers wore horned helmets with a pommel or attachment at the top of the helmet, ribbed breastplates, shields, double spears and long, double-edged swords. The helmets correspond to the appearance of two bronze statuettes from Enkomi in Cyprus , but without an attachment. They also resemble the helmets depicted on the so-called warrior vase from Mycenae . The warrior vase dates from the late 12th century. The war weapons depicted had been in use since the late 13th century BC. Commonly used in the Mycenaean culture and only became popular in the 12th century BC. Introduced in Cyprus.

The appearance of the ships, e.g. B. the shape of the bow with a bird's head motif is comparable to images on Mycenaean clay pots, e.g. B. a Mycenaean jug from the late 12th century ( SH III C), which was found on Skyros . Other items of everyday use that appeared shortly after 1186 BC. Were introduced in the surrounding area, are also of Mycenaean origin. The origin from the Aegean region seems to be obvious. The fact that the Scherden were at least temporarily involved in the Sea Peoples' coalition makes their origin from the Aegean region or southwestern Anatolia also likely.

Eberhard Zangger suspected an unspecified origin of the earths from Northwest Asia Minor, where he also assumed Aḫḫijawa (in his opinion an important Trojan empire) and the Lukka countries . Since the discovery of the state treaty between Tudhalija IV and Kurunta in Hattuša and its evaluation, however, it is certain that the Lukka countries were in the western south of Asia Minor and that Aḫḫijawa could hardly have been in the Troas. The origin of the shearers from northwestern Anatolia can therefore no longer be maintained if one wishes to locate them - like Zangger - near the Lukka countries and Ahhijawas.

Furthermore, some researchers have suspected that the Scherden / Schardana came from Sardinia for a long time . Arguments for this are not only the similarity of the name, but also the Phoenician spelling šrdn for the island, which appears on the stele of Nora from the 9th century BC. First encountered in BC, as well as many finds of Eastern Mediterranean origin, especially in the southeast of the island (e.g. Nuraghe Antigori ), which show that Sardinia was part of the Late Bronze Age sea trade network. Sardinian ceramics found in Kommos in Crete and in Pyla-Kokkinokremmos in Cyprus are also cited in this context. Furthermore, bronze figures of nuragic culture are brought into play, such as ship models, which are said to have similarities to the ships of the Scherden or to the above-mentioned ship representations on Skyros, or figures with horned helmets. In the settlement of el-Ahwat in northern Israel, excavated in 1993-2000 , they found u. a. on “ Tholos- like” fortifications, which the excavator Adam Zertal potentially connects with Sardinia. The finds of eastern Mediterranean origin in Sardinia date mainly to the 13th and 12th centuries BC. BC ( Mycenaean ceramics, for example, mainly include SH III B and SH III C goods), only a few pieces are to be used significantly earlier. This indicates that the contacts were only intensified after the oldest written sources on the Scherden ( see above ). Furthermore, there are hardly any weapons found in Sardinia from the Middle and Late Bronze Age there, which could contradict the reports about the dreaded warriors of the Scherden, if one considers their origin from Sardinia as well as one of them adopts sustained local ties with Sardinia during their time known as the Maritime People.

literature

Otto Kaiser (Ed.): Texts from the environment of the Old Testament (TUAT), Volume 1: Legal and economic documents, historical-chronological texts. Old series, Gütersloh publishing house, Gütersloh 1982, ISBN 978-3-579-00060-2 .
Bill Manley: The Seventy Great Secrets of Ancient Egypt. Frederking & Thaler, Munich 2003, ISBN 3-89405-625-8 .
Walter Arend: Antiquity: Old Orient, Hellas, Rome (= history in sources. Volume 1). Bayerischer Schulbuch-Verlag, Munich 1989, ISBN 3-7627-6055-1 .
James-Henry Breasted : Ancient records of Egypt: historical documents from the earliest times to the Persian Conquest The Nineteenth Dynasty. Volume 3: The Nineteenth Dynasty. Histories & Mysteries of Man, London 1988, ISBN 1-85417-027-9 ( archive.org ).

Individual evidence

↑ Syllabic writing Š 3- r - d 3- n a
^ Rainer Hannig: Large Concise Dictionary Egyptian-German (2800–950 BC) . von Zabern, Mainz 2006, ISBN 3-8053-1771-9 , p. 901.
^ Ann E. Killebrew, Gunnar Lehmann: The World of the Philistines and Other “Sea Peoples” . In: The Philistines and Other “Sea Peoples” in Text and Archeology . Society of Biblical Literature, Atlanta 2013, ISBN 978-1-58983-129-2 , pp. 2–5 ( sbl-site.org [PDF; 847 kB ; accessed on May 27, 2015]).
^ Amarna letters : EA 81, EA 122, EA 123.
↑ August Strobel: The Late Bronze Age Sea Peoples Storm: a research overview with conclusions on bibl. Exodusthematik (= supplements to the journal for Old Testament science. Volume 145). De Gruyter, Berlin 1976, ISBN 978-3-11-006761-3 , p. 190.
↑ Gustav Adolf Lehmann : The 'political-historical' relationships of the Aegean world of the 15th – 13th centuries. Jhs. v. About the Middle East and Egypt: some references. In: Joachim Latacz (Ed.): Two hundred years of Homer research. Review and Outlook (= Colloquium Rauricum. Volume 2). Teubner, Stuttgart 1991, ISBN 978-3-519-07412-0 , p. 114 f.
↑ Gustav Adolf Lehmann: The 'political-historical' relationships of the Aegean world of the 15th – 13th centuries. Jhs. v. About the Middle East and Egypt: some references. In: Joachim Latacz (Ed.): Two hundred years of Homer research. Review and Outlook (= Colloquium Rauricum. Volume 2). Teubner, Stuttgart 1991, p. 115.
↑ Kenneth A Kitchen: Ramesside Inscriptions. Volume II: Ramesses II, Royal inscriptions. (KRI II) Blackwell, Oxford et al. 1996-1999, ISBN 978-0-631-18435-5 , no. 290.
↑ Marcus Müller: The battle against the sea peoples under Ramses III. In: War and Peace. Kemet issue 4/2009, p. 38.
↑ August Strobel: The Late Bronze Age Sea Peoples Storm: a research overview with conclusions on bibl. Exodus theme. Berlin 1976, p. 190, with further references and sources
↑ See also TUAT 1 AF, pp. 544–552.
↑ See illustration on ime.gr .
↑ Eberhard Zangger: A new battle for Troy. Archeology in Crisis. Droemer Knaur, Munich 1994, ISBN 3-426-26682-2 .
↑ Frank Starke: Troy in the context of the historical-political and linguistic environment of Asia Minor in the 2nd millennium. In: Studia Troica. Volume 7, 1997, pp. 447-487, esp. 450 ff.
↑ H. Donner, W. Röllig: Canaanite and Aramaic inscriptions. Wiesbaden 1969, No. 46; quoted from Günther Hölbl: Relations between Egyptian culture and ancient Italy. Volume 1, Brill, Leiden 1969, p. 21, note 64.
↑ A current overview of the finds offers: Laura Soro: Sardinia and the Mycenaean world: The research of the last 30 years. In: Fritz Blakolmer u. a. (Ed.) Austrian research on the Aegean Bronze Age 2009. Files from the conference from March 6 to 7, 2009 at the Department of Classical Studies at the University of Salzburg. Vienna 2011, pp. 283-294 ( academia.edu ).
^ Livingston Vance Watrous: Kommos III, The Late Bronze Age Pottery. Princeton University Press, Princeton NJ 1992, ISBN 978-0-691-03607-6 , pp. 163–191, plates 56–57, (quoted from: Laura Soro: Sardinia and the Mycenaean World: The Research of the Last 30 Years. In: Fritz Blakolmer et al. (Ed.) Austrian research on the Aegean Bronze Age 2009. Files from the conference from March 6th to 7th, 2009 at the Department of Classical Studies at the University of Salzburg. Vienna 2011, p. 287, note 26.)
^ Reinhard Jung: The Sea Peoples after Three Millennia: Possibilities and Limitations of Historical Reconstruction. In: Peter M. Fischer, Teresa Bürge (eds.): "Sea Peoples" Up-to-Date. New Research on Transformations in the Eastern Mediterranean in the 13th – 11th Centuries BCE. (= Contributions to the Chronology of the Eastern Mediterranean Vol. 35). P. 28, Figure 2 (with further references).
↑ Detailed publication of the excavation results: Adam Zertal (Ed.): Shay Bar et al.: El-Ahwat, a fortified site from the early Iron age near Nahal, Iron, Israel: excavations 1993-2000 (= Culture and History of the Ancient Near East . belt 24). (= Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research. No. 371 [201405], pp. 219-221). Brill, Leiden 2012, ISBN 978-90-04-17645-4 .
↑ Lucia Vagnetti: Western Mediterranean overview: Peninsular Italy, Sicily and Sardinia at the time of the Sea peoples. In: Eliezer D. Oren (Ed.): The Sea Peoples and their world. A reassessment. University Of Philadelphia 2000, p. 319.

[1] Syllabic writing Š 3- r - d 3- n a

[2] Rainer Hannig: Large Concise Dictionary Egyptian-German (2800–950 BC) . von Zabern, Mainz 2006, ISBN 3-8053-1771-9 , p. 901.

[3] Ann E. Killebrew, Gunnar Lehmann: The World of the Philistines and Other “Sea Peoples” . In: The Philistines and Other “Sea Peoples” in Text and Archeology . Society of Biblical Literature, Atlanta 2013, ISBN 978-1-58983-129-2 , pp. 2–5 ( sbl-site.org [PDF; 847 kB ; accessed on May 27, 2015]).

[4] Amarna letters : EA 81, EA 122, EA 123.

[5] August Strobel: The Late Bronze Age Sea Peoples Storm: a research overview with conclusions on bibl. Exodusthematik (= supplements to the journal for Old Testament science. Volume 145). De Gruyter, Berlin 1976, ISBN 978-3-11-006761-3 , p. 190.

[6] Gustav Adolf Lehmann : The 'political-historical' relationships of the Aegean world of the 15th – 13th centuries. Jhs. v. About the Middle East and Egypt: some references. In: Joachim Latacz (Ed.): Two hundred years of Homer research. Review and Outlook (= Colloquium Rauricum. Volume 2). Teubner, Stuttgart 1991, ISBN 978-3-519-07412-0 , p. 114 f.

[7] Gustav Adolf Lehmann: The 'political-historical' relationships of the Aegean world of the 15th – 13th centuries. Jhs. v. About the Middle East and Egypt: some references. In: Joachim Latacz (Ed.): Two hundred years of Homer research. Review and Outlook (= Colloquium Rauricum. Volume 2). Teubner, Stuttgart 1991, p. 115.

[8] Kenneth A Kitchen: Ramesside Inscriptions. Volume II: Ramesses II, Royal inscriptions. (KRI II) Blackwell, Oxford et al. 1996-1999, ISBN 978-0-631-18435-5 , no. 290.

[9] Marcus Müller: The battle against the sea peoples under Ramses III. In: War and Peace. Kemet issue 4/2009, p. 38.

[10] August Strobel: The Late Bronze Age Sea Peoples Storm: a research overview with conclusions on bibl. Exodus theme. Berlin 1976, p. 190, with further references and sources

[11] See also TUAT 1 AF, pp. 544–552.

[12] See illustration on ime.gr .

[13] Eberhard Zangger: A new battle for Troy. Archeology in Crisis. Droemer Knaur, Munich 1994, ISBN 3-426-26682-2 .

[14] Frank Starke: Troy in the context of the historical-political and linguistic environment of Asia Minor in the 2nd millennium. In: Studia Troica. Volume 7, 1997, pp. 447-487, esp. 450 ff.

[15] H. Donner, W. Röllig: Canaanite and Aramaic inscriptions. Wiesbaden 1969, No. 46; quoted from Günther Hölbl: Relations between Egyptian culture and ancient Italy. Volume 1, Brill, Leiden 1969, p. 21, note 64.

[16] A current overview of the finds offers: Laura Soro: Sardinia and the Mycenaean world: The research of the last 30 years. In: Fritz Blakolmer u. a. (Ed.) Austrian research on the Aegean Bronze Age 2009. Files from the conference from March 6 to 7, 2009 at the Department of Classical Studies at the University of Salzburg. Vienna 2011, pp. 283-294 ( academia.edu ).

[17] Livingston Vance Watrous: Kommos III, The Late Bronze Age Pottery. Princeton University Press, Princeton NJ 1992, ISBN 978-0-691-03607-6 , pp. 163–191, plates 56–57, (quoted from: Laura Soro: Sardinia and the Mycenaean World: The Research of the Last 30 Years. In: Fritz Blakolmer et al. (Ed.) Austrian research on the Aegean Bronze Age 2009. Files from the conference from March 6th to 7th, 2009 at the Department of Classical Studies at the University of Salzburg. Vienna 2011, p. 287, note 26.)

[18] Reinhard Jung: The Sea Peoples after Three Millennia: Possibilities and Limitations of Historical Reconstruction. In: Peter M. Fischer, Teresa Bürge (eds.): "Sea Peoples" Up-to-Date. New Research on Transformations in the Eastern Mediterranean in the 13th – 11th Centuries BCE. (= Contributions to the Chronology of the Eastern Mediterranean Vol. 35). P. 28, Figure 2 (with further references).

[19] Detailed publication of the excavation results: Adam Zertal (Ed.): Shay Bar et al.: El-Ahwat, a fortified site from the early Iron age near Nahal, Iron, Israel: excavations 1993-2000 (= Culture and History of the Ancient Near East . belt 24). (= Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research. No. 371 [201405], pp. 219-221). Brill, Leiden 2012, ISBN 978-90-04-17645-4 .

[20] Lucia Vagnetti: Western Mediterranean overview: Peninsular Italy, Sicily and Sardinia at the time of the Sea peoples. In: Eliezer D. Oren (Ed.): The Sea Peoples and their world. A reassessment. University Of Philadelphia 2000, p. 319.