Tjeker

Tjeker / Tscheker / Sikal in hieroglyphics
Ṯ3k3r Tjeker
Ṯkr Tjeker, Tscheker, Tjekar, Tjekel, Tschekal, Tschekel, Sikal
Representation of the Peleset and Tjeker in Medinet Habu

Tjeker (also Sikal , after reading by Breasted Sikeler; cuneiform possibly ši-ka-la-iu-u from KUR ^URU ši-ki / e-la ; New Egyptian Tjekker, Tscheker, Tschekel, Tschekar, Tschekal ) are already under Ramses III. evidenced as one of the sea ​​peoples . Besides is in the Wenamun travelogue the place Dor clearly stated that a company controlled by them city.

In the Sea Peoples Battles of Ramses III. and Merenptah , represented iconographically in Medinet Habu , the Tjekers wear a distinctive “reed-leaf helmet” or a “reed-leaf headdress”. In contrast to the Šekeleš and Wešweš , the Tjekers can be seen lighter -skinned in yellow.

While the Tjekers fight together with the Danuneans and the Peleset (Philistines) in battle both on land and on ships, the Šekeleš and the Wešweš only appear in the sea battle. In an onomasticon of Amenemope (early 11th century BC) the cities of Askalon , Ashdod , and Gaza are listed, then the people of the Šardana , Tjeker and Philistines . From this it was concluded that Sea Peoples ruled parts of northern Palestine , such as settlements on the coast in front of the Carmel Mountains and the Acre Valley and possibly Tel Dan . In the travel report of Wenamun , a priest in the Amun temple in Karnak , he reports on his mission to Byblos , where he wants to buy cedar wood. When he reached Dor , "a town of the Tjeker", the ruler Beder had him bring 50 loaves of bread, a jug of wine and a beef leg. Wenamun later sees eleven Tjeker ships in the port of Byblos, which Beder sent to have him arrested. After the defeat against Ramses III. the Tjekers settled in the area from Dor to Byblos and the Peleset south of them in the Ashdod region . The whereabouts of the Šekeleš and Wešweš remains unclear, although there is no evidence of any land seizure in the Tjeker and Peleset areas.

In a text found in Ugarit , the Hittite great king asks the city prefect of Ugarits to repatriate a man who was in the power of Šikalaeans ( ši-ka-la- (iu) -u = people of Šikala) in order to find out more about this foreign people . The Šikaleans are referred to as "those who live in ships". A connection to the Tjekern was proposed as well as a connection to the Šekeleš of the Egyptian sources. However, the epithet “who live in ships” was given to all countries or regions that had several seagoing ships, so this designation should not be regarded as a special epithet of the Šikalaeans.

The origin of the Tjeker is uncertain and controversial. Their name is partly connected with the Teukrern, according to which they could originally come from the Troas, but also from Crete or Cyprus; An origin from Thrace or Macedonia cannot be ruled out either. Rainer Hannig identifies the Tjeker with an Eeteocretic tribe. According to recent studies, however, Yasur-Landau emphasizes that the overall appearance of the Tjeker in connection with material goods does not correspond to an origin from the Aegean Sea . With regard to their armament, costumes and headgear, the Tjekers cannot be distinguished from the Philistines and Danuneans on Egyptian depictions .

literature

• Assaf Yasur-Landau: The Philistines and Aegean migration in the late Bronze Age . Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 2010, ISBN 0-5211-9162-9
• Assaf Yasur-Landau: Levante . In: Eric H. Cline: The Oxford Handbook of the Bronze age Aegean (c. 3000-1000 BC) . Oxford University Press, Oxford 2010, ISBN 978-0-1953-6550-4 , pp. 832-848.
• Rainer Hannig : Large Concise Dictionary Egyptian-German: (2800-950 BC) . von Zabern, Mainz 2006, ISBN 3-8053-1771-9 , p. 1039.

Individual evidence

1. ^ Frederik Christiaan Woudhuizen : The Ethnicity of the Sea Peoples . Erasmus Universiteit, Rotterdam 2006, A Historiographic Outline, p. 36 ( digitized version [accessed on April 13, 2016]).
2. ↑ James H. Breasted: The Ancient Records of Egypt. Vol. IV: The twentieth to the twenty-sixth dynasties. Reissued, Russell & Russell, New York 1962, p. 59.
3. ^ ^{A b c} A. Yasur-Landau: The Philistines and Aegean migration in the late Bronze Age. Cambridge 2010, pp. 170-171.
4. ↑ Eric H. Cline : 1177 BC. The first downfall of civilization. Theiss, Darmstadt 2015, p. 225.
5. ^ Manfred Weippert: Historical text book on the Old Testament. Göttingen 2010, p. 208, note 50.
6. ↑ u. a. Edward Noort: The Sea Peoples in Palestine. Kok Pharos Publishinghouse, Kampen 1994, ISBN 90 390 0012-3 , pp. 85f.
7. ↑ Recently, among others, Olga Tribulato: Language and Linguistic Contact in Ancient Sicily. Cambridge University Press, 2012, ISBN 978-1-107-02931-6 , p. 51 (with further evidence for this thesis)
8. ↑ Heike Sternberg-el Hotabi : The struggle of the sea peoples against Pharaoh Ramses III. (= Archeology, inscriptions and monuments of ancient Egypt. Volume 2). Marie Leidorf Publishing House, Rahden (Westfalen) 2012, p. 49.
9. ^ Rainer Hannig: Large Concise Dictionary Egyptian-German. Mainz 2006, p. 1039.
10. ↑ Heike Sternberg-el Hotabi: The struggle of the sea peoples against Pharaoh Ramses III. (= Archeology, inscriptions and monuments of ancient Egypt. Volume 2). Marie Leidorf Publishing House, Rahden (Westfalen) 2012, p. 49.