The Sea Peoples And The Bible.

[Lemonvariable72]

Lately I have been reading about the bronze age collapse, in an attempt to find evidence for an thought I had. I noticed two interesting this last night. First that the swords shown in depictions of the sea peoples look like the contempary rapiers found in the British isles, and second there is zero mention of these people in the bible. Despite the fact they pretty much came from no where and destroyed three of the most powerful civilizations of there day with in 2 geberations, and that includes the Canaanites. Curiously these 2 generations were the same time period that is covered by the books exodus and Joshua.
But yet not a peep at the sea peoples, either by that name or any of the nine names recorded by the Egyptians. But we know from correspondance that it was the sea peoples that destroyed vthe canaanites.
For those of going to googles you may find that Wikipedia says that one of the sea people may have been the Israelite tribe of Dan. I find that difficult as currently the earliest evidence we have for a independent Israeli culture dates to the 8 century BC, some 400 years later.

[Aractus]

The Sea Peoples invade Canaan a century or two after the Biblical entry into the area was supposed to have occurred. It is in very clear contradiction to what the Bible says about the matter.

[Anomalocaris]

I thought the sea people were thought to be related to the philistines?

[abaris]

I thought the sea people were thought to be related to the philistines?

There's still an ongoing debate about that. The jury is still out on most everything concerning the sea people.

[Lemonvariable72]

The Sea Peoples invade Canaan a century or two after the Biblical entry into the area was supposed to have occurred. It is in very clear contradiction to what the Bible says about the matter.

Depending on which view of the bible you take. Some put isreal invasion before like you said and some at the same time. I take the documentary hypothesis as there is no evidence of a distinct Hebrew culture to canaanites prior to the 8th century BC. Most histories written by ancient peoples should be taken wuth a high dose of salt.

[Minimalist]

The Peleset (Philistines) were one of the groups which made up the Sea Peoples.

If you can, get hold of Eric Cline's 1177 BC. Excellent recap of the collapse of the Late Bronze Age civilizations.

[DramaQueen]

I just read a little about that (a Christian was talking about how the Bible is historically accurate → Dan)

[Minimalist]

Never forget that xtians are assholes.

The bible also manages to forget 4 centuries of Egyptian domination of Canaan.

[Lemonvariable72]

The Peleset (Philistines) were one of the groups which made up the Sea Peoples.

If you can, get hold of Eric Cline's 1177 BC. Excellent recap of the collapse of the Late Bronze Age civilizations.

As abaris said the jury is out on that. I'm personally inclined to say that, that is an example of Christians shoe horning ancient history. I'll have to get that book.

[Minimalist]

I don't think it is that much in doubt. This comparison of Mycenean and Philistine pottery decorative motifs by Israeli archaeologist, Amihai Mazar, shows that the latter clearly was influenced by the former.



Excavations at the Canaanite coastal cities show clear evidence of destruction c 1150 BC and replacement of Canaanite culture with the more Hellenic forms of the Sea People.

There is very little doubt that massive population movements did in the Late Bronze Age empires. The Myceneans, Hitties, Cypriots, all were overrun and the Egyptians survived only barely...and began a thousand year slide to oblivion. Not so coincidentally, the layer known as Troy VIIa went up in flames c 1190 BC which is consistent with the start of Sea People deprivations. Not Achilles. Just some smelly Hellenic barbarians. Of course, you couldn't expect Homer to write that story down!