Shardana: The People of the Sea
SHARDANA: Shrdn, Shardin, Sher-Dan. Princes of Dan, often indicated as the true promoters of the invasions which were repeated in successive waves since 1700 BC (Hiksos?). They also constituted the support fleet for the transport of troops and supplies, not disdaining every now and then to detach themselves from the rest of the coalition to attempt piracy exploits on the rich coasts of Egypt and Greece. They are identified with the inhabitants of the Sardinian Islands. They join Ramessu (Ra-Mose, Rameses II) in Kadesh against the Hittites. Their incorporation into the tribe of Dan by Moses is probable. The ancients also called them Heraclides, Thespiads, Tyrrenids, Pelasgians (but this last name could refer to their cousins Pheleset, while Tyrrenids also indicated the Tursha brothers). They were probably the Danaans mentioned by Homer in the Iliad together with Tjeker (Teucrians), Likku (Lycians) and Akawasa (Achaeans). For Greek authors they descended from Danaus, an exile from Egypt. But it is more likely that they emigrated to Sardinia around 2300-2000 BC from Asia Minor (during the Akkadian Empire?), following a famine that lasted more than three hundred years.
TJEKER: Teucrians. Homer in his Iliad identifies them with the Trojans. With the Shardana they constituted the Coalition fleet. The Tjeker also settled in Palestine around the time of the Exodus. The coastal city of Dor, founded by them (from the novel "The Voyage of Wenamun" 1080 BC), gave its name to the destroyers of Mycenae: the Dorians, according to some scholars, belonging to the Sea Peoples. The Tribes of Issachar and Asher belonged to this People.
AKWASHA: Ekwesh, Akaiasa. Perhaps Homer's Achaeans. Meneptah says that they were circumcised like the Shardana, a particular custom that would prove the possibility of the involvement of the lost tribe of Dan and Moses in the scenario of the Sea Peoples.
LIKKU: in the battle of Qadesh they were with the Hittites, together with a contingent of Shardana (the latter, however, were mostly with the Egyptians), expert sailors, perhaps Ligurians or more certainly Lycians. They also participated in the Trojan War, as allies of the Teucri-Tjekker.
LIBU: definitely Libyans. During the reign of Meneptah (1220) they were protagonists of a revolt that threatened to overwhelm the Egyptian empire. In 945 BC they seized power in Egypt with the help of the Shardana and founded the XXII dynasty.
TERESH (Tursha): Tyrsenoi, Tyrrhenians, Etruscans. Close relatives of the Shardana, with whom they founded several cities in Iberia, Italy and Sardinia: the biblical Tarshish or Tartesso, the Sardinian Tharros (from them also the name of the largest Sardinian river, the Thirso), Nabui (Neapolis) also in Sardinia. After the last invasion (1,200 BC) they probably inhabited Lydia, governed by the Heraclids (Shardana), as Herodotus tells us. Around the 9th century, perhaps due to a famine, or much more likely due to the pressure of the Assyrians, they settled in the Italian peninsula with the consent of the Shardana, who gave them the influence of the eastern part of the Sardinian Sea which later took its name from them of Tyrrhenian. However, they had to pay for this concession by agreeing to be governed by kings chosen from among the Sardinian dignitaries. Roman historians called the Etruscan Lucumoni with the name of Sardi, explaining that they were chosen from among the Sardinians (Strabo); “reges soliti sunt esse Etruscorum, qui Sardi appellantur” (Festo), and in the LUDI CAPITOLINI we find: “Quia Etrusca gens orta est Sardibus” even if it seems an exaggeration to give the origin of the Thursa to the Sardinians.
SHAKALASA: Shekelesh, probably Siculi or Sicani. A discovery, at Monte Dessueri (SR) in Sicily, of amphorae identical to those of the necropolis of Azor, near Jaffa (11th century BC), would lead one to think that the Shekelesh were also involved in the events told by the Bible, such as Shardana, Tjekker and Phelets. Are the pajare in Salento (Puglia), similar to “Nuraghes”, the work of the Sakalasha?
PHELETS: Pulutasi, Philistines, perhaps the mythical Pelasgians. The Bible says that they came from Kaftor (Crete), however counting them among the "Hamite" peoples. This is not correct: being Anatolian (or even Aegean) they were instead descended from Japhet like the rest of the Sea Peoples. They gave their name to Palestine. Unlike Danai (Shardana) and Tjeker who joined the tribes led by Moses, the Phelets were always at odds with the Jewish People. But they were probably the bodyguard of King David (Samuel II-15).
DENEN: Danen, Danuna, Danai (the Sher-Dan themselves), probably joined the Jews in the Exodus, forming or joining the tribe of Dan, from which they broke away to go and "live on ships" once they arrived in Palestine and then disappearing mysteriously. But it is probable that they set sail for Sardinia and then colonized the lands of Northern Europe, from where they set off again with their allies for exploits of conquest and piracy. Perhaps the fantastic Hyperboreans often mentioned by the Greeks were none other than the Danen inhabitants of the Northern Islands. Let us remember that the first colonizers of Ireland were, according to mythology, the Tuatha de Danan and that the Great Mother of all the Gods was Danu in Ireland and Dona in England.
WESHESH: Wasasha. Courses? Or perhaps Wilusha, from the Hittite name of Ilium-Troy. It is probable that, like the Shardana, they resided in various localities. In the Harris Papyrus Ramses III calls them, in fact, "Washesh of the sea".
MESHWESH: Libyan mercenaries, perhaps the Bedouin tribes, the desert nomads.
SAKSAR: Saxons?
DORI: they are not mentioned by the Egyptians, but they also belonged to the Sea Peoples of the last invasion of 1200 BC. Perhaps they came from the Tjeker city of Dor, in Palestine.
THE SEA PEOPLES had an appearance, well known to us, handed down by the bronzes which in large quantities are scattered throughout the Mediterranean area and mainly in Sardinia, Lazio, Tuscany, Cyprus, Crete...
