Ramses III was one of Egypt’s great warrior pharaohs. A temple he built at Medinet Habu, near the Valley of the Kings, highlights why. On its walls, they tell the story of a coalition of fighters that crossed the eastern Mediterranean 3200 years ago, destroying cities, states and even entire empires. “There was no land before their arms,” this account tells us. Eventually, the invaders – now known as the Sea Peoples – attacked Egypt. But Ramses III succeeded where others failed and crushed them.
In the 200 years since then hieroglyphics were first deciphered, allowing us to read the unique story of Ramses III, evidence has emerged to confirm this. Today we know of many cities and palaces in the eastern Mediterranean that were destroyed at that time, often involving the Sea Peoples. The disaster was so widespread that, in one of the few periods in history, several complex societies went into deep decline, never to recover. No wonder, then, that’s what it’s called Collapse at the end of the Bronze Age has fascinated scholars for decades. However, it has the personality of mysterious seafarers.
Today, new genetic and archaeological evidence is giving us the firmest picture yet of what really happened during this dramatic period, and who, or what, was responsible. This shows that many of our ideas about the Sea Peoples and their collapse need to be completely rethought…
