Sea Peoples

The Sea Peoples were conjectured groups of seafaring raiders, usually thought to originate from either western Anatolia or from southern Europe, specifically from a region of the Aegean Sea. They are conjectured to have sailed around the eastern Mediterranean and invaded Anatolia, Syria, Canaan, Cyprus, and Egypt toward the end of the Bronze Age.

French Egyptologist Emmanuel de Rougé first used the term peuples de la mer (literally "peoples of the sea") in 1855 in a description of reliefs at Medinet Habu documenting year 8 of Ramesses III.Gaston Maspero, de Rougé's successor at the Collège de France, subsequently popularized the term "Sea Peoples" - and an associated migration-theory - in the late 19th century.

The historical narrative stems primarily from seven Ancient Egyptian sources, and although in these inscriptions the designation "of the sea" appears in relation to only three groups of people (the Sherden, Shekelesh, and Eqwesh), the term "Sea Peoples" is commonly used to refer to the following nine peoples, in alphabetical order: