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51-622: On reliefs, they are shown carrying round shields and spears , dirks or swords , perhaps of Naue II type. In some cases, they are shown wearing corslets and kilts, but their key distinguishing feature is a horned helmet , which, in all cases but three, features a circular accouterment at the crest. At Medinet Habu the corslet appears similar to that worn by the Philistines . The Sherden sword, it has been suggested by archaeologists since James Henry Breasted , may have developed from an enlargement of European daggers and been associated with

102-659: A sacred lake in the temple of Mut at Tanis. The lake, built out of limestone blocks, had been 15 meters long and 5 meters deep. It was discovered 12 meters below ground in good condition. The lake could have been built during the late 25th –early 26th Dynasty . In 2011, analysis of high-resolution satellite imagery, led by archaeologist Sarah Parcak of the University of Alabama at Birmingham, found numerous related mud-brick walls, streets, and large residences, amounting to an entire city plan, in an area that appears blank under normal images. A French archeological team selected

153-746: A ball projecting from the middle, their round shields and the great Naue II swords, with which they are depicted in inscriptions about the Battle of Kadesh , fought against the Hittites . Ramesses stated in his Kadesh inscriptions that he incorporated some of the Sherden into his own personal guard at the Battle of Kadesh. Years later, other waves of Sea People, the Sherden included, were defeated by Merneptah , son of Ramesses II, and father of Ramesses III . An Egyptian work written around 1100 BC,

204-576: A copy of the Canopus Decree , an inscription in both Greek and Egyptian, at Tanis. Unlike the Rosetta Stone , discovered 67 years earlier, this inscription included a full hieroglyphic text, thus allowing a direct comparison of the Greek text to the hieroglyphs and confirming the accuracy of Jean-François Champollion 's approach to deciphering hieroglyphs . During the subsequent century

255-564: A large catalogue of gold, jewelry, lapis lazuli and other precious stones, as well as the funerary masks of these kings. The chief deities of Tanis were Amun; his consort, Mut; and their child Khonsu, forming the Tanite triad. This triad was, however, identical to that of Thebes, leading many scholars to speak of Tanis as the "northern Thebes". In 2009, the Egyptian Culture Ministry reported archaeologists had discovered

306-738: A migration of peoples from the Eastern Mediterranean to Sardinia during the Late Bronze Age was firmly rejected by Italian archaeologists like Antonio Taramelli and Massimo Pallottino and by Vere Gordon Childe , and more recently by Giovanni Ugas, who instead identifies the Sherden with the indigenous Sardinian Nuragic civilization . He excavated the accidentally-discovered Hypogeum of Sant'Iroxi in Sardinia, where several arsenical bronze swords and daggers dating back to 1600 BC were found. The discovery suggested that

357-610: A new phase of building development which endured during the Ptolemaic Period . It remained populated until its abandonment in Roman times . In Late Antiquity , it was the seat of the bishops of Tanis , who adhered to the Coptic Orthodox Church . By the time of John of Nikiû in the 7th century, Tanis appears to have already declined significantly, as it was grouped together with four other towns under

408-492: A single prefect. The 1885 Census of Egypt recorded San el-Hagar as a nahiyah in the district of Arine in Sharqia Governorate ; at that time, the population of the city was 1,569 (794 men and 775 women). Though Tanis was briefly explored in the early 19th century, the first large-scale archaeological excavations there were made by Auguste Mariette in the 1860s. In 1866, Karl Richard Lepsius discovered

459-530: A site from the imagery and confirmed mud-brick structures approximately 30 cm below the surface. However, the assertion that the technology showed 17 pyramids was denounced as "completely wrong" by the Minister of State for Antiquities at the time, Zahi Hawass . The Biblical story of Moses being found in the marshes of the Nile River ( Book of Exodus , Exodus 2:3–5 ) is often set at Tanis, which

510-469: Is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Tanis Tanis ( Ancient Greek : Τάνις or Τανέως / ˈ t eɪ n ɪ s / TAY -niss ) or San al-Hagar ( Arabic : صان الحجر , romanized :  Ṣān al-Ḥaǧar ; Ancient Egyptian : ḏꜥn.t [ˈcʼuʕnat] ; Akkadian : 𒍝𒀪𒉡 , romanized:  Ṣaʾnu ; Coptic : ϫⲁⲛⲓ or ϫⲁⲁⲛⲉ or ϫⲁⲛⲏ ; Biblical Hebrew : צֹועַן ‎ , romanized:  Ṣōʿan )

561-654: Is generally thought to be the Akkadian reference to the "še-er-ta-an-nu" in the Amarna Letters correspondence from Rib-Hadda , mayor ( hazannu ) of Byblos , to the Pharaoh Amenhotep III or Akhenaten in the 14th century BC. Though they have been referred to as sea raiders and mercenaries, who were prepared to offer their services to local employers, these texts do not provide any evidence of that association, and they shed no light on what

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612-654: Is often identified with Zoan ( Hebrew : צֹועַן Ṣōʕan ). In the 1981 Indiana Jones film Raiders of the Lost Ark , Tanis is fictitiously portrayed as a lost city which was buried in antiquity by a massive sandstorm , before being rediscovered by a Nazi expedition looking for the Ark of the Covenant . The Tanis fossil site , which may preserve unique remains from the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event ,

663-424: Is suggested that from here they may have later migrated to Sardinia. Guido suggests that [if a] few dominating leaders arrived as heroes only a few centuries before Phoenician trading posts were established, several features of Sardinian prehistory might be explained as innovations introduced by them: Oriental types of armour, and fighting perpetuated in the bronze representation of warriors several centuries later;

714-508: Is the Greek name for ancient Egyptian ḏꜥn.t , an important archaeological site in the northeastern Nile Delta of Egypt , and the location of a city of the same name. It is located on the Tanitic branch of the Nile , which has long since silted up. The first study of Tanis dates to 1798 during Napoleon Bonaparte 's expedition to Egypt. Engineer Pierre Jacotin drew up a map of the site in

765-528: The Description de l'Égypte . It was first excavated in 1825 by Jean-Jacques Rifaud, who discovered the two pink granite sphinxes now in the Musée du Louvre , and then by François Auguste Ferdinand Mariette between 1860 and 1864, and subsequently by William Matthew Flinders Petrie from 1883 to 1886. The work was taken over by Pierre Montet from 1929 to 1956, who discovered the royal necropolis dating to

816-637: The Asia and the Americas , throughout the Bronze Age , the classical period , the post-classical period , and the early modern period . During the Bronze Age they were generally large and designed for bashing and shield wall tactics (such as Spartan bronze shields ), while since the late post-classical they were mostly designed for parrying and riposte (such as the small buckler , supplanted by

867-645: The Onomasticon of Amenope , documents the presence of the Sherden in Canaan . After being defeated by Pharaoh Ramesses III, they, along with other "Sea Peoples", would be allowed to settle in that territory, subject to Egyptian rule. The Italian orientalist Giovanni Garbini identified the territory colonized by the Sherden as that occupied, according to the Bible , by the Israelite tribe of Zebulun going by

918-498: The Third Intermediate Period in 1939. The Mission française des fouilles de Tanis (MFFT) has been studying the site since 1965 under the direction of Jean Yoyotte and Philippe Brissaud, and François Leclère since 2013. Today, the main parts of the temple dedicated to Amun-Ra can still be distinguished by the presence of large obelisks that marked the various pylons as in other Egyptian temples. Now fallen to

969-514: The eponym of Sared , which had established themselves in the northern territory of Canaan . Archaeologist Adam Zertal suggests that some Sherden settled in what is now northern Israel. He hypothesizes that biblical Sisera was a Sherden general and that the archaeological site at el-Ahwat (whose architecture resembles nuraghe sites in Sardinia ) was Sisera's capital, Harosheth Haggoyim , though this theory has not received wide acceptance in

1020-437: The heater shield ). At the end of the period of Mycenaean Greece round shields with a central grip were the most commonly used shields in the area. Although offering less protection, especially to the legs than the kite shield, the round shield was sometimes used as an offensive weapon. The word "swashbuckler" came from this, as soldiers beat their weapon against the buckler. This medieval armour –related article

1071-461: The 1930s, began from the same premise. He was hoping to discover traces that would confirm the accounts of the Old Testament . His own excavations gradually overturned this hypothesis , even if he was defending this biblical connection until the end of his life. It was not until the discovery of Qantir / Pi-Ramesses and the resumption of excavations under Jean Yoyotte that the place of Tanis

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1122-755: The Aegean and in the Eastern Mediterranean particularly in Crete at Kommos and on the island of Cyprus , at Kokkinokremnos , a site attributed to the Sea Peoples, and Hala Sultan Tekke . Nuragic pottery were also found in a tomb of the Ugarit harbour of Minet el-Beida . Round shield A round shield can refer to any type of hand-held shield that has a round shape. They come in highly varying sizes, and have, in different forms, been very popular in Europe ,

1173-616: The Balkans. Sardinia has long been viewed as a likely or possible homeland of the Sherdana in light of the similarity in names and Egyptian depictions of helmets resembling helmets found in Sardinia" while for the Austrian archeologist Reinhard Jung "the hypothesis of a connection between Šardana and Nuragic Sardinians is as old as the archaeology, but it could not be proven so far." (2017). Late Bronze Age Nuragic pottery had been found in

1224-867: The Centre of Studies J.-Fr. Champollion on Egyptology and Coptic Civilization, based in Genoa in cooperation with the University of Genoa and the University of the Mediterranean in Taranto. The project aims to gather as many data available about the Sherden culture inside and outside the Pharaonic Egypt. The project, conducted by the Egyptologist Giacomo Cavillier, aims to verify the possible interconnections and contacts between

1275-645: The Cypriot archaeologist Vassos Karageorghis , that found Nuragic pottery in Cyprus and wrote about the Nuragic role in places like the Syrian city of Tell Kazel . It is most probable that among the Aegean immigrants there were also some refugees from Sardinia. This may corroborate the evidence from Medinet Habu that among the Sea Peoples there were also refugees from various part of the Mediterranean, some from Sardinia,

1326-556: The French carried out several excavation campaigns directed by Pierre Montet , then by Jean Yoyotte and subsequently by Philippe Brissaud. For some time the overwhelming amount of monuments bearing the cartouches of Ramesses II or Merenptah led archaeologists to believe that Tanis and Pi-Ramesses were in fact the same. Furthermore, the discovery of the Year 400 Stela at Tanis led to the speculation that Tanis should also be identified with

1377-402: The Nuragic tribes actually used these kind of weapons since the mid-2nd millennium BC, as is also demonstrated by the Nuragic bronze sculptures dating back to as far as 1200 BC and depicting warriors with a horned helmet and a round shield. Similar swords are also depicted on the statue menhir of Filitosa , in southern Corsica . Giovanni Lilliu noted that the period in which

1428-516: The Shardana or Sherden. [...] It is probable that these Shardana went first to Crete and from there they joined a group of Cretans for an eastward adventure. Adam Zertal , and more recently Bar Shay from Haifa University , have also argued that the Shardana were Nuragic Sardinians, and connected them to the site of El-Awat in Canaan. When you look at plans of sites of the Shardana in Sardinia, in

1479-547: The Sherden and the local culture of these islands, in a broader Mediterranenan view, and to reassess all data available on this phenomenon. The identification of the Sherden with the Nuragic Sardinians has also been supported by Sebastiano Tusa in his last book and in its presentations, and by Carlos Roberto Zorea, from the Complutense University of Madrid . Another one to support it has been

1530-581: The Sherden are mentioned in the Egyptian sources coincides with the height of the Nuragic civilization. According to Robert Drews, Sardinians from the Gulf of Cagliari and the nearby areas were encouraged to become warriors and leave their island in order to improve their life conditions in the kingdoms of the Eastern Mediterranean. Since 2008, the "Shardana Project" has been developed in Corsica and Sardinia by

1581-410: The Sherden found in Sardinia have been dated to several centuries after the period of the Sea Peoples, which mainly covered the 13th–12th centuries BC. If the theory that the Sherden moved to Sardinia only after their defeat around 1178–1175 BC by Ramesses III is true, then it could be inferred from this that the finds in Sardinia are survivals of earlier types of weapons and armour. On

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1632-503: The Sherden pirates' raid and subsequent defeat, speaks of the constant threat which they posed to Egypt's Mediterranean coasts: the unruly Sherden whom no one had ever known how to combat, they came boldly sailing in their warships from the midst of the sea, none being able to withstand them. After Ramesses II succeeded in defeating the invaders and capturing some of them, Sherden captives are depicted in this Pharaoh's bodyguard, where they are conspicuous by their helmets with horns with

1683-670: The arrival of the Cypriot copper ingots of the Serra Ilixi type ; the sudden advance in and inventiveness of design of the Sardinian nuraghes themselves at about the turn of the first millennium; the introduction of certain religious practices such as the worship of water in sacred wells – if this fact was not introduced [later] by the Phoenician settlers. It has been stated that the only weapons and armour similar to those of

1734-641: The beginning of the Iron Age , the association of the Sherden with this geographic area is based entirely on their association with that group and the Sea Peoples phenomenon writ large, rather than on physical or literary evidence (of which almost all testifies to their presence in Egypt, rather than their port of origin). No mention of the Sherden has ever been found in Hittite or Greek legends or documents. English archaeologist Margaret Guido (1912–1994) concludes

1785-496: The chief temple dedicated to Amun , and a very important royal necropolis of the Third Intermediate Period (which contains the only known intact royal pharaonic burials, the tomb of Tutankhamun having been entered in antiquity). The burials of three pharaohs of the 21st and 22nd Dynasties – Psusennes I , Amenemope and Shoshenq II – survived the depredations of tomb robbers throughout antiquity. They were discovered intact in 1939 and 1940 by Pierre Montet and proved to contain

1836-404: The evidence for the Sherden, Shekelesh, or Teresh coming from the western Mediterranean is flimsy. Guido in 1963 suggests that the Sherden may ultimately derive from Ionia , in the central west coast of Anatolia , in the region of Hermos , east of the island of Chios . It is suggested that Sardis , and the Sardinian plain nearby, may preserve a cultural memory of their name. Until recently it

1887-409: The exploitation of Bohemian tin. Robert Drews suggested that use of this weapon by groups of Sherden and Philistine mercenaries made them capable of withstanding attacks by chariotry and so made them valuable allies in warfare, but Drews's theory has been widely criticised by contemporary scholars. The earliest known mention of the people called Srdn-w , more usually called Sherden or Shardana ,

1938-543: The fact that these gods bore their original Theban epithets, leading to Thebes being more commonly mentioned than Tanis itself. Furthermore, the new royal necropolis at Tanis successfully replaced the one in the Theban Valley of the Kings . After the 22nd Dynasty Tanis lost its status of royal residence, but became in turn the capital of the 19th nome of Lower Egypt. Starting from the 30th Dynasty , Tanis experienced

1989-420: The function of these "širdannu-people" was at the time. The first certain mention of the Sherden is found in the records of Ramesses II (ruled 1279-1213 BC), who defeated them in his second year (1278 BC) when they attempted to raid Egypt's coast. The pharaoh subsequently incorporated many of these warriors into his personal guard. An inscription by Ramesses II on a stele from Tanis that recorded

2040-676: The ground and lying in a single direction, they may have been knocked down by a violent earthquake during the Byzantine era. They form one of the most notable aspects of the Tanis site. Archaeologists have counted more than twenty. This accumulation of remnants from different epochs contributed to the confusion of the first archaeologists who saw in Tanis the biblical city of Zoan in which the Hebrews would have suffered pharaonic slavery. Pierre Montet, in inaugurating his great excavation campaigns in

2091-582: The height of the New Kingdom. A remarkable achievement of these kings was the building and subsequent expansions of the Great temple of Amun-Ra at Tanis (at the time, Amun-Ra replaced Seth as the main deity of the eastern Delta), while minor temples were dedicated to Mut and Khonsu whom, along with Amun-Ra, formed the Theban Triad . The intentional emulation towards Thebes is further stressed by

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2142-461: The home place of the pharaoh-to-be Smendes . The earliest known Tanite buildings are datable to the 21st Dynasty . Although some monuments found at Tanis are datable earlier than the 21st Dynasty, most of these were in fact brought there from nearby cities, mainly from the previous capital of Pi-Ramesses , for reuse. Indeed, at the end of the New Kingdom the royal residence of Pi-Ramesses

2193-540: The midst of the Sea, those whom none could withstand; but he plundered them by the victories of his valiant arm, they being carried off to Egypt." It is possible that some of the Sherden captured in the battle recounted in Tanis II were pressed into Egyptian service, perhaps even as shipwrights or advisers on maritime technology , a role in which they may have assisted in the construction of the hybrid Egyptian warships seen on

2244-462: The monumental relief at Medinet Habu that shows the naval battle between Egyptians and Sea Peoples. Michael Wood has suggested that their raids contributed greatly to the collapse of the Mycenaean civilization. However, while some Aegean attributes can be seen in the material culture of the Philistines , one of the Sea Peoples who established cities on the southern coastal plain of Canaan at

2295-467: The older, former Hyksos capital, Avaris . The later re-discovery of the actual, neighbouring archaeological sites of Pi-Ramesses ( Qantir ) and Avaris ( Tell el-Dab'a ) made clear that the earlier identifications were incorrect, and that all the Ramesside and pre-Ramesside monuments at Tanis were in fact brought here from Pi-Ramesses or other cities. There are ruins of a number of temples, including

2346-557: The other hand, if the Sherden only moved into the Western Mediterranean in the ninth century, associated perhaps with the movement of early Etruscans and even Phoenician seafaring peoples into the Western Mediterranean at that time, this would solve the problem of the late appearance of their military gear in Sardinia; but it would remain unknown where they were located between the period of the Sea Peoples and their eventual appearance in Sardinia. The theory that postulates

2397-505: The scholarly community. The Sherden seem to have been one of the more prominent groups of pirates that engaged in coastal raiding and the disruption of trade in the years around the 13th century BC. They are first mentioned by name in the Tanis  II rhetorical stele of Ramesses II , which says in part, "As for the Sherden of rebellious mind, whom none could ever fight against, who came bold-hearted, they sailed in, in warships from

2448-414: The second millennium BCE, throughout this entire period, you can see wavy walls, you can see corridors... you can see high heaps of stones, which were developed into the classical nuraghic culture of Sardinia. The only good architectural parallels are found in Sardinia and the Shardana culture According to Malcolm H. Wiener "some of the Sea Peoples are likely to have started from Sardinia, Sicily, Italy, or

2499-643: Was abandoned because the Pelusiac branch of the Nile in the Delta became silted up and its harbour consequently became unusable. After Pi-Ramesses' abandonment, Tanis became the seat of power of the pharaohs of the 21st Dynasty, and later of the 22nd Dynasty (along with Bubastis ). The rulers of these two dynasties supported their legitimacy as rulers of Upper Egypt and Lower Egypt with traditional titles and building works, although they pale compared to those at

2550-615: Was assumed that Sardis was only settled in the period after the Anatolian and Aegean Dark Age , but American excavations have shown the place was settled in the Bronze Age and was a site of a significant population. If this is so, the Sherden, pushed by Hittite expansionism of the Late Bronze Age and prompted by the famine that affected this region at the same time, may have been pushed to the Aegean Islands , where shortage of space led them to seek adventure and expansion overseas. It

2601-467: Was finally restored in the long chronology of the sites of the delta. Tanis is unattested before the 19th Dynasty of Egypt , when it was the capital of the 14th nome of Lower Egypt . A temple inscription datable to the reign of Ramesses II mentions a "Field of Tanis", while the city in se is securely attested in two 20th Dynasty documents: the Onomasticon of Amenope and the Story of Wenamun , as

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