The Weshesh (

Egyptian Egyptian describes something of, from, or related to Egypt. Egyptian or Egyptians may refer to: Nations and ethnic groups * Egyptians, a national group in North Africa ** Egyptian culture, a complex and stable culture with thousands of years of ...

: ''wꜣšꜣšꜣ'', ''wꜣšš'') were one of the several

ethnic group An ethnic group or an ethnicity is a grouping of people who identify with each other on the basis of shared attributes that distinguish them from other groups. Those attributes can include common sets of traditions, ancestry, language, history, ...

s the

Sea Peoples The Sea Peoples are a hypothesized seafaring confederation that attacked ancient Egypt and other regions in the East Mediterranean prior to and during the Late Bronze Age collapse (1200–900 BCE).. Quote: "First coined in 1881 by the Fren ...

were said to be composed of, appearing in fragmentary historical and iconographic records in ancient Egyptian from the

Eastern Mediterranean Eastern Mediterranean is a loose definition of the eastern approximate half, or third, of the Mediterranean Sea, often defined as the countries around the Levantine Sea. It typically embraces all of that sea's coastal zones, referring to communi ...

in the late 2nd millennium BC.

Records

Of the various groups which made up the Sea Peoples, the ''Weshesh'' are perhaps the least attested. Along with the ''Ekwesh'', the ''Weshesh'' are found only in documents pertaining to the reign of

Ramesses III Usermaatre Meryamun Ramesses III (also written Ramses and Rameses) was the second Pharaoh of the Twentieth Dynasty in Ancient Egypt. He is thought to have reigned from 26 March 1186 to 15 April 1155 BC and is considered to be the last great monar ...

, namely the second pylon of his

mortuary temple Mortuary temples (or funerary temples) were temples that were erected adjacent to, or in the vicinity of, royal tombs in Ancient Egypt. The temples were designed to commemorate the reign of the Pharaoh under whom they were constructed, as well as ...

at Medinet Habu, and the

Great Harris Papyrus Papyrus Harris I is also known as the Great Harris Papyrus and (less accurately) simply the Harris Papyrus (though there are a number of other papyri in the Harris collection). Its technical designation is ''Papyrus British Museum EA 9999''. At 41 ...

. No visual representation of the ''Weshesh'' has ever been identified.Heike Sternberg-el Hotabi: ''Der Kampf der Seevölker gegen Pharao Ramses III''. Rahden 2012, S. 50. According to the inscriptions at Medinet Habu, the ''Weshesh'' were camped in

Amurru Amurru may refer to: * Amurru kingdom, roughly current day western Syria and northern Lebanon * Amorite, ancient Syrian people * Amurru (god) Amurru, also known under the Sumerian name Martu, was a Mesopotamian god who served as the divine perso ...

alongside the ''

Peleset The Peleset ( Egyptian: ''pwrꜣsꜣtj'') or Pulasati were one of the several ethnic groups the Sea Peoples were said to be composed of, appearing in fragmentary historical and iconographic records in ancient Egyptian from the Eastern Mediterra ...

'', ''

Tjeker The Tjeker or Tjekker ( Egyptian: ''ṯꜣkꜣr'' or ''ṯꜣkkꜣr'') were one of the Sea Peoples. Known mainly from the " Story of Wenamun", the Tjeker are also documented earlier, at Medinet Habu, as raiders defeated by Pharaoh Ramesses III of ...

'', ''

Sherden The Sherden ( Egyptian: ''šrdn'', ''šꜣrdꜣnꜣ'' or ''šꜣrdynꜣ'', Ugaritic: ''šrdnn(m)'' and ''trtn(m)'', possibly Akkadian: ''še-er-ta-an-nu''; also glossed “Shardana” or “Sherdanu”) are one of the several ethnic groups the Sea ...

'', and ''Denyen''. The apparent coalition was decimated by the pharaoh and his armies, and Ramesses III records himself as leading a glorious procession of Sea People prisoners on the return journey.

Identification

Being so sparsely attested to, the identification of the ''Weshesh'' with any number of other peoples is more contested in comparison to other Sea People groups. In 1872,

François Chabas François Joseph Chabas (2 January 1817, Briançon, Hautes-Alpes – 17 May 1882, Versailles) was a French Egyptologist. Chabas came from a modest background, studied at Chalon and became a wine merchant. Self-taught, he learned Latin, Greek ...

identified the ''Weshesh'' with the

Oscians The Osci (also called Oscans, Opici, Opsci, Obsci, Opicans) were an Italic people of Campania and Latium adiectum before and during Roman times. They spoke the Oscan language, also spoken by the Samnites of Southern Italy. Although the language ...

, a South Italic people, based on the phonological similarities between the two peoples' names. A year later, in 1873,

Gaston Maspero Sir Gaston Camille Charles Maspero (23 June 1846 – 30 June 1916) was a French Egyptologist known for popularizing the term "Sea Peoples" in an 1881 paper. Maspero's son, Henri Maspero, became a notable sinologist and scholar of East Asia. ...

published his "

Anatolia Anatolia, tr, Anadolu Yarımadası), and the Anatolian plateau, also known as Asia Minor, is a large peninsula in Western Asia and the westernmost protrusion of the Asian continent. It constitutes the major part of modern-day Turkey. The re ...

n hypothesis" which hypothesized the Sea Peoples originated in

Asia Minor Anatolia, tr, Anadolu Yarımadası), and the Anatolian plateau, also known as Asia Minor, is a large peninsula in Western Asia and the westernmost protrusion of the Asian continent. It constitutes the major part of modern-day Turkey. The re ...

; connecting the ''Weshesh'' with the

Caria Caria (; from Greek: Καρία, ''Karia''; tr, Karya) was a region of western Anatolia extending along the coast from mid-Ionia (Mycale) south to Lycia and east to Phrygia. The Ionians, Ionian and Dorians, Dorian Greeks colonized the west of i ...

n settlement '' Wassos''. In 1922, the Egyptologist Henry R. Hall connected the ''Weshesh'' with the ''Waksioi'' of

Crete Crete ( el, Κρήτη, translit=, Modern: , Ancient: ) is the largest and most populous of the Greek islands, the 88th largest island in the world and the fifth largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, after Sicily, Sardinia, Cyprus, and ...

. Others connected the ''Weshesh'' with the Achaeans, an identification often made with the fellow Sea People clan of the ''

Ekwesh The Achaeans (; el, Ἀχαιοί, ''Akhaioi'') were one of the four major tribes into which the Greeks divided themselves (along with the Aeolians, Ionians and Dorians). According to the foundation myth formalized by Hesiod, their name comes fr ...

'', based on phonological similarities.

References

{{reflist Sea Peoples

Records

Identification

See also

References