When the Cretans discovered the Peloponnese, they found Achaean tribes on the peninsula who apparently spoke several southern dialects of the ancient Greek language. During excavations 1874-1876. near the cyclopean ruins of the ancient acropolis (fortress) near the city of Mycenae, G. Schliemann discovered crypts carved into the rock - wells covered on top with stone slabs (mine tombs). In some of them, not yet plundered by treasure hunters, were found
golden masks-portraits of the dead and various highly artistic gold and silver items. Many similar items were discovered during later excavations in different parts of the Peloponnese, including on the central plateau of Arcadia and in two southern regions separated from each other by the Taygetos Mountains, in Laconia and Messinia, especially in the area of Pylos. Archaeological finds in mainland Greece and Crete “...have very great stylistic similarities... However... if Cretan frescoes are characterized by scenes of hunting, processions, games with bulls, then for Mycenaean wall painting... scenes of battles are typical, harnessing war chariots, sieges of fortresses, etc.” (V.S. Sergeev). Unlike the rulers of Crete, the Achaean leaders felt surrounded by enemies in the Peloponnese. To protect either from the raids of neighboring leaders, or from the northern “barbarian” 1 tribes and unknown “sea peoples,” they erected both on the shores of the peninsula and in the interior regions of the fortress made of huge, roughly hewn stones, so heavy that ancient authors attributed their construction for the legendary one-eyed giants - the Cyclops.
In the XVII-XVI centuries. BC e. In the Peloponnese, the early Achaean slave-owning city-states of Mycenae, Pylos and others arose, in which one of the Cretan linear writing systems, the “Minoan syllabary B,” spread. In the XV-XIII centuries. BC e. The Achaeans, who became the “sea people,” conquered Crete and the Cyclades, colonized the islands of Karpathos, Rhodes and Cyprus. They discovered in the center of the Aegean Sea (probably from the ancient Greek “eg” - water, sea) the Northern Sporades (on Skyros, the largest island of this group, the remains of a Mycenaean settlement were found), and in the north of the Aegean Sea - about. Lemnos and the Chalkidiki Peninsula and penetrated to the top of the Thermaikos Gulf (Thessaloniki). They reached the coast of Asia Minor and in the lower reaches of the river. Greater Menderes, at 37°30" N latitude, founded Miletus, which by the 14th century BC had become a large city.
On Euboea, on the Isthmus (Isthmus of Corinth), in the southeast and south of the Balkan Peninsula - in Attica and between the gulfs of Corinth and Euboea (Evboikos) - the Achaeans founded a number of settlements, including those on the site of which the famous ancient city-states of Corinth, Athens, Thebes, Delphi. To the north of this strip, the Achaeans mastered Thessaly - the most extensive plain of the Greek Peninsula (southern part of the Balkan), irrigated by the river. Penei (Pinhos), and beyond 40° N. w. - river valley Aljakmon, flowing like Penei, into the Gulf of Thessaloniki. Between the lower reaches of these rivers rises the Olympus mountain range, clearly visible from the sea. According to the Achaeans, this peak, covered with snow in winter, the highest point of the territory known to them, was the “home of the gods.” In the west, the Thessalian Plain is bordered by the forested Pindus Mountains (more than 200 km). The Achaeans probably crossed the Pindus in several places and bypassed it from the north. Around 1260 BC e. The Achaeans made a sea voyage to Troy (Ilion), located on
1 The ancient Greeks, and after them the Romans, called all foreigners “Barbarians”; breath of ancient culture,
on the northeastern coast of Asia Minor of the Aegean Sea, at the southern entrance to the Dardanelles Strait, they besieged and destroyed it.
In the XV-XIV centuries. BC e. Achaean sailors repeatedly penetrated the northern part of the Adriatic for trading purposes.
The main item of trade was succinite - amber, delivered from the Baltic (north-eastern coast of the Gdansk Bay) along the “Amber Route” (see Chapter 7). The Achaeans themselves, of course, did not climb into these “amber distances”, but used trade intermediaries. Probably at the end of the 15th century. BC e. they appeared in the Western Mediterranean; having rounded the Apulia Peninsula, they discovered the Gulf of Taranto (at the beginning of the 14th century BC, a “Mycenaean” settlement arose at its peak); beyond the Calabria Peninsula they discovered the island. Sicily and Aeolian Islands. Perhaps the Achaeans visited Fr. Malta - ceramics from the 13th century were found there. BC e. The westernmost point that the Achaeans reached along the shore of the Tyrrhenian Sea they discovered is undoubtedly Fr. Ischia, which, together with the more famous but smaller island. Capri marks the Gulf of Naples. The question of their discovery of Fr. Sardinia, although bronze ingots of Mycenaean origin were found there, is controversial.
In the second half of the 13th century. BC e. The Achaeans landed on the African coast 300 km south of the island. Crete. As part of a coalition of six tribes led by the Libu - Libyans, in 1225 BC. e. they moved east along the seashore and invaded Egypt to “satisfy the needs of their mouth.” According to Egyptian inscriptions, hordes of “sea peoples” were stopped at the western borders of the Nile Delta by the army of Pharaoh Mineptah and defeated. After an unsuccessful campaign, the Achaeans retreated to the west and settled with their families on the lands of their Libyan allies.
Having become acquainted with the ancient trade route that crossed the Central Sahara from the Mediterranean coast to the river. Niger, the “African Achaeans” paved the way for wheeled transport and marked it with rock carvings of chariots. In those days, there was much more surface water in the Sahara and they used the horse, which they first brought to Africa, as draft power. This route, over 2,500 km long, passed mainly through flat terrain and only crossed elevated areas twice - the Tasslin-Adjer plateau (French explorer Henri Lot discovered here one of the richest open-air museums of prehistoric art in the world) and the Ahaggad Pagoria. . Niger near Gao, 16° N. latitude, 0° east d.
Thus, the Achaeans were the first to cross the Sahara and discover Ahaggar, the most important hydrographic center of the region. This event occurred no earlier than 1000 BC. e. A. Lot spent 15 years identifying the road. And only in 1950 the picture became clearer: “Now it was possible to restore the path of a thousand years ago... along its entire length. This route was undoubtedly the most appropriate. It passed on solid ground, crossing or skirting mountain ranges in the most convenient places and avoiding piles of sand. In addition, along its path there were main sources of water, which can be considered permanent...” (A. Lot).
Lot's discoveries leave no room for doubt regarding the contacts of the Mediterranean with the Niger basin in ancient times.
Formation of the Mycenaean kingdom. In the middle of the 2nd millennium BC. e. many Achaean tribes of southern Greece were united under the rule of the kings who ruled in the city of Mycenae. The Mycenaean kingdom developed under the influence of the Cretan state, which was then experiencing its heyday. Many areas of Greece were under the rule of Crete. Many features of the economy, government and culture of Crete were borrowed by the Mycenaeans.
Rice. Mycenae
- Using maps, determine in which part of Greece the Mycenaean kingdom arose. What were the natural conditions of this area?
Just like in Crete, Mycenae was headed by a king who was also the high priest. He appointed officials and officials with the help of whom he governed the state. The population paid taxes to the king: farmers gave part of the harvest, and artisans gave their products. The lowest stratum of society were slaves. As in Crete, there were few of them and they belonged to kings and noble people. The Mycenaean script was based on the Cretan script. Mycenaean artists and artisans used the same subjects and techniques as Cretan masters, and the builders of Mycenaean palaces imitated the grandiose buildings of Cretan architects. The religions of both states also had a lot in common. Some gods of the Achaeans were borrowed by them from the Cretans. This is evidenced by ancient Greek myths, which call Crete the homeland of the Achaean gods.
"Gold-abundant" Mycenae. The Mycenaean kings were famous for their wealth. The Greeks often called the capital of the Mycenaean kingdom “gold-abundant” Mycenae. The city was built on a high steep hill not far from the coast of the Aegean Sea. It was surrounded by powerful walls made of multi-ton stone blocks.
Travelers entered Mycenae through gates topped with figures of stone lions. Having passed under the powerful arches of the “Lion Gate”, they found themselves on a street paved with stone slabs leading to the city center. There was a magnificent royal palace there. It was decorated with red Cretan columns and cornices inlaid with multi-colored Phoenician glass. The floor of the palace was paved with polished slabs brought from Crete and multi-colored mosaics. The walls and ceilings were painted with unusually bright frescoes. Countless treasures were stored in the palace's vast storerooms.
Rice. Lion's Gate in Mycenae
The Greek campaign against Troy. The kings of Mycenae more than once made military campaigns against their neighbors, trying to conquer their lands. They also tried to extend their power to the coast of Asia Minor, where the Trojan kingdom was located. Around 1200 BC e. The king of Mycenae organized a campaign against the Trojans.
Rice. Fragment of a dagger from Mycenae with gold design
This is what the myths tell about the causes of the Trojan War. One day the gods gathered for a feast. All the celestials were invited to it, except the goddess of discord Eris. She was offended and decided to take revenge. The goddess secretly entered the feast and threw a golden apple on the table, writing only one word on it: “To the most beautiful.” Three powerful goddesses saw the fruit and argued: who is it intended for? One of them was Zeus' ukena, the patroness of marriage and family Hera, the other was his daughter, the goddess of wisdom Athena, and the third was the goddess of love and beauty Aphrodite. They turned to Zeus and asked to resolve their dispute. But he, not wanting to offend anyone, instructed the Trojan prince Paris to judge them.
The goddesses appeared before the young prince in all their beauty and asked him to say which of them was more beautiful. Each promised Paris a reward: Hera - power and wealth, Athena - wisdom and glory, Aphrodite said: “I will give you the love of the most beautiful woman in the world.”
Rice. Elena. Image on an ancient Greek vase
And Paris, without hesitation, gave the apple to Aphrodite. Offended, Hera and Athena hated the prince and the Trojans and decided to destroy the people of Troy.
The most beautiful woman in those days was Helen the Beautiful, the wife of the Spartan king Menelaus. Aphrodite inspired her with love for Paris, who came to visit the Spartan king. She also helped Paris and Helen escape to Troy. Menelaus became furious and began to call the Achaeans on a campaign to take revenge on the Trojans. Many kings responded to his call. The campaign was led by Menelaus’s brother, King Agamemnon of Mycenae. Hundreds of ships set off for the shores of Troy. The siege of the fortress lasted ten years. Only thanks to the cunning of the Greeks was Troy captured and destroyed.
The death of the Mycenaean kingdom. In the 12th century BC. e. Conquerors invaded the Balkan Peninsula from the north. Among them were the Greek tribes of the Dorians. Their culture was less developed than the Achaean, but the Dorians possessed the secret of iron processing. These strangers, dressed in animal skins but armed with iron swords, swept across Greece in a devastating wave, sweeping away everything in their path.
Rice. King Agamemnon. Painting on an ancient Greek vase
The Achaeans, familiar only with copper and bronze, could not resist the onslaught of the Dorians. Mycenae and many other Achaean cities were destroyed and devastated. The population of the defeated cities fled to the mountains and islands of the Aegean Sea to escape. Some of the fugitives founded new settlements on the coast of Asia Minor, including on the site of the Trojan kingdom they had once devastated.
Let's sum it up
In the middle of the 2nd millennium BC. e. On the territory of southern Greece, the vast Mycenaean kingdom arose. A high culture flourished here, many of whose achievements were borrowed by the Mycenaeans from the Cretans. The Dorian invasion led to the destruction of Mycenae and the decline of culture.
Mosaic- an image made from colored stones, ceramic tiles, etc.
Mid-2nd millennium BC e. Formation of the Mycenaean kingdom.
Around 1200 BC e. Trojan War.
XII century BC e. Dorian invasion of Greece.
Apple of discord- the cause of any quarrel. (Expression related to the myth of Paris)
Questions and tasks
- When and where did the Mycenaean kingdom arise?
- Tell us about the capital of the Mycenaean kings. Why was it called the “evil-abundant” Mycenae?
- Find and name the common features inherent in the Cretan and Mycenaean kingdoms. Give at least six examples.
- When did the Trojan War begin and what were its causes?
- What caused the fall of the first Greek states? What consequences did this lead to?
- Write down in your notebook the names of the gods found in the paragraph and indicate what they were the patrons of.
However, let's get back to history. As often happens, on the eve of its destruction the New Hittite kingdom was at the peak of its power. The long-time enemy - Mitanni - lay in ruins. The war with Egypt ended with peace and the establishment of firm borders. Babylon degenerated and could not be a serious rival.
But the Middle East political horizon was not cloudless.
The division of “spheres of influence” and “eternal peace” between Egypt and the New Hittite kingdom were caused, not least of all, by the unification at that time of the Assyrian states
clan-states into a single kingdom, which immediately declared itself as a cruel aggressor. Under King Adad-nerari (1307-1275 BC), decrepit Babylonia was once again defeated, his son, Shalmaneser I (1274-1245 BC) finally destroyed the state of Mitanni, indicating the main direction Assyrian expansion to the west - against Egypt and the Hittites.
The Assyrians were characterized by senseless cruelty: having captured about 14,000 Mitanni warriors, Shalmaneser ordered them all to be blinded. During the wars, the Assyrians destroyed cities, killed or maimed prisoners, and plundered the captured territories. They were almost never forced into slavery - Assyrian Semitic traders did not need slaves for large state construction projects; they were interested in control of trade routes and enrichment through direct robbery.
The heir of Shalmaneser, King Tukulti-Ninurte I (1244-1208 BC) dared to attack the territory of the Hittite kingdom, capturing about 29,000 prisoners. Thus began the centuries-long confrontation of the Hittite people against Assyria.
However, trouble did not come from the east.
In the west, where the shores of the Aegean Sea and the Hellespont were inhabited for a long time by Pelasgians related to the Hittites, from the middle of the 2nd millennium BC. The struggle of the latter with the alien Achaean tribes for “living space” began. In this struggle, according to Herodotus, who also called the Pelasgians Ionians (which by no means equates them), the aliens won. The Achaeans expelled the Pelasgians, who were forced to flee to the north and west of the Balkans, to the islands of the Aegean Sea (primarily Euboea, Lesbos and Lemnos, the latter remained the place
compact settlement of the Pelasgians until the time of the Greco-Persian Wars), Crete (from where they then raided Egypt and Canaan), western Anatolia, and northern Italy. Dionysius of Halicarnassus believed that it was the Pelasgians who built cities in Italy that were later occupied by the Etruscans and gave impetus to the development of Etruscan culture.
Part of the Pelasgians, who moved to the northeast of the Balkan Peninsula, united with their fellow tribesmen who lived on the Hellespont. Subsequently, they became known as the Thracians, took part in the Trojan War on the side of Troy, partially moved to Asia Minor, but for the most part sat out from numerous enemies in the Rhodope and other Balkan mountains, created several states over the course of many centuries, of which the most famous are Odrysian kingdom (the largest in Europe in the 5th century BC) and Dacia (familiar to many from the Hollywood film “Dacia”), which fought with the Roman Empire. The Thracians were the singer Orpheus, known from Greek myths, who descended to Hades for his beloved Eurydice and the leader of the gladiator uprising Spartacus. At the end of the first millennium BC. - first millennium AD the Thracians repeatedly united with related tribes of the Scythians, Slavs and Bulgarians. At the time of Herodotus, they were considered the second largest people on the planet1.
The Thracians who settled in Asia Minor “turned” over time into the Phrygians, who created the state of Phrygia, the most famous ruler of which was the mythical king Midas (who turned everything into gold with the touch of his hand). Over time, through inscrutable historical paths, some of the Phrygians moved to Gaul (France) and two and a half thousand years later, it was the Phrygian cap that became the symbol of the Great French Revolution of 1789.
Other Pelasgians, who moved in a southeastern direction, began at the end of the 13th century BC. the first wave of the so-called “peoples of the sea”, which rolled onto the Mediterranean coast of Phenicia and Egypt. Ancient Egyptian inscriptions mention the people "plst" ("pilist", in Egypt and Judea only consonants were used when writing), attacking Egypt. Soon the Pelasgians captured territory on Herodotus. Story. V, 3. M.: Ladomir, ACT, 1999.
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the fertile coast of Canaan and created the Pentatepolis - a union of five cities: Gaza, Ascalon, Ekron, Gath and Ashdod. They mastered the technique of making iron (Egypt had just switched from copper to bronze by this time) and established their hegemony over the entire territory, named after them Palestine1.
At the same time, this territory was claimed by the invading pastoral tribes of the Ibri (the word is believed to literally mean “those who crossed [the river],” that is, those who came from beyond the Euphrates, modern “Ivri,” whence Hebrew). These were the ancestors of the Jews who left Upper Mesopotamia under Mitanni pressure. A clash between the Ibri and the Pelasgians for control of Palestine was inevitable, and it happened. A three-way war began between the Canaanites (descendants of Canaan, the aborigines of these places), the Pelasgians and the Ibri. In this war, the Canaanites were almost completely destroyed or mixed with the Pelasgians. This mixture gave rise to the Philistine-Palestinian people. (Philistines in the Greek translation of the Bible are the people of Pelishtim. In turn, the biblical Plishtim is a Hebrew transcription of the word Pelasgians, from which Palestine got its name.)
The Jews themselves do not deny the “Aegean” origin of the Palestinians, but they make some substitution of concepts, even just silence, when they translate the word “plishtim” as “invaded”, without specifying that they invaded not “Eretz Israel”, but Egypt : “The Philistines (D- U." U?, G1- .''D, plishtim, literally “invading”), a people of Aegean origin who inhabited the southern part of the Mediterranean coast of Eretz Israel...” However, as we see, the word plishtim comes not from the Hebrew invasion, but from the Egyptian plst, Pelasgians. The war, including the information war, which began three thousand years ago, is not over to this day, as evidenced by Gaza, which still remains the center of national resistance of the Palestinian people to genocide with Israeli side.
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Palestine before the arrival of the Jews. On the shores of the Mediterranean Sea is the Philistine Pentatepolis (now the Gaza Strip). On the western shore of the Dead Sea there is a tribe of Hittites, who are confused with the Asia Minor Hittites
At the same time, “serious” scientists until the beginning of the 20th century AD. did not recognize the existence of the Pelasgians. They considered them a mythical people. “The Pelasgians are just a shadow, devoid of any historical reality,” wrote the encyclopedia of Ersh and Gruber. Historians have changed their minds -
tion only under the pressure of irrefutable facts obtained as a result of archaeological discoveries of the past century. But for the ancient authors, the Pelasgians were a very real people, bearers of the highest culture, completely different from the Greeks. Herodotus called them barbarians, despite the fact that the Greeks, who became role models for European civilization, borrowed from the Pelasgians not only the alphabet, construction technology, and seafaring skills, but also religious beliefs and rituals. And the Greeks became a great people only after they assimilated the conquered Pelasgians. “Before their unification with the Pelasgians, the Hellenes were few in number,” writes Herodotus. The Achaeans who did not want to lose their ethnic identity were expelled from the country.
The whole trouble of the Pelasgians is that they never created a centralized state, and therefore could not successfully resist their enemies. Even in Canaan they created not a single kingdom, but a union of five city-states. Without their own statehood, the Pelasgians disappeared, dissolving into the Thracians, Palestinians, Etruscans, Greeks and other peoples, passing on to them their highest culture, which became the basis of many civilizations of the ancient world. These were, to use the expression of Valery Bryusov, “teachers of teachers.”
It is tempting to consider this great people the forerunners of the Slavic-Russians, and many could not avoid this temptation, finding a “Russian trace” and “Russian” inscriptions from Italy to Palestine, but I believe that our Russian people have, although related to the Pelasgians, other ancestors # no less great and just as undeservedly forgotten. Their history must be restored through the joint efforts of all patriotic researchers.
As for the Achaeans, they, like the Pelasgians, were well known to the Egyptians under the name “Akaivasha” - Achaia (Aegea). In the narrow sense of the word, this was the name for the territory in the west and southwest of Asia Minor, not under the control of the Hittites, centered in the city of Milavanda (the future famous ancient city of Miletus). After the defeat of the Pelasgians, the Achaeans began wide expansion in the Aegean Sea basin, which caused tension in their relations with the Hittites and a close connection with Egypt, as a potential ally in the fight against the New Hittite kingdom. By the middle of the 13th century BC. The leaders of Ahhiyawa (as Achaia was called by the Hittites) increasingly attacked the Hittite allies in western Anatolia.
The Hittite-dependent region of Wilusa on the Asian shore of the Hellespont became the object of Achaean aggression. Modern science has little doubt that Wilusa is the Troas that became the theater of military operations of the Trojan War. But no major war begins without preliminary stages: diplomatic confrontation, trade embargoes, military incidents on the border. The Trojan War was no exception. Raid after raid was carried out by the kings of the Achaean states of European Greece and the Asia Minor coast against Troy and the islands of the Aegean Sea that still remained under the rule of the Pelasgians.
A letter from the ruler of Lesbos to the Hittite king Muwatalli has been preserved stating that the Achaeans attacked his island and took the artisans captured into slavery to Milavanda (Miletus). Tensions between the Hittites increase
and the Achaeans due to control of Cyprus, an important supplier of copper. Attempts to resolve the brewing conflict through diplomatic measures have failed. Then the Hittites organize an economic blockade of the Achaeans. Agreements on a trade embargo against the Greeks were concluded with the states of Syria and Lebanon, through which the transit of bronze from Mesopotamia to Achaia bypassed the Hittites. In 1220 BC. The Hittite king Tuthalia IV signs one of these treaties with the North Syrian state of Amurru. In response, the Achaeans increase their pressure on Vilusa, which is a key point on the route of trade caravans transporting copper from Thrace to Asia Minor to the Hittites.
The situation was further complicated by the fact that both Thrace and Vilusa were inhabited by Pelasgians and related tribes. On the European shore of the Hellespont, almost opposite Troy, was the capital of the Thracian Pelasgians, the city of Larissa. Thus, the Achaeans faced a double task: not only to make it difficult for the Hittites to deliver raw materials for the production of bronze, but also to finish off the defeated enemy - the Pelasgians, in order to prevent future revenge. And let the tales about the abduction of Helen the Beautiful as the pretext for the Trojan War remain on Homer’s conscience.
After diplomacy and embargo did not bring the desired results, the Hittites, as a great power, had no choice but to use force. Between 1220 and 1210 The Hittites organize a military campaign against Milananda and capture this city. The Achaeans not only lose their foothold in Asia Minor, but also the “granary of Greece” - it was from here that grain came to them, which in Greece itself (despite the opinion that everything was ecf b in it) there was simply nowhere to grow. After this, war became inevitable.
Chapter 11. The Trojan War and the campaigns of the “Sea Peoples”
Historians who turn to the topic of the Trojan War are faced with one circumstance that extremely complicates their research. The destruction of Ilion by the Greeks is not directly reported by any source other than their own traditions. Neither the archives of the Hittite kings nor the records of the Egyptian pharaohs say anything about the Trojan War. How then can we fit this war into the context of world history? For specialists, this is the most pressing and currently unresolved issue.
In our opinion, all unsuccessful attempts to solve it are connected only with the fact that researchers ignore the role of the Arsawa state in this conflict. For them, the focus of consideration is only the city on the hill of Hisarlik, and the Trojan War looks like a small military clash that did not in any way affect the fate of other states. But such a view is unacceptable in principle, if only because almost immediately after the end of the Trojan War, both powerful opponents of Arsawa - the Hittite Empire and the state of the Achaeans - ceased to exist as an integral entity. Around the same time, the famous exodus of Jews from Egypt took place and Assyria began to flourish. In other words, the Trojan War marks the time when the political map of the Mediterranean, as they say, was “bursting at the seams.”
At the end of the XIII - beginning of the XII century. BC e. Egypt was twice attacked by tribes, which in the Egyptian monuments themselves are associated with the sea and therefore received the name “peoples of the sea.” These events took place under two pharaohs - Merneptah and Ramses III, respectively. The inscriptions of these pharaohs are the main source reporting the invasion of the “Sea Peoples”.
In the fifth year of the reign of Pharaoh Merneptah (1232 BC), during the next war between Egypt and its neighbors - the Luwians (Libyans), the latter were supported by a number of tribes, the name of which in conventional reading sounds like this: Lukka, Akayvasha, Tursha , jackalusha, shardana. Experts confidently identify the first three names with the Lycians, Achaeans and Tyrsenians (Tyrrenians, Trojans), respectively. The settlements of these tribes existed on the western coast of Asia Minor, from where they could penetrate into the territory of Egypt by sea. Regarding the fourth people, it has been suggested that they were the Sicels (Siculi) - the inhabitants of the island of Sicily. We are quite ready to accept this point of view, but with one very significant addition. The Sikeli-jackalusha are the same people who are called the Cyclopes in Greek myths! At the time in question, they actually lived on islands in the Aegean and Mediterranean seas; remember the journey of Odysseus! The ethnic roots of the Shardana people remain unclear to historians. It is known that the Shardana took part in the Battle of Kadesh on the side of the Egyptians, joining the army of Ramses II. Under Merneptah, they betrayed their former allies and sided with the “northern peoples who came from all sides.”
In a large inscription from Karnak, Merneptah tells that the enemies “suddenly entered the valleys of Egypt to the great river” and began to ferociously devastate the country. But the ruler of Egypt did not hesitate: “His finest archers were assembled, his chariots were brought from all sides,” etc. The Egyptians repelled this attack, killing more than 6200–6300 Libyans, 1231 Akaiwash, 740 Tursh, 220 Shakalush, 200 Shardan and 32 Luccas. From these data we can conclude that, apparently, the majority of the “northern” newcomers were Achaeans, and this indicates a high level of combat capability of the Achaeans at that time. Further, since they formed a single army with the peoples of Asia Minor, they arrived in the Nile Valley, most likely, not from Greece, but from Asia Minor, more precisely, from Miletus - the center of concentration of the Achaean Greeks in Anatolia. The first campaign of the “Sea Peoples” obviously precedes the Trojan War, since the Achaeans are still friends with the defenders of Troy - the Trojans and Lycians.
In 1194 BC. e. A new attack by the “Sea Peoples” followed. In this case, the Egyptians were attacked by the Pelasti and Teucrian tribes. In the name of the first of them one cannot help but recognize the name of our old friends - the Pelasgians. Ancient authors called the Pelasgians the first settlers of mainland Greece. The Achaeans, who came here later, ousted the Pelasgians from part of their lands. We already know that the Pelasgians lived in Asia Minor and they sent soldiers to defend Troy. The Iliad also mentions the Pelasgian Argos in Thessaly, and the Odyssey mentions the Pelasgians living in Crete. But their fellow tribesmen also inhabited the outlying, northwestern region of Greece - Epirus. Part of the Epirus coast was called Palaistin. It seems that in the raid on Egypt all these different (Greek-Asia Minor!) branches of a single people could unite. They were not destined, however, to win. After failure in the war with Ramses III, the Pelastians, having rolled back to the east, appear in the Bible as the warlike Philistines, who gave their name to the country of Palestine (identical to the name of their Epirus homeland).
The goddess of the earth in West Semitic mythology - Artsu (Arsu) - is the daughter of Balu (Bela). This can be interpreted in such a way that the territory that was previously part of the state of Arsawa, named after the goddess Arsu (ancient Russian Yara), subsequently became known as Palestine - “Balustan”, after the name of the deity Bel, whom the Pelasgian newcomers began to consider her father, that is, a more ancient and eminent god.
The allies of the Pelasti - the Teucrians - were traditionally associated with the lands of the Troas. According to Herodotus, the Paeonians, who considered themselves descendants of the Teucrians, insisted on their kinship with the Trojans. The Troas itself was also called Teucris, and in the era of Herodotus the small Trojan ethnos of the Hergites was considered as the last relic of the ancient Teucrians. Even legends have been preserved in which King Teucer was called the founder of Troy, and Dardan was his son-in-law.
Among the Achaeans who stormed Troy was the famous warrior with the same name - Teucer. His father was the king of the island of Salamis, Telamon, and his mother was the sister of King Priam Hesion. The story of their reunion is worthy of a separate story. Hesione's father Laomedon once hired Poseidon and Apollo to work for the benefit of the Trojan region. During the year, the first one erected fortress walls, and the second one tended the flock. But when the time came for payment, the Trojan king refused to give them the payment due to them, and even threatened with violence if they asked for it. In response, Poseidon sent a sea monster to the city. The Trojans did not dare to fight him, but, fortunately for them, the soothsayers found out that they could get rid of the monster by sacrificing Hesion to it. Then Laomedon ordered his daughter to be chained to a rock by the sea, but even earlier than the monster, Hercules appeared off the coast of Troy, returning from the country of the Amazons. Hercules offered Laomedon to save Hesion if he gave him as a reward those famous horses that Zeus gave to Tros (Laomedon's grandfather) as a ransom for his son Ganymede. The Trojan king agreed, but when Hercules killed the monster, he again did not keep his promise and drove away the great hero, showering him with threats and insults. Hercules did not forget this insult. After some time, he gathered his friends and sailed to Troy on six ships, took it by storm and killed Laomedon. Hesion went to Hercules' friend Telamon, who later married her.
Thus, the Salamis hero Teucer is the son of an Achaean and a Trojan woman. This circumstance makes him stand out among the Greek army. In this regard, the Teucrian people (a very rare name!) are perceived as the embodiment of some union of the Greek-Achaeans and Trojans. Let us add to this that ancient legends call Crete or Athens the homeland of the mythical ancestor of the Trojans, Teucer. As in the case of the Pelasti-Pelasgians, we can conclude that the combined campaign of the two tribes against Egypt in 1194 BC. e. reflects the existence of some kind of Greco-Trojan alliance in the Mediterranean. But the Achaean tribe no longer appears in it!
In 1191 BC. e. The "peoples of the sea" launched a new attack on the land of the pharaohs. The inscriptions of Ramses III dating back to this year speak of a formidable conspiracy of the “northerners” on their islands, of their firm confidence in the implementation of their grandiose plan, which actually changed the entire map of Western Asia. Now the Pelasti and Tevkrai were joined by the already familiar Tursha-Tyrsenas, Shakalusha-Sikeles with some groups of Shardans, as well as a detachment of Carians - residents of the Asia Minor region near the city of Halicarnassus - and the South Asia Minor tribe of Danes-Danunim (it is quite likely that these are Danaans "Iliad"). All these peoples moved both by land and sea, and those moving by land carried their families on carts: this was no longer a raid for the sake of booty, but a purposeful resettlement. Ramses III reports that on their way the settlers crushed the countries of Hatti, Arsawa and Alasiya-Cyprus. Egypt, however, survived, but its inhabitants experienced considerable fear.
Well, where did the Achaeans go? Documents stop mentioning them, and we have the right to draw only one conclusion: in the period between two (1232 BC and 1194–1191 BC) campaigns of the “Sea Peoples”, the Achaeans mixed with local peoples, forming the Teucrian tribe or partly “merging” with the Danes. The Trojan War apparently took place after the first raid of the “peoples of the sea” - approximately at the end of the 13th century. BC e. This, so to speak, is a rough outline of the events that accompanied the Trojan War. Let us now try to detail it and give additional arguments in favor of the expressed point of view.
In our opinion, events developed as follows. By the middle of the 13th century. BC e. The positions of the Indo-European peoples (Aryans of Mitanni and Arsava, Hittites, Libyans) in the Middle East weakened significantly. The loss of the Mitannians' leading positions in Northern Mesopotamia automatically led to the strengthening of the political influence of Semitic Assyria. We should also not forget that the 13th century. BC e. - this is a time of extraordinary activation of Semitic tribes in Palestine. It is to this historical moment that tradition attributes the famous exodus of the Jews from Egypt.
The Bible calls the Rephaim, inhabitants of the Mediterranean Ruthena-Rusena, one of the oldest peoples who lived in Palestine. It was named after its ancestor Rafa (Ruta-Rusa) and was distinguished by its extraordinary strength and enormous growth. In the Yiddish language, the word “Russian” is still translated as “reizen”, and “Russia” is translated as “Reyzya”. Other tribes are sometimes associated with the Rephaim in the Holy Scriptures, which emphasizes the friendly nature of the policy of the Rephaim-Russians in relation to the rest of the peoples of the Promised Land. As we have already said, the Egyptians were able to largely oust the Rus from Palestine, but in the second half of the 2nd millennium BC. e. their descendants still remained there - the Canaanite Vanir. In an ethnic sense, the Canaanites, apparently, were already a largely mixed ethnic group with local tribes and other alien Indo-European tribes (for example, the Hittites), but they could still be considered an Aryan-Proto-Slavic “island” in the Middle East.
Despite years of effort, the Egyptians were never able to completely conquer Canaan. The Battle of Kadesh proved that the Indo-Europeans were strong enough to face them in the Mediterranean. But the Egyptians still had a “trump card” in their hands. These were the Jewish people thirsty for self-affirmation on the political stage. Egyptian sources do not report anything about the exodus of Jews from Egypt. But this action in itself was extremely beneficial to them. Most likely, it was, as we would say today, a secret operation of the Egyptian intelligence services. An army of settlers, interested in creating their own national autonomy, was sent to the territory of a strong and unyielding enemy. With all this, as is well known, by that time a sufficient number of Semites already lived on the territory of Canaan, who in one way or another contributed to the arrival of their fellow tribesmen here.
According to the version set out in the Bible, the Jews did not dare to enter Canaan, since Egyptian slavery taught their people to cowardice, and it was necessary to wait until a new generation grew up that grew up in freedom. Everything is correct, but perhaps we should add to this that it also took time for Egyptian military instructors to teach this generation how to fight. And it would be extremely naive to think that the Jews would have been able to successfully fight the “giant men” (their own expression!) if not for the help of the pharaohs. But the Canaanites also had strong support in the form of the Libyans, as well as the Indo-Europeans of Asia Minor and the Northern Mediterranean, or the “peoples of the sea,” as the Egyptians called them.
There were no Hittites among this group of tribes. If by the time of the Battle of Kadesh they were indeed the leading military force in Asia Minor and rightfully led the alliance of the “peoples of the north,” then by the middle of the 13th century. BC e. the situation has changed. The Hittites lost control over the western regions of Anatolia, and the Trojans and their neighboring countries pursued an independent, independent policy. The Achaean Greeks, who by that time had strengthened themselves in Miletus, took advantage of the lack of “unity of command” in the region and declared themselves as a third force. In the first campaign of the “Sea Peoples” in the coalition of Indo-Europeans opposing Egypt and the Semites, they essentially took the place of the Hittites.
An inscription from Karnak by Pharaoh Merneptah contains a phrase about the “despicable leader” who led the Akaiwasha-Achaeans to his country. It is likely that this refers to the leader of the Libyans, and then the Achaeans stand out among all the northern detachments as the main force allied to the Libyans, bound with them by a special treaty. But it is much more likely that in this case we are talking about the leader of the Achaeans themselves, who again stand out among the other “northerners,” about whose leaders the pharaoh does not say a word. Even more striking, however, is the following detail. In the same inscription from Karnak, the Akaiwasha people are persistently contrasted with the Libyans, who do not know circumcision, as a people who practice this procedure. As surprising as this evidence may be in comparison with everything that is known about the customs of later, historical Greeks, the fact that a group of Achaeans advancing on Egypt became familiar with circumcision is now generally accepted. When explaining this evidence, researchers agree that such a custom could initially have arisen among the Achaeans of Crete under the influence of their neighbors in the south of the Mediterranean - the same Egyptians and the Semitic peoples of the Levant. It would be more logical, however, in our opinion, to assume that this custom was adopted precisely by those Achaeans who moved to the southwestern regions of Anatolia and had contacts with the Semitic peoples of Palestine and Syria. In any case, by this “eastern” custom, the contingent of the Achaeans as part of the “peoples of the sea” differed from the rest of the members of the military alliance.
The first campaign of the “Sea Peoples” ended in failure. As a rule, such a finale to a military campaign extremely aggravates relations within the Allied camp. It is worth considering that if the Cyclops-Sicels and Lycians participated in the war in order to help their relatives the Canaan-Vanim (the same Veneti!), then the Achaeans were primarily interested in rich booty. They were mercenaries! And when the mercenary army does not receive rewards, it can turn its weapons against its employers. The losses of the Achaeans in battles with the Egyptians were greater than those of any other ally, so they could demand additional compensation from the member countries of the “Northern Alliance” for their losses.
According to ancient Greek tradition, the battle for Troy was preceded by the campaign of Agamemnon’s army in Mysia (the region located south of Troas). The Mysians, led by King Telephus, put up worthy resistance to the Greeks. Ancient authors recognized the complete authenticity of this unsuccessful campaign for the Achaeans. Thus, Strabo wrote: “... the army of Agamemnon, plundering Mysia, as if Troas, retreated in shame.” The picturesque image of Telephus, raising his people to battle, emerges in the late novel of Dictys of Crete: “Those who were the first to flee from the Greeks come to Telephus, they say, many thousands of enemies invaded and, having killed the guards, occupied the shores... Telephus with those who was with him, and with others who in this haste could be gathered together, quickly goes to meet the Greeks, and both sides, having closed the front ranks, enter into battle with all their might. along the sea route to Troy, the Greeks landed at Mysia and began to destroy it, thinking that it was Troy. And Telephus, who reigned over the Mysians, drove the Hellenes to the ships and killed many...” It is noteworthy that Apollodorus sets out this episode in a single plot of the Iliad and accordingly writes: “Indeed, since the Hellenes returned, it is sometimes said that the war lasted 20 years: after all After the abduction of Helen, the Hellenes prepared to set out on a campaign in the second year, and after returning from Mysia to Hellas, 8 years later they, having returned to Argos, sailed to Aulis.” This account of the tradition of including the Missionian campaign in the history of the Trojan War and allocating a total of 20 years to it deserves full confidence, since it is directly confirmed by the testimony of Homer, in whom Helen, in her lament for Hector, exclaims:
Now the twentieth year of cyclical times is passing
Since then, when I came to Ilion, leaving my fatherland...
In addition, the mention of the unsuccessful Mission campaign contains an appeal from Achilles to his supreme leader Agamemnon, in which he warns in connection with the plague sent by Apollo:
As I see it, Atrid, we must, having swum the sea back,
We will return to our homes only when we are saved from death.
In this passage, Homer subtly emphasizes that an armada of Greek ships had once sailed across the Aegean Sea in the hope of conquering Troy.
So, the Trojan War took place in the period between two campaigns of the “Sea Peoples” (between 1232 and 1194 BC). It lasted, according to tradition, two decades. One can, of course, doubt the exact duration of hostilities - too round numbers appear in calculations, but at least the number “twenty” should convince everyone that the war was extremely protracted. Let us also note that the dating of the campaigns of the “Sea Peoples” is strictly tied to the time of Pharaoh Merneptah’s accession to the throne. There are three versions regarding the year of his accession (the spread between the earliest and the oldest is about two decades). We select the earliest of them in order to bring the date of the Trojan War as close as possible to the time of the fire in Troy VIIa according to Blegen (mid-13th century BC).
Greek sources do not report anything about the first campaign of the “Sea Peoples”. And this is quite understandable. Only those Achaeans who lived in Asia Minor, that is, in Miletus and the areas nearby, took part in the attack on Egypt. The famous Greek kings who became the heroes of the Iliad, as well as the Greeks of mainland Greece, had nothing to do with the first campaign. It was a joint venture of a number of Asia Minor and Northern Balkan tribes. At that time, the Achaeans maintained friendly relations with the Trojans, which is recorded in legends, which say that Menelaus easily visited Troy, was received in the house of Paris, and it was there that the Trojan agreed with him on a return visit to Sparta.
After the abduction of Helen, the Achaeans of mainland Greece gather an army called upon to avenge the insulted honor of Menelaus and return his wife to him. But, surprisingly, Agamemnon’s army does not land in Troas, but somewhat to the south - in Mysia. The mythological tradition interprets this to mean that the Greeks did not know the way to Troy. But it seems that the matter is different. For a successful war against Troy, Agamemnon’s warriors had to unite with the Achaeans of Miletus. It was probably their united coalition that fought the Mysians of Telephus. As we have already told, the Achaeans were not allowed to advance to the north of the peninsula, and they were forced to sail back to Greece. They had to wait another eight long years to gather again in Aulis and set off on a new campaign, now straight to Troas.
In recent decades, some scientists have hypothesized that the first campaign of the “Sea Peoples” included as an integral part those battles that the Greeks later called the Trojan War. According to this version, it turns out that Troy was stormed not only by the Greeks, but by a whole group, including North Balkan tribes. At first glance, this assumption brilliantly solves the problem of correlating the campaigns of the “Sea Peoples” with the Trojan War. The Achaeans are participants in the first campaign of the “Sea Peoples”, and they are also the victors in the Trojan War. Both events took place around the same time. So let's put an equal sign between them! Well, this, of course, can be done, but only under one condition: we must admit that the Greek poets who described the Trojan War mixed truth with fiction to such an extent that their poems should not be treated as fundamental sources. If poets confirm this hypothesis, good, but if not, then it doesn’t matter, because this is, after all, literature! For example, it should be recognized that no Lycians defended Troy, because they were allies of the Achaeans in the first campaign of the “peoples of the sea.” But then the entire plot of the Iliad, in which the Lycians, led by King Sarpedon, Glaucus and Pandarus, fight to the death with the Greeks, becomes meaningless. It is impossible to agree with such a point of view. Moreover, the reconstruction of events we propose provides a consistent interpretation of all known Greek and Egyptian evidence.
The key idea in solving the problem under discussion is that we distinguish two groups of Achaeans - those of Asia Minor, who colonized Miletus and the islands of the Aegean Sea, and the Greeks themselves, who lived in mainland Greece and Crete. In the first campaign of the “peoples of the sea,” only the Achaeans-Asia Minor, or, in other words, “circumcised Greeks,” participated. The second campaign took place after the end of the Trojan War. By that time, Agamemnon’s army had plenty of time in Anatolia. The main objective of the campaign was resolved, and each of the tribes now solved their own problems. Some were in a hurry to return home, but there were also those who wanted to increase the number of enemies they defeated and the amount of treasures they looted. So they could join the “peoples of the sea” during their second campaign against Egypt.
As we have already written, the second attack of the Sea Peoples on Egypt represented two successive invasions. The first in 1194 BC. e. was repelled by the troops of Pharaoh Ramses III. The memory of this event was preserved in the Trojan cycle. First of all, this is a well-traced theme of the Achaean landing in Egypt immediately after the destruction of Priam’s Troy, as if in the epilogue of the Trojan War, and their crushing defeat by the army of the Egyptian ruler.
Homer’s Odysseus addresses this topic twice, with slight nuances, in his so-called “false stories” in Ithaca, when the unrecognized king, in the guise of a beggar, tells his listeners various versions of his fictional biography. In the fourteenth song of the Odyssey, he portrays himself as the bastard son of a certain noble Cretan, who succeeded in wars and raids and fought for nine years in Troas next to King Idomeneo. After returning from Troy, the hero of the story, having stayed in his home for no more than a month, equips nine ships and leaves with his retinue for Egypt. Here his warriors, sent on reconnaissance,
Rob the fruitful fields of the peaceful inhabitants of Egypt
They rushed and began to kidnap wives and young children,
Brutally killing husbands - alarm to the inhabitants of the city
Soon reached, and a strong early dawn gathered
Rat; chariots, foot, bright copper weapons
The field was boiling all around; Zeus, rejoicing with thunder,
I turned mine into miserable flight, to reflect not a single
The enemy’s strength did not keep up, and death surrounded us from everywhere;
Copper killed many of his comrades then, and many
The prisoners were forcibly taken to the city into sad slavery.
Their leader, however, seeing the Egyptian king himself nearby, managed to throw away his weapons, surrender personally to him and was taken to the palace, although the enraged Egyptians threatened the Cretan with death. In the seventeenth canto, Odysseus retells the same story with changes. There is no indication of the Cretan origin of the narrator, the journey to Egypt is no longer five days, but is called a “long road”, and the ending of the lost battle for the defeated hero turns out to be even more deplorable. Having been taken prisoner, he is sold into slavery in Cyprus.
It is unlikely that the story told by Odysseus was completely false. The campaign of some of the Achaeans against Egypt, apparently, really took place. But it is important to note that not the entire united army took part in it, but an extremely limited contingent. You can’t carry many warriors on nine ships, so, most likely, some of the Achaeans simply joined the ranks of the Pelasti and Teucrians who fought in 1194 BC. e. in Egypt.
Apparently, the same theme of the landing of a group of Achaeans after the devastation of Troy in Egypt was embodied in the famous legendary story about the Egyptian voyage of Menelaus. True, in Homer the arrival of the Spartan king in Egypt is accidental, unintentional. A storm throws Menelaus, sailing from Troy, to the Cretan shores, here most of his ships are broken on the rocks, and he himself with five ships ends up in Egypt, where he lives in the king’s house, trades and visits other Mediterranean countries, in order to return to his Sparta many years later. Much more interesting and meaningful in this sense is the version given by Herodotus, with references to conversations with Egyptian priests. According to Herodotus, Paris-Alexander, rushing to Ilion with Helen and the treasures stolen from the Greeks, ended up in Egypt against his will. His king forces the Trojan to leave Helen and the rest of the spoils in this country (more on this a little later, in the chapter on Helen the Beautiful). But the Greeks, arriving under the walls of Ilion, did not believe the assurances of the Trojan Teucrians that there was neither Menelaus’s wife nor wealth in Troy. When the city was destroyed after the siege, Menelaus, convinced of the justice of what was said by the besieged, separated from the other Achaeans and headed with his ships to Egypt. Here the Egyptians gave him Helen and treasures, but soon enmity broke out between them and the Achaean leader, for, delayed in Egypt by the lack of a fair wind, Menelaus sacrificed Egyptian children to the winds. Pursued by the Egyptians, who wanted to avenge the atrocities, he fled to Libya.
As in the story of Menelaus, so in the “false” stories of Odysseus, the Achaeans appear in Egypt immediately after leaving Troy and in both cases arrive from Crete, which can be compared with persistent references to the islands of the “Sea Peoples” in Egyptian inscriptions. Both times it was only a small detachment that alone could not solve major military problems. In addition, before the campaigns of Alexander the Great, only for the era of the “peoples of the sea” was the armed entry of the Greeks (Achaeans, Teucrians, Danaans) into Egypt with predatory and aggressive goals reliably recorded. Therefore, we have every reason to correlate the stories of Odysseus and the story of the arrival of Menelaus in the country of the Nile with the events of 1194 BC. e. Everything, as they say, fell into place as soon as we divided the Achaeans into two parts - those who participated in the first campaign of the “peoples of the sea” (Asia Minor) and those who did not (the warriors of Agamemnon). One should not, however, assume that the Greeks suffered only failures in battles with the Egyptians. Some of them, known as the Danaans, were involved in the victorious campaign of the “Sea Peoples” in 1191 BC. e.
The Danaan people (Danuns, Danunites) were known to the Egyptians at least from the middle of the 15th century. BC e. Their name appears in texts from the end of the reign of Thutmose III, as well as in an inscription from the mortuary temple of Amenhotep III (early 14th century BC). If the ethnic name Achaeans (Akaiwasha) appears in Egyptian inscriptions very late and only once, under Merneptah (second half of the 13th century BC), then the Egyptians recognized the Danaans much earlier. In a Hittite document dating back to the beginning of the 16th century. BC e., the southern Anatolian country of Adana is mentioned. In this regard, the question arises: what relation do the Asia Minor Danaans have to the Achaean Greeks and the Danaans of Homer?
Researchers offer a variety of opinions as an answer; there is even a proposal to consider the Danunites as a native Anatolian ethnic group that has nothing in common with the Danan Greeks. But I think this is too extreme a position. Another thing is that the facts of the existence of Danaans in the southwest of Anatolia since the 16th century. BC e. and their participation on the side of the Greeks in the Trojan War require explanation.
To solve the mystery of the appearance of the Danaans in Anatolia, we propose to recall the Aryan tribe of the Sinds, whom the Thracians called the Xanthians, and Homer called the Sinthians. Earlier we already expressed the idea that they, together with the Lycians, penetrated into Southern Anatolia and the main river and capital of Lycia, Xanthus, was named after them. In Aryan, the name Sinda can be translated as “river people”. On the other hand, in a broader, Indo-European context, the word “river” sounded like “danu” - hence the names Danube, Dniester, Dnieper, Don. Thus, after merging with other Indo-European tribes (the Hittites and the Greeks who penetrated into Asia Minor), the Sindians-Xanthians could turn into the Danaans-Danunites. The country of Adana was opposite Cyprus. Like this island, it, starting from the middle of the 2nd millennium BC. e., became the site of clashes between the Hittites, Achaeans and the Arsava countries. In the Trojan War of the Achaeans against the countries of Arsava (with the actual neutrality of the Hittites), the Danaans took the side of the Greeks.
In connection with the participation of the Achaeans and Danaans in the campaigns of the “Sea Peoples”, it is also important to bring into consideration the myth of the Lydian king Mops (Mox), who immediately after the Trojan War conquered all of Southern Anatolia, including Cilicia and Pamphylia (countries in the south of Anatolia), and then invaded to Syria and reached Phenicia. According to legend, the associates of Mopsus were the Achaeans, led by the Argive Amphilochus and the soothsayer Calchas, who, after the conquest of Troy, moved on foot from the burned city to Lydia. There Calchas began to compete with Pug in the art of divination, but, having lost the argument, he died. Amphilochus went to fight in Cilicia, where together they founded a number of cities. Later, the Pamphylian Greeks were considered descendants of the Achaean allies of Mopsus. Sensational interest in the figure of King Mops was attracted by an inscription from the 9th–8th centuries. BC e. from Kara Tepe (southern Anatolia). It was compiled by the Cilician king Asitavadda in hieroglyphic Luwian and Phoenician. In it, the name of the people subject to Asitawadda, “Danunim,” is combined with the designation of the dynasty to which this king belonged as the “house of Pug.” On this basis, a number of scientists identified the Danunims, subordinate to the “house of Mopsus,” with the Greek Danaans and included in this Asia Minor ethnos the Achaean Greeks, who after the capture of Ilion came under the rule of Mopsus and helped him in creating a kingdom in the south of the peninsula. At the same time, since the Danunim people attacked Egypt along with the Teucrians and Pelastians, Mopsus began to be interpreted as the leader of a large army, largely consisting of Danans and reaching Syria and Palestine among the “peoples of the sea.”
Let us finally summarize. The invasion of the Achaeans of Greece and Crete into Anatolia is wedged in time between the two campaigns of the “peoples of the sea”. The Greeks dealt a concentrated blow to the tribes that were fellow tribesmen or allies of the “Sea Peoples,” therefore, from a geopolitical point of view, the Trojan War was exclusively in the hands of the Egyptians and Semites, from whom the threat from the north was averted for more than thirty years. Moreover, apparently, it was during this period of time that Jews were able to populate Palestine. To the question - why did Moses lead the Jews through the desert for forty years - we would now answer this way: “He was waiting for the start of the Trojan War.” The second campaign of the “Sea Peoples” was, essentially, a response to the Jewish settlement of Canaan. The Pelasgian-Philistines moved south along with their families to replenish the number of relatives of the Canaanites who resisted the aggression of Egypt and the Semites.
In general, it should be said that the war between the Aryan-Proto-Slavic north and the Egyptian-Semitic south was the first to be lost. This happened, as we tried to show, not without the help of the Hittites and Greeks, who sought to extract their own benefit from this situation and thereby contributed to the victory of the south. Both those and others received full credit for this from the northerners. The Northern Balkan tribes marched through the lands of Greece with fire and sword, and the Mys-Mushki defeated the Hittite kingdom. Neither the country of Hatti nor Mycenaean Greece were able to revive after this. But this was little consolation for their opponents, since as a result of the Trojan War, Mediterranean Rus' also ceased to exist.
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From the book Book 1. Western myth [“Ancient” Rome and the “German” Habsburgs are reflections of the Russian-Horde history of the 14th–17th centuries. The legacy of the Great Empire in cult author Nosovsky Gleb Vladimirovich3. XIII century The grandiose Trojan War as revenge for Christ Rus'-Horde organizes crusades against Tsar-Grad and soon the center of the empire is transferred to Vladimir-Suzdal Rus' 3.1. The crusaders avenge the crucified Andronicus-Christ. In 1185, in Tsar-Grad (near Eros) they crucified
From the book Book 2. We change dates - everything changes. [New chronology of Greece and the Bible. Mathematics reveals the deception of medieval chronologists] author12.1. The war with the sons of Benjamin is the Trojan = Gothic War. These events are described in the Book of Judges of Israel (chap. 19-20). Moving up through the artificially extended European medieval history, we came to the beginning of the Holy Roman Empire, supposedly X-XIII centuries AD. e. According to
From the book History of the Ancient World [East, Greece, Rome] author Nemirovsky Alexander ArkadevichThe Trojan War, the great migration of the Balkan-Aegean peoples to the east and the collapse of the Hittite kingdom in the second half of the 13th century. BC e. Balkan tribes began to move south, invading Greece and Asia Minor. As can be seen from a comparison of Greek historical legends with
From the book The Trojan War in the Middle Ages. [Analysis of responses to our research.] author Fomenko Anatoly TimofeevichChapter 1 The Trojan War occurred in the 13th century AD. e 1. The imposition of the Trojan War allegedly from the 13th century BC. e. to the Gothic War allegedly of the 6th century AD. e. with an upward shift of 1800 years General idea of chronological shifts Trojan War of the 13th century AD. e. was one of the biggest events in history
In the west, the Hittites were opposed by Ahhiyawa - a union of Achaean tribes that occupied the Peloponnese, Macedonia, Crete, the islands of the Aegean Sea and Miletus (Milavanda). This unification, traditionally called Mycenaean Greece, was at the end of the Bronze Age the third great power of the Eastern Mediterranean.
From the mid-2nd millennium BC, the Mycenaean Greeks maintained close relations with Troy. True, one can only imagine in general terms how these relations developed before the famous Trojan War. Archaeologists have not yet found the city archives of Mycenae. We know much better about the official documents of the Hittites. So it turns out that we have to study the history of Mycenaean Greece - Ahhiyawa, as it is called in Hittite messages - from the texts found during the excavations of Hattusa.
In copies of letters addressed to Mycenae, the Hittite king every time, even when complaining about Greek raids on the shores of Asia Minor, calls the king of Ahhiyawa “his brother,” even if this appeal sounds formal. This title puts the ruler of Ahhiyawa on a par with the Egyptian pharaoh and the king of the Hittites himself. Judging by what we know, the Hittites and Mycenaeans corresponded with each other for a long time. There were tense moments in their relationship, and there were happier times. They were sometimes friends, sometimes at enmity. However, they always maintained relations with each other.
Unfortunately, letters from the Mycenaean rulers themselves, addressed to the “Hittite brother,” have still not been found in the archives of Hattusa. Therefore, we can only reconstruct relations between the two countries based on indirect facts.
In Mycenae and other cities of Greece, for example, a whole series of clay tablets were found, where people from Asia Minor are mentioned. Tros (Trojan), Troia (Trojan), Aswiai (Asian women), Milatiai (women of Miletus) and others are often found there.
Invariably we are talking about foreigners who ended up in Akhhiyava. Where women are mentioned, these are workers brought from Asia Minor. All the names indicate that the life of the Mycenaean Greeks, long before the Trojan War, was closely connected with Asia Minor, the islands lying off its coast, and Troy. Obviously, the Greeks more than once carried out predatory campaigns, attacking the coast of Asia Minor and neighboring islands and taking out captives from there.
Here is an example of this - a letter from one of the victim kings to the mighty Hittite ruler Muwatalli (it is dated approximately 1300 BC). He complains that a certain Piyamaradu attacked his island of Lazbu (Lesbos) and took artisans from there to Millavanda (Miletus) - a kind of outpost of the Mycenaean Greeks in Asia Minor.
However, something else is clear. The Hittites also went on raids to obtain slaves. For that time this was a common thing. True, according to Hittite documents, these campaigns were limited only to the tip of Asia Minor. So far, no mention has been found of women taken into slavery from Ahhiyawa, for example, from Pylos, Mycenae or “the seven gates of Thebes”. There is a one-sided offensive: from west to east, from Akhhiyawa to Asia Minor, but not vice versa.
In the 13th century BC, this expansion - or, in the old language, predatory raids - became commonplace. It is reminiscent of the onslaught of the “northern robbers” - the Normans - on France, Britain and Ireland in the 9th century AD. The Hittite kings first appealed to the prudence of their neighbors, asking them to stop raids and restrain their “heroes”-robbers. The Hittites' patience is coming to an end. Long-standing relationships need to be severed.
And now Tudhalia IV demands from his “vassal” from the Syrian state of Amurru not to trade with the Greeks. In this treaty, concluded in 1220 BC, the Hittite king refuses to even mention the ruler of Ahhiyawa in the traditional formula next to the kings of Egypt, Babylon, and Assyria. This gesture means not only dissatisfaction with the policies of the Greeks, but also real enmity with them. The enmity marked the beginning of the war.
Achaeanhusbandsindarknessequipping thorse,
SerratedsawsVwallsbite intotightly,
No wayNotwill settle downblooddryfuss,
ANDNoForyouneithernames, neithersound, neithercast
(O. Mandelstam).
According to modern researchers, a number of facts prove that the historical basis of the Iliad - Homer's poem about the Trojan War - no longer raises any doubt. The Mycenaean Greeks were closely involved in the political and military events that took place in the 13th century BC in western Asia Minor.
In the 13th century, the small state of Wilusa, which was dependent on the Hittites, became the object of constant attacks from the Mycenaean Greeks or their allies.
Wilusa was located in the north-west of Asia Minor - in the same place where Troy, glorified by Homer, lay.
From a linguistic point of view, the name Wilusa can be correlated with the Greek name (W)llios (Ilion). This was Troy.
Here is the first scenario from the past. What if the Trojan War itself never happened? There were only a series of predatory raids, predatory campaigns or military expeditions. In the memory of descendants, these events merged into one long war that lasted - why not? - ten years in a row. Perhaps, instead of one big war, there were a dozen campaigns, one of which culminated in the capture and destruction of Wilusa-Ilion. Perhaps some of these campaigns were led by tribal leaders whose names were Odysseus, Achilles, Ajax, Menelaus, Agamemnon. Some scholars believe that Homer's epic describes events that took place over a period of more than a hundred years.
In the memory of the rhapsods and aeds - wandering singers who spread stories about the glorious past throughout the cities and villages - these events merged together. And the Iliad may have begun with scattered songs, a kind of sagas, glorifying the campaigns of individual heroes to the shores of Asia Minor. Obviously, the poem was preceded by a cycle of heroic songs like the French medieval tales about Charlemagne or the epics about the Kyiv heroes.
It can be added that returning home after a successful campaign was also fraught with risk. The Achaeans - these Normans of antiquity - sometimes wandered throughout the Mediterranean Sea, encountering wild tribes that inhabited individual islands and coasts. The stories about these adventures formed the historical core of the Odyssey, another great poem by Homer, still mistaken for a fairy tale.
However, it is no less likely that behind the flowery outline of the Iliad there is hidden not many “pin pricks”, but one great campaign. Here is another possible scenario and arguments in defense of Homer.
Archaeological finds prove that in the second half of the 13th century BC there was a change of power in Miletus: the city was captured by the proteges of the Hittites. Until now, it was from Miletus, or Millawanda, that the Achaeans intervened in the events taking place in the Hittite state, supported its enemies and rebellious vassals, and even undertook military campaigns. Obviously, King Tudhalia IV decided to eradicate this hotbed of danger, which was located almost on the border with the Hittite state. It was probably then that a Hittite inscription was left on one of the mountain passes near Miletus, found by archaeologists in the summer of 2000. In ancient times, such rock inscriptions served as a signal to all neighboring countries: “The Hittites rule here.” So, another scenario is developing in a more familiar direction. Towards the end of the 2nd millennium BC, the Greeks intensified their attack on the eastern Mediterranean. In the 15th century they attack Crete. This royal island is losing its status as a great maritime power. The allies of the Cretans in Asia Minor also fell under the influence of the Greeks. From this time on, the Mycenaean Greeks firmly settled in Miletus. From here they try to expand their area of influence. They strike at the outskirts of the Hittite state, because at that time not only almost all of Asia Minor, but also the islands lying off its coast were dependent on the Hittites. However, this onslaught ended with a retaliatory strike from the Hittites. Akhhiyava lost her outpost in Asia Minor - Miletus. Its ruler could not accept failure. For several centuries now, the Greeks have been very interested in the “granary of Asia Minor.”
Miletus itself - from a strategic point of view - was quite vulnerable. Therefore, the Greeks tried to conquer a bridgehead in another part of the peninsula, namely in Troy. This rich, flourishing city has long attracted their attention. They set off on a hike.
The Hittite army may have moved towards them. Is it time for the Greek Achilles to fight the Hittite Hector? Perhaps the Greco-Trojan War was actually the Greco-Hittite War? New archaeological excavations may provide the answer. Historians note several interesting verses of the Odyssey:
"So, Eurypyla, Telefovason, destructivecopperHe(Neoptolemus. - Auto.) subverted, Andall aroundyoungleaderAllKetheansPalihis"(XI, 519 - 521).
In these verses, the "Keteans" are the Hittites, and their leader is Eurypylus, the son of Telepinu ("Telephas"), whose name was common among the Hittites, and Astyoch, the sister of the Trojan king Priam. So, these lines mean that the nephew of the king of Troy commanded the Hittite army and died defending the city. Who should we entrust this army to if not the Hittite? Who then is his uncle, Priam? Hittite or local king who became related to the Hittites through his sister.
