History 110 Lecture Notes

Lecture 1

History 110: Survey of History in the Mediterranean World

The Stone Age

• Context: Humans appeared relatively recently compared to the age of the universe and Earth. Modern humans (Homo sapiens sapiens) appeared about 300,000 years ago, evolving from earlier ancestors. They outlived or coexisted with other human forms; some theories suggest conflict like cannibalism.

• Crucial Developments:

  • Bipedality (Walking Upright): Frees up the hands for complex work and tool creation. Allows hands and arms to become multi-purpose tools.

  • Tool Use: Humans are unique in using tools to make other tools (e.g., making a hammer to build other tools). Technology existed before Homo sapiens, but upright stance allowed for more sophisticated tool use. No human society has existed without technology. Tool-making mastery and transmission is key to human evolutionary success.

  • Use of Fire: A key technology providing warmth, enabling life in colder climates, opening up inhospitable areas, providing artificial light (extending activity after dark, allowing cave habitation), offering protection from animals, permitting cooking (lessening time/effort for eating/digesting), and providing a communal space. Fireplace was the center of community life for thousands of years. Gave humans greater control over their environment.

Paleolithic Period (Old Stone Age) ca. 2 million years ago to 10,000 BCE

• Lifestyle: Hunter-gatherers. Existence depended on hunting large animals (like mammoths) and gathering wild plants (berries, roots, vegetables, fruits).

• Settlements: Nomads. Moved to new locations when local food supplies were exhausted. Limited ability to accumulate food surpluses or possessions (had to be transportable). Dwellings made of perishable materials or non-transportable (like caves).

• Limitations: Limited population growth due to lack of substantial food surpluses.

• Technology & Artifacts:

  • Stone Artifacts: Often the only recognizable archaeological remains. The term "Paleolithic" comes from Greek: palios (old) + lithos (stone).

  • Biface / Hand Axe: Most basic tool, a stone carved with others for multi-purpose use (working meat, hides, breaking bones, slicing). Could be adapted to shafts (e.g., for spears).

  • Spear: Wooden shaft with a stone tip (adapted from handaxe).

  • Bows and Arrows: Attested around 30,000 years ago (Late Paleolithic). Primarily hunting tools with stone tips. Advantage: hunt dangerous animals from a distance. Later depictions exist, but not from the Paleolithic itself.

  • Domestication: Began with the wolf as an aid in hunting, leading to dogs.

  • Art: Existed for enjoyment, not practical purpose.

    • Lascaux Cave Paintings (southern France): Most famous example, ca. 17,000-15,000 BC (close to 20,000 years ago). Discovered 1940. Nearly 6,000 painted figures, mainly animals (like aurochs, an extinct oxen type). Implies technology: scaffolding, artificial lighting, pigments, brushes. Meaning debated: possibly connected to religious/hunting rituals or initiation rites.

  • Timekeeping: Evidence in engraved mammoth tusks interpreted as record of lunar cycles. Shows humans recording environmental events. Not a full calendar, but heading in that direction.

  • Religion: Possible early evidence in carved stone figures like the Venus of Laussel (ca. 25,000 BC). Resembles other female figures found; emphasis on basin/breasts suggests a potential fertility goddess or Mother Earth personification.

• Appraisal of Life: Some scholars offer a positive view, suggesting paleolithic ancestors were well-fed, didn't work too hard, and enjoyed life by the fire.

• End of Paleolithic: Brought about by an ice age ending around 10,000 BC.

  • Consequences: Melting ice flooded hunting/fishing grounds. Caused extinction of plants and animals, notably mammoths (important food source).

  • Impact on Communities: Some likely disappeared due to food loss. Many were forced to move to find new hunting grounds. Humans may also have over-hunted large animals, contributing to the crisis.

Mesolithic Period (Middle Stone Period) ca. 10,000-8000 BCE

• Transition: Slow development towards a more sedentary lifestyle in many societies. Sedentary means settled, opposed to nomadic. Increased specialization in hunting/gathering required less relocation. Hints of large-scale construction.

Neolithic Period (New Stone Age) ca. 8000-5000 BCE

• Key Innovation: Development of agriculture.

  • Causes: End of Ice Age reduced food supplies and likely forced humans to seek new ways to acquire food. Slow population increase in hunter-gatherer societies (took ~2 million years to reach carrying capacity where hunting/gathering couldn't sustain them) might have necessitated finding ways to produce more food.

  • Process: Not an overnight change; involved experimentation with plants and seeds.

• Result: Development of Neolithic communities based on domesticated plants and animals.

  • Sometimes called an "agricultural revolution" due to completely different lifestyle and shift to sedentary societies in permanent buildings. However, some communities remained hunter-gatherers or semi-nomadic.

• Health Impact: Skeletons suggest hunter-gatherers had stronger bone structure; agricultural communities could amass surpluses but might have had less varied diets.

• Two Paths from Paleolithic:

  • Agriculture: From gathering to plant cultivation (horticulture/agriculture). Communities became completely sedentary, harvesting domesticated plants and keeping animals in enclosures.

  • Pastoral Nomadism: From hunting to herding animals. Communities were semi-nomadic, moving at different times for grazing.

  • Trend: Agricultural communities tended to become more prevalent in the long run.

• Consequences of Sedentary Communities & Agriculture:

  • Increased Specialization / Social Stratification: Easier to amass food surpluses (especially grain) that can be stored (wealth). Fewer people needed for food production, allowing other classes to live off surpluses. Society became more complex and less egalitarian than hunter-gatherer societies.

  • Social Pyramid: Farmers/Slaves (produce food) -> Scribes, Merchants, Artisans (don't produce food) -> Priests, Government Officials -> Leader/King.

• Domestication of Plants: Wheat, beans, barley, millet, etc. cultivated. Surpluses could be stored. Provided minimum protein without hunting.

• Domestication of Animals: Sheep, cows, bulls, goats common. Used for meat and other products (seen as "animal factories").

  • Meat Preservation: Salting allowed storage without refrigeration.

  • Dairy: Cheese provided protein and preserved milk longer.

  • Leather: Used for shoes, sandals, shields, light armor, vessels, furniture covers.

• Metal Working (Metallurgy): Important late Neolithic development.

  • Copper: Gradually replaced stone tools. Improvement for agriculture (sickles, hoes more effective than digging sticks). More resistant and effective material. Relatively accessible ore, especially in the Near East.

  • Gold: Found unalloyed in nuggets. Easily accessible, maybe an early form of currency.

  • Bronze: Alloy of copper and tin, developed before 3000 BC. Stronger, more durable, resistant to rust. Became the most popular alloy in the Mediterranean for centuries. Used for tools and eventually weapons (swords, axes, spears, clubs). Constant through history: technological progress adapted into weapons. Stone-tipped spears replaced by bronze-tipped ones.

• Other Technologies:

  • Sling: Weapon (not metal) using a piece of animal skin to hurl stones/lead bullets hundreds of meters. Later versions inscribed with insults.

  • Hunting & Fishing: Still existed, but to supplement diet or as a pastime for the wealthy. Depictions found in art.

  • Textiles/Weaving: Linen (from flax) and wool (from sheep) became staple clothing materials, replacing animal skins/hides. Cotton was not widely known in the Mediterranean.

  • Pottery: Developed from clay working. Baking clay produced tough, durable, cheap containers. Became the main container ("Tupperware of antiquity"). Very durable archaeological find. Became more sophisticated with the potter's wheel and decoration. Used for eating, storing food (grain), liquids.

  • Alcohol: Wine is at least 8,000 years old (fermented grape juice); beer (from fermented barley) slightly more recent. Considered gifts from gods in Near Eastern/Greek myth. Greeks and Romans spread vine cultivation. Theories suggest alcohol supply might have been a reason for agricultural shift, but it definitely played a role in social relations.

  • Wheel: Developed ca. 4500-4000 BCE. Used for the potter's wheel and eventually for wheeled vehicles.

• Urbanization: Agriculture and animal husbandry led to humans staying in one location. Contributed to permanent dwellings and urban centers.

  • Fortifications: Need to protect accumulated food surpluses (wealth) led to the first fortifications.

    • Jericho (Tell es-Sultan): One of the oldest/most famous fortified sites in the Near East. Surrounded by a mud-brick wall from ~8500 BC, enclosing 30 acres, with towers. Built to deter raiders. Only foundations often remain.

  • Settlements: Changed the physical landscape.

    • Çatal-Höyük (southern Turkey): Best known Neolithic settlement (7100-5700 BCE). Thoroughly excavated.

      • Features: No streets, buildings built next to each other. No doors, entrances were on rooftops, requiring walking over neighbors' roofs.

      • Population estimates: 2,500 to 8,000 people.

      • Houses: Size indicates an egalitarian community or little wealth difference. Mud-brick construction. Often decorated with horn-shaped features (maybe hunting trophies/art). Wall art (animals, abstract?).

      • Burials: People buried relatives beneath house floors.

      • Female Figurines: Found, reminiscent of Paleolithic ones, suggesting a possible mother goddess or fertility goddess figure and evidence of religion.

• Next Lecture: Bronze Age Mesopotamia.

Lecture 2 Notes

These notes are derived directly from the provided source material.

Lecture 2: Bronze Age Mesopotamia and Egypt (c. 4000-1200 BCE)

I. Mesopotamia

• Located in the Fertile Crescent, an area suitable for agriculture due to rivers.

• Named by the Greeks, meaning "between the two rivers," referring to the Euphrates and Tigris Rivers.

• Part of 'Hydraulic Civilizations' that depended on river water for large-scale agriculture.

• Focus initially on Southern Mesopotamia, the region known as Sumer.

A. Sumerian Civilization (ca. 4500-2000 BCE)

• One of the first distinct cultures with enough archaeological evidence to identify a unique identity.

• Among the first to develop large-scale urban centers (cities), relying on food from the countryside.

• Uruk Period (ca. 3900-3200 BCE): The first historical period of the Sumerian era.

  • Uruk was the most important city, covering ~1,000 acres surrounded by a 10 km wall.

  • Innovations linked to rapid population increase and more complex societies.

  • Witnessed the beginnings of monumental architecture, large-scale art, and writing.

• Cuneiform Writing (ca. 3200 BCE): One of the oldest forms of writing.

  • Name comes from Latin cuneus (wedge) due to its appearance on clay tablets.

  • Initially developed primarily for accounting purposes (economic administration, recording transactions, goods in warehouses). ~80% of early tablets are economic records.

  • Mixed system of word signs and syllable signs.

  • Evolved from pictographs (e.g., bull) to signs representing sounds (phonetic value), allowing others to use the system for their own languages.

  • Clay tablets used as the writing medium survived well.

• Early Dynastic Period (ca. 3200-2334 BCE).

  • Sumerian King List: One of the first literary documents.

    • Stone inscription listing kings of various Sumerian cities.

    • Considered semi-mythical for the oldest kings who have impossibly long reigns; closer reigns are more realistic and likely historical.

    • Does not allow for a complete reconstruction of political history.

  • Sumerian War Chariots: Among the first wheeled vehicles used for war.

    • Pulled by donkeys, not horses.

    • Were four-wheeled and bulky; debated if primarily for assault or transporting aristocrats/officers.

    • Represented on the Standard of Ur (ca. 2600 BCE), depicting a victorious army.

  • Development of state armies (organized public armies).

    • Represented on the Standard of Ur and the 'Vulture Stele' (ca. 2500 BCE).

    • Vulture Stele depicts a close-order formation of infantry with helmets and shields.

    • Used bronze-tipped weapons and helmets.

• Ziggurat: A massive temple, often the biggest building in a Mesopotamian city.

  • Dedicated to the city's main deity.

  • Sumerians were polytheistic (believed in many deities), but cities often had a main god.

  • Typically only priests were allowed on the top tier.

  • Surviving art, foundations, and inscriptions allow for proposed reconstructions.

• Sumerian cities were typically independent from one another, though one city might sometimes control others. There was not a single Sumerian state.

B. The Empire of Akkad (ca. 2300-2115 BCE)

• The first large territorial state in ancient Mesopotamia.

• King Sargon of Akkad (ruled ca. 2270–2215 BCE): The first king who united most of Mesopotamia.

  • Stories claim he was abandoned as an infant and rescued, a common folk tale motif indicating greatness.

  • Conquered southern and northern Mesopotamia as far as Syria.

  • Divided his empire into provinces with governors.

• Relatively short-lived; collapsed due to internal issues after Sargon's death and fell to hill-dwelling invaders (ca. 2150 BCE).

• Led to a return of independent city-states.

• Legacy included the spread of the Akkadian language as a language of international communication.

C. Third Dynasty of Ur (2112-2004 BCE)

• Ur was an important Sumerian city that unified parts of Mesopotamia.

• Used to be a main port in the Persian Gulf, important for naval trade and wealth.

• Population growth led to water shortage concerns; efforts made to build canals.

• Literary evidence (legal texts) shows concern for monitoring resources, including water.

• Eventually destroyed by invaders known as the Elamites (ca. 2000 BCE).

• Bronze Age Mesopotamia characterized by the rise and fall of empires, partly due to flat plains offering few natural obstacles for invaders.

• Development of literature (beyond accounting) occurred during this period.

D. Epic of Gilgamesh (ca. 2150–2000 BCE)

• One of the world's oldest pieces of literature.

• Epic poem about Gilgamesh, a legendary ruler of Uruk, and his friend Enkidu.

• Main theme: Gilgamesh's search for fame and immortality.

• Gilgamesh and Enkidu have adventures, including killing a monster guarding a cedar forest and the celestial bull sent by the goddess Ishtar (aka Inanna).

• The gods punish them by making Enkidu sick, leading to his death.

• Gilgamesh's quest for immortality is futile, as it is the domain of the gods.

• The poem is a reminder of the human condition and mortality.

• Would inspire later heroes like Hercules.

E. Old Babylonian Empire (ca. 2017-1595 BCE)

• Established by invaders who settled around Babylon.

• Babylon became the political, religious, and cultural center of southern Mesopotamia.

• King Hammurabi (ruled ca. 1728 to 1686 BCE): A conqueror, builder, and administrator.

  • Famous for his Law Code.

  • Hammurabi's Law Code: A compilation of ~282 laws and penalties preserved on a stone inscription (stele).

    • One of the oldest and most comprehensive law codes.

    • Established a single legal system for the empire.

    • Punishments were often harsh (death, mutilation, fines), likely for dissuasion.

    • Principle of penalty reflecting the degree of the crime ('eye for an eye').

    • Attests to the importance of written law.

• Babylonians known for skills in mathematics and astronomy.

  • Origin of dividing the hour into 60 minutes and the minute into 60 seconds.

• Hammurabi's empire disintegrated after his death.

• Babylon was sacked by the Hittites (ca. 1531 BCE), ending the Old Babylonian Empire.

F. Kassite Kingdom (1570-1155 BCE)

• Ruled central and southern Mesopotamia after the Old Babylonian Empire.

• Assimilated into Babylonian culture, using Babylon as their capital.

• Fell to Elamite invaders in the 12th century BCE.

II. Ancient Egypt (from ca. 3150 BCE)

• Located in a river valley, centered around the Nile River.

• Egypt is more geographically isolated than Mesopotamia (deserts to west, Red Sea to east, narrow land bridge to Near East).

• Less frequent invasions than Mesopotamia, leading to more continuity.

• The Nile River: The "source of life" for Egypt.

  • Vast majority of the population lived near the river.

  • Annual flood (end of summer) reliably fertilized farmland, leaving fertile earth after receding. Catastrophic when floods didn't happen.

  • Splits into the Nile Delta (triangle shape) in the north.

• Papyrus: A plant growing in the Nile used to make ancient "paper".

  • Cheap and easy to make.

  • Dry climate of Egypt helped preserve many papyri.

• Turin Papyrus (ca. 1300-1200 BCE): Provides lists of Egyptian rulers (Pharaohs).

  • Like the Sumerian King List, starts with legendary rulers with impossibly long reigns, moving to more believable historical ones.

  • Fragmentary condition.

A. Early Dynastic Period (ca. 3000-2700 BCE)

• Around 3000 BC, Egypt was united under a single ruler called a Pharaoh.

• Egypt traditionally divided into Upper Egypt (south) and Lower Egypt (north), following the Nile's flow.

• The First Pharaoh to unify both was Narmer/Menes.

  • Represented in Egyptian art wearing the combined crown of Upper and Lower Egypt.

  • The Narmer Palette (ca. 3200-3000 BCE) depicts Narmer/Menes defeating an enemy, suggesting unification was likely not peaceful.

• Pharaoh: The ruler of Egypt, considered a living God (god-king).

  • Duty was to uphold Maat: A concept representing balance, order, and harmony. The pharaoh guaranteed divine peace, justice, and order.

  • Most pharaohs were men, but women could technically rule (e.g., Hatshepsut later, Cleopatra much later).

• Memphis: One of the Pharaoh's seats of power and a traditional ceremonial center.

• Egyptian Government: A monarchy with a complex bureaucracy.

  • Vizier: Second in command, sort of a prime minister/chief executive.

  • Kingdom divided into administrative districts called Nomes, each led by a regional governor called a Nomarch.

  • Extensive bureaucracy of minor officials and scribes.

  • Population was recorded and required to perform services for the pharaoh.

B. Egyptian Religion

• Polytheistic, believing in many deities.

• Belief in an afterlife involving a final judgment.

  • Depicted with a scale where the deceased's heart is weighed against a feather by Anubis (jackal-headed god).

  • Heart lighter than the feather: go to the afterlife.

  • Heart heavier than the feather: devoured by a creature (combination of hippo, lion, crocodile).

• Mythology includes stories like Osiris, killed and dismembered by his brother Seth, and reassembled by his wife/sister. This story might explain the practice of mummification.

• Mummification: A practice to preserve the body.

C. Egyptian Writing: Hieroglyphs

• Developed independently from Mesopotamia around the same time (give or take a few hundred years).

• Hieroglyphs: Later Greek name meaning "sacred carving".

  • Initially used pictographs (images representing actions/nouns/sounds).

  • Very complex system with thousands of signs.

  • Knowledge limited to a small elite, primarily scribes, due to complexity and lack of public education.

  • Signs eventually gained phonetic values, particularly to write foreign names.

  • Knowledge of hieroglyphs was lost after the 4th century CE.

  • Deciphered in the 19th century CE with the help of the Rosetta Stone (196 BCE), which contained inscriptions in Hieroglyphs, Demotic (common Egyptian script), and ancient Greek. French scholars with Napoleon found and helped decipher it.

• Scribes were valued for their skills in recording transactions, population, and bureaucracy. The Seated Scribe statue is a representation of this profession.

• Literary examples include the Autobiography of Antef (12th Dynasty, ca. 1991-1802 BCE), where an aristocrat boasts about his career, wealth, and generosity.

• Herodotus (Greek writer, 5th century BC) later described Egyptian writing, noting they wrote right to left (opposite of Greeks) and used two scripts: sacred (hieros/Hieroglyphs) and common (demotika/Demotic).

D. Mummification Process (according to Herodotus, 5th century BC)

• Families would mourn, smear faces with mud, and lament in the city.

• Professional embalmers would show wooden models of preserved bodies at different price points.

• Most perfect method (costly):

  • Part of the brain removed through nostrils with an iron hook.

  • Incision near the flank to remove all intestines.

  • Belly cleaned and rinsed with palm wine and spices.

  • Belly filled with myrrh, cassia, and other spices (not frankincense).

  • Anus sewn up.

  • Body covered in natron (saltpetre) for 70 days.

  • Body washed, wrapped in linen bandages anointed with gum.

  • Body returned to friends, placed in a hollow wooden figure/coffin (sarcophagus).

• Middle method: Inject cedar oil through the anus to dissolve intestines, then embalm for 70 days; body returns as skin and bone.

• Cheapest method: Clean belly with a purge, embalm for 70 days.

• Herodotus notes that wives of notable men and beautiful women were kept for 3-4 days before embalming to prevent necrophilia by embalmers.

E. Old Kingdom (3rd-6th dynasty, ca. 2700-2190 BCE)

• Known for the construction of huge stone pyramids as tombs for Pharaohs.

• Existence proves high degree of organization and technical expertise.

• Pharaohs focused on building monuments, not military conquest.

• Development of the pyramid shape:

  • Started with Mastaba: Simple slab structure tomb with underground chamber (Arabic word for bench). Precursor to pyramids.

  • Step Pyramid of Djoser at Saqqara (ca. 2700 BCE): Series of decreasingly smaller mastabas stacked on top.

  • Experiments under Pharaoh Snofru:

    • Pyramid at Meidum: Attempted a flat pyramid over a step core; steep angle caused collapse.

    • Bent Pyramid at Dashur (ca. 2600 BCE): Angle changed during construction due to learning from the Meidum failure.

  • Culmination: Flat pyramids at Giza (4th dynasty, ca. 2600-2400 BCE) for Pharaohs Khufu (Cheops), Khafre (Chefren), and Menkaure (Mycerinus).

    • Originally covered in polished white limestone.

• Pyramid Workers: NOT slaves; they were free people.

  • Conscripted similarly to military service, paid in bread and beer rations.

  • Worked during the annual Nile flood when agricultural work was impossible.

  • Pyramid building contributed to urbanization by requiring large settlements (~20,000 workers) near sites.

  • Archaeology reveals support facilities (bakeries, workshops, housing).

  • Stones transported largely by boat on the Nile.

  • Building methods likely involved earth walkways and scaffolding.

  • Herodotus claimed 100,000 men worked for 3 months at a time over years; the Great Pyramid took 20 years.

  • Mathematical papyri show Egyptians used trigonometry in construction.

F. First Intermediate Period (ca. 2181–2055 BCE)

• Period of loss of unity after the Old Kingdom.

• Rival dynasties ruled only parts of Egypt.

G. Middle Kingdom (11th-13th dynasties, ca. 1990-1630 BCE)

• Egypt was reunified by a dynasty from Upper Egypt.

• Administration reorganized.

• Military expeditions occurred, notably conquering Nubia in the south, secured by massive fortifications.

• Ended by a foreign invasion, new to Egyptian history up to this point.

H. Second Intermediate Period (ca. 1782-1570 BCE)

• Caused by the invasion of the Hyksos (Ὑκσώς) from the Near East (northeast).

• Hyksos means "Rulers of foreign lands," possibly indicating how Egyptians viewed them.

• Conquered and established a dynasty in Lower Egypt (north).

• Introduced war chariots to Egypt (lighter than Mesopotamian ones), giving them a technological edge.

• An independent Egyptian kingdom survived in Upper Egypt (south).

I. New Kingdom (ca. 1550 - 1077 BCE)

• Upper Egyptian kingdom adopted chariot technology, defeated the Hyksos, and reunified Egypt.

• Marks the greatest phase of territorial expansion for Egypt.

• Age of conquering Pharaohs.

• Established a professional standing army centered around war chariots adapted from the Hyksos.

• Egyptian chariots used primarily as archery platforms (one archer, one driver).

• Infantry used wooden shields covered with hides and bronze-tipped spears; little body armor used.

• Pharaohs built monumental mortuary temples or other monuments instead of pyramids.

J. Notable New Kingdom Pharaohs

• Thutmos I (ruled ca. 1506–1493 BCE): Conquered in the south (defeated Kingdom of Kush) and north (reached northern Syria/Euphrates River). Extended Egyptian influence further than any previous ruler.

• Hatshepsut (ruled 1479-1458 BCE): The most famous female Pharaoh of the New Kingdom.

  • Ruled similarly to male pharaohs, adopting their appearance and administration.

  • Built a mortuary temple carved from a mountainside, in the style of the New Kingdom.

• Thutmos III (ruled ca. 1458–1425 BCE): A conquering pharaoh.

  • Won the Battle of Megiddo (1457 BCE) in the Near East against a coalition of Syrian kings.

  • Possibly the oldest battle in the world whose location and name are known from Egyptian inscriptions. Egyptian kingdom reached into Palestine, Syria, and northern Mesopotamia.

• Akhenaton (ruled ca. 1353–1336 BCE): Known for a peculiar religious policy.

  • Tried to create a sort of monotheistic belief system, enforcing worship of a single sun deity.

  • Met resistance from the powerful priestly cast, who controlled temples with significant economic and political power.

  • His religious reforms were unsuccessful and short-lived.

• Ramesses II (ruled ca. 1279–1213 BCE): A great warrior pharaoh.

  • Attempted to expand influence further north than Syria.

  • Fought the Battle of Kadesh (1274 BCE) against the Hittite Empire under Muwatalli II at the border.

  • Chariots played a decisive role.

  • Ended as a draw despite both sides claiming victory in extensive inscriptions.

  • Concluded with a peace treaty, potentially one of the oldest in the world.

  • Built monumental temples like the one at Abu Simbel.

• Valley of Kings: Burial site for most New Kingdom pharaohs.

K. The 'Sea Peoples'

• Newcomers in Egypt from ~1300 BC onward, named by Egyptians.

• Fought by Egyptians.

• Identity debated: Could be pirates/raiders or invaders from elsewhere (mass migration).

• Caused considerable trouble in the Eastern Mediterranean from 1200 BC, destroying the Hittite Empire.

• Egyptians managed to resist them.

• Ramesses III (r. 1186 to 1155 BCE): Successfully fought the Sea Peoples in the Nile Delta (ca. 1180 BCE).

• After Ramesses III, successors were less successful, losing external territories and domestic control. Egypt lost its strength and unity for a significant period.