The Shardana were Semites, and also came from the area around Dan. They left Ur in Mesopotamia due to a famine and were in Syria by 2300 bce. They built bee hive structures similar to the ones discovered in the Southern Sinai, known to have been built by Semites. They were not a warring people and may have been escaping a famine or advancing armies like the Philistines. Fleeing a three hundred year famine in Ur (Mesopotamia) the Shardana expanded after 2300-2000 BCE into the Anatolian peninsula, then into central and northern Europe. The Tjekker have also been translated as Tjikil, Sikil among other things. If that is a correct translation, the name is also Semitic and came for southern Mesopotamia also. E-sikil had to do with the gods and ki-sikil-lil-la was a “wind maiden” or “phantom maiden” which some believe was the goddess who was turned into a demon who flew around screeching. She was mentioned in the Epic of Gilgamesh. None of the groups mentioned by Ramesses seems to have originated in Greece or any island. There is little doubt they migrated there as did every other group, eventually.
Ramesses III wrote of the Prst coming by land as well as by sea, and mentioned them together with the Nine bows, which had always in the past, referred to the vassel states of Canaan and Syria, under Egyptian Ramesses also wrote that Those who reached my boundary, their seed is not; which is speaking of a group different than those who had assembled before them on the sea. Those coming by land were stopped at the eastern border garrison at Zahi. Ramesses never equated the Prst with the Kieftu and never mentioned Caphtorim. No Egyptian texts ever used the phrase sea people. Another of Ramesses inscriptions tell of the Prst being shut up in their towns, and other texts refer to their orchards. Since Ramesses never wrote about sailing across the Mediterranean to shut them up in their towns, it's apparent that He never saw the orchards of Crete.
"Utterance of the princes, companions, and leaders of the infantry and chariotry: Thou art the king who shinest upon Egypt. When {thou} ristest, the Two Lands live. Great is thy might in the midst of the Nine Bows. Thy roaring is as far as the circuit of the sun. The shadow of thy sword is over thy army. They march, filled with thy might. Thy heart is stout, (for) thy excellent plans are established. Amon-Re appears, leading the way. He lays low for thee every land beneath thy feet; {thy} heart is glad -- forever. [Thou art] the protection which comes forth without delay. The heart of the Temeh is {dis}turbed, the Peleset are hung up, [--] in their towns, by the might of thy father, Amon, who has decreed to thee --------. Great first span of his majesty (named):Amon-He-Giveth-the-Sword."
Ramesses III believed he was putting down a rebellion rather than repelling an invasion from hundreds of miles across the sea.
"His majesty marches out in victorious might, to destroy the rebellious countries. His majesty {marches out} for Zahi, like the form of Montu, to crush every country that has transgressed his boundary. His infantry are like bulls, ready for battle upon the field. {His} horses are like hawks in the midst of his fowl before him. The Nine Bows are under (his) power. Amon, his august father, is for him a shield, King -- --, Lord of the Two Lands, Ramses III."
There is another inscription that also depicts the sea battles
"Lo, the northern countries, which are in their isles, are restless in their limbs; they infest the ways of the river-mouths. Their nostrils and their hearts cease breathing breath, when his majesty goes forth like a storm-wind against them, fighting upon the strand like a warrior. His puissance and the terror of him penetrate into their limbs. Capsized and perishing in their places, their hearts are taken, their souls fly away, and their weapons are cast out upon the sea. His arrows pierce whomsoever he will among them, and he who is hit falls into the water. His majesty is like an enraged lion, tearing him that confronts him with his hands (sic),fighting at close quarters on his right, valiant on his left, like Set; destroying the foe, like Amon-Re. He has laid low the lands, he has crushed every land beneath his feet, the king of Upper and Lower Egypt, the Lord of the Two Lands, Usermare-Meriamon."
Ramesses never referred to those coming by sea as Prst. Ramesses did claim the Haunabu were shut up in their isles, but may not have been referring to islands. It is now known and accepted by many historians that the word gezira indicated elevated land and was used for highlands as well as mounds. The phrase Northern isles had been used for millennium to identify the gezira in the Nile delta, as this inscription from Weni shows:
"His majesty sent me at the head of his army while the counts, while the wearers of the royal seal, while the sole companions of the palace, while the nomarchs and commanders of strongholds belonging to the South and Northland; the companions, the caravan-conductors, the superior prophets belonging to the South and the Northland, the overseers of the crown-possessions, were (each) at the head of a troop of the South or the Northland, of the strongholds and cities which they commanded, and of the negroes of these countries. I was the one who made for them the plan while my office was (only) that of superior custodian of the domains of the Pharaoh of [.... .... ....] . Not one thereof [...] with his neighbor; not one thereof plundered [dough] (or) sandals from the wayfarer; not one thereof took bread from any city; not one thereof took any goat from any people. I despatched them from the Northern Isle, the Gate of Ihotep, the bend of Horus, Nibmat. While I was of this rank .... .... .... everything, "
The gate of Ihotep was near the coast of the Mediterranean along the way of Horus, known in the Bible as The way of the Philistines. There were a lot of Cushites and Ethiopians in Egypt and some in Canaan. There were no groups of them in the Greek isles or Cappadocia either. The bend of Horus was at the curve of the shoreline as it started to turn North. The coastal road leading into Canaan was also known as the Way of Horus. The translation of sea came from the mention of Ramesses to The Great Green, believed at the time to indicate the Mediterranean Sea. Osiris was often portrayed with green skin and was also referred to as the Great Green. He was also depicted as a god of the north. The Nile delta could have been accurately referred to as the great green and it is very possible that Ramesses was referring to the delta. One particular Egyptian text gives some hint as to the location of the Haunebu:
"Thou art great, thou art green, in thy name of Great Green ; lo, thou art round as the Great Circle ; lo, thou art turned about, thou art round as the circle that encircles the Haunebu."
The above is referring to Osirus by His other name Great Green. It isn't clear, to historians, what the Great Circle is, but other texts use great circle of gods in reference to the nine gods that formed the ennead. Osirus had his residence east of the Nile delta, in Hat Nebes, in the land of the henna. The Egyptian references to the land of henna appear to be speaking of the same area as the land of the Haunebu and Hat-Nebes, which are all similar in spelling and pronunciation.
There is an inscription from the 16th century bce, that was. written by Ahhotep, the mother of King Ahmose:
"Make praise to the mistress of the country, the sovereign of the borders of the haunebut, whose name is praised in all foreign regions, who governed the affairs of state ,who united egypt, gathered his nobles, united them, brought back his fugitives, regrouped his dissidents, pacified egypt and pushed back it's rebels, the royal wife Ahhotep."
The inscription was puzzling to archeologists who had previously associated the Haunebu with the Aegean islands. Some archeologists preferred to see it as a more general term for one of the nine bow-countries, focusing on the sea bound region of Phoenicia. That coincided with Gardner, who believed Ramesses III had written about battles fought in Syria. The above inscription gave the title of Queen Ahhotep as: hnwt idbw H3w-nbwt, or the mistress of Haunebut In other inscriptions the name H3w-nbwt was translated as Hau-Nabut, indicating the people of Ha-Neb. In reality H3w would have been rendered Hrw, but would indicate the same Har-Neb. The result of the confusion was to discount the inscription as having no particular importance, other than a trade relationship with the Minoans. If so, it would be the first known inscription of an Egyptian claiming sovereignty over a country they did not conquer. There is another inscription that proved just as puzzling to historians and archaeologists. It was dated in the middle kingdom and was called the inscription of Henu:
"Year 8, first month of the third season (ninth month), day 3; His real favorite servant, who does all that he praises every day, wearer of the royal seal, [sole] com[panion], //// overseer of that which is and that which is not, overseer of the temples, overseer of the granary and White House, overseer of horn and hoof, chief of the six courts of justice, high-voiced in proclaiming the name of the king on the day of his warding off [////] who judges the prisoner according to his deserts //////////////////// (omitted lines containing titles) Satisfying the heart of the king as Keeper of the Door of the South; over the administration of the nomes of the South, <BR>chief treasurer ////////////. who quells the Haunebu, to whom the Two Lands come bowing down, to whom every office reports; wearer of the royal seal, sole companion, the steward, Henu says:......................" Reign of Mentuhotep II J.H.Breasted,Ancient Records of Egypt, Part One, sect; 428f
