History of Dor. 37 



According to the Medinet Habu inscriptions', these tribes consisted 

 of the Peleset (Pw-r'-s'-t), the Thekel (T'-k-k'-r'), the Shekelesh 

 (S'-k-rw-s'), the Denyen (D'-y-n-yw) and the Weshesh (W-s'-s'). 

 Papyrus Harris^ adds to this list the Sherden. These sea-peoples 

 seem to have come from the coast and islands of Asia Minor^ 

 Miiller* rejects the etymological identification of the name Takkari 

 with Teucri^ on the ground that the double k makes this impos- 

 sible. Maspero' and Breasted" are inclined to see in them the 

 Siculi (or Sikeli). 



Apparently these invading tribes received only a temporary set- 

 back in their defeat by Ramses III. In the reference in Wena- 

 mon's account to the presence of Takkari at Dor we have proof 

 that within less than a hundred years Ramses' temporarily defeated 

 opponents have firmly established themselves in Syria^ Their 

 realm seems to have extended along the entire coast from Carmel to 

 the Egyptian border. In the north were the Takkari; farther 

 south were settled the Philistines and the remaining tribe8^ 

 Whether they came as a genuine " Yolkerwanderung " ", or simply 

 as mercenaries and robbers" who afterward settled tlown to agri- 

 cultural and commercial life, there is hardly suflicient evidence to 

 decide. 



Under the weak successors of Ramses III these tribes seem to 

 have established their complete independence. It has been shown 

 that the Egyptian messenger, Wenamon, is treated with scant cere- 



' Breasted, Anc. Rec, IV, pp. 36 ff.; Muller, As. u. Eur., pp. 359 flf. 



2 Breasted, Anc, Rec, IV, § 403. 



3 Muller, As. u. Eur., pp. 360 f.; ibid., Mit. Vorderasiat. Ges., V(1900), p. 

 4; Hommel, Orundriss, pp. 27 f.; G. A. Smith, Hist. Geog., p. 197. 



4 Mit. V. A. Ges., V (1900), p. 1. 



5 Hommel, Grundriss, pp. 27 f . 

 ^ Struggle, p. 464. 



' Anc. Rec, IV, p. 33. 



^ Maspero's theory {Struggle, p. 470) that Ramses III planted his captive 

 Pulusati, etc., along this coast to safeguard the Egyptian frontier is improb- 

 able and lacks confirmation. More probably he was unable to keep them 

 back. 



^ Paton, Early Hist, of Pal. and Syria, p. 148; W.M.M. in Mit. V. A. 

 Ges. (1900), p. 1 ; Ed. Meyer, in Enc Bib. Ill, 3735. 

 ^0 So Breasted, IV, p. 33 ; Ed. Meyer, 1. c. 

 » W.M.M., As. u. Eur., p. 360. 



