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Estimates range from 40, to , scrolls at its height. After the main library was destroyed, scholars used a daughter library in a temple, the Serapeum , located in another part of the city. In The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire , Edward Gibbon described Theophilus as the perpetual enemy of peace and virtue, a bold, bad man, whose hands were alternately polluted with gold and with blood. After tearing her body in pieces, they took her mangled limbs to a place called Cinaron, and there burnt them.

The first democracy in the world was established in Athens in BCE under Cleisthenes as a direct, participatory system, in which the citizens voted directly on legislation and executive bills, while those selected for office served collectively. The selection was done mostly by lot, not election, because the latter favours the rich, noble, famous, educated, eloquent, and handsome.

Allotment was regarded as the most democratic means to prevent the corrupt purchase of votes and give citizens a unique form of political equality. In this way more and more citizens were engaged in politics, ruling and being ruled in turn, as Aristotle wrote. Elected rather than chosen by lot therefore coming from the higher classes were the ten generals, due to their necessary expertise in matters of politics and war, and also those who handled large sums of money: We do not say that a man who takes no interest in politics is a man who minds his own business, Pericles declared; we say that he has no business here at all.

What are the arms at our disposal, if not these We find inside the body: Before the Battle of Salamis e. In modern historiography, polis is used to indicate a Greek city-state, though this term is inadequate. The Greek poleis were not like the Phoenician city-states, which were ruled by a king or a small oligarchy , with their inhabitants being mere subjects. Thus the term polis came to signify state: Not to mention politics …. The Library of Alexandria during its heyday, its acme.

Leave a comment Voyage 8. The result is more than obvious in the above citation from a text on a record with Songs of the Peloponnese , issued by the Society for the Dissemination of National Music , and written by Simon Karas himself — despite his admittedly immense and invaluable contribution on this subject. Such were the claims put forward in all seriousness from both sides, as if it mattered much whether the Tsakonian dance reminded us of a Pythic nomos or if it reenacted, faithfully or not, the escape from the Labyrinth , while the… Minotaur was anything but dead, and Karas pointed his finger at him immediately afterwards:.

In a similar text on a record with Songs of Constantinople and the Sea of Marmara , he wrote:. The term psaltery was general in ancient Hellas, had no relation with the religious psalms and referred to all string instruments played directly with the fingers without a plectrum.

The most impressive of the latter was perhaps the sambuca that was more than one metre high and looked like a homonymous siege engine. It seems that the instruments of this numerous family, especially those with many strings, did not differ much — at least for the non-connoisseurs — and thus many people confused them.

However, some of them were played upright evolving into the harp, while others were used horizontally and ended up as the qanun and santur. These instruments were known and in use in Greece before it became… Greece, that is, since the pre-Hellenic early Bronze Age of the 3rd millennium BCE. There is enough evidence, albeit unclear, that seems to point to an Asian or Thracian origin what Strabo has said. More tangible are the archeological finds with a plethora of depictions of harpists excavated in the Near East — mainly in Egypt and Mesopotamia.

The Harpist of Keros is unique, but only as an exquisite work of visual art…. The name of a similar instrument called phoenix , originating probably in Phoenicia , points to the same direction. But the mentality peculiar to a good number of Modern Greeks was also widespread in ancient Hellas. What we get, indeed, out of this claim is that in his time the islet was not only inhabited and not barren as it is today, but instead covered with vegetation including palm trees!

The great Samian philosopher, mathematician and music theorist of the 6th century BCE, however, before going to the Occident to set up his school in Crotone of Magna Graecia , had travelled around a lot in the Orient and become familiar with the achievements of the Assyro — Babylonians and Egyptians in the above areas.

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It is not known if the monochord qanun was the starting point of an evolution that led to the tanbur and quanun. Where did Karas of the 20th century CE find this right? The Asian Assyrian cithara kithara is already known to us together with its genealogical tree see Voyage 4. The sad truth is that, in the sense that Karas wished for, neither the cithara-guitar nor the oud or laouto were Hellenic. Personally, I think that these systems confuse, rather than enlighten, the ordinary music lovers. So I suggest that we pass them by.

But the same does not apply to diapason. This is the way the Arabs play the qanun nowadays. The historian Duris , however, attributed it to a Thracian musician called Magdis. The ancient Hellenic musical term diapason is just one of all those the Westerners adopted to develop and give prestige to their music. Consulting a musical dictionary you are about to read:. How comes, you wonder, that the ancient Hellenes invented a term for something that they did not have?

Thus, harmony in modal music is not about notes sounding together, but refers to the relationship of any note with those that have preceded it and the others that follow, in a system structured dynamically and horizontally rather than statically and vertically. Harmony for the ancient Hellenes was any arrangement of notes within an octave. In modal music it refers to the relationship of any note with those that have preceded it and the others that follow.

Polyphony appears whenever there is no space for microtones. Women musicians, Al-Andalus Andalusia. But not even polyphony originated in the Occident. We have seen that polyphony is nothing unique. Just think of how many kinds of polyphony are still practiced in the area centered on the Balkans e. Polyphony appears whenever there is no space for microtones in music. Later on, the term diapason replaced that of harmony. Today diapason is also a tuning fork or any standard pitch used for tuning. It could certainly be maintained that not even the concept of music remained unchanged — indeed, this development took place in ancient Greek times.

For a long time this term denoted the combined spiritual and mental performance especially in the letters and arts. As Plato says in The Republic , the body needs exercise while the soul needs music. Besides, at that time poetry without music was unthinkable. The two arts became independent in the 4th century BCE. It was then that the two terms acquired their current meaning. With the special meaning of artistic creation it was first used by Simonides of Ceos 6th-5th century ; a poet was thought to be a composer of music. The word music was perhaps invented by Lasus of Hermione 6th century , who was among the first artists that combined the qualities of a musician and a musicologist, having dealt with both the art and science of music.

As for the perception of music, there were two schools: Pythagoras disapproved of the appraisal of music through the senses hearing.

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The merit of this art, he used to say, is because we can perceive it through the intellect mind. Aristoxenus, on his part, supported a dual scientific principle: Nevertheless, it makes no big difference the way the sound of an instrument is amplified. So why such fury? In ancient Greece only one out of the four basic modes was Hellenic in origin: MUSIC is as old as we are: Nations, on the other hand, appeared somewhat recently in history not in order to fulfill some human needs, as music does, but rather for economic and political reasons.

I mean, of course, nation states and not ethnicities , which are something different, formed since ancient times, deriving from different human clans and tribes. Therefore, there are no national characteristics in music. Essentially, there is no Hellenic, Turkish, Bulgarian, etc music. When we use national attributes we simply mean that a piece e. There are no national characteristics in music. Folk music is not national but ethnic.

Erudite music is multinational. Indian itinerary musician, by Shagufta Mehdi. Folk music is born as an idiom in areas smaller than the present nation states, under conditions of agricultural natural economy — areas which are generally divided among neighbouring nation states e. Thrace is divided into three.

The pace of its development, as well as the inflow of outside influence, is determined by the geography of each region. As we have seen see Voyage 4 , the more the ethnicities, the richer the idioms.

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Therefore, folk music is not national but ethnic. Erudite music , on the other hand, has been a collective effort of elite musicians streaming into the metropolises of multinational empires. Because of the involvement of artists from several nationalities or ethnicities, each with another background, this music is mostly multinational or transnational, but never international. This applies even to the classical music of Europe, although, broadly speaking, national borders had been drawn there before the period of its great acme.

In the final analysis, we should not care much about the alleged national character or origin of music or its instruments. Such thoughts distract our attention from the essence of the matter, which is music itself. After all, who can trace its evolution? Who was the first person who noticed that a tense bowstring produces a sound? Who then found that the sound is amplified if there is something hollow to function as a soundboard? Such discoveries are as old as man.

So they should have taken place in Africa, the cradle of the human race. What does this mean? That music and its instruments are African-born? It just means that in various periods of time, in several areas of the world, we can observe the emergence of the same instruments more or less, for they are based on the same natural laws. In various times and spaces we observe the emergence of the same instruments more or less for they are based on the same natural laws.

The reconstructed silver lyre of Ur in Mesopotamia. Because, in truth, all instruments used in ancient Hellas were imported from the Orient — except one: All instruments used in ancient Hellas were imported from the Orient — except the hydraulis pipe organ that was invented by Greeks but is not in use in Hellas anymore…. Hydraulis, Dion , 1st century BCE.

Quite rightly these Greek scientists are thought of as the spiritual fathers of Leonardo da Vinci and so many other inventive minds of Europe from the Renaissance onwards.

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Ctesibius apparently based himself on the hydraulic inventions and applications of the Syracusan , mainly on Archimedean hydraulic clocks. Along with hydraulics , Ctesibius studied pneumatics — the science dealing with pneuma , that is, air, and its several applications. Along with hydraulics, Ctesibius studied pneumatics — the science dealing with pneuma, that is, air, gas.

Let me remark en passant that the rapid decline of the Greek language, due to the decline of Hellenism, in parallel with the spread — or rather: In spite of all the Alexandrian treatises on pneumatics, there is no such entry in Modern Greek dictionaries… f. A hydraulis excavated at Aquincum modern Budapest in Well, what pneumatics anyway?

After all, no work of Ctesibius has survived. The opposite is true in the case of a later engineer whose work is partly extant — although he remains similarly inconspicuous among the Hellenes. Apart from his numerous wonderful inventions — e. However, if the Modern Greeks hear his name by chance and wish to learn more about him, they are obliged to consult foreign publications, since his treatises have never been published in modern Hellas ….

The work of the Alexandrian engineers could not go unnoticed in Rome or Constantinople that were great powers. There were several such mechanisms in the palaces golden plane trees with singing birds, lions and other wild animals roaring while turning their necks, griffins flapping their wings, etc in order to impress foreign visitors.

The hydraulic organ was equally impressive; thus the musical instrument ended up… diplomatic. In the 8th century, the Byzantine emperor Constantine V , the so-called… Copronymus, g donated an organ to the Frankish king Pepin the… Short — the instrument is now known all over the world by the Greek term organ meaning instrument among other things — and what followed is common knowledge more or less. Political history, however, developed in another direction. It was the beginning of the end, a crucial turning point, a development that left its indelible stamp on the history of not only the Mediterranean , or even Europe, but also the whole world, because since then everything changed.

It marked the end of the epoch that began in the Near East during the Neolithic era, with the birth of civilization, and the Mediterranean as the epicentre of history. Mare nostrum was de facto marginalized. Its fortunes would since be governed by non-Mediterranean powers. The Greek lexicographers and others do not seem to bother at all that these lands have been equally holy for Islam, or that the Muslims are rather more religious than the Christians.

See, for example, the hydraulis we were lucky to excavate at Dion: Was there a thorough research in advance, or such a conclusion was reported lightheartedly? The aim was to restore the instrument or to revamp it in the font of European polyphony? A diaulos player in a symposium, by Euaion painter. Can we possibly assume that the ancient musicians we see depicted so often with diaulos double aulos played in… thirds?

Each instrument is made based on the specifications of the kind of music which is prescribed for. And what we do is to put the blame solely on such… cloners! Man made the first giant leap here with the Neolithic agricultural revolution. It took millennia until something similar happened again, with the industrial revolution that began in England in the 18th century. Man made the first giant leap in the Fertile Crescent with the Neolithic agricultural revolution. There is, of course, a view that this second revolution constituted a return to barbarism.

But let us stick to generally accepted ideas, for the time being. Even common sense says that the key was the first step, when hunters and gatherers became pastoralists and farmers. The development most probably was brought about by women: Thus, we can reasonably assume that agriculture , especially farming, the main aspect of the rural economy emerging then, has been an innovation brought forth by women.

As we know, a farmer is much more bound to the land than a hunter-gatherer or a pastoralist. Thus, the transition to farming led to the creation of permanent settlements that gradually grew: The transition to farming led to the creation of settlements that gradually grew: The latter brought forth both politics and civilization.

The ancient city of Mari on the Euphrates reconstruction. Cities require central authority and hierarchy, imposing monuments, division of labour , specialization. They necessitate the arts and crafts, architecture , pottery , commerce , metallurgy … The Mediterranean periplus began tentatively at that time, in parallel with the caravan routes along land roads which, nevertheless, remained dangerous.

In this way, the new way of life spread rapidly inside and outside the Mediterranean basin, reaching eastwards as far as the Indian subcontinent and beyond: Early Mesopotamian writing tablet recording the allocation of beer BCE. The conditions were already ripe for the next colossal step: Even though the reasons for this great innovation were initially… bureaucratic administrative record keeping, transfer of orders and messages , the invention and subsequent simplification of writing with the alphabet was indispensable as a condition for the systematic transfer of knowledge between generations and, of course, for the cultivation of literature and the arts — fields where the Greeks excelled.

Although the ancient Hellenes have been a universal point of reference, we need to turn away from the temptation of nationalist simplifications. However, knowledge from the East was present, as well: The Orient was the source of innumerable artifacts and ideas, along with the necessary know-how. But everything imported and adopted, had to be adapted according to the local needs and tastes; and some went by the wayside…. One of the several historical oxymora in this period e.

The decentralized Greek city-states that flourished in the Iron Age , i. On the contrary, the prevailing state entities in the East were centralized empires of both the Bronze and Iron Ages. We can very well imagine how completely indifferent the Spartans would have been to this inscription. Besides, a pan-Hellenic expedition without a Spartan king in command was not to be taken very seriously. Constantine Cavafy, by Panaiotes Daphiotis.

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And from this marvelous pan-Hellenic expedition, triumphant, brilliant in every way, celebrated on all sides, glorified as no other has ever been glorified, incomparable, we emerged: We the Alexandrians , the Antiochians , the Seleucians , and the countless other Greeks of Egypt and Syria, and those in Media, and Persia, and all the rest: Talk about Lacedaemonians after that! Why Cavafy alludes in his title to such a later date? It was the beginning of the end because since then Greece fell under full Roman control.

OK, but this was a result of objective conditions. It was not so much that the Hellenes did not want, but rather that they did not need an imperial government. What for them was an extraordinary situation requiring collective and comprehensive effort, for the Easterners was an everyday struggle with an opponent much more powerful than the mightiest empire: It was not so much that the Hellenes did not want, but rather did not need an imperial government, as a result of objective conditions….

Expanding his presence in an environment of rather great contrasts, which would be barren without the Nile, Tigris and Euphrates , with the waters in abundance but also with floods and cataclysms lurking, the Easterner realized the need for coordination of the efforts of all communities. Next to deserts, symbolizing the constantly present, absolute evil , these rivers were a blessing from heaven but had unpredictable behaviour: Major public works, especially for irrigation and drainage , were a prerequisite for human survival; commerce, as well, for the supply of the communities with absolutely necessary raw materials, or luxury goods.

No need to say, these two networks, irrigation and also state-controlled trade, necessitated centralized power, which should inspire fear. Obviously, all those in power needed law-enforcement agencies: They needed imposing, majestic palaces, monuments, temples. A by-product is the relative — or ostensible, as others say — stagnation, and even immobility that has characterized these societies for millennia until now.

Irrigation and trade necessitated centralized power inspiring fear. Law-enforcement agencies, the army and clergy , were necessary. It was impossible for democracy to grow on Babylonian soil. Let us not forget, however, that these societies cultivated astronomy , geometry , mathematics — for the same reasons they invented writing; societies that created wonders, like the Hanging Gardens of Babylon — although hanging by a thread: You can realize that with just a look at the ruins of Babylon conquered and pillaged by time.

One of the dragons from the Ishtar gate. Equally almighty, terrible and frightful were the Oriental gods. No comparison with the Olympians, who were full of shortcomings: Leda and the Swan Zeus , by Correggio —32 , with children musicians on the left. No comparison whatsoever with the Olympians who were full of shortcomings; that is, they were human , made in the image of the mortals that had created them, the Greeks, their way of life, their society — or, rather: The land was most beautiful, indeed, but not a paradise on earth.

Living standards could improve through conquest, but also through expansion, colonization. Either way, each option contributed to an even greater decentralization. The Greeks were shaped and inspired by Hellenic Nature. They philosophized and discussed public issues under her beneficial influence. See our next additional Voyage. More and more oxymora and paradoxa …. Living in this environment, the Greeks have not only summarized, but humanized the ancient world, as well.

They have shown what measure, proportion, harmony is. They have also left their invaluable heritage systematized and documented for future generations. However, just like their gods, they have been full of shortcomings, born out of the same environment that has fostered their virtues, with individualism underlying all. Rather, I would say, of human history….

The Temple of Poseidon. The motives of such crimes against humanity are rarely outright politico-economical; as a rule, they are disguised behind a religious mask — especially when this religion is monotheistic , that is, antagonistic to the other religions, authoritarian and, of course, power-hungry.

Note that, among the monotheistic religions, Christianism is the unchallenged champion of such crimes. Here is a short list of the first phase: George Killing the Dragon, by Bernat Martorell Omphalos of Gaea navel of the Earth: Delphi with the Temple of Apollo reconstruction. Tell the emperor, the splendid hall fell to the ground. Phoebus no longer has a house, nor the prophesying laurel, nor the speaking spring; the speaking water evaporated as well. A scholar on a sarcophagus, CE. City plan of ancient Alexandria with the four flashpoints framed in red: The Library in its heyday….

Alexander the Great, several versions, by Andy Warhol Alexander the Great, mosaic, by Alexandros Giannios. Parthenon in ruins and Ottoman mosque built after , by Pierre Peytier early s. We then voyaged to Abdera of Thrace and met its most celebrated citizen, Democritus. A study in depth would reveal the Prince of Darkness himself….

What conclusions can we draw? In reality, the history of human rights finds traces of them in some legal codes of antiquity Mesopotamia , Persia, India, Hellas, Rome , but not in the Bible, skipping Judaism and Christianism. The reason is that the ones who cared about such rights were the philosophers and not the prophets with the exception of Muhammad who was obliged to deal with the subject.

Many scholars relate the Shardana to Sardinia due to the similarity between the two words. Based on the same principle, the archaeologist Margaret Guido proposed that the Shardana might have ultimately derived from Sardis and the Sardinian plain nearby, in Lydia , and perhaps migrated later to Sardinia. It seems that many people, and not only the Trojans that would become Romans , left Anatolia and the Aegean for the Italian peninsula and its islands due to the Bronze Age collapse , rather than before.

Recent genetic studies indicate that the populations not only of people, but even of cattle, in various Italian regions, especially in Tuscany , are more related to Anatolia, mainly in the northwest, than to anywhere else. Etruscans dancing, wall painting in a tomb. A famous passage from Herodotus portrays the migration and drifting of Lydians because of famine:. Drought could have easily precipitated socio-economic problems and wars. As regards the story told by Herodotus and its link to the Sea Peoples, several scholars contend that those called Teresh by the Egyptians were none others than the Tyrrhenians, or Tyrsenians, who are often identified with the Tusci hence Tuscany , the Latin exonym for the Etruscans , or Rasena, as they called themselves.

The Tyrsenian linguistic family , together with Etruscan , includes the Lemnian language , spoken on the Aegean island of Lemnos until the 6th century BCE. Another Aegean tongue possibly related to the Etruscan was the Minoan Cretan. A third Aegean island close to Anatolia mentioned as their possible homeland by Thucydides is that of Lesbos.

This version would serve their interests for the Etruscans were their rivals. If they showed that they had a common ancestry, any further animosity between them would be considered fratricidal. There are some clues to support this view. Several writers, as e.

The Troad was outside the territory but within the sphere of influence of Hatti. However, another Hittite record points to a different location, for it contains a list of cities, among them Tarsa, most likely Tarsus.

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Anatolian connections have been suggested for other Sea Peoples, as well, like the Lukka Lycians. Most striking is that the vast majority of them seem to have descended from the Troad. This long, ravaging war, in combination with the widespread famine in the entire peninsula, created the explosive conditions leading to the collapse. Under the circumstances, many Trojans, allies or neighbours became refugees, and some survived by their wits and swords. Archeological evidence leads to the conclusion that the Sea Peoples were not pirates anymore, nor raiders plundering and pillaging established cities, but instead a mass of people looking for a place to settle, in search of a home.

This was obvious since their first invasion of Egypt under Libyan leadership when they were accompanied by their families and belongings. The Libyan tribes also played a role in the first campaigns against Egypt.

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Herodotus and Hecataeus mentioned one of them centuries later. It was the Berber tribe of the Maxyes or Mazyes, the Mazaces to the Romans or the Meshwesh to the Egyptians, who also claimed to have a Trojan heritage. Trojan War scenes on pottery. A Peleset captive in Egypt, and the particular Phaestos disc symbol below on the right. The Cycladic civilization , one of the most important Pelasgian cultures: The ancient canal linking the Mediterranean and the Red Seas is also shown.

Others have theorized that they became part of the Israelite confederacy, as the tribe of Asher. Another people connected with the Hebrews were the Tjeker. Moving to Canaan, they captured the city-state of Dor and turned it into a large, well-fortified capital of their kingdom. Dor was violently destroyed in the midth century BCE by the expanding Phoenicians , who were checked by the Philistines, and then by the Hebrews.

King David if he was something more than just a mythological figure supposedly conquered Dor and the Tjeker were mentioned no more. Achilles and Ajax playing a dice game: A possible linguistic connection has been proposed between the Tjeker and the Tekrur, identified with the Teucri, a tribe described by some ancient sources as inhabiting northwest Anatolia to the south of Troy. Tradition offers basically two candidates for a homeland: Legend links all three places and goes even further, following two heroes with the same name: According to Virgil, the older Teucer was from Crete but left the island with a third part of its inhabitants during a great famine how many such stories….

They settled near a river, which was named Scamander after his father. Dionysius of Halicarnassus claims Teucer had gone to the Troad from Attica. Scamander or Xanthos was said to have been a river-god, a son of Oceanus. According to Homer , he fought on the side of the Trojans after Achilles insulted him.

He was the personification of the river that flowed by Troy. The Hellenes had set up their camp near its mouth, and their battles with the Trojans were fought on its plain. With the arrival of Dardanus there, Teucria was renamed as Dardania thence Dardenelles , and later Troad from king Tros. But these toponymic changes would not deter the Trojans to often call themselves Teucrians. The Judgement of Paris , by Enrique Simonet: Aphrodite , the winner in this ancient beauty pageant, stepping forward triumphantly naked, while Hera and Athena stay behind humiliated….

The younger Teucer or Teucrus was a son of king Telamon of Salamis , the island of Attica where the decisive naval battle of the Graeco-Persian Wars would be fought. He was half Trojan because his mother was a princess of Ilion. After all, war was a family affair — let alone for Teucer Jr! He was disowned, exiled, and set out to find a new home. Teucer eventually joined the Phoenician king Belus of Tyre in his campaign against Cyprus, and when the island was seized, Belus handed it over to Teucer as a reward. He founded there the city of Salamis , named after his homeland.

The initial consisted of Mycenaean traders around BCE. Apart from Salamis, Teucer is credited as a founder of other cities, as well. The legend seems to be based more on the conjecture that Greek traders might have arrived there in ancient times. Though legends appear for a certain reason, historians and archaeologists tend to agree that the initial settlement was probably formed when Gallaecia was integrated into the Roman Empire 1st century BCE. Up to now, with the sole exception of Teucer attacking Cyprus in collaboration with the Phoenicians and representing the people who found refuge there well, at the expense of the locals , we have seen no Hellenes fighting alongside the Sea Peoples, but rather against them, in the Trojan War.

It is what Sanford Holst already said in our previous Chronicle: Let us try to verify this in Wikipedia: This may demonstrate a logical discontinuity, as well! The author leaves the question of who the invaders were open. Quite simply, the invaders had no plan to settle there; they went there just to destroy: Captive Sea Peoples in Egypt. The Anatolians predominated among the Sea Peoples but were not alone.

Names of tribes with dubious or unknown origin are several in the Egyptian files — like the Shekelesh, probably the Siculi , who moved to Sicily from the Italian mainland. However, if we have faith in Michael Wood , they were Greeks:. Michael Wood is not alone, too. What kind of Bronze Age scholars are they if they pretend to ignore that Achaeans and Danaans are synonymous terms? Have they not been schooled in the Iliad? Homer mentions the name Achaeans times; Danaans times; Argives times; and Hellenes only once. According to a version of the myth, they were ancestors of the Greeks and their tribes: The pharaoh states that he defeated the invasion, killing 6, soldiers and taking 9, prisoners.

To be sure of the numbers, among other things, he took the penises of all uncircumcised dead and the hands of all the circumcised. Departure of the Israelites, by David Roberts The great Pharaoh proudly presented his captives: The next round in this protracted war took place some three decades later, during the reign of Ramses III BCE , the last great pharaoh of Egypt. Most tribes mentioned above were there again; we also learn that there were at least two great battles, one in the sea and the other on the land.

What conclusions can we draw? We are surprised first of all since our scholars were not… surprised at all when they read about a Hittite chief among the captives: We eventually realize that the destruction of the established civilizations, above all the Hittite and Mycenaean, was a deliberate tactics of the Sea Peoples to garner more strength at sea and amass land forces, as well. After all, the empires belonged to the aristocracies, Hittite or Mycenaean. What else could a desperate Hellene or a destitute Anatolian do under the circumstances but to follow the peoples with whom he shared the same aspirations for a better life?

But what a pity for our scholars: The other captives were chiefs of the Amorites, who lived in Syria and part of Mesopotamia , and possibly of the Hebrews: