트로이 전쟁과 바다의 민족들

Abstract

Homer says that the Trojan War broke out to get back Helen, the most beautiful woman in Greece. However, since documents from the Hittite empire (1700󰠏1200 B.C) have been deciphered and studied, many of the scholars identify Ahhiyawa in the Hittite documents with the Achaeans. They argue that the Achaeans made war with Troy, the vassal city of the Hittites, when the Hittite Empire was weakened in the second half of the thirteenth century. In recent years, there has been an attempt to find better and wider reasons for the Trojan War, as opposed to the reasons traditionally held about that conflict. An attempt is under way to link the Greeks with the Sea Peoples, who plunged the eastern Mediterranean in chaos around 1200 BC and substantially ended the Bronze Age. This paper will argue that the activities of the nostoi (the Greek army going home from Troy) after the Trojan War were related to the invasions of Egypt by the Sea Peoples. Scholars see Akaiwasha and Denyen, two of the Sea Peoples recorded in Egyptian inscriptions, as Greeks. According to Egyptian records, Akaiwasha invaded Egypt in Merneptah's third year, Denyen in Ramesses' 8th year about thirty years after the invasion of Akaiwasha. But scholars disagree about the difference between Akaiwasha and Denyen. This paper tries to identify Akaiwasha and Denyen more specifically by linking the Greek chronology with the Egyptian, and the activities of the nostoi with the activities of Sea Peoples, by using detailed Greek sources. The conclusion which this paper has reached is summarized as follows: When one studies the Trojan War in connection with the Sea Peoples, it is a very difficult task to connect the Greek chronology with the Egyptian (Ancient Greece and Egypt have several chronologies respectively). To fit the chronologies of the two regions with each other, first of all I accept the date of the Parian Marble (inscribed in the third century B.C.): the Trojan War took place 1218/7󰠏1209/8 BC. The Greeks who attacked Troy were recorded as ‘Achaioi’ in Greek and ‘Ahhiyawa’ in Hittite. As ‘Akaiwasha’ in Egyptian inscription is pronounced (Akaiwasha) similar to the previous two, Achaioi could have invaded Egypt after the fall of the Trojan War. Could this conjecture fit in terms of the chronology?The Egyptian New Kingdom chronologies which are used most among scholars are those in Cambridge Ancient History (1973) and Oxford History of Ancient Egypt (2000). I consider the chronology of the latter more reliable. According to that chronology Akaiwasha invaded Egypt in 1208 B. C. As the Trojan expedition ended in 1209/8 BC (according to the Parian Marble) and the Achaeans (that is, Akaiwasha) invaded Egypt one year later or in the same year. Then Denyen invaded Egypt in Ramesses III’s eighth year, 1176 BC, according to Oxford History of Ancient Egypt. There is a consensus of opinion among scholars that Akaiwasha and Denyen were Greeks, but the reasons are not presented clearly. There are subtle differences between the two according to this paper. Akaiwasha referred to all the Greeks, including Achaeans, who fought in the Trojan War. Denyen were closely related with the Argives, who were led by Amphilochus the King of Argos during the Trojan War. After the capture of Troy Amphilochus moved to Mallus in Cilicia, and founded a country there (with Mopsus the prophet of Clarus or Colophon). Later the Argives from Mallus moved to Syria, even to Phoenicia according to Strabo (xiv.4.3). It stands to reason that the Argives invaded Egypt as Denyen, one of Sea Peoples, because the Argives had been called Danaoi (Danaans) by Greek writers (Danaus founded a country in Argos in 1511 BC according to the Parian Marble.) It is likely that Egyptians recorded these Danaoi (Danaans) as Dnn (Denyen) in Egyptian hieroglyphs.