Denyen

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Denyen are one of the groups associated with the Sea Peoples, raiders associated with the Eastern Mediterranean Dark Ages who attacked Egypt during the reign of Rameses III. After their defeat by the Pharaoh they are believed to have been taken to Egypt, and subsequently settled with the Philistines and the Tjekker, along the coast of Palestine to guard the "way of the Philistines" between Egypt and Syria. Etymologically they are thought to be related to the Greek Danaoi (Δαναοί)— alternate names for the Hellenes familiar from Homer. Greek myth refers to Danaos who with his daughters came from Egypt and settled in Argos. Through Danaë's son, Perseus, the Danaans are said to have built Mycenae.

On etymological grounds, the Denyen are also identified with Adana, in Cilicia, where a people of this name may have settled in late Hittite Empire times. They are also believed to have settled in Cyprus. These areas also show evidence of close ties with the Aegean as a result of the Late Helladic IIIC 1b pottery found in these areas. Most Biblical scholars now believe that the Tribe of Dan originated as one of the groups of Denyen, who according to the Bible are believed to have settled with their ships in the area between Ekron and Joppa, hence remaining on their ships in the early Song of Deborah, and not having Israelite land to their name^[1][2]. Others claim that they were forced to move away from the Mediterranean coast by the Philistines, moving as a group to conquer Laish subsequently becoming known as (Tel Dan), from the Sidonian Phoenicians who formerly ruled the site. The Book of Exodus describes how the Danites were the largest group in the Exodus from Egypt, and the story of Samson has been suggested to be a classic solar Aegean tale, retold from a Yahwistic point of view. The Danites also preserved stories of their genealogy from the family of Moses down to historic times^{[citation needed]}.

Regarding the Denyen connection in Cilicia^[3], a Hittite report, speaks of a Muksus, who also appears in an eighth-century bilingual inscription from Karatepe in Cilicia, which traces the kings of Adana from the "house of Mopsos", given in hieroglyphic Luwian as Moxos and in Phoenician as Mopsos, in the form mps. The area also reports a Mopsukrene (Mopsus' fountain) and a Mopsuhestia (Mopsus' hearth), also in Cilicia.

[edit] References