the Minoan
kingdom had probably been dead and buried for about two centuries.
In fact, with the rise of the Nineteenth Dynasty in Egypt (1350
B.C.), the name of the Keftiu disappears from the Egyptian records,
and in the place of the men from the back of beyond there appears
a confused jumble of warring sea-tribes, some of them possibly the
men who had overthrown the Minoan Empire, some of them probably
representing the broken fragments of that Empire itself, who unite
in attacks upon Egypt, but are foiled and overthrown. In the record
of the earlier of these invasions, that which took place in the
reign of Merenptah (1234-1214 B.C.), the successor of Ramses II.,
it is difficult to trace any names that have Cretan connections.
The Aqayuasha may conceivably have been Achaeans; but that is another
story.
But when we come to deal with the great invasion in the reign of
Ramses III., about 1200 B.C., we get into touch with tribes which
bear almost beyond question the marks of Cretan origin, and one of
which is particularly interesting to us on other grounds. In the
eighth year of Ramses III. The eastern coasts of the Mediterranean
were swept by a great invasion of the 'Peoples of the Sea.' 'The
isles were restless, disturbed among themselves,' says Ramses in
his inscription at Medinet Habu. Very probably the incursion was the
result of the southward movement of the invading northern tribes,
whose pressure was forcing the ancient AEgean peoples to migrate
and seek new homes for themselves.
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