Editing Sherden (section)

== Connection to Sea Peoples ==
The Sherden seem to have been one of the more prominent groups of pirates that engaged in coastal raiding and the disruption of trade in the years around the 13th&nbsp;century&nbsp;BC. They are first mentioned by name in the [[Tanis]]&nbsp;II rhetorical stele of [[Ramesses II]], which says in part, "As for the Sherden of rebellious mind, whom none could ever fight against, who came bold-hearted, they sailed in, in warships from the midst of the Sea, those whom none could withstand; but he plundered them by the victories of his valiant arm, they being carried off to Egypt."<ref>{{cite book |author=Kitchen, Kenneth A. |title=Ramesside Inscriptions Translated and Annotated |volume=II: Translations: Ramesses&nbsp;II, Royal Inscriptions |location=Cambridge |publisher=Wiley |year=1996 |at=p.&nbsp;120 §73}}</ref> It is possible that some of the Sherden captured in the battle recounted in Tanis II were pressed into Egyptian service, perhaps even as [[shipwright]]s or advisers on maritime [[technology]], a role in which they may have assisted in the construction of the hybrid Egyptian warships seen on the monumental relief at [[Medinet Habu (temple)|Medinet Habu]] that shows the naval battle between Egyptians and Sea Peoples.<ref>{{cite journal |journal=Aegean Studies |volume=1 |pages=21–56 |date=2014 |url=https://www.academia.edu/5303290 |author=Emanuel, Jeffrey P. |title=The Sea Peoples, Egypt, and the Aegean: Transference of maritime technology in the late Bronze–early Iron transition (LH IIIB–C)}}</ref>

[[Michael Wood (historian)|Michael Wood]] has suggested that their raids contributed greatly to the collapse of the [[Mycenaean Greece|Mycenaean]] civilization.<ref>{{cite book |author=Wood, Michael |title=In Search of the Trojan War |year=1987 |isbn=0452259606 |publisher=BBC Books}}</ref> However, while some Aegean attributes can be seen in the material culture of the [[Philistines]], one of the Sea Peoples who established cities on the southern coastal plain of [[Canaan]] at the beginning of the [[Iron Age]], the association of the Sherden with this geographic area is based entirely on their association with that group and the Sea Peoples phenomenon writ large, rather than on physical or literary evidence (of which almost all testifies to their presence in Egypt, rather than their port of origin).<ref>{{cite conference |publisher=American Research Center in Egypt annual meeting |date=2012 |url=https://www.academia.edu/1716293 |author=Emanuel, Jeffrey P. |title=Šrdn of the strongholds, Šrdn of the Sea: The Sherden and their role in Egyptian society, reassessed}}</ref>