Bible Synapse
Medinet Habu Sea Peoples reliefs
relief · early 12th century BC · Before the kings · also called Peleset reliefs, Year 8 inscription of Ramesses III
See it on the map and timeline
- Date
- early 12th century BC (the temple’s reliefs, in the reign of Ramesses III)
- Found
- Medinet Habu, western Thebes (Luxor), Egypt. The temple still stands where it was built, on the west bank at Thebes. The University of Chicago’s Epigraphic Survey has recorded its reliefs and inscriptions since 1924 and published the first volume of its record in 1930.
- Now
- At the site, Luxor, Egypt
- Passages
- Judges 13:1, Amos 9:7, Jeremiah 47:4
What it is
Reliefs and inscriptions on the mortuary temple of Ramesses III record his wars, among them the land and sea battles of his eighth year against a coalition from the north, now called the Sea Peoples. The Year 8 inscription names the allies as the Peleset, Tjeker, Shekelesh, Denyen and Weshesh, and the carvings show their warriors, ships and ox-carts and the captives led before the king.
How it connects to the Bible
Most scholars identify the Peleset with the Philistines, who in Judges and Samuel are Israel’s chief enemy on the southern coast. The Bible says the LORD brought “the Philistines from Caphtor” (Amos 9:7), a land often taken to be Crete, and early Philistine pottery in Canaan copies Aegean styles. The Medinet Habu record fits the appearance of these newcomers in the eastern Mediterranean in the early 12th century BC.
What scholars debate
The identification rests partly on the likeness of the names, and where and how Ramesses III settled the defeated groups is debated.