# Shekelesh

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{{Short description|Poorly understood ancient Mediterranean group}}
The '''Shekelesh''' ([Egyptian language](/source/Egyptian_language): ''šꜣkrwšꜣꜣ'' or ''šꜣꜣkrwšꜣꜣ'')<ref name="Woudhuizen36">{{Cite book|author=[Frederik Christiaan Woudhuizen](/source/Frederik_Christiaan_Woudhuizen) |title=The Ethnicity of the Sea Peoples |publisher=Erasmus Universiteit |date=2006 |via=A Historiographic Outline |volume=36 |url=https://www.yumpu.com/en/document/view/15569339/the-ethnicity-of-the-sea-peoples-repub-erasmus-universiteit-/36}}</ref> were one of the several [ethnic group](/source/ethnic_group)s the [Sea Peoples](/source/Sea_Peoples) were said to be composed of, appearing in fragmentary historical and iconographic records in [ancient Egypt](/source/ancient_Egypt)ian from the [Eastern Mediterranean](/source/Eastern_Mediterranean) in the late 2nd millennium BC.

==Earliest records==
The Shekelesh first appears in Egyptian records during accounts of the [pharaoh](/source/pharaoh) [Merneptah](/source/Merneptah)'s military campaigns in modern [Libya](/source/Libya) in the closing years of the [13th century BC](/source/13th_century_BC), as recounted on the [Great Karnak Inscription](/source/Great_Karnak_Inscription). In the text, the Shekelesh, alongside other clans of the Sea Peoples, are described as auxiliary troops of the Libyan ruler [Meryey](/source/Meryey), and Merneptah recounts he killed between 200 and 222 of them.<ref name="Sternberg49">{{Cite book|author=Heike Sternberg-el Hotabi |title=Der Kampf der Seevölker gegen Pharao Ramses III. |publisher=Rahden |date=2012 |volume=49}}</ref>

Nearly thirty years later, the Shekelesh are mentioned within the exploits of [Ramesses III](/source/Ramesses_III), where they, along with the [Peleset](/source/Peleset), [Tjeker](/source/Tjeker), [Denyen](/source/Denyen), and [Weshesh](/source/Weshesh), are described as forming a foothold in the [Amurru kingdom](/source/Amurru_kingdom) during the 8th year of his reign. Ramesses, per his inscriptions, vanquished the coalition, and portrays himself leading a glorious procession of captured Sea Peoples as prisoners.<ref name="Noort74">{{Cite book|author=Edward Noort |title=Die Seevölker in Palästina |date=1994 |pages=74–77 |publisher=Peeters Publishers |isbn=9789039000120 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=--A8ZfdyK8AC&dq=Seev%C3%B6lkergefangene+Amon+Mut&pg=PA74}}</ref>

==Origins==

In 1867, Egyptologist and philologist [Emmanuel de Rougé](/source/Emmanuel_de_Roug%C3%A9) identified the Shekelesh as coming from [Sicily](/source/Sicily), given the phonetic similarities of the two names. Joining him was fellow Egyptologist [François Chabas](/source/Fran%C3%A7ois_Chabas), in 1872. The following year, the identification was disputed by [Gaston Maspero](/source/Gaston_Maspero), who believed the Shekelesh were [Anatolia](/source/Anatolia)n in origin, instead opting to identify them with the ancient city of [Sagalassos](/source/Sagalassos).

In 1928, [Eduard Meyer](/source/Eduard_Meyer) proposed an identification with the [Sicels](/source/Sicels), who are known to have inhabited Sicily during the Sea Peoples' conquests,<ref>{{Cite book|author=[Eduard Meyer](/source/Eduard_Meyer) |title=Geschichte des Altertums |series=Zweiter Band. Erste Abteilung: ''Die Zeit der ägyptischen Großmacht.'' |volume=4 |location=Darmstadt |date=1965 |chapter=''Die großen Wanderungen. Ausgang der mykenischen Zeit, Ende des Chetiterreichs und Niedergang Ägyptens: Die Seevölker und die ethnographischen Probleme. Tyrsener und Achaeer'' |pages=556–558 |url=http://www.zeno.org/Geschichte/M/Meyer,+Eduard/Geschichte+des+Altertums/Zweiter+Band.+Erste+Abteilung%3A+Die+Zeit+der+%C3%A4gyptischen+Gro%C3%9Fmacht/XII.+Die+gro%C3%9Fen+Wanderungen.+Ausgang+der+mykenischen+Zeit,+Ende+des+Chetiterreichs+und+Niedergang+%C3%84gyptens/Die+Seev%C3%B6lker+und+die+ethnographischen+Probleme.+Tyrsener+und+Achaeer}}</ref> although the Sicals{{clarify|reason=Sicals or Sicels?|date=January 2023}} are often identified with the Tjeker, another group of the Sea Peoples. Today, it is still uncertain where the Shekelesh originated from, and if they indeed embarked from Sicily, it is similarly debated whether or not Sicily was their original homeland, or if they were originally settlers which came from some other location.

The Shekelesh have also been identified with the ''Shikalayu'' ([Hittite](/source/Hittite_language): 𒅆𒅗𒆷𒅀𒌋 ''ši-ka-la-ia/u-u'')<ref>Manfred Weippert: ''Historisches Textbuch zum Alten Testament.'' Göttingen 2010, S. 208, Anmerkung 50.</ref> mentioned by the [Hittite](/source/Hittites) king [Šuppiluliuma II](/source/%C5%A0uppiluliuma_II) in a letter to the governor of [Ugarit](/source/Ugarit). Per Šuppiluliuma, the ''Shikalayu'' were ones "who dwell/live on ships",<ref>Heike Sternberg-el Hotabi: ''Der Kampf der Seevölker gegen Pharao Ramses III.'' Rahden 2012, S. 49.</ref> and, given his wordage, seemed to be largely a mystery to the Hittites. Given their association with ships, these scholars conclude the ''Shikalayu'' were a pirate group who hailed from a place, presumably an island, known as ''Shikala''.

==References==
{{reflist}}

Category:Sea Peoples

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Shekelesh](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shekelesh) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shekelesh?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.