Black Ships and Sea Raiders

The end of the Bronze Age in the Eastern Mediterranean was a time of social, political, and economic upheaval conditions reflected, in many ways, in the world of Homers Odyssey. Jeffrey P. Emanuel examines the Odysseys Second Cretan Lie (xiv 191 359) in the context of this watershed transition, with particular emphasis on raiding, warfare, maritime technology and tactics, and the evidence for the so-called Sea Peoples who have been connected to the events of this period. He focuses in particular on the heros description of his frequent raiding activities and on his subsequent sojourn in the land of the pharaohs, and connections between Odysseus false narrative and the historical experiences of one particular Sea Peoples group: the Sherden of the Sea.