The Tjeker (Tjekker, Teresh, Taresh) are a seafaring culture in constant conflict with Egypt, and one of the tribal groups named in the Bronze Age collapse. Wars between Tjeker and Egypt go back six hundred years.
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Despite their long history, information about the Tjeker Sea People is sporadic. They're best known from the disastrous voyage of Wenamun in the Late Bronze Age. The story is once thought to be true but now accepted as historical fiction. It's based on a few facts.
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In the 12th century BCE Wenamun is a priest of Amun at Karnak, a temple site near Luxor. The High Priest of Amun sends him to the Phoenician city of Byblos for lumber. The great cedar forests yield wood for ship building, though they're said to be guarded by monsters.
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The High Priest of Karnak wants to to build a new ship to carry the cult image of God Amun. Byblos is a major trade and ship building port of the Phoenicians on the Levant coast. For several hundred years it's been a city-state vassal to Egypt.
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Wenamun stops at the port of Dor ruled by Beder, a Tjeker prince, where he's robbed. The Tjekker settle the area after the early 12th century after fighting the Egyptians. When Wenamun arrives at Byblos he's treated with contempt.
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After some time he gets an audience with King Zakar-Baal. The King refuses to give him credit, as is the norm. Wenamun has to pay up front, forcing him to request funds from the Pharaoh.
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Byblos is shaking in the hands of the Egyptian rulers. At this point ebbing power of Egypt is obvious. After waiting almost a year at Byblos, Wenamun tries to leave for home.
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His luck gets no better. He's blown off course to Alashiya (Cyprus). There he's almost killed by a crazed mob before he manages to get protection from the local queen.
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In this account the Tjeker Sea People are united under one ruler at Dor (Tel Dor, Tell el-Burj), which they build into a large port. A number of the Sea Peoples are thought to come from or settle the Levant area.
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The Lukka along the east coast, the Shekelesh pirates and the Sherden (Shardana, Sherdanu) are part of waves of sea peoples who take advantage of a worsening situation in Egypt and other lands in the late Bronze Age. Some grudges have been brewing a long time.
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History shows the expansion and influence of the city of Dor by the 12th century BCE. Archaeological finds put the Tjeker on the Sharon Plain in the Israeli Coastal Plain region, along the Levant coast, around that time.
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Extended drought and famine, earthquakes and tremors, migration and internal rebellion weakens Egyptians and causes widespread collapse of the Hittites, Kassites, Mycenaeans and others. The few unscathed gain formidable power after the 12th century BCE.
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