seb 357B.C.E.), when the religious complexes grew larger and
more sophisticated, lay scribes were hired. Scribes were
also required to have knowledge of the classic texts and
mathematics. Initially they performed routine tasks, nor-
mally recordkeeping.
The best known symbol of the scribe was his kit or
palette, which contained slates, inks, smoothing stones
for papyri, and reed brushes, which were kept firm by
chewing the end of the fibers. The kits, regular cases with
indentations on one side for small cakes of ink, were
attached to a cord. The ink was fashioned out of lamp-
black or any carbonized material, mixed with gum and
water by the scribe. Brushes were held in the center cav-
ity of a box, which had small pieces of wood glued across
the opening or a sliding cover to keep them in place.
Brushes could be fine or heavy depending on their use
and age.
In the larger temples, scribes worked as archivists or
as librarians. They kept the census, recorded tax assess-
ments, measured the rise of the Nile, and generally main-
tained the vast religious and government correspondence.
Some accompanied military expeditions or local govern-
ment officials to the mines and quarries, to record the
annual findings there. Many important inscriptions and
documents of the military exploits of the New Kingdom,
especially those of TUTHMOSIS III(r. 1479–1425 B.C.E.)
and RAMESSES II(r. 1290–1224 B.C.E.), were the work of
scribes. They remained powerful even in the Roman
Period, after 30 B.C.E.
Sea Peoples They were a confederation of various
groups who were active as pirates and marauders in the
Ramessid Period, the Nineteenth Dynasty (1307–1196
B.C.E.) and the Twentieth Dynasty (1196–1070 B.C.E.).
RAMESSES II(r. 1290–1224 B.C.E.) sought a pact with the
HITTITEruler HATTUSILIS III, in defense against these wide-
ranging attackers, and MERENPTAH(r. 1224–1214 B.C.E.)
faced one contingent of them during his reign. The actual
listing of the Sea Peoples, however, dates to RAMESSES III
(r. 1194–1163 B.C.E.), who destroyed them.
The Sea Peoples recorded on the walls of MEDINET
HABU at THEBES include the Ekwesh, believed to be
Greek Achaeans; Teresh, Anatolian sailors, possibly the
Tyrrhenians; Lukka, an Anatolian coastal people; Sher-
dana, probably a group of Sardinians; Shekelesh, identi-
fied as members of the Sicilian Siculi; Peleset, from
Crete and the ancestors of the Philistines. Others not
identified with certainty were the Kizzuwatna, Arzawa,
Zakala, Alasiya, Tjeker, and Denyen. The MESHWESH,
Libyans who were always active in Egypt’s Delta, were
also listed.
Originally some of the groups had fortified cities and
worked copper mines. Displaced, the Sea Peoples con-
quered CYPRUSand blockaded Syrian ports. They began
their first campaigns near their homelands. The Myce-
nean Greeks repulsed them, but other nations, including
the Hittites, endured their aggression.
In Ramesses III’s eighth regnal year, the Sea Peoples
had attacked Cilicia, CARCHEMISH, Palestine, Arzawa,
CYPRUS, Amurru, and the HITTITESand had arrived in the
Delta region with the Libyans. These marauders came in
carts, bringing their entire families to the invasion. They
wore kilts and headdresses of feathers or pleated stiffened
cloths and they carried spears, short swords, and round
shields. The Great HARRIS PAPYRUSadds other details.
Ramesses III met the Sea Peoples who were entering
Egypt as migrants, not as marauders. Crop failures in the
eastern Mediterranean region caused these nomads to
destroy entire cities in their movement. They sought the
safety of the Nile, and Ramesses III had to repel land and
sea assaults. He moved defensive units to the eastern bor-
der and fortified the Nile branches in the Delta. By allow-
ing the Sea Peoples to enter certain Nile branches and
then moving floating islands and debris behind them,
Ramesses III trapped entire contingents and annihilated
them. Others he took as prisoners and forced them into
his armed forces or made them slaves.
Egypt withstood their assaults, but the Sea Peoples
changed the political matrix of the Mediterranean. One
group that managed to escape Ramesses III’s assaults were
called the Peleset. These are believed to have been the
Philistines documented in Palestine. Some records indi-
cate that the Peleset, or Philistines, were sent into Pales-
tine to control the area there for Egypt.
See also SHERDEN PIRATES.seasons The designation of certain times of the year in
Egypt, appearing in their written form in the Early
Dynastic Period (2920–2575 B.C.E.), there were three sea-
sons of the year, composed of four months each, with 30
days in each month. The symbol for the entire year was a
sprouted bud, and the word for year was renpet.The year
began in the season of AKHET,the time of the inundation
of the Nile, starting approximately the third week of July
according to modern calculations. Akhetwas followed by
PROYET(or peret), the time of sowing. The last season,
SHOMU(or shemu), was the time of the harvest. Each sea-
son had its own festivals and cultic observations.Seat of the First Occasion This was the Egyptian
term for a TEMPLEas the original site of the first creation
and the designated god’s entrance into the world. Each
temple was deemed the actual location upon which the
deity appeared for the first time and was celebrated annu-
ally as the cosmogonic source of life.seb This was a FESTIVALin Egypt associated in many
instances with harvests. The entire royal court attended
celebrations in the fields for the festival, held near their
residences or at certain designated sites. The festivals