The Sea Peoples is the term used for a confederacy of seafaring raiders of the second millennium BCE who sail into the eastern shores of the Mediterranean, cause political unrest, and attempt to enter or control Egyptian territory during the late 19th dynasty, and especially during Year 8 of Ramesses III of the 20th Dynasty.
The Egyptian Pharaoh Merneptah explicitly refers to them by the term "the foreign-countries (or 'peoples') of the sea" in his Great Karnak Inscription.
Although some scholars believe that they "invaded" Cyprus, Hatti and the Levant, this hypothesis is disputed.
