Sherden Warriors

Here's another post from the archives, two units of Sherden warriors. These are all Wargames Foundry figures in the unit above with a few Newline Design figures in the second unit below. This unit, with the officer and New Kingdom Egyptian standard, are supposed to be Ramses' II Sherden bodyguard.

To quote (p.42) from the Stillman and Tallis WRG book, Armies of the Ancient Near East 3000 BC to 539 BC:

The Sherden or Shardana are first recorded in the 14th century BC when they were known in Byblos. Early in the reign of Ramses II some were caught while raiding in the Delta and were placed in the Egyptian army. The characteristic helmet is of a type known in the Near East and Aegean. The long sword is possibly a type of levantine dagger rather than an Aegean type. One possible place of origin is the Syrian coast north of Ugarit. After their attack on Egypt some of them settled in Cyprus and eventually arrived in Sardinia, giving their name to the island.

An excellent book to get, if you're interested in the Sea Peoples, is N K Sandars' The Sea Peoples: Warriors of the Ancient Mediterranean, it is out of print but you can probably track down a copy through Abebooks. Andrea Salimbeti's excellent website The Greek Age of Bronze: Weapons and Warfare in the late Helladic time 1600-1100 BC also has a very useful section on the Sea Peoples:

http://www.salimbeti.com/micenei/sea.htm