The Shasu in Text and Archaeology

The Egyptians encountered the Shasu on numerous occasions, mostly as the Shasu moved back and forth between Egypt and southern Canaan. Thus, the term appears in various Egyptian records, both in text and artistic relief. Raphael Giveon collated and translated the relevant texts pertaining to the Shasu and published the primary monograph on the subject in French in 1971 (Giveon, Les Bédouins). The Shasu are often mentioned in topographical lists, but some records provide additional data on the pastoralists’ activities and place of origin.

A funerary inscription of the official Ahmose-Pennekhbet during the reign of Thutmose II (1492–1479 bc) contains an early mention of the Shasu: “I followed the king of Upper and Lower Egypt, Akheperenre (Thutmose II), the Justified, while there were brought for me from the Shasu country very many prisoners. I did not reckon them” (Giveon, Les Bédouins, 9–10; translation in Rainey and Notley, Sacred Bridge, 103). This early passage does not provide a location for the “Shasu country.” However, the 14th century Amarna Letters (EA 187:12; 363:4) refer to a location in the Lebanese Beqa’a Valley called ‘Ain-Shasu (URUe-ni-ša-si) or “Spring of the Shasu” (see Rainey, “Toponymic Problems”). If this place is related to the Shasu pastoralists, the Shasu territory may have been in part located in the northern fringe of Canaan.

Topographic texts dating to the reign of Amenhotep III (1390–1352 bc) written on a column north of the entrance to the Temple of Amun in Soleb also mention the Shasu’s territory, and perhaps tribal lands (Nubia, modern Sudan). The text and its translation are as follows (Giveon, Les Bédouins, 26–27; reconstruction of the place names in Rainey and Notley, Sacred Bridge, 103; translation by the author):

A fuller version of this list appears in the hypostyle hall of the temple in Amara West (Nubia) dating to the reign of Ramesses II (1279–1213 bc; Giveon, Les Bédouins, 75–76; corrections in Rainey and Notley, Sacred Bridge, 103; translation by the author):

An additional mention of the Shasu appears in the account of the military campaigns of Seti I (1294–1279 bc) incised on the northern wall of the hypostyle hall of the Karnak temple: “The foe belonging to the Shasu are plotting rebellion. Their chiefs are gathered together, waiting on the mountain ridges of Khurru (H3-rw) … The desolation which the mighty arm of Pharaoh … wrought among the foe belonging to the Shasu—from the fortress of Sillu (T3-rw) to the Canaan (P-k-n-n)” (Giveon, Les Bédouins, 52–53; translation in Rainey and Notley, Sacred Bridge, 103). This text indicates that the Shasu were located in the mountainous areas of Khurru, an alternate Egyptian title for Canaan. Based on Seti’s reliefs on the temple, the fortress of Sillu was one of Egypt’s easternmost forts located somewhere between Egypt and Gaza, probably in the Sinai region or western Negev (Rainey and Notley, Sacred Bridge, 103). The Shasu are also depicted on the east wing of the northern wall of the Karnak temple being attacked by Seti, and elsewhere being taken as captives to Egypt. The bearded Shasu have distinct headdresses and kilts (the relevant registers of Seti’s reliefs are reproduced in Rainey and Notley, Sacred Bridge, 94–95).