The Sea Peoples. Stuff like that is why I'm not really interested in ancient history, very few data points and the world looks completely alien.
The Sea Peoples are one of the least mysterious or alien things about the ancient world, to the point where I don’t think you can understand the world without understanding the phenomenon they represent. They might be considered something like modernity itself.
I don't know about that - but I think there's been a good deal of evidence (even if not completely conclusive) that they were Mediterranean peoples, mostly from Greece and Italy and the islands, who because of climate (like drought or something) were pressured to raid, and also got a little greedy/savage. The true depiction of the Trojan War being less romanticized, and more ancient Barbarian Greeks trying to plunder the wealth of Troy and other kingdoms, etc.
