Great Green (Wedj-wer) was the Egyptian name for the ocean around Santorini island as distant as Cyprus.
In the tomb of vizier Rekhmire (c.1425 BCE),
Great Green
is described as having "islands" and that Keftiu (Caphtorite) chiefs were in a league with the chiefs of those "islands."
"kftjw (Keftiu/Caphtorites)
jww (and Islands)
ḥrj-jb (in the midst)
nw (of)
w3ḏ wr (Great Green)
—Rekhmire (TT100)
Keftiu (Caphtor) was separated from these
"iww hrii-ibu nu wedj-wer"
("islands in the midst of Great Green")
although it is a member of the confederation.
A 1550 BCE painting of Santorini's sailors shows that people of Atlas or islands of the Great Green have Syrian palaces (archaeologically, Galilee and ), thus they are said they came from
"Pḥw (far)
Sṯt (Syria-Palestine),"
according to Puimre (TT 39).
During the time of Rameses II, this Great Green dried up and men could walk on foot from one island to another.
"May you go through the Lake-land,
traverse the Great-Green,
and search out Osiris your father. He is glad when you found him, and said: This cleans the mouth of his father in his name of Sokar! You have commanded your children to walk on foot and care for your ancestor - that is, him (Sokar) - in their name of 'Carers of Sokar'; you have pressed upon the mouth of your father Osiris;..." - Papyrus Ramesseum 6, frame 3 (British Museum EA10759,3)
Soghi, an Egyptian priest, mentioned also to Athenian legislator Solon (c.630- c. 560 BCE) that the said ocean was easily navigable during the time of the confederation of Atlas. Critias (460 BCE) said that this happened 9,000 years before his time: this may mean that Soghi was using a priestly cryptic long-year to count, and this cryptic priestly year was divisible by 12, which brings us to 1211 BCE as the incident of the confederation of Atlas (Tursha).
Plato (c.428- c.347 BCE), quoting Sonkhi via Solon says:
" For it is related in our records how once upon a time your State stayed the course of a mighty host, which, starting from a distant point in the Atlantic ocean, was insolently advancing
to attack the
whole of Europe, and Asia
to boot.
For the
ocean
there was at that time navigable;
for in front of the
mouth
which you Greeks call, as you say,
'the pillars of Heracles,' there lay an island which was [surrounded by] larger than Libya and Asia together; and it was possible for the
travelers of that time to cross from it to the other islands,
and from the islands to the whole of the continent over against them which encompasses that veritable ocean. For all that we have here, lying within the mouth of which we speak, is evidently a haven having a narrow entrance; but that yonder is a real ocean, and the land surrounding it may most rightly be called, in the fullest and truest sense, a continent. Now in this
island of Atlantis
there existed a
confederation of kings,
of great and marvelous power,
which held sway over all the island, and over many other islands also and parts of the continent." (Timaeus 24e - 25a)
If we will use the language of an Egyptian priest (like Soghi), the Great Green, which was the dried up areas of ocean of Tursha was bigger than Libu (tribe of Libyans) and Assuwa (confederation of 13 countries) combined.
Assuwa was what Greeks called "Asia." and it was a league of 22 Anatolian states in 1370 BCE to oppose Hittites, and later became the name of the region known as "Asia Minor."
Solon (who later died in Cyprus) read
"Talsa"
as "Atlas." In Egyptian records this was
"Tursha"
and king Merneptah first mentioned this group of people in around 1209 BCE. In 14th century Hittite records it was
"Truisa,"
behind Wilusa (Troy) at the same time when people of Knossos Crete called it
"Qerasija" (Therasia),
centering in Santorini Island in the Great Green.
Truisa was one of the 22 countries of the confederation of Assuwa. During the time of Merneptah this turned into 13 members, as Hittite king was conquering their territories in the western part of Turkey.
Arzawa renegades, led by king "Priam," succeeded Assuwa confederation and composed of more than 7,000 rebels (and unknown number of supporters) and was asking sovereignty on Troy (where he was illegally dethroned by Hittite king and replaced by Alexander) and other territories. Priam ("Piyamaradu" in Hittite records) caused troubles to king Alaksandu (Alexander) of Troy as he was wanting to regain his throne but Hittite king did not support him.
Tudhaliya IV (1235-1209 BCE) was mentioning two Lukkan groups, as being members of the Assuwa confederation: namely, "Lugga" and "Warsiya," and one of these (the "Warsiya"), according to Alexander of Troy, was rebellious against the Hittite throne.
And "Priam" supported them during their uprising in the Lukka Land. The Lukka rebels asked help from Tawagalawa, a high Ahhiyawan (Achaean) official, who would take them by ship at Millawanda, but when king Hattusili III (1267-1235 BCE) had to arrive, Priam (c. 1236 BCE), escorting the rebels, took the advantage to be a negotiator, asking a kingdom "on the spot" in exchange of the refugees.
When the negotiation failed, Priam and the 7,000 fugitives escaped, apparently, to islands. Some of them probably reached Therasia, and Crete; and the Lukka who reached the seashore of Egypt were captured by king Rameses II. This was the last time this aged Priam appeared on record.
The remnant of his name is found in the name of the king of Jarmuth who fought against Joshua (fl. 1228 - c. 1139 BCE) mentioned in Joshua 10:3.
General Atreus (Attarsiya) of Ahhiyawa was also fighting Hittites for ancestral claim in Lydia (Arzawa) and Cyprus.
The confederation was succeeded by Tursha (Atlas) confederation, and this time the countries of Peleset, Denyen (Danites), Akwesha (Asherites), Shakarus (Issacahrites) had joined also. They were the mafia of the time, and Hittite king (Suppiuliuma II) thought that Shikala (Shakarus) sailors were doing something suspicious.
In Papyrus Ramesseum 6, 3 a place going to Great Green is described as a "mouth" of the ancestor of "Carers of Shokar" (Issacharites or Shakarus) that was cleaned. It was the entrance or mouth to Tursha (Atlas) from Keftiu (Cyprus) during dried era of Great Green.
