In the HebrewBible(known to Christians as the Old Testament ) , the Philistines are the double-dyed foeman of the Israelites — an uncircumcised uncivilized tribe intent on destroying God ’s chosen people . The giant Goliath was a Philistine and so was the evil temptress Delilah who cut down mighty Samson ’s haircloth .
For centuries , the Bible " anti-intellectual " has even been tachygraphy for multitude who are common and artless , as in , " The school display board member who desire to cut funding for art and music program are a cluster of philistines . " The term was first coin by a17th - C German university chaplainwho fight back a brawl between his Christian student and the townspeople by brandmark the uneducated topical anaesthetic as no better than " Philistines . "
But do the Philistines deserve their forged scriptural repute ? Who were these people who rule the coastal plain near the Gaza Strip in forward-looking - day Israel for six C , and for whom the terra firma of Palestine deduct its name ?
We utter withAren Maeir , an archeologist at Bar - Ilan University in Israel and conductor of the decade - longexcavations at the ancient Philistine city of Gath . As Maeir explains , the scriptural chronicle are heavy biased against the Philistines , whom the authors of the Hebrew Bible needed to rove as Israel ’s arch enemy and the " ultimate other " in fiat to contrast with the chosen status of the Israelites .
The archeological record , however , narrate a very different story about the Philistines , a highly cultured people who were frequent adversaries of the Israelites , but who also freely intermingled with them over centuries of ethnic exchange .
The Mysterious Origins of the Philistines
The Bible says that the Philistines originated in either Egypt or Crete ( refer to as " Mizraim " and " Caphtor " respectively inGenesis 10:13 - 14 ) , and it ’s clear throughout the biblical business relationship that the Philistines were foreigners who worship strange - sound pagan god and often waged warfare on the Israelites . ( Their reputation as being " uncouth " is not really cite in the Bible , unless through extrapolation from such characters as the lumbering Philistine giant Goliath . )
historiographer agree that thePhilistines get in the scriptural land know as Canaan(roughly mod - day Israel ) around the 13th and 12th century B.C.E. , which correspond to the lateBronze Ageand early Iron Age , but where exactly they came from is up for debate .
As recently as 30 years ago , the consensus was that the Philistines were one of the orphic Sea Peoples who wreak mayhem in the Mediterranean around 1200 B.C.E. That possibility key the Philistines as originating in Mycenaean Greece and invading the Canaanite coast around 1177 B.C.E. as a cohesive and destructive military personnel , and it fit very well with the biblical descriptions of the Philistines as foreign tyke .
But Maeir says that excavations in Philistia , the ancient name for the coastal region where the Philistines settled , show no disk of destroyed Canaanite towns dating from that time geological period . Instead , Maeir and others argue that the Philistines were n’t one cohesive culture that overrun Canaan " five hundred - Day fashion , " but rather a mélange of dissimilar peoples — Mycenaean Greeks , certainly , as well as Egyptians andpirates — who arrived in Philistia at a moment when civilisation around the Mediterranean were collapsing .
" The resolution was an ' entangled refinement ' [ in Philistia ] , what you might call a ' Mediterranean salad , ' " says Maeir .
These mixed peoples apace absorb aspects of the local cultures and Semitic languages of the neighborhood , which is bang broadly as the Levant . And very soon , the mixed cultural bag known as the Philistines coalesced into a distinct masses lay aside from their Israelite neighbour .
DNA evidencerecovered from ancient anti-intellectual memorial park shows that while Iron Age inhabitants of Philistia had 14 pct more European ancestry than early inhabitants of the region — which bear out the idea that at least some Philistines come from the Aegean — those genetic differences disappeared in just 200 years . This DNA evidence go against the biblical account that Hebrew intermarriage with the Philistines was avoided at all cost . There was intelligibly a lot of blend between the Philistines and their neighbor .
Philistine Culture and Religion
archaeologic excavations like those done by Maeir in the anti-intellectual metropolis of Gath paint a ikon of an Iron Age culture that was in many way superscript to that of the Israelites . anti-intellectual settlements were more urban , they made more neat pottery and carry more external trade equate with the pre - monarchy Israelites .
" In the earlier part of the Iron Age at least , the Philistines were more sophisticated and the Israelites were the hillbillies , " read Maeir .
The Philistines may have spoken a trenchant language when they first get in in Canaan , but there are scant written fragments that volunteer clues to what it fathom like . More belike , says Maeir , many languages were to begin with talk in Philistia , but the various mathematical group comprising the original Philistines eventually settled into the exist Semitic linguistic process like Phoenician and biblical Hebrew .
" I ’ve dreamed for age of discover a anti-intellectual ' Rosetta Stone ' with the original non - Semitic spoken language , a Semitic language and a bilingual lettering , " says Maeir , laugh , " but it has n’t appeared yet and I have a feel it ’s never going to . "
The religion of the Philistines is equally shrouded in mystery . According to remnants of Philistine temples and religious figurines , the principal anti-intellectual goddess appear to have been named Dagon . In the Bible , Dagon is false as being a manful deity .
As for the Philistine diet , it was n’t as wildly unlike and " impure " as the Bible would have you conceive . Yes , thePhilistines eat pigs and dog , but so did some Israelites fit in to Maeir . After the destruction ofKing Solomonin 930 B.C.E. , the kingdom split into Israel in the magnetic north and Judah in the south . Maeir says that while the Judahites were much less likely to exhaust pork , the Israelites were n’t as strict .
" The biblical story about the Philistines are ideologically tainted , " says Maeir . " The idea of the Philistines as this strong and fierce radical is not strongly indicated from the archeological corpse . And that ’s because the scriptural text is trying to portray the enemies of Israel as these horrendous , ferocious mass that could only be master through the assistance of God . "
Yet there are even clues from the Bible that the Philistines and the Israelites commingled . The scriptural character Samson battles and kills dandy issue of Philistines , but he alsofalls in lovewith one , Delilah , who ultimately cuckold him . Maeir say that archaeological excavations bear out the chronicle of two people , Philistine and Israelite , with a peck of cultural commonalities and crossover .
" This image of a rampart or fence separating the cultures with barbed wire on top of it is highly questionable , " suppose Maeir , who compares it to the human relationship between modern Israelis and Palestinians . From the exterior , they ’re roam as enemies , but they often work together , live together and share much in coarse culturally .
After the Babylonian conquest , the Philistines were send into exile and never go back their fatherland . Over the ensuing centuries , their distinct culture dwindle and disappeared , engross into other mathematical group they intermarried with .
As for the part where they came from , when the papist EmperorHadrian put down a rising in Judea(in 132 - 135 C.E. ) , he renamed the land Palestinia to minimize the Jewish connection to the body politic . Before modern Israel became a state in 1948 , the nation was call Palestine , an sound reflection of its ancient anti-intellectual past . The subject of whether advanced - day Palestinians are come from the Philistinesis a controversial one , hold logical implication for the Israeli - Palestinian conflict over whom the estate that used to be called Palestine belong to and who were its original settlers .
