Who, according to legend, fought the Philistines. Philistines (pre-Greek population of the Mediterranean - “peoples of the sea”). See what "Philistines" are in other dictionaries

Philistines (History)

(pre-Greek population of the Mediterranean - “peoples of the sea”)

Modern reconstruction of the Philistine warrior.

Philistines (Origin)

The Philistines (ancient Egyptian Pw-rs-ty (peleset)) are an ancient people who first participated in the invasion of the Sea Peoples, and later settled in Palestine, named after them.

The word "Philistines" first appears in Egyptian sources as the name of one of the so-called "sea peoples" who invaded Egypt in the eighth year of the reign of Pharaoh Ramesses III (circa 1190 BC). The Philistines also participated in the previous wave of invasions by the “sea peoples”, which, according to Egyptian sources, devastated the Hittite lands, the Syrian coast, Cyprus and threatened Egypt during the reign of Merneptah (1212 - 1202 BC)

The origins of the Philistines are not known with certainty. There are many theories regarding the ancestral home of this people, they call Greece, Crete, Western Asia Minor and many others, but none of them is final. Some Philistine names and terms recorded in the Bible appear to be related to the Luwian language, distributed on the west coast of Asia Minor, but the accuracy of these data is questionable. Apparently, archaeological data from Palestine provides food for thought - the ceramics of the Sea Peoples are sharply different from the local ones, at first it was monochrome ceramics very similar to Pizdnemikenska, later, as a result of synthesis with the local tradition, an original bichromic style was developed. There is also a theory connecting the Peleset and the Homeric Pelasgians. Some researchers trace peleset to the Balkan coast, in northern Greece. Part of the Epirus coast was called Palaiste, Palaistine, and for some time Epirus in general was called that way.

The origin of the Philistines is also mentioned in the Bible. First they are taken out of Egypt, but further in the Book of the Prophet Jeremiah (47:4) "... for the Lord will destroy the Philistines, the remnant of the island of Caphtor...", and in the Book of the Prophet Amos (9:7) "... Isn't it brought Israel out of the land of Egypt, and the Philistines out of Caphtor..." However, although it is undoubtedly stated that Capthora is Crete, in fact its exact identification is not known, most likely it is Crete, Cyprus or some part of the southern coast of Asia Minor.

On the walls of the temple of Ramesses III, the Philistines are depicted in Aegean-style clothing and helmets decorated with feathers; similar images from the Late Bronze Age have been found in Cyprus. The Philistine ships were of an unusual shape, while their war chariots and carts did not differ from the generally accepted ones. From the beginning of the 12th century. and until the end of the 11th century. BC e. Characteristic Philistine pottery, bearing strong similarities to the Mycenaean pottery discovered in Cyprus, dominated Philistia and became widespread in the surrounding areas. This pottery is often found throughout ancient Canaan. Another characteristic sign of the Philistine presence are anthropoid ceramic sarcophagi.

According to the Bible, metal smelting was concentrated in the hands of the Philistines.

The original language of the Philistines is unknown; Soon after their arrival in Eretz Israel, they adopted the Canaanite dialect, which was later replaced by the Aramaic language. Since no epigraphic evidence has been preserved in the language of the Philistines, researchers find it difficult to form a definite picture of the specific features of Philistine culture and civilization. Although the cult objects found in Ashdod and Gezer are close to the Aegean, all known Philistine gods bore Semitic names.

Until David's victory over the Philistines, their cities were ruled by the sranim ("leaders"), who formed the council of the Philistine pentacity; it was in the power of the council to overturn the decision of each individual city. The Philistines were able to field a large, well-equipped army, including heavily armed infantry, archers, and war chariots.

Philistines (captured cities)

In the early and mid-12th century BC, the Philistines settled in five cities on the coast: Ashdod, Ashkelon, Gaza, Ekron and Gati. In those cities where excavations were carried out, it turned out that the Philistine settlements stood on a layer of rubble, that is, in fact, the cities were re-founded on the ashes. At first there were probably only relatively small fortifications, but they quickly grew into large cities. Excavations indicate a lack of connection with the culture of the previous inhabitants of these regions - the newcomers brought their own related Mycenaean culture. Local traits entered Philistine culture as a substrate immediately after the conquest - as a result of a long process of synthesis with the remnants of the previous culture. Already after 1150 BC. e. Philistine ceramics acquires unique features, different from the late Mycenaean and post-Mycenaean ones. By the end of the 11th century BC, i.e. over 150-200 years of life in Palestine, Philistine culture loses its unique foreign character, having absorbed local and Egyptian features. However, the peculiar Philistine names, at least among the kings, persisted until the 7th century BC.

The five first Philistine cities of Ashdod, Ashkelon, Gaza, Ekron and Gath formed a union called Pyatigrad or, in Greek, Pentapolis. Each city was headed by a ruler whose title was Serenus. It is not known whether city-states were characteristic of the Philistines back in their ancestral home, or whether they borrowed this form of Hanannites, but these first five cities were the states of the Philistines. However, the possessions of each of them were not limited to the city itself - small cities were subordinate to large cities. Excavations indicate a large number of small Philistine settlements and temples in southern Palestine. The entire union was formed around a common center - the temple of the god Dagon in Gaza, and at first this city was the hegemon. From the middle of the 11th century. BC. leadership in the alliance belonged to Azoth, where the temple of Dagon was also built.

Having captured the southern coast of Canaan, the Philistines did not stop, and from the middle of the 12th century. BC e. continued their conquests, trying to conquer the entire country. They managed to capture a number of cities, including Megiddo, Lachish, Bethel, Gezer, and control the Lower Galilee and the Jordan Valley. The captured cities were first destroyed, but were quickly restored and the power of the Philistine rulers was established there, and sometimes garrisons remained. This happened in Megiddo, which was not only revived, but rebuilt according to the old Canaanite plan with Canaanite architecture. It is not known for certain whether the subordinate cities became independent or remained subordinate until the cities of Pyatigrad, but the second is more likely. However, not all cities were restored; for example, Lachish was completely destroyed, and a new city arose only two hundred years later under completely different conditions. The influence of the Philistines in the country was so great that it itself began to be called by their name, although before that it was only a part of Canaan and had never been distinguished separately.

In the XIII-XII centuries. civilizations on the eastern coast of the Mediterranean were attacked by the so-called. "Sea Peoples" They conquered the Hittite kingdom, Cyprus, destroyed Ugarit, Tire, Sidon and some other Middle Eastern cities. A small group of them - the Philistines - invaded Palestine. Probably, they arrived here through the island of Crete and by this time were carriers of the Cretan-Mycenaean culture. Unlike the inhabitants of Canaan, they knew how to work iron, had metal armor, shields and war chariots, as well as a standing army, and thus greatly surpassed the Canaanites in military strength.

Along with Gaza, Gat (Gat - wine press) and Ashkelon (in Akkadian: - Iskaluna), they conquered Ashdod and made it one of the cities of the Philistine pentapolis. The fifth city of the pentapolis, Ekron, was apparently founded by the Philistines themselves. These cities were ruled by independent rulers - the Serens, but if necessary they could conduct military campaigns together. The main city of the pentapolis during this period was Gaza, in which the temple of the god Dagon was located.

Gath Plishtim (`Gath of the Philistines'), one of the five Philistine city-states, located in the area of ​​modern Kiryat Gat (the exact location of Gath Plishtim is not established). The Ark of the Covenant was transferred here from Azoth and from here to Ekron, due to growths and sores that appeared on the people guarding the Ark (1 Samuel 5:1-12). In Gath was the homeland of Goliath (1 Samuel 17:4,23);

In the 11th century BC e. Ashdod became the dominant Philistine city. Until the first half of the 8th century. BC e. Ashdod is the capital of Philistia. The city is strengthened and expanded. Here they begin to make special Ashdod ceramics.

The area of ​​the city during this period is approximately 80 dunams. The Lower City appears. The Tel Mor fortress is being built at the mouth of the Lachish River (the port of Tel Mor was built before the Philistine invasion, in the 16th century BC).

Until the invasion of the Assyrians, military clashes between the Philistines and the Israelites continued. Military success accompanied first one side and then the other. In 770 BC. e. King Azariah of Judah raided the Philistines. He captured Ashdod, destroyed its walls, and left his garrison in the city.

In the 11th century BC. e. Ashdod became the dominant Philistine city, and remained the capital of Philistia until the first half of the 8th century BC. e. The city strengthens and expands, and special Ashdod ceramics begin to be produced there. The Lower City emerges, the Tel-Mor fortress is built at the mouth of the Lachish river, not far from the port of Tel-Mor, which was built before the Philistine invasion.

In 1066 BC. e. in the battle between the Israelites and the Philistines at Eben-Ezer in the vicinity of Aphekaphilistines captured the Ark of the Covenant, transferred from Shiloh to the Israeli camp. The Philistines moved the Ark of the Covenant to Ashdod (Ashdod) and brought it to the temple of Dagon - the Philistine deity, patron of agriculture and fishing, depicted in the form of a half-man - half-fish.

“The Philistines took the ark of God and brought it from Aben-ezer to Ashdod. And the Philistines took the ark of God, and brought it into the temple of Dagon, and set it next to Dagon. And the Azothites arose early the next day, and behold, Dagon lay with his face to the ground before the ark of the Lord. And they took Dagon, and again put him in his place. And they arose in the morning the next day, and behold, Dagon lay prostrate on the ground before the ark of the Lord; Dagon’s head and two of his arms lay cut off, each separately; only Dagon’s torso remained on the threshold.” (1 Samuel, ch. 5, vv. 1-4).

“And the hand of the Lord was heavy upon the Azothites, and He smote them, and punished them with painful growths, in Ashdod and its environs. And the Azothites saw this and said, Let not the ark of the God of Israel remain with us; for His hand is heavy both for us and for Dagon our god. And they sent and gathered to themselves all the rulers of the Philistines, and said, “What shall we do with the ark of the God of Israel?” and they said, Let the ark of the God of Israel go over to Gath. And they sent the ark of the God of Israel to Gath.” (1 Samuel, ch. 5, vv. 6-8).

The Ark of the Covenant stayed in the Philistine regions for seven months, and the Philistines did not know how to get rid of the Ark and the painful growths with which the Lord of the Israelites had punished them. On the advice of priests and soothsayers, the Philistines placed the Ark of the Covenant on a chariot drawn by cows that did not have a yoke. They placed a box on the side of the Ark of the Lord, putting in it golden things (five golden mice and five sculptures of growths), which they sacrificed as trespass offerings to the God of Israel, and released the Ark of the Covenant on its free journey.

Ashdod (Azod) is an ancient Canaanite city captured by the Philistines.

Ashkelon is an ancient Canaanite city captured by the Philistines.

The first mentions of the city date back to the 19th century. b.c.e. according to rock inscriptions in Egypt, and in the 12th century. b.c.e. the city was conquered by Ramses. Residents of Ashkelon tried to rebel more than once, but their discontent was suppressed by force, the inhabitants were taken captive, and the city was destroyed. This became known from the Egyptian “curse shards” - tablets on which the name of the city was written, and then they were broken at a special ceremony. thereby showing that even the name of the city is being erased from history.

Reconstruction of a typical Philistine Temple

Typical Etruscan Temple (for comparison)

Philistines (Sculpture and tombs)

In Palestine they find the so-called Mycenaean III CIB pottery, which is very similar to both Mycenaean itself and Cypriot, where, according to scientists, it appeared as a result of the migration of a group of Mycenaean Greeks. Initially, during the first decades of their life in Canaan, the Philistines made typically Mycenaean monochrome pottery, but later, under local and Egyptian influence, they developed a new, original style of two-color, so-called “Philistine” pottery.

The first Philistine settlement in Ashdod was well planned but fortified. Only at the end of the 11th century BC did they surround the city, which had grown from 20 to 100 acres, with a powerful wall. Perhaps this is due to the wars with the Israelis. A similar situation is observed at Ekron (Tel Miknei), which was surrounded by walls only in the 10th century. Philistine settlements found in the north of Shefela - Gezer, Tel Batash (possibly Timna), Beit Shemesh, confirm biblical data about the Philistine attempts to invade the depths of Canaan. The Philistines were also the dominant population group in the northwestern Negev and southern Coastal Plain.

Philistine architecture is quite unusual for Canaan. Two structures were found at Tel Miknei, in the central halls of which there were brick plastered hearths. This type of fire is not known in Canaanite architecture, but was common in Anatolia, the Aegean Islands and Cyprus. Also alien to the Canaanite tradition is the practice of building an additional small temple next to the main sanctuary, which is celebrated at Tel Miknei. However, this tradition has correspondences in the Egeids and Cyprus, where similar complexes have been known since the 13th-12th centuries BC, for example, in Mycenae, Phylakopi and the island of Melos, Kitian in Cyprus. The cult figurines of seated goddesses or women from Ashdod are clearly of Mycenaean origin and indicate the influence of the Mycenaean tradition. Two local seals from Ashdod have short inscriptions in Linear script reminiscent of the undeciphered Cypro-Minoan script of the Late Bronze Age from Cyprus. Although only a few signs are known, they indicate that the Philistines had a writing system, presumably of Aegean origin.

A similar foreignness is observed in the burials. At Azora, traces of cremation are recorded, which is completely alien to the Canaanite practice of the Late Bronze Age. True, it is still impossible to say how widespread cremation was among the Sea Peoples. Another type of burial was found in burial ground 600 near southern Tel el-Far in the northern Negev. Here, burial pits were used in rock-cut caves. Also widespread was the practice of burial in humanoid sarcophagi found in Tel el-Fari, Deir el-Balas and Beit Sana (Scetopolis). The lids of these sarcophagi are similar to the famous "Mask of Agamemnon", found by Schliemann at Mycenae, although some of them show a strong Egyptian influence, which is probably explained by the long service of the Philistines as mercenaries in the armies of the pharaohs.

Philistine sarcophagi - 10th century. BC.

Well, the most interesting thing... GENETICS data (as of 2010)

According to the world famous geneticist and chemist A.A. Klyosov. ( see Klyosov A.A., Tyunyaev A.A., ORIGIN OF HUMAN according to archaeology, anthropology and DNA genealogy”, Publishing House of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Boston - Moscow, 2009. Reviewers: E.Ya. Wittenberg, Doctor of Historical Sciences, Professor, Russian State University for the Humanities (Russia, Moscow), July 2010 (review). A.F. Nazarova, Doctor of Biological Sciences, coordinator of the Interdepartmental Group for Integrated Study of Populations, Institute of Problems of Ecology and Evolution of the Russian Academy of Sciences named after Severtsov (Russia, Moscow), February 2010. Link - http://www.organizmica.org/archive/611/pcpda.shtml ) :

“...In the 2nd millennium BC. The Pelasgians began to penetrate into Egypt, where information about them was preserved as “the peoples of the sea” [Dyakonov, 1968]: Er. peoplesea - “sea peoples”; pelasgoi - Pelasgians; Peloroppesos - Peloponnese, named after the Pelasgians; Pulasti - Egypt. Philistines; Palastu - Assyrian. Philistines; Palestipe - Palestine (named after the Philistines)

For completeness, it should be mentioned that works appeared in the Western press in which the Philistines were identified as haplogroup J2 - in fact, only on the basis that they were active on the Mediterranean coast. These works are a good example of a completely uncritical analysis of the material. The alternative that the Philistines could belong to other haplogroups was not even considered in those works.

... The Egyptians called this land [of the Philistines] Retsen (Retenu), that is, with the consonance of the Egyptian letter - gsp, rsп, (rtn) - it could receive any vowels, in particular, such as - gasep, rusen, rasna, etc.

... The Iron Age in Palestine began with the advent of 1200 BC. the Philistines, who brought the secret of iron making to these areas, as well as new funeral customs, painted Mycenaean-style pottery and advanced stone construction technology. During the period from 1200 to 900 BC. The Philistines dominated the entire coast...

... The name of the Philistines is Canaan. pelistim, English philistine, Greek Palaistipe, Egypt. Pulasti, heb. Pelistim, Assyrian. Palastu, Greek bib. Fulistieim; classic Palaistinoi Sugoi (folk etymology allojuloi, “foreign women”), from which the name Palestine comes = reli/Palai/Pulalstipe = Pela(sgov)lstan. This can be quite accurately identified with the name of the Pelasgians - Greek. Pelasgoi (Pela + 5 + goi), - from which the name of the Peloponnese comes - Pelolponnesos = “The land by the sea sang”…

... We can say with confidence that “the Philistines did not belong to a Semitic tribe and were not natives (autochthons) in Syria...”

Sincerely,

Alex. A. Almistov

Coordinator of the Project “Russian Atlantological Community (Association) - RAS (A) - http://paca.ucoz.ru/
Author's Video

In this issue of our column “Facts about countries in a nutshell” - about the Palestinians and Philistines.

The illustration is from the book on the history of Israel “On the Paths of Jewish History” (first edition 1967).

In an illustration from the book on the history of Israel “On the Paths of Jewish History” (first edition 1967, Russian edition 1993) by American researcher Ruth Samuels:

An ancient stone relief from Egyptian Thebes that has survived to this day. It depicts the Philistines captured by the Egyptian pharaoh Ramses III.

Before attacking the Hebrew tribes, the Philistines attacked Egypt, but were defeated by the latter.

However, the Philistines for some time managed to conquer part of the lands of modern Israel and Palestine, inhabited by the Israelite tribes and other Canaanite tribes.

Let us note that the Philistines, by their origin, had no relation to the modern Palestinian Arabs, who, nevertheless, list the Philistines, this rather predatory and quickly disappeared people, as their relatives.

Read more about this in our review.

You can often hear that the ancient Philistines are modern Palestinians. And Palestine owes its name to them. Some argue that the Philistines were the original population of Palestine, where the Israelites then came. Can Palestinians be called descendants of the Philistines? And do the Palestinians have any grounds in this regard to declare their undivided claims to Palestine? Let's talk about this based on the facts of history and ethnography.

Palestinian version

and preliminary comments

Here is a fragment of material by Palestinian Faisal Saleh Al-Kheiri, published in 2007 on the website of the Palestinian Information Center (a website associated with the current (2013) Hamas authorities in Gaza).

However, before moving on to quoting fragments of the mentioned note by the Palestinian author, reflecting the Palestinians’ opinion on their origin in connection with their claims to Palestine (this is what makes the note interesting), let’s comment on some of its most important passages.

In his material, the Palestinian author writes that modern Palestinian Arabs are the direct descendants of the Philistines, who in turn were related by origin to the Amorites. Moreover, the first inhabitants of Palestine, then Hannan, were, as is widely believed, the people of the Amorites (Amorites). The Palestinian author, however, emphasizes that the Amorites were the ancestors of the modern Arabs.

If we analyze these statements, we can also say that the Amorites are also the ancestors of the Israelites, because Abraham was an Amorite by origin, or rather belonged to the Arameans, who are believed to be a branch of the Amorite Semites (Amorites) who dominated Akkad, Mari, Babylon. From the descendants of Abraham, according to the Bible, came Jews and Arabs. These two peoples, according to scientific data, are closely related Semitic peoples (Recently, for example, comparisons were made of the genetic makeup of the two peoples, which once again convincingly proved this fact. It turned out that Arabs and Jews are genetically the closest peoples to each other). Returning to the Amorites, it should be noted that they inhabited a fairly large territory, extending far beyond the borders of modern Palestine and Israel. The ancient geographical concept of Hannan included modern Palestine, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon and part of Syria.

As for the Philistines, according to current scientific ideas, these people came to Palestine from the sea, and were not Semitic in origin, like modern Palestinian Arabs or Jews. But we will talk about all this a little later, as well as about other statements of the Palestinian author. In the meantime, the stated excerpt from the Palestinian material:

“(The Arabs) used to call Palestine "land of al-Sham"(ash-Shām)...(This name meant the region of Syria, Palestine, Jordan and Lebanon. Note website)

In Akkadian texts of the third millennium BC, Palestine is known as "Amoro", or Arab land. The Mediterranean Sea is also called the same name in these texts - “Amorite Sea”. This name goes back to the Amorites, the first known Semitic people. This was the main people who inhabited Syria and Palestine. Some researchers believe that the Canaanites are descended from the Amorites, and the Jebusites (otherwise, the Jebusites) are from the Canaanites...

Then the country received the name “Land of Canaan” or simply Canaan... The name is also found in the surviving inscriptions of Tel el-Amarna (in Egypt)...

It seems that the name Hannan also applied to the Phoenicians. Thus, the name “Palestine” in its various forms was preceded by the word “Canaan”, which became the main one among the former names. This name and word are still alive.

According to some reputable scholars, the Palestinians were close to the Canaanites and were of the same origin. They settled on the southern Canaanite coast around 1185 BC. This coast was named after them - Palestine, and then this name spread to the rest of the area. The name "Palestinians" is often found in many Egyptian sources, in particular in the surviving wall inscriptions in the temple of Madinat Habu from the time of Ramesses III (Thebes, Egypt). The Egyptians called the Palestinians pist... It can be concluded that this place name meant the Palestinian coast, the land of Palestine, located between the Sinai in the south and the Jordan Valley in the east. The Greeks used this name to refer to the coastal region from the beginning. The Greek historian Herodotus (484-425 BC) associated this name with the Aramaic word "Palestine". Sometimes we find him using the word to designate southern Syria or Syrian Palestine, and Phoenicia down to the borders of Egypt.

This name was used by such major historians as Strabo, Diodorus, Ptolemy and Pliny. Over time the title "Palestine" took the place of the general name for Palestinian Syria. And during the time of the Romans the name "Palestine" began to apply to all holy lands. The Roman Emperor Vespasian minted this name on his money after his victory over the Jews in 70, thus giving the name official status. The Byzantines inherited this name from the Romans. From "Palestine" Arabic word originated "Falastin"- Palestine" . End of quote.

What the facts say

Canaan, everyone agrees

As the semi-official electronic Jewish encyclopedia points out, “the name Canaan comes from the word "henna", which means “purple color” in the language of the ancient Hurrians). Note that the Hurrians are one of the oldest peoples of Mesopotamia, whose origin is not precisely established, but their language is close to Urartian - one of the oldest on the planet.

The Encyclopedia continues: “In the Bible, Canaan is the land promised by God to Israel (Gen. 17:8; Exod. 6:4). According to the Bible, the name is sometimes used to refer to the entire territory of Syria and Eretz Yisrael (Land of Israel), but usually it refers only to the coastal strip. According to Gen. 10:19, Canaan extended from Sidon in the north to Gaza in the south and to the southern tip of the Dead Sea in the east.

Apparently, the name accepted in Western civilization Phoenicia is the equivalent of the name Canaan and the eponym of the Phoenicians and as the name of their country." In this regard, Israeli sources have no disagreements with the interpretation of the Palestinian author.

Israelis

- the original people of this land

It should be noted that according to Old Testament sources, the Israelites began to live in Canaan in the immemorial period. This period dates back to the XXI-XX centuries. BC e. The Palestinian author does not mention this.

“The Book of Genesis tells how the founder of the Jewish people, Abraham, was sent from the Sumerian city of Ur to the land of Canaan to lay the foundation for a people who believed in one God,” recalls an essay on the history of the country from the publication of the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs).

“Abraham settled in the hilly part of Canaan, less accessible to raids; the lands in these places were not particularly attractive to the Canaanites. In Mamre, not far from Hebron, he pitched his black tents made of goatskins,” in turn, melancholy notes the modern popular essay on the history of Israel “On the Paths of Jewish History” by the American researcher Ruth Samuels (first edition 1967, Russian edition in Israel 1993) and notes: “(Abraham’s grandson) the Jewish people owe their new name to Jacob. The Bible says that he met a certain stranger. After a struggle between them, the stranger revealed to Jacob that he was an angel, a messenger of God, and gave him the name Israel (Israel), which means “he who wrestled with God.” Therefore, the descendants of Jacob began to be called the sons of Israel.

The Amorites were not Arabs

“Canaan was not a densely populated country. The Canaanites lived on a plain where they grew barley, fig trees and date palms and grazed herds of cattle and flocks. Many cities were surrounded by fortress walls with powerful towers, behind which the population could hide from the frequent raids of nomads from across the Jordan, stealing livestock and plundering the harvest,” further writes an essay on the history of Israel “On the Paths of Jewish History” by the American researcher Ruth Samuels.

The Canaanites here refer to other Semitic tribes.

About real

Philistines

The location of the Philistine territory (Philistia) adjacent to the lands of the twelve tribes of Israel (highlighted by colored helmets) and other tribes of the land of Canaan (present-day Israel, Palestine, Jordan and Syria).

As of 1200-1050. BC.

Although the ancient Philistines have no relation in origin to modern Arab Palestinians, it is interesting to talk about them, if only because they left their name to Palestine (see the main text of the review).

Ruth Samuels, in the modern publication on the history of Israel, “On the Paths of Jewish History,” already mentioned in the main text of our review, writes about these real (so to speak) Philistines:

« The Philistines came from far away. They arrived from the island of Crete to Asia Minor on ships, crossing the Aegean Sea, and from there they moved on foot and in oxcarts. Their path was marked by plunder and bloodshed; they cherished plans for extensive conquests, intending to profit even at the expense of powerful Egypt...

In two bloody battles, the Egyptian army under the leadership of Ramesses III drove the Philistines back from their border fortifications. One of these battles was a naval battle off the mouth of the Nile River, where the Egyptians destroyed enemy ships, preventing an amphibious landing. Another battle took place on land, where victory was achieved thanks to the experience and strength of the Egyptians.

AND the history of land battles between the Egyptians and the Philistines is vividly reflected on the reliefs of the Egyptian temple at Madinat Habu near ancient Thebes. In these images, the Egyptian figures look small and fragile compared to the tall Philistines, who wear helmets on their heads. The reliefs depict many captive Philistines and have inscriptions that reflect the Egyptians' pride in their great victory.

The Philistines invaded Canaan, encountering little resistance from the local population, helpless in the face of such an enemy. They occupied the rich coastal plain with its Canaanite settlements and founded five large city-states: Ashkelon, Ashdod, Ekron, Gaza and Gath. Each of these five cities on the southern part of the fertile coast was headed by an independent prince, but they were all closely united, both in time of peace and in time of war. The Philistines then attempted to conquer the lands that belonged to the Israelites. They managed to expel the tribe of Dan from its territory, and then the people of this tribe moved to the far north of the country...

Israel desperately resisted the onslaught of the Philistines. The Israeli hero Samson, famous for his extraordinary physical strength, aroused admiration both among his people and among his enemies - the Philistines. Having captured Samson through cunning with the help of his Philistine lover Delilah, and then blinded Samson, the Philistines put him on public display during their festival in Gaza. Deprived of sight, he exerted his last strength and so shook the columns of the huge Philistine temple that the temple collapsed, burying many enemies and Samson himself under its ruins...

The Philistines became masters of the country. They destroyed the sanctuary. The Ark with the Tablets of the Covenant fell into the hands of enemies... The priests and Levites (scientists) scattered wherever they looked.

It was no easy task to maintain faith in the hearts of the children of Israel in those dark days. Fear and disappointment gripped the people. The Israelites were forced to pay exorbitant tribute to the Philistines. They were forbidden to carry weapons, and even the sharpening of their hoes and plows was entrusted only to Philistine blacksmiths. Only they were engaged in the manufacture of any products from iron - an expensive metal at that time. Many of the sons of Israel, in bitterness, turned away from faith in their God and indulged in the cult of Baal and Ashtoreth, the gods of their masters.

However, despite the despair caused by defeat, the Israelis managed to win a victory of a different kind. The Philistines returned their most prized possession, the Ark of the Covenant. These superstitious enemies of Israel, fearing the mysterious properties of the shrine they had captured, began to think that the Ark was bringing them illnesses and other misfortunes, and therefore transported it back to Israeli territory. From here the inhabitants of Kiryat Yearim, who lived on the border between the possessions of the tribes of Judah and Binyamin, transported him to the mountains. Faithful priests, Abinadab and his son Elazar, took upon themselves the care of the Ark in anticipation of the day when a new sanctuary would be built..."

The chief judge Samuel managed to hold back the onslaught of the Philistines; his work was continued by the first Israeli king Saul, whom Samuel chose. In general, due to the invasion of the Philistines, the ancient Israelites abandoned the authority of judges and leaders and demanded a strong kingship. The Philistines were finally defeated by Saul's successor and former shepherd, proclaimed king - David. Note that Soon after this, the Philistines disappeared among the other Canaanite peoples, disappearing from history. David subjugated the other Hannan tribes and made friends with the neighboring powerful ruler - the king of the Phoenicians (another Lebanese) Hiram.

Note website for the modern American publication on the history of Israel “On the Paths of Jewish History” (first edition in the USA - 1967, Russian edition in Israel - 1993)

The Semi-Official Electronic Jewish Encyclopedia notes on this topic:

“In the Bible, the inhabitants of Canaan are called Canaanites, but they are an ethnic conglomerate of peoples (mainly Western Semites, including the Phoenicians). (In turn) the name Amorite (also spelled Amorite, Amorite, Emori), a name that in the Bible designates the entire population of Canaan or part of it before the Israelites settled there, and also refers to one of the seven nationalities or ethnic groups, displaced by Israelite tribes. The Semitic origin of this name is confirmed by extra-biblical sources. In Sumerian and Akkadian texts of the XXIII-XVI centuries. BC e. the Sumerian word martu and the Akkadian amurru occur as a geographical term meaning "west".

Abraham himself “belonged to the Arameans, apparently a branch of the Semites-Amorites (Amorites) who dominated Akkad, Mari, and Babylon. The Arameans are first mentioned in Assyrian inscriptions of the 12th century. An ancient prayer (Deut. 26:5) directly calls the ancestor of the Israelites “arami obed” - “wandering Aramean.” Abraham’s nephew Laban (brother’s son) is directly called in the Bible an Aramean (Genesis 25:20),” the Russian author Alexander Men pointed out in his “History of Religion.”

Indeed, it is believed that the Amorites (Amorites) were a nomadic Semitic people who lived in scattered groups both in Mesopotamia (modern Iraq) and, according to the Bible (Num. 21:13-25), on the territory of the eastern bank of the Jordan River. Later Arab historians, in particular Ibn Khaldun, included part of this people who lived in Canaan, along with some other original Semitic tribes of Palestine, as part of the Amalekites. To equate the name of the area where the Amorites lived with the “Arab land,” as the Palestinian author does in his note, would be an exaggeration, since these were, after all, Amorites, not Arabs.

Amorites, Jebusites lose

Israelis and assimilate

“The Israelites left Canaan when there was a famine, and Abraham's son Jacob (in Jewish tradition Israel) along with his 12 sons and their families settled in Egypt, where their descendants later became slaves and were forced to do backbreaking labor. Then, after 400 years of slavery, Moses paved the way for freedom for the Jews. As the Bible says, God chose Moses specifically to lead his people out of Egypt and bring them to the Land of Israel, bequeathed by their forefathers,” the above-mentioned essay on the history of the country by the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs outlines the history of the Egyptian slavery of the Israelis and the liberation from it.

The chronology of the exodus of Jews from Egypt, according to the interpretation accepted in Israel (publication of the Israeli Foreign Ministry), is as follows: Approximately XIII century BC. - exodus from Egypt: Moses leads the Israelites out of Egypt after 40 years of wandering in the desert. At Mount Sinai the Torah and the Ten Commandments were given to the Jewish people; XIII-XII centuries BC - the Israelis settled in the Land of Israel;

The Amalekites, as some of the local Amorites later began to be called, who began to fight with the returning Israelites, were defeated by the successor of the Prophet Moses in leading the Israeli people, Yehoshua (Joshua). The remnants of the Amalekites migrated to Arabia. It is believed that they mixed there with the Ishmaelites. Let us recall that according to the Arab tradition, the son of Abraham from the slave Hagar Ishmael (the Ishmaelites were his descendants) is considered in the Arab tradition the ancestor of modern Arabs.

Also, the enemies of the Israelites after their return from Egyptian slavery were the Jebusites, or otherwise the Jebusites. The Jebusites are a people of Semitic origin who are believed to have been close in morals to the Amorites and Hittites. The Jebusites were also defeated by the Israelites and later assimilated. And it was from the Jebusites that the Israeli king David later conquered Jerusalem.

What about the Philistines?

Another nationality mentioned in the above passage by the Palestinian author are the Philistines. It is believed that the military danger from the Philistines was one of the reasons why a monarchy was first introduced in ancient Israel instead of democratic rule. The first Israeli king Saul began to fight the yoke of the Philistines, and his successor, King David, defeated them, and also conquered all other nations in the territory where Israel and Palestine are now located.

The chronology of this period, according to the accepted interpretation in Israel (publication of the Israeli Foreign Ministry), is as follows: “The first king Saul (approximately 1020 BC) united the tribes scattered throughout the Land of Israel, and then transferred full power to his successor David. King David (ca. 1004-965 BC) extended his power throughout the region through successful military campaigns, including the final defeat of the Philistines.”

But how did the Philistines end up in Israel? The already cited essay on the history of Israel, “On the Paths of Jewish History,” by the American researcher Ruth Samuels, talks about the first appearance of the Philistines in Israel (for more details, see the sidebar), and this happens after the return of the Israelites from Egyptian slavery:

“A great danger looms over Israel. His most serious enemy appeared - the Philistines. The Philistines came from far away. They arrived from the island of Crete to Asia Minor by ship, crossing the Aegean Sea, and from there they moved on foot and in oxcarts.

Their path was marked by plunder and bloodshed; they cherished plans for extensive conquests, intending to profit even at the expense of powerful Egypt...

In two bloody battles, the Egyptian army under the leadership of Ramesses III drove the Philistines back from their border fortifications... But the Philistines also invaded Canaan, encountering almost no resistance from the local population, helpless in the face of such an enemy... The Philistines then tried to conquer the lands that belonged to to the Israelis. They managed to expel the tribe of Dan from its territory, and then the people of this tribe moved to the far north of the country... In hieroglyphic texts The Philistines were called "Peles et." This is where the name “Palestine” comes from. Note that in Hebrew “plishtim” literally means “invaders.”

In other words, the Philistines were not the indigenous Semitic people of the territories where modern Israel and Palestine are located.

As a consequence, the very existence of the Philistines, as well as the fact of the name Palestine, which has come from ancient times, cannot be an argument to justify the claims of modern Palestinian Arabs to Palestine, because Palestinian Arabs have no direct family connection with the Philistines. Scientists believe (this is also written about, for example, by such a neutral, verifiable source as the English-language Wikipedia) that the Philistines were not even a Semitic people, and modern Arabs (and therefore modern Palestinians, Palestinian Arabs), as well as Jews, are all still belong to the Semitic group of peoples.

Moreover, if in general the Arabs have centuries-old connections with the land of Canaan (modern Israel and Palestine), for example through the descendants of Abraham (if we talk about biblical history), or (speaking from the standpoint of science) through the genetic connections of Semitic peoples, then the Palestinian Arabs there are no special ties with Palestine. At least, no more than any other Arab. As the Jewish Academic Encyclopedia aptly notes, “Palestinian Arabs do not have any special cultural, linguistic or cultural differences from the Arabs of neighboring countries. Until the middle of the 20th century, the Palestinians did not consider themselves a separate people, but only after Israel occupied Jerusalem for political purposes did they proclaim themselves as such.” End of quote.

It should also be noted that Arabs as a political force established themselves in Palestine only during the period of the Arab Caliphate. Then the conquest of the Arabs, which began from Arabia under the banner of the spread of Islam, covered vast territories, from Spain to India. The conquest of Palestine by the Arabs took place after 636. Although, of course, even before that, Bedouin Arab tribes roamed these territories, ruled by various conquerors - from the Romans to the Byzantines.

To summarize, we can say that Palestinian Arabs can only very indirectly be considered the original inhabitants of Palestine, and then only because they belong to the common Arab ethnic group, which, in turn, has ancient Semitic roots. At the same time, their Jewish relatives have much greater grounds for this territory, because in ancient times they were able to leave a more significant mark on the lands of Palestine and Israel, although they were forced to leave these lands for a long period.

In contact with

The Philistines are an ancient people who inhabited the coastal part of Israel (from modern Tel Aviv to Gaza), starting from the 12th century BC. e. Repeatedly mentioned in the Old Testament (starting with Gen. 10:14), as well as in Assyrian and Egyptian sources.

In the Middle East, only the Philistines (Pelasgians) and the Hittites mastered the technology of steel smelting, marking the beginning of the Iron Age. According to recent discoveries, the Philistines in the XII-IX centuries. also lived in Syria (Amuk Valley).

Origin

The Philistines were not native to Palestine. From Deut.2:23, Jer.47:4 and Amos.9:7 it can be understood that the Philistines came from the island of Caphtor (Crete), but there is no exact information about their further migrations. They probably inhabited the area near Mount Kasios, located east of the Nile Delta.

Some of the Philistines first moved there from Crete along with those “peoples of the sea” who in the 12th century. BC e. attacked Egypt. Later they reached the southern borders of Canaan (Palestine), passing through the area near Mount Kasios.

Another part of the Philistines moved to Canaan directly from the island of Crete. Traditions about them have been preserved since the time of Abraham and Isaac (Gen. 21:32,34; 26; Exod. 13:17; 15:14; 23:31).

The Cretan origin of the Philistines is also confirmed by the fact that Crete corresponds to the region (or part of it) that Egyptian texts designate as “the land of Kefto.”

In one of the Egyptian documents the name Achish is found, which in the Bible is borne by King Geta. In addition, on one of the Egyptian reliefs from the time of Ramses III, captive warriors of the “Sea Peoples” are depicted in headdresses decorated with feathers, such as those worn by the ancient inhabitants of Crete.

In 1 Samuel 30:14 speaks of Kereti (Crete), while vv. 16 mentions “the land of the Philistines.” (Compare Ezek. 25:16; Zeph. 2:5, where the Cretans are also identified with the Philistines).

According to one version, the Philistines are identified with. Some modern scientists identify the Philistines with the Pelasgians, who, according to one version, were an Indo-European people.

Philistines in Syria

In the 11th–9th centuries, on the Amuk plain in Syria, there was a state created by the “peoples of the sea” (its ceramics are identical to the late Mycenaean, as for the Philistines of Palestine), called wa-la/li-sa-ti-ni in late Luwian sources, and in Assyrian like Pattin. The names of the rulers of this country in the 9th century are known - King Taita and his wife Kupapiyas.

Philistines in the Bible

Being a sea people and worshiping the sea deity Dagon, the Philistines were not too interested in colonizing the inland lands of Canaan, far from the sea, where nomadic Semites-Israelites began to invade from the east. However, the Philistines repeatedly conquered the Israelites living on both banks (Judges 10:7). The famous Israeli hero died (Judges 16:25-31) in captivity in the Philistine city of Gaza. It was to resist Philistine expansion that the Israelite tribes consolidated under the rule of the king. However, the Philistines not only inflicted a crushing defeat on the Israelites, but also took the sacred Ark of the Covenant as a trophy. However, faced with numerous disasters that they associated with the ark (according to the biblical text, (1 Samuel 5:1-6:18)), the Philistines were forced to return the Ark of the Covenant to the Israelites.
King David himself began his career as a Philistine vassal and, not without the help of the Philistines, reigned first in Hebron and then in Jerusalem.

After the division of the Kingdom of Israel, clashes between the Philistines and Jews resumed. Under Jehoram, the Philistines plundered Judah and Jerusalem (2 Chron. 21:16ff.), but under Uzziah they were defeated by the Israelites (2 Chron. 26:6ff.). Under Ahaz, Judah suffered from Philistine raids on the cities located on the plain and in the south, and the Philistines chose some of these cities as the place of their settlement (2 Chron. 28:18). Hezekiah defeated the Philistines (2 Kings 18:8).

By the time the Jews returned from Babylonian captivity (6th century BC), the Azotians (inhabitants of biblical Ashdod) continued to preserve their language (the local Canaanite dialect) and even assimilated the Jews. (Neh. 13:24)

Photo gallery

Helpful information

Philistines
Hebrew פלישתים
Arab. فلستينيون
English Philistines‎
translit. "plishtim"
verbatim "invading"

Famous Philistines

• Achish is the king of Gath, the patron of David.
• Goliath is David's opponent.
• Delilah is Samson's friend who later betrayed him.
• Taita and Kupapiyas - the ruler of the Syrian Philistines and his wife.

Material culture

Philistine ceramics are close enough to the ceramics of the Cretan-Mycenaean culture, so that even if the Philistines were not directly related to Crete, at least they had close ties with this culture and were influenced by it. Early Philistine pottery found in the excavations of Ashkelon, Ashdod, Ekron and Gath is a local variant of Late Helladic pottery of the 3rd period. Similar pottery of the Helladic type outside Greece, in addition to the territory of the Philistines, is also known in Cilicia and in the Amuk Valley.

The Philistines were the first to introduce iron culture to Canaan. Archaeologists have discovered iron daggers, sickles, swords, spearheads, plow elements and even jewelry made by the Philistines. Such early mastery of iron production technology speaks in favor of their origin in northern Anatolia or the Caucasus, where it most likely first appeared. In the ruins of Philistine cities, a large number of beer jugs were found, equipped with spouts with a filter to retain barley husks floating in freshly brewed beer. Thus, the Philistines preferred beer, the traditional drink of Greek warriors. The Philistines also made wine; pig and dog bones found in excavations suggest that the meat of these animals was part of the regular diet of the Philistines.

Writing and language

In the first centuries after their migration to Palestine, the Philistines probably still spoke their own language, glosses of which are preserved in the Old Testament. The language is also probably represented by extremely sparse fragmentary inscriptions.

However, already by the 9th century. BC e. The Philistines, while continuing to maintain their ethnic and cultural identity, switched mainly to the local Canaanite (West Semitic) dialect, developing their own Philistine Semitic language, also known as the Ekronian language, in which a number of inscriptions were made.

The crossing of the Philistines around the 3rd century. BC e. language roughly coincides with the cessation of their mention as a separate people.

Religion

Among the Philistine deities, Dagon occupied the most important place - temples dedicated to this god were located in Gaza and Azoth; and Baal-Zebub (Beelzebub), worshiped in Ekron and the goddess Astarte (Ashtart).

According to the Old Testament, for their hostility towards the people of Israel, the Philistines again and again suffered the punishments predicted by the prophets (see Isa.11:14; Jer.25:20; 47; Ezek.25:15-17; Amos.1:6-8; Zeph.2:4-7). However, the Bible also predicts that the Philistines will eventually come to know the true God (Zech. 9:5-7).

• The ethnonym Philistines is often found on the pages of the Bible. It is only known that this people once owned Palestine and during the invasion of the Jewish


• the settlers offered them fierce resistance. Having settled in Palestine, the Jews almost immediately found themselves into political and cultural bondage to the Philistines.


• The Israelis only managed to throw off this yoke under King David, who previously served bodyguard of the king of the Philistines.

That's about all the Bible says about the Philistines. However, recent archaeological, linguistic and paleoethnographic research has added a lot to the scant information about a long-vanished people.

Term Philistines- a typical adaptation of the Hebrew in the Greek translation of the Bible pelishtim. In turn, the biblical pelishtim- alteration of a word Pelasgians with a characteristic rethinking of this ethnonym, which acquired the meaning wanderers, migrants. The self-name of the Pelasgians underwent a similar rethinking among the ancient Athenians, who called this people pelargs (storks) - obviously, due to the Pelasgians’ penchant for wandering, noted by the Jews.

From a modified ethnonym pelishtim and received its current name Palestine (Land of the Philistines). It is interesting that Ancient Greece, before being called Hellas, was designated by the word Pelasgia(Herodotus testifies to this).

The Pelasgians are a forgotten people. The Etruscans (according to some ethnographers, the closest relatives of the Pelasgians) were luckier. Historians rediscovered them a little more than two centuries ago, and since then the culture and history of the Etruscans have become the object of constant attention of specialists and the general public. It is in connection with the Etruscans that the Pelasgians are sometimes mentioned. However, the Pelasgians, perhaps, played a much more significant role in world history than the Etruscans. Pelasgians are Greece before the Greeks, Palestine before the Jews, Maghreb before the Phoenicians, Italy before the Etruscans, England before the Celts...

Based on the surviving traces of the Pelasgian language, linguists made a conclusion about the Indo-European origin of this people. It is also known that its representatives were “golden-haired”, that among the gods they honored the ruler of the sea (Poseidon) above all else and were sometimes called his sons. The Pelasgians led a sedentary lifestyle and lived in cities. Most of the cities that are now revered as Greek were founded by the Pelasgians (Athens, Argos, Corinth, Iolcus, etc.).

The favorite name of the Pelasgian cities is Larissa. During the settlement of the Pelasgians, this name appeared over a vast territory: from the Black Sea to Syria, from Northern Mesopotamia to Northern Italy. Only one Larissa has survived to our time - Larissa of Pelasgia in northern Greece.

The Pelasgians built the walls of their cities from giant stones carefully fitted to each other. The Greeks called these walls cyclopean or Pelasgian walls.

The Greeks, who came to the Balkans much later than the Pelasgians, adopted navigation skills from the latter. The role of the Pelasgians in the formation of the Greek ethnos itself was also great; after all, according to Herodotus, “before their unification with the Pelasgians, the Hellenes were few in number.”

XII century BC - special and, perhaps, one of the most significant lines in the historical chronicle. During this period, the process of migration of ethnic groups suddenly acquired a worldwide, chaotic and avalanche-like character: entire peoples are removed from their homes, freeing them up for foreigners, and they themselves go thousands of kilometers away to either die there, or destroy, expel, enslave another ethnic group...

Overnight, Greece became impoverished and depopulated, the walls of Troy collapsed, and the greatest powers of the Mediterranean perished: the Hittite and Minoan. Egypt resisted, but suffered such a blow that it forever dropped out of the category of great powers and became easy prey for a succession of foreign conquerors. Palestine, India, China, Korea found new rulers. In Italy, Maghreb, England, Mexico, developed civilizations, clearly founded by aliens, simultaneously arose on top of the old cultural layer or right out of nowhere. All this happened in a very short period of time by historical standards.

The Egyptians called the culprits of the universal commotion of the 12th centurysea ​​peoples. However, according to Egyptian data, the Pelasgians themselves can be isolated from this motley conglomerate of tribes. In some monuments they are directly called Pelasgians (Pulasati), in others they appear under the names of the Trojan Pelasgian-Dardanians (dardna), Pelasgian-Teucrians (takkara) or Argive Pelasgians-Danaans (dayniuna). The mention of the Dainiuna in Egyptian inscriptions gave rise to an entire literature, mainly focused on the question: were the Dainiuna the famous Homeric Greek Danaans?

However, the legitimacy of raising this kind of questions itself seems doubtful, because the Danaans, most likely, were not the Greeks, but the same Pelasgians. In Euripides we read:

Father of Danai's fifty daughters,
Arriving in Argos, Inach founded the city
And to everyone who bore the Pelasgian name,
Danaev ordered to take the nickname in Hellas.

Ramses clearly downplayed the size of his opponents' successes; The Pelasgians not only penetrated the Nile Delta, but also took possession of it for a long time. Judging by ancient sources, almost the entire space of the Delta from its Canopian mouth to the Pelusian one came under the control of the peoples of the sea. Near the latter, Herodotus even saw the remains of shipyards; however, the very name of the city of Pelusium, from which the name of the mouth came, clearly points to the ancient inhabitants - the Pelasgians.

In addition, the Pelasgians gave the modern name to Egypt. The Egyptians themselves did not call their country Egypt; At first, only the Delta captured by the Pelasgians bore this name.It is very interesting that the Land of Goshen was in the zone of battle between the Egyptians and the Sea Peoples, from which, according to the Bible, the exodus of the Jews took place.

Pharaoh Merneptah (1251-1231), identified by historians with a contemporary of Moses, the pharaoh from Books of Exodus, in his victory anthem in honor of repelling the Pelasgian aggression, casually dropped a phrase about his incidental destruction of a certain “Israel”. Apparently, the exodus of Jews from Egypt was due to the military actions of the Pelasgians, and the Israelis left for territory controlled by the Pelasgians - Palestine.The Philistines came to the land of Palestine before the Jews and settled there so firmly that, despite all the efforts of the Jews, the latter were never able to expel their predecessors, although such plans certainly existed (Joshua 15:45).

The appearance of the Israelis in Palestine is usually presented as a victorious march of a people inspired by faith, unstoppable in their spontaneous desire to possess the Promised Land. In reality, this campaign was more like the slow and gradual infiltration of a homeless tribe driven from their homes. From the very beginning, the successes of the Jews in the conquest of Palestine were very modest, they did not even manage to take Jerusalem, which the authors of the ancient Hebrew texts themselves bitterly admitted: “The Jebusites, the inhabitants of Jerusalem, could not be driven out by the sons of Judah, and therefore the Jebusites live with the sons of Judah in Jerusalem even to this day” (Joshua 15:63).

The subsequent story looked no better. The Jews who came to the land of Palestine almost immediately and for many years fell under the rule of the Philistines (Judges 14:4). An attempt to throw off the Pelasgian yoke under the first Israeli king Saul ended in disaster and the death of the king (1 Sam. 31). Cultural enslavement went parallel to political enslavement. Not only were all the household tools of the Jews, due to their lack of blacksmiths, made by the Philistines, but they also had to sharpen them (1 Sam. 19-22).

It is customary to call King David the deliverer of the Jews from the Philistine yoke. However, in reality the situation was apparently more complicated. David himself lived for a long time with the Philistines, hiding from Saul, and once almost took part in their campaign against his fellow tribesmen (1 Sam. 29: 1-3). David did not change his sympathies even after his accession to the throne: his retinue consisted of at least 600 Philistines (2 Sam. 15:18).

One gets the impression that the young King David also did not escape the cultural influence of the Pelasgians. He even seemed to know the Iliad. Of course, the Iliad in the form in which it is known now did not yet exist in the time of David, but the plots and individual songs that later formed the basis of the famous poem certainly already existed. David was familiar with them. This is confirmed by the most famous episode in the biography of the Israeli king - his duel with Goliath.

Who doesn’t know this story, which inspired the creation of masterpieces by many Renaissance artists? On the eve of one of the battles between the Philistines and the Jews, a giant named Goliath emerged from the ranks of the latter and began to call out a fighter for himself, mocking the Jews. There was no one in the Israeli camp who would dare to accept the challenge. However, then the teenager David accidentally ended up in the ranks of the Israelis. He accepted the challenge and, throwing a stone from a sling at Goliath’s head, killed the giant (1 Sam. 17: 1-51).

This story is known to everyone, but very few know that Goliath dies not once, but twice in the Bible. First at the hands of David, and then again - much later, in another battle, in which the much aged David himself almost ends his days (2 Sam. 16-19).

In which battle Goliath actually died, the reader is free to decide at his own discretion. But I would choose the second option. And the point here is not only that the story of the second death of Goliath, unpretentious, devoid of romantic colors, is more plausible, but also that the first version, which showed the Israeli king in the most favorable light, strongly smacks of plagiarism.

Exactly the same story was told at Troy. When none of the Danaans dared to enter into single combat with Hector, Elder Nestor, embarrassing and exciting, told the Danaans one of the stories of his youth. As if two armies once met on the fertile fields of the Peloponnese; in front of one of them stood the “god-like” hero Ereufalion; he shouted out to himself the fighter, but everyone was trembling, and no one dared to come out. The very young Nestor then accepted the challenge:

My heart flared up, I trusted in my courage,
I fought with him, and Athena granted me triumph!
To fight with the proud, although between my peers there was me and the youngest,
I killed the greatest and strongest man of all!
He lay in the dust, huge, stretched out here and there.

(Iliad, 7: 150-156).

If the ancient Romans had taken the trouble to read the Bible, I think they would have been very surprised to find the name Ankhuz on the pages of the Jewish Holy Scriptures. After all, their own legendary ancestor bore a similar name - Anchises. Anchises was the name of the elderly Trojan hero, who was carried on his shoulders from the burning Troy by his son Aeneas, the founder of the Roman aristocracy.

It seems that ancient sources do not say anywhere that Anchises moved to Palestine after the destruction of Troy, but it is known that he and his son lived for some time in Crete, the main naval base of the Philistines (Virgil in the Aeneid only hints at this, and Ovid in “Metamorphoses” he speaks about this directly). Therefore, having taken the liberty of challenging Virgil’s opinion that Anchises died in Sicily, we can assume that the Trojan hero under the name Anchises ended his days in Palestine. In any case, this version well explains King David’s familiarity with the history of the Trojan-Greek conflict.

David was the bodyguard of Ankhuz (1 Sam. 28: 2) and during his service he could well have heard a lot of various Trojan fables, stories and legends from the talkative old man, with which he later, upon his accession to the throne, decorated his biography

Let's be fair, not only the Israelis, but almost all Semitic ethnic groups of the Middle East were influenced to a greater or lesser extent by the Philistines. For example, it has long been noted that it was after the invasion of the Sea Peoples that the Phoenicians took up sailing seriously.

Some more time passed - and the symbiosis of the Philistines and the Semitic population of the Middle East reached such proportions that the ancient world simply ceased to distinguish one from the other.

Already in the classical era, the Delphic Pythia called the Phoenicians “the Trojan people,” and the Roman historian Tacitus assured that the Jews came from Crete...

In the Middle East, only the Philistines (Pelasgians) and the Hittites mastered the technology of steel smelting, marking the beginning of the Iron Age. According to recent discoveries, the Philistines in the XII-IX centuries. also lived in Syria (valley Amuk ). their cities were subsequently conquered by the Maccabees.

An ancient people who inhabited from the 12th century. BC. southeastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea, from among the so-called peoples of the sea. The wars of the Philistines with the Jews were reflected in the Old Testament of the Bible. In the 8th century. BC. conquered by Assyria. The name Palestine comes from the Philistines.

Excellent definition

Incomplete definition ↓

PHILISTINES

from Old Hebrew Pelishtim) - people who settled in the 12th century. BC e. in the southwest parts of Canaan to the east. coast of the Mediterranean. The place of F.'s settlement is named in the Bible Peleshet, from whose name the entire country of Canaan received its name. Palestine (Greek: Palaistinn). According to the Bible According to sources, F. came from Kaftor (Crete). To Egypt In the images from Medinet Habu, F.'s chariots, ships and clothing are close to the Aegean type. Ceramics F. 12-11 centuries. BC e. reproduces the type of Mycenaean pottery of the 13th century. BC e. There is no reliable information yet about the original language of F. The inscriptions on seals with the letter F., found in 1969 during excavations in Ashdod, have not yet been deciphered. F. were part of the so-called. "peoples of the sea", which invaded M. Asia and the north. Syria, destroyed the Hittite kingdom and Ugarit (c. 1200 BC) and participated in attacks on Egypt. Rejected by Egypt, F. invaded the south. part eastern coast of the Mediterranean, captured a number of fortified cities and created an alliance of five city-states (Greek Pentapolis), which included: Gaza, Ashdod, Askalon, Gath and Ekron (the latter, apparently, was founded by F.). Each city was ruled by its own seren, and the federation was headed by the king of Gath. Soon F. adopted the Canaanite language and religion. They brought the culture of iron to this region and became a monopoly in the production of iron. chariots and weapons. Military F.'s superiority allowed them to invade deep into Canaan, all the way to Beth Shean (in the Jordan Valley), and establish their hegemony there. The wars of the Jews with F. (which lasted until the 7th century BC) were reflected in history. parts of the Bible and epic. tales about the struggle of legendary heroes (Israelis Samegar (Shamgar), Samson (Shimshon), as well as the Philistine Goliath, with whom, according to legend, King David fought against the Crimea). F.'s decisive defeat was inflicted during the reign of David (beginning of the 10th century BC). In the 8th century. BC e. F. were conquered by the Assyrians. King Tiglath-Pileser III, at the end. 7th century BC e. - Babylon. King Nebuchadnezzar II, at the end. 6th century BC e. - Persians. Under the Achaemenids, the area of ​​settlement of F. - Philisteia was part of the fifth satrapy of Persia. In the 2nd-1st centuries. BC e. The cities of F. were conquered by the Hasmonean kings. The process of Hellenization of F., which began from the time of the campaigns of Alexander the Great and the Diadochi, was completely completed by the beginning. n. e. Lit.: Macalister R., The Philistines. Their history and civilization, L., 1914 (reprint, L., 1965); Heurtley W. A., The relationship between Philistine and mycenaean pottery, "The Quarterly of the department of antiquities of Palestine", 1936, v. 5, e. 90-110; In?rard J. , Philistins et Pr?hell?nes, "Revue arch?ologique", 1951, t. 37, s?r. 6, s. 129-42; Dothan T., Archaeological reflections on the Philistine problem, "Antiquity and Survival", 1957, v. 2, e. 151-64; Wright G. E., Fresh evidence for the Philistine story, "The Biblical archaeologist", 1966, v. 29, pp. 70-86; Mitchell T. G., Philistia, in Archaeology and Old Testament study, ed. by D. Winton Thomas, Oxf., 1969, pp. 404-427. I. D. Amusin. Leningrad.

Excellent definition

Incomplete definition ↓