w//.
 
 THE BRITISH ACADEMY 
 
 The Philistiues 
 Their Historv and Civilization 
 
 By 
 
 R. A. Stewart Macali>tt^r, MA.. F.S.A 
 
 (Piofessor at Ceiiic Aicfaaeologj^ Unhreisity G>llri:e. Du.->;-i 
 
 Th. f Sr]i ii't nil L c cfures 
 1911 
 
 Wddie banie dex Wdtgeschidite, dass die so wenig * philisteriiaite ' NadoB 
 in mdiracn Spacben Enropas jefzt ihren Namoi zor Boeichnnng des feigen 
 uod Isi^w^d^en ^liessbargeis hetgeben mu^ ! 
 
 W. Max McLixa 
 
 - FbilisDiUain ', ar: - " ' ;- --= -':- ~- r~ -- '--.'-- -:^ — - . I order. 
 
 London 
 
 Published for the Briti?.. -^>..^aciiiv 
 
 By Humphrey Milford, Oxford UniversiU* Press 
 
 Amen Comer, E.C. 
 
 1913
 
 OXFOUD: HORACE HAKT 
 PIUXTER TO THE UNIVERSITY
 
 PREFACE 
 
 Ajioxc the Nations that came uithiu the purview of the Old 
 Testament AVriters — nations st'ldoni mentioned without stricture, 
 whether for idolatry, immorality, or cruelty — perhaps none were 
 the object of so concentrated an aversion as were the Philistines. 
 The licentiousness of the Amorites, the hard-heartedness of the 
 Egyptian taskmasters, the fiendish savagery of the Assyrian warriors, 
 each of these in turn receives its due share of condemnation. But 
 the scornful judgement passed bv the Hebrews on the IMiilistines has 
 made a much deej)er impression on the Bible-reading West than have 
 their fulminations against other races and comnuniities with which 
 they had to do. In English, from at least the tin)e of Dekker,^ the 
 word ' Philistine ' has been used in one or other of the senses of the 
 modern collocjuialism 'outsider'' ; and, especially since the publication 
 of the essays of Mr. Matthew Arnold, it has become almost a technical 
 term for a person boorish or bucolic of mind, impervious to the 
 higher iuHuences of art or of civilization. In French and German — 
 probably, indeed, in most of the languages of Europc^ — the word is 
 used in familiar speech with a greater or less aj)proximation to the 
 same meaning. 
 
 The following little book is an attempt to collect in a convenient 
 form the information so far available about the Philistine people. It 
 is an expansion of a course of three lectures, delivered in 1911 before 
 the British Academy under the Schweich Eund. In preparing it 
 for publication, the matter has been revised and re-written throughout; 
 and the division into lectures — primarily imposed by the exigencies of 
 time-allowanct — has been abandoned for a more systematic and con- 
 venient division into chapters and sections. 
 
 It is hoped that the perusal of these pages will at least suggest 
 
 ' The Xevj EvffHnh D'lcfionary quotes, iiiltr iilia, ' Silke and satten, you mad 
 Philistines, silke and satten ' (Dckker, KiOO;': 'They say, you went to Court last 
 Night very drunk; nay, I'm told for certain you had been among- Philistines' 
 (^Swift, 17;}8) : ' The obtuseness of a mere English Philistine we trust is pardonable' 
 {The Examiner, 1827): 'Philistinism! we have not the expression in English. 
 Perhaps we have not the word beeausc we have so much of the thing ' (M. Arnold, 
 1863) : and the quotation from the (Jnartirhi /.Vr/nr. whieh is printed on the 
 title-page. 
 
 a 'i
 
 iv PREFACE 
 
 a doubt .V to the jiistico of" the colliKjuial use of the name of this 
 ancient people. 
 
 As it may he well to j)reserve a reeord of the svllabus of the 
 original lectures, a copy of it is subjoined. 
 
 Lecture 1 (15 Dfcember, 1911). The evil reputation of the Pliilistines. Iteeent 
 researches and discoveries. A sketch of the development of Cretan civilization. 
 The Keftiii in the Egyptian records. The sack of Cnossos and subsequent 
 devek)puients. The * Peoples of the Sea'. Their raid on Egypt. Its repulse. 
 Recovery of the ' Peoples of the Sea ' from their reverse. The adventures of 
 Wen-Amon. The earliest reference to the Philistines in the Old Testament. 
 The Abraham and Isaac stories. The references in the iiistory of the Exodus. 
 Shamgar. Samson. 
 
 Lecture 11 (18 December, 1911;. The domination of the Philistines. The capture 
 of the Ark and the outbreak of plague. Samuel and Saul. Relative culture of 
 Philistines and Hebrews during the reign of JSaul. The incidents of David's out- 
 lawry. Achish, king of Oath. Gilboa. The Philistine domination broken by 
 David. The various versions of the story of Goliath. The Philistines under the 
 later monarchy. The Philistines in the Assyrian records. Neheniiah. The 
 Maccabees. Traditions of the Philistines among the modern peasants of Palestine. 
 Theories of the origin of the Philistines. Caphtor and the Cherethites. 
 
 Lecture 111 (22 December, 1911). The Organization of the Philistines. Their 
 <'ountry and cities. The problem of the site of Ekron. The language of the 
 Philistines. Alleged traces of it in Hebrew. Their religion and deities. Their art. 
 Recent discoveries. The place of the Philistines in History and Civilization. 
 
 I have to expi'css my acknowledgements to my friends and col- 
 leagues, the Kev. 1*. Boylan, Maynooth, and the Jiev. Prof. Henry 
 Browne, S. J. ; also to the Very Rev. Principal G. A. Smith, Aberdeen, 
 and Mr. E. II, Alton, of Dublin University, for allowing me to 
 consult them on various points that arose in the course of this work. 
 The first and last named have most kindly read through proof-sheets 
 of the work and have made many valuable suggestions, but they have 
 no responsibility for any errors that the discerning critic may detect. 
 
 The figures on pp. 118, 119 are inserted by permission of the 
 Society for Promoting Chi'istiaii Knowledge. 
 
 R. A. S. M. 
 
 DlHLIN, 
 
 Neic Year, 1913.
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 I'ACK 
 
 The Oui(;iK of the Philistines ...... 1 
 
 CHAPTER H 
 
 The History oe the Phhtstixks ; . . . . . !^9 
 
 1. The Adventures of Wen-AnioH union<j thein . . !;Ji) 
 
 2. Their Struggle with the Hebrews .... 38 
 
 3. Their Decline and Disappearance . . . .62 
 
 CHAPTER HI 
 
 The Land ok the Philistixes ...... OH 
 
 CHAPTER IV 
 
 The Culture of the Piiilistixks ...... 79 
 
 1. Their Language ........ 71) 
 
 2. Their Organization : (A) Political, (B) Military, 
 
 (C) Domestic 87 
 
 3. Their Religion 90 
 
 4. Their Place in History and Civilization . . .114
 
 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 i'k; 
 1. 
 
 10. 
 
 n. 
 
 A Ket'tiau fVoin the Toiiili of Rokliniara and a Cretan fVoni 
 
 .Sketcli-map to illustrate tlic IJattle of (u'l)a 
 
 Skctcli-niap of IMiilistia . . ... 
 
 Tlie Phaestos Disk 
 
 Coins of (iaza and Aslikelon ..... 
 
 'I'lie Charac-ters on the IMiaostos Disk .... 
 
 AV^ag'ons of till' l*ula>ati ...... 
 
 The Head-dress of the I'lihisati 
 
 The Sea-Hu-lit Itetneen l{aiiies-u III and tlie Allies 
 
 \ Bird, as painted on an .\niorite and a I'hilistine \'ase re> 
 
 Sketch-plans and Kle\alion,- of tlie .Mainciou at dn/.n and <i 
 J'emple ....... 
 
 Knossos 
 
 1 
 
 M.y. 
 '.) 
 
 .V.) 
 
 
 VA 
 
 1 1 
 , }{.-, 
 ]]J. 
 IK) 
 ]li{ 
 ]1» 
 
 Hit 
 
 ]tectively 
 
 
 iiii 
 
 1' Soldinon 
 
 
 liU
 
 THE PHILISTINES 
 
 THEIR HISTORY AND CIVILIZATION 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 THE ORIGIN OF THE PHILISTINES 
 
 The Old Testament history is almost exclusively occupied with 
 Semitic tribes. Babylonians, Assyrians, Canaanites, Hebrews, Ara- 
 maeans — all these, however much they might war among themselves, 
 were bound by close linguistic and other ties, bespeaking a common 
 origin in the dim, remote recesses of the past. Even the Egyptians 
 show evident signs of having been at least crossed with a Semitic 
 strain at some period early in their long and wonderful history. One 
 people alone, among those brought conspicuously to our notice in the 
 Hebrew Scriptures, impresses the reader as offering indications of 
 alien origin. This is the people whom we call ' Philistines \ 
 
 If we had any clear idea of wliat the word ' Philistine ' meant, or to 
 
 what language it originally belonged, it might throw such definite 
 
 light upon the beginnings of the Philistine people that further 
 
 investigation would be unnecessary. The answer to this question is, 
 
 however, a mere matter of guess- work. In the Old Testament the word is 
 
 regularly written P^listim (D"'ntrpS), singular P'^listT CWpS), twice ^ 
 
 P^listiyim (D^'^rip'ps). The territory which they inhabited during the 
 
 time of their struggles with the Hebrews is known as 'eres P^listlm 
 
 -I ... . . * 
 
 (CiyiK^pQ px) ' the Land of Philistines ', or in poetical passages, 
 
 simply Peleseth (ri'^pS) 'Philistia'. Josephus regularly calls them 
 
 UaXaidTLvoL, except once, in his version of the Table of Nations in 
 
 Genesis x (A7it. 1. vi. 2) where we have the genitive singular 
 
 ^vKiCTTlVOV. 
 
 ^ In Amos ix. 7 and in the Kethlbh of 1 Chron. xiv. 10. The almost uniform 
 rendering of the Greek version {^v^taTttifi) seems rather to favour this orthography. 
 The spelling of the first syllable, ^v, shows, however, that the modern pvinctuation 
 with the shva is of later growth, and that in the time of the Greek translation the 
 pronunciation still approximated rather to the form of the name as it appears in 
 Egyptian monuments (Purasati). 
 
 I?
 
 2 THE SCH WEIGH LECTURES, 1911 
 
 Various coiijcctiires as to the etymology of this name have been put 
 foiMvarfl from time to time. One of the oldest, that ajjparently due 
 to Fourniont,^ connects it with the traditional Greek name UiXarryoL; 
 an equation which, however, does no more than move the problem of 
 oii<rin one step further back. This theory was adopted by Ilitzig, 
 the author of the first book in modern times on the Philistines, ^ 
 who connected the word with Sanskrit valaksa ' white \ and made 
 other similar comparisons, as for instance between the name of 
 the deity of Gaza, Mama, and the Indian Variina. On the other 
 hand a Si'mitic etymology was sought bv Gesenius,"^ Movers,'* and 
 others, who quoted an Ethiopic verb falasa^ ' to wander, roam,' 
 wlience comes the %nhsii\nt\\ c falh'isi, 'a stranger.' In this etvmology 
 they Avere anticipated by the translators of the Greek Aversion, who 
 habitually render the name of the Philistines by the Greek word 
 o.\X(j(I)v\ol/' even when it is put into the mouths of Goliath or Achish, 
 when speaking of themselves. Of course this is merely an etymological 
 speculation on the part of the translators, and pi'oves nothing more than 
 the existence of a Hebrew root (otherwise apparently unattested) 
 similar in form and meaning to the Ethiopic root cited. And quite 
 apart from any questions of linguistic probabilitv, there is an obvious 
 logical objection to such an etymologv. In the course of the following 
 pages we shall find the court scribes of Ramessu III, the historians of 
 Israel, and the keepers of the records of the kings of Assyria, agreeing 
 in applying the same name to the nation in question. These three 
 groups of writers, belonging to as many separate nations and epochs 
 of time, no doubt worked independently of each other — most probably 
 in ignorance of each other's productions. This being so, it follows 
 almost conclusively that the name ' Philistine ' nuist have been derived 
 from Philistine sources, and in short must have been the native 
 designation. Now a word meaning 'stranger' or the like, while it 
 might well be applied by foreigners to a nation deemed by them 
 
 ' Itt'-flexifms critiques srir Voric/ine, Vlmtoire et la succession des nnciens peuples 
 (1747, ii. 2rA. 
 
 ' F. Hitzifr, Viyfesrhichteund Mythologie der PhiUster, Leipzig, 184.5. 
 
 ' Gesenius, Thesaurus, s. v. 
 
 * Movers, Untersuchungen iiber die Relit/ion und die Oottheiten der Phonizier (1841), 
 vol. i, p. 9. 
 
 Kxcept (ay in the Hexateuc-h, where it is always transliterated ^vKiaruifi, some- 
 times 4>v\taTuix or -PtKiTTiftfji; (h) in Judges x. 6, 7, 11. xiii. 1, .5, xiv. 2, where again 
 we find the word transliterated : in some important MSS. liowever, including Codex 
 Alexandrinus, d\\ij(),v\oi is used in these passages; (c) in Isa. ix. 11 (English 
 i X. 12, where we find the curious rendering "FAXjyms, possibly indicating a variant 
 reading in the text that lay before the translators.
 
 THE OUKilN OF TIIK IMIILISTINKS 3 
 
 intriulcrs, would scaict-lv hv ;u]()j)tc'(l 1)V the nation itself, as its chosen 
 ethnic appellation. This Ethiopic comparison it seems tlierefore safe to 
 reject. The fantasy that Reclsloh ' puts forward, namely, that ntJ'?D 
 'Pliilistia' was an anagram for rht\^, tiie Shcphclali or foot-hills of 
 Judea, is perhaps best forgotten : place-names do not as a rule come 
 to be in this mechanical way, and in any case ' the Shephelah ' and 
 ' Philistia"* were not geographically identical. 
 
 There is a peculiarity in the designation of the I'liilistines in 
 Hebrew which has often been noticed, and which must ha\e a 
 certain significance. In referring to a tribe or nation the Hel)rcw 
 writers as a rule either («) personified an imaginary founder, making 
 his name stand for the tribe supposed to derive from him — 
 e. g. ' Israel ' for the Israelites ; or (6) used the tribal name in the 
 singular^ with the definite article — a usage sometimes transferred to 
 the Authorized \'ersion, as in such familiar phrases as ' the Canaanite 
 was then in the land' (Gen. xii. 6) ; but more connnonly assimilated 
 to the English idiom which re{(uires a plural, as in 'the iniquity of 
 the Amorite[s] is not yet fulP (Gen. xv. 16). But in referring to the 
 Philistines, the phiral of the ethnic name is always used, and as a rule 
 the definite article is omitted. A good example is afforded by the 
 name of the Philistine territory above mentioned, eres P'listnn, 
 literally ' the land of Philistines "* : contrast such an expression as 
 'eres hak- K^na'anl, literally 'the land of the Canaanite'. A few 
 other names, such as that of the Rephahn, are similarly constructed : 
 and so far as the scanty monuments of Classical Hebrew permit us to 
 judge, it may be said generally that the same usage seems to be 
 followed when there is question of a people not conforming to the 
 model of Semitic (or perhaps we should rather say Aramaean) tribal 
 organization. The Canaanites, Amorites, Jcbusites, and the rest, are 
 so closely bound together by the theory of blood-kinship which even 
 yet prevails in the Arabian deserts, that each may logically be spoken 
 of as an individiial human unit. No such ])olity was recognized 
 among the pre-Semitic Rephaim, or the intruding Philistines, so 
 that they had to be referred to as an aggregate of human units. 
 This rule, it must be admitted, does not seem to be rigidly main- 
 tained ; for instance, the name of the pre-Semitic Horites might 
 have been expected to follow the exceptional construction. But 
 a hard-and-fast adhesion to so subtle a distinction, by all the writers 
 who have contributed to the canon of the Hebrew scriptures and by 
 
 ^ Die alttest. Xamen thr Berulktrun;/, p. 4; adopted by Arnold in Erscli and 
 Gruber's Encyclopaedia, s. v. I'liilinter. 
 
 b2
 
 4 THE SCHWEICH LECTURES, 1911 
 
 all the scribes who have transmitted their works, is not to be 
 expected. Even in the case of the Philistines the rule that the 
 definite article should be omitted is broken in eleven places.^ 
 
 However, this distinction, which in the case of the Philistines is 
 carefully observed (with the exceptions cited in the footnote), indicates 
 at the outset that the Philistines were regarded as something apart 
 from the ordinary Semitic tribes with whom the Hebrews had to do. 
 
 The name of the Philistines, therefore, does not lead us very far in 
 our examination of the origin of this people. Our next step must be 
 to in(]uire what traditions the Hebrews preserved respecting the 
 origin of their hereditary enemies ; though such evidence on a 
 (luestion of historical truth must obviously even under the most 
 favourable circumstances be unsatisfactory. 
 
 The locus classicus is, of course, the table of nations in Genesis x. 
 Here we read (vv. 6, 13, 14), 'And the sons of Plam : Cush, and 
 Mizraim, and Put, and Canaan . . . And Mizraim begat Ludim, and 
 'Anamim, and Lehabim, and Naphtuhim, and Pathrusim, and 
 Casluhim (whence went forth the Philistines) and Caphtorim.'' The 
 list of the sons of Ham is assigned to the Priestly source ; that of the 
 sons of Mizraim (distinguished by the formula ' he begat ') to the 
 Yahvistic source. The ethnical names are almost all problematical, 
 and the part of special interest to us has been affected, it is 
 supposed, by a disturbance of the text. 
 
 So far as the names can be identified at all, the passage means that 
 in the view of the writer or writers who compiled the table of nations, 
 the Hamitic or southern group of mankind were Ethiopia, Egypt, 
 ^ I'uf, and Canaan. Into the dis])uted question of the identification 
 of the third of these, this is not the place to enter. Passing over the 
 children assigned to Cush or Ethiopia, we come to the list of peo})les 
 supposed by the Yahvist to be derived from Egypt. Who or what 
 most of these peoples were is very uncertain. The Ludim are supposed 
 to have been Libyans (d in the name being looked upon as an error 
 for b) ; the Lehabim are also supposed to be Libyans ; the 'Anamim 
 are unknown, as are also the Casluhim ; but the Naphtuhim and 
 Pathrusim seem to be reasonably identified with the inhabitants of 
 Lower and Upper Egypt respectively. - 
 
 ' Xaiiicly Josluia xiii. 2; 1 Sam. iv. 7, vii. 12, xiii. 20, xvii. 51, 52; 2 Sam. v. 19, 
 xxi. 12, 17 ; 1 C'hron. xi. 13 ; 2 Chron. xxi. Ki. 
 
 '^ For fuller particulars see Skinner's Commentary on Genent.i (pp. 200-214). 
 Sayce finds CapJitor and Kasluhet on an inscription at Kom Onibo : sec Hastings's 
 Dictionary, s. v. Caphtor ; and Man, 19U3, No. 77. But see also Hall's criticisms, 
 ib. No. 92.
 
 THE ORIGIN OF TIIK rillLISTINES 5 
 
 There remain the Caphtor'nii, and the interjected note ' whence 
 went forth the Thilistines'. The latter has every appearance of 
 having originally been a marginal gloss that has crept into the text. 
 And in the liglit of other passages, presently to be cited, it would 
 appear that the gloss referred originally not to the unknowii Casluhini, 
 but to the Caphtorini. It must, however, be said that all the versions, 
 as well as the first chapter of Chronicles, agree in the reading of the 
 received text, though emendation Avould seem obviously called for. 
 This shows us either that the disturbance of the text is of great anti- 
 quity, or else that the received text is, after all, ccn-rect, and that the 
 Casluhini are to be considered a branch of, or at anv rate a tribe 
 nearly related to, the Caphtorini. 
 
 The connexion of the Philistines with a place called Caphtor is 
 definitelv stated in Anios ix. 7 : ' Have not I brought up Israel out 
 of the land of Egv])t, and the PhUlst'mcs from Caphtor^ and the 
 Syrians from Kir.'"* It is repeated in Jeremiah xlvii. 4, where the 
 Philistines are referred to as ' the remnant of the "i of Caj)htor \ The 
 word ""i is rendered in the Revised Version ' island ', with marginal 
 rendering 'sea coast "* : this alternative well expresses the ambiguity in 
 the meaning of the word, which does not permit us to assume that 
 Caphtor, as indicated by Jeremiah, was necessarily one of the islands 
 of the sea. Indeed, even if the word definitely meant ' island ', its 
 use here would not be altogether conclusive on this point : an isolated 
 headland might long pass for an island among primitive navigators, 
 and therefore such a casual mention need not limit our search for 
 Caphtor to an actual island. 
 
 Again, in Deuteronomy ii. 23, certain peoj)le called the Caphtorini, 
 ' which came out of Caphtor ', are mentioned as having destroyed the 
 'Avvim that dwelt in villages as far as Gaza, and established them- 
 selves in their stead. The geographical indication shows that the 
 Caphtorini must be identified, generally sjjeaking, with the Philistines : 
 the passage is valuable as a record of the name of the earlier in- 
 habitants, who, however, were not utterly destroyed : they remained 
 in the south of the Philistine territory (Josluia xiii. 4). 
 
 The question of the identification of Caphtor must, however, be 
 postponed till we have noted the other ethnic indications which the 
 Hebrew scriptures preserve. Chief of these is the application of the 
 word C^rethl ('01?) ' Cherethites ' to this people or to a branch of 
 them. 
 
 Thus in 1 Samuel xxx. 14 the young Egyptian servant, describing 
 the Amalekite raid, said ' we raided the south of the Cherethites and
 
 6 THE SCHWEICH LECTURES, 1911 
 
 the property of Judali and the south of the Calebites and ])urnt 
 Ziklag with fire \ In Ezekiel xxv, 1 6 the Phihstines and the Cherethites 
 with 'the renniant of the sea-coast' are closely bound together in 
 a common denunciation, which we find practically repeated in the 
 important passage Zephaniah ii. 5, where a woe is pronounced on the 
 dwellers by the sea-coast, the nation of the Cherethites, and on 
 'Canaan, the land of the Philistines'; this latter is a noteworthy 
 expression, probably, however, interpolated in the text. In both these 
 last passages the Greek version renders this word Kpym ' Cretans ' ; 
 elsewhere it simply transliterates [XeKeOi, with many varieties of 
 spelling).^ 
 
 In both places it would appear that the name 'Cherethites"* is 
 chosen for the sake of a paronomasia (mD = ' to cut off "'). In the 
 obscure expression ' children of the land of the covenant ' (rT'ian I'ls "ija 
 Ezek. XXX. 5) some commentators - see a corruption of Tnnn ''J3 
 ' Children of the Cherethites'. But see the note, p. 123 poii. 
 
 In other places the Cherethites are alluded to as part of the 
 bodyguard of the early Hebrew kings, and are coupled invariably 
 with the name Ti.^^ Pelethites. This is probably merely a modifica- 
 tion of Ticva, the ordinary word for 'Philistine', the letter s being 
 omitted in order to produce an assonance between the two names.^ 
 The Semites are fond of such assonances : they are not infrequent 
 in modern Arab speech, and such a combination as Shupplm and 
 Hup pi m (1 Chron, vii. 12) shows that they are to be looked for 
 in older Semitic writings as well. If this old explanation ^ be not 
 accepted, we should have to put the word ' Pelethites ' aside as hope- 
 lessly unintelligible. Herodotus's Philitis, or Philition, a shepherd 
 after whom the Egyptians were alleged to call the Pyramids,^ has 
 often been quoted in connexion with this name, coupled with baseless 
 speculations as to whether the Philistines could have been the Hyksos. 
 
 1 Such are Xappt, XapfOOi, XeXOi, XeXOti, X(X$t, XiX^ei, XtX^ts, XfXtna, XtXteOi, 
 XfXXfOij XfXfOit, XfXfOdt, X(Xo69t, XoXOti, XoXX(0i, XnpeOt, Xopf60(t, Xoppt, Xoppti, 
 XfptOfi, \(pTj6(t, XfptT, Xfp(66et, XtpiOiv, Xtptoi, Xojpi, Xfp-qO-q. XtprjOti, X(t9(i, Xerrfi, 
 Oxf>^f6&t, OxfptT^', OxfA/3(, Ox«A^i. Ox<Af9, P(69i. The Pelethites appear under 
 equally strange guises: «J>«A.«ti, ^(Xrt, ^fXrti, ^eXeTu, ieXeTTti, 'tfXeOdi, ^tXtOOti, 
 ^iXtOen, -PeXfTOft, ^(XtXteOi, Ovim, Oxer, OcpeXrt, OffXOi, 0<p(Xfeeu, OipiXtTOtL, 
 n<pfXfeeu. O-ntXet, OntXtOLV, OntpfT, ntX(l3i, OOtGu, XtTTmo?. 
 
 - Cornill, JJds linrh des I'roph. Ih'k. p. lUiH, followed by To3% Ezekiel (in Sacred 
 Books ofO.T.), p. 8S. 
 
 " Possibly the instinct for trilitcralism may also liave been instrumental in the 
 evolution of this form. 
 
 * It is given in Lakemacher, Ohserrntinnis PluloUxiirna (1729), ii. 38, and revived 
 by Ewald in his Knlisrlip drammatik tier hiliriiisrluv Sjimrhe ,1827), j). 297. 
 
 "' Hdt. ii. 12H.
 
 THE ORIGIN OF THE ITIILISTINES 7 
 
 With regard to the syntax of these two names, it is to be noticed 
 that as a rule they coiitonn to the ordinary Hebrew usage, contrary 
 perhaps to what we might have expected. Ikit in the two prophetic 
 passages we have quoted, the name of the Cherethites agrees in 
 construction witli that of the Phihstines. 
 
 In three passages — 2 Samuel xx. 23, 2 Kings xi. 4, 19 — the name 
 of the royal body-guard of 'Cherethites'' appears as '1? ' Carians \ 
 If this happened only once it might be purely accidental, due to 
 the dropping of a n by a copyist ; Ijut being confirmed by its three- 
 fold repetition, it is a fact that must be noted carefully ^ for future 
 reference. 
 
 Here the Hebrew records leave us, and we must seek elsewhere 
 for further light. Thanks to the discoveries of recent years, our 
 search need not be prolonged. For in the Egyptian records we find 
 mention of a region whose name, Keftw, has an arresting similarity 
 to the 'Caphtor*" of Hebrew writers. It is not immediately obvious 
 whence comes the final r of the latter, if the comparison be sound ; 
 but waiving this cjuestion for a moment, let us see what is to be 
 made of the Egyptian name, and, above all, what indications as to its 
 precise situation are to be gleaned from the Egyptian monuments. 
 
 The name k-f-tiw (^^^^ [^1^::^:^ 1 sometimes written k-f-ty-w 
 
 I \ v\ r^^"^) first meets us on Egyptian monuments of the 
 
 Eighteenth Dynasty. It is apparently an Egyptian word : at least, 
 it is capable of being rendered ' behind \ and assuming this rendering 
 Mr. H. R. Hall ^ aptly compares it with our colloquialism ' the Back 
 of Beyond \ Unless this is to be put aside as a mere Volksetyviologie, 
 it clearly w^ould be useless to search the maps of classical atlases for 
 any name resembling Keftiu. It would simjily indicate that the 
 Egyptians had a sense of remoteness or uncertainty about the position 
 of the country ; and even from this we could tlerive no help, for as 
 a rule they manifest a similar vagueness about other foreign places. 
 
 It is specifically under Thutmose HI that 'Keftiu' first appears 
 as the name of a place or a people On the great stele in the Cairo 
 Museum in which the king's mighty deeds are summarized, in the 
 form of a Hymn to Anion, we read ' I came and caused thee to smite 
 
 the west-land, and the land of Keftiu and Asi ( (I "TT" (I (1 Ci:^:^ j 
 
 1 The Greek version has XtpfSi in the first of these passages, in the others Xoppi 
 with a number of varieties of speUing, 'Xoppu, Xopif, &c., all of them showing o as 
 the first vowel. 
 
 2 Journal of the British School at Athens, viii (1901-2;, p. 1.57.
 
 8 THE SCH WEIGH LECTURES, 1911 
 
 are terrified'. In the Annalistic Inscnptioii on the walls of the 
 Temple of Karnak the name appears in interesting connexion with 
 maritime enterprise. ' The harbours of the king were supplied 
 with all the good things which he received in Syria, namely ships 
 of Keftiu, Byblos, and Sektu [the last-named place is not identified], 
 cedar-ships laden with poles and masts.' 'A silver vessel of Keftiu 
 work ' was part of the tribute paid to Thutmose by a certain chief- 
 tain.^ Keftiu itself does not send any tribute recorded in the annals ; 
 but tribute from the associated land of Asi is enumerated, in which 
 c()j)per is the most conspicuous item. This in itself proves nothing, 
 for the copper might in the first instance have been brought to Asi 
 from somewhere else, before it passed into the coffers of the all- 
 devouring Pharaoh : but on the Tell el-Amarna tablets a copper- 
 prodttcing country, with the similar name Alasia, is prominent, and 
 as Cyprus was the chief if not the only source of copper in the 
 Eastern Mediterranean, the balance of probability seems to be in 
 favour of equating Asi and Alasia alike to Cyprus. In this case 
 Keftiu would denote some place, generally speaking, in the neighbour- 
 hood of Cyprus. 
 
 The next important sources of information are the wall-paintings 
 in the famous tombs of Sen-nuit, architect to Queen Hatshepsut ; 
 of Rekhmara, vizier of Thutmose HI; and of Menkheperuseneb, son 
 of the last-named official," high priest of Anion and royal treasurer. 
 In these wall-paintings we see processions of })crsons, with non-Semitic 
 European-looking fiices ; attired simplv in highly embroidered loin- 
 cloths folded round their singularly slender waists, and in high boots 
 or gaiters; with hair dressed in a distinctly non-Semitic manner; 
 bearing vessels and other objects of certain definite types. The 
 tomb of Sen-mut is much injured, but the Cretan ornaments there 
 drawn are unmistakable. In the tomb of Rekhmara we see the 
 official standing, with five rows of foreigners carrying their gifts, 
 a scribe recording the inventory at the head of each row, and an 
 inscription explaining the scene as the ' Reception by the hereditary 
 jjrince Rekhmara of the tribute of the south countrv, with the 
 
 ^ Tlie name of tliis chicnain's land is luulilated fj/ii'i/). Mr. Hall o]). cit. p. 167, 
 Oldext Civi/imtiun of (h-eicf, p. 1()3) restores Ynntdnmj, and renders 'Cyprus'. 
 W. Max Miiller compares with this name the word Adhmi, found in the List of 
 Keftiaii names friven on j). 10. 
 
 ^ For these tombs see Hall, Jlrifis/i Srlmol (it J/liins, vol. x (1903-4), p. loi. and 
 I'roc. Sor. Jilh. Arch, xxxi, Plate XVI [Scn-mut| ; Wilkinson, Manners and Cnntums 
 of the Anchiil K<iyptinn.t, i, Plate H, A.li. IKekhmaraJ; Virey, Mimoires df la 
 inigs'uin in C<iirc, v, p. 7 I^Kckliiiiara ', j). 1!»7 ff Menkheperuseneb"'. In the last- 
 named, Keftiu is translated and indexed ' Phenicie \
 
 THE OltlGIN OF rilE PHILISTINES 
 
 9 
 
 tribute of I'lmt, the tribute of Keteuu, tlie tril)ute of Keftiii, besides 
 the booty of all nations brout^ht by the fame of Thutniose III\ In 
 the tomb of Menkheperuseneb there are again two lines of tribute- 
 bearers, described as 'the chief of Keftiu, the chief of Kheta, the 
 chief of Tunip, the chief of Kadesh"'; and an inscription asserts that 
 these various chiefs are praising the ruler of the Two Lands, cele- 
 brating his victories, and bringing on their backs silver, gold, la|)is 
 lazuli, n)alachite, and all kinds of precious stones. 
 
 Fig. 1. A. A Koftiaii from tlic Tonil* of Rekliinara. 
 u. A Cretan from Knossos. 
 
 Some minor examples, confirming the conclusions to which these three 
 outstanding tomb-frescoes point, will be found in W. Max Miiller's 
 important paper, Neue Darstelhingcn ^ viulccnlschcr'' Gc.sandter . . . in 
 altagyptischen WandgemaJden (Mitt. vorderas.-Gesell,, 1904, No. 2). 
 
 Kecent investigations in the island of Crete have enabled us to 
 identify with certainty the sources of the civilization which these 
 messengers and their gifts represent. Wall-j^aintings have there been 
 found representing people witii the same facial type, the same costume, 
 the same methods of dressing the hair ; and as it were the orifjinals of 
 the costly vases they bear have been found in such profusion as to 
 leave no doubt that they are there on their native soil. The messengers, 
 who are depicted in the Egyptian frescoes, are introducing into Egypt
 
 10 THE SCHAVEICH LECTURES, 1911 
 
 some of the chcfs-d'ditvrc of Cretan art ; specifically, art of the 
 periods known as Eate Minoan I and 11,^ the time of the greatest 
 glorv of the palace of Knossos ; and as they are definitely described in 
 the accompanying hieroglyphs as messengers of Keftiu, it follows that 
 Keftiu was at least a centre of distrilnition of the products of Cretan 
 civiHzation, and therefore a place under the infiuence of Crete, if 
 it was not actually the island of Crete itself. And the clear evidence, 
 that excavation in Crete has revealed, of a back-wash of Egyptian 
 influence on Cretan civilization at the time of the coming to Egypt 
 of the Keftian envoys, turns the probability into as near a certainty 
 as it is at present possible to attain. 
 
 The next document to be noticed is a hieratic school exercise-tablet, 
 apparently (to judge from the forms of the script) dating from the end 
 of the Eighteenth Dynasty. It is now preserved in the British Museum, 
 numbered 5647.- On the one side are some random scribbles, like 
 the meaningless words and phrases with which one tries a doubtful 
 pen : 
 
 * The goddess Ubast — they are small, numerous — of precious things, 
 when — his majesty was seen, as he turned his fece there was — for the 
 feast day, one jar of wine [this line repeated] — Ru-unti — Ru-dadama 
 — Smdt-ty ' [three names]. 
 
 On the other side is 
 
 ' To make names of Keftiu : • 
 
 Asahurau 
 
 Nasuy 
 
 Akasou 
 
 Adinai 
 
 Pinaruta 
 
 Rusa 
 
 Sen-Nofer [an Egyptian name, twice repeated] 
 
 Akasou 
 "a hundred of copper, fl/i7///-axes "" [reading uncertain] 
 
 Benesasira 
 [two illegible names] 
 
 Sen-nofer 
 
 Sumrssu [Egyptian] '' 
 
 Though the reading of some of the items of this list is not quite 
 certain, it seems clear that the heading 'irt rn n keftw, 'to make 
 names of Keftiu', indicates that this tablet is a note of names to be used 
 
 ' See tlie l)ricf suiimiary of the vurioiis stages of Cretan culture during the 
 Bronze Age, l;iter in the present chapter. 
 
 * See Spiegelberg, Ze'ttsrlmfl fiir ^lum/riDloi/ie {18Q3), viii. 38.5 (where the text is 
 puhhshed incompletely), and \V. Max Miiller in MittJieihnigen der vorderaxiatischen 
 Gesf.lUrhdfl, vol. v, |). (j, where facsimiles will be found.
 
 THE ORIGIN OF THE PHILISTINES 11 
 
 in some exercise or essay. The presence of the laniiliur IMiilistine name 
 Achish, in the form Akason, twice over, is suggestive, but otherwise 
 the tablet does not help forward our present incpiiiT into the position 
 of Keftiu and the origin of the Thilistine people. 
 
 These various discoveries of recent years inake it unnecessarv to dis- 
 cuss at any length other theories which have been presented in ancient 
 and modern times as to the identification of the name of Keftiu or of 
 Caphtor. The Ptolemaic Jonathan Oldbuck who translated for his 
 master the Decree of Canopus into Hieroglyphics, revived this ancient 
 geographical name to translate <\^0LVLKr]s : a piece of irresponsible 
 pedantry which has caused nothing but confusion. Even Ijcfore the dis- 
 coveries of the last fifteen or twenty years it was obvious that the 
 Keftiu of Rekhmara's tomb were as unlike Phoenicians as tiiev could 
 possibly be ; and their gifts were also incompatible with what was 
 known of Phoenician civilization. Endless trouble was thus <>iven to 
 would-be harmonists. Another antiquary of the same kind and of the 
 same period, who drew up the inscription to be cut on the temple at 
 Kom Ombo, has likewise made illegitimate use of the name in ques- 
 tion. A catalogue of the places con(piered by the founder of the 
 temple, after the manner of the records of achievements of the great 
 kings of the Eighteenth Dynasty, was de r'lgueiii- : so the obsequious 
 scribe set down, apparently at random, a list of any geographical 
 names that happened to come into his head. Among these is kptar, 
 the final r of which seems to denote a Hebrew source ; perhaps he 
 learnt the name from some brother antiquary in the neighbouring 
 Jewish colony at Aswan. 
 
 The Greek translators of the scriptures, the Peshitta, and the 
 Targums, in Deuteronomy ii. 23, Amos ix. 7, render the name Cappa- 
 docia. This seems to be merely a guess, founded on similarity of sound. 
 
 In modern times, even before the days of scientific archaeology, 
 the equation of Caphtor to Crete has always been the theory most 
 in favour. Apart from Jeremiah's description of the place as an 
 ' island ' — which as we have already mentioned is not quite con- 
 clusive — the obvious equation Cherethites = Cretans would strike 
 any student. Calmet ^ gives a good statement of the arguments 
 for the identification which were available before the age of exca- 
 vation. 
 
 For completeness"" sake we may refer here to various other theories 
 of Philistine origin which have been put forward by modern 
 scholars : it is, however, not necessary to give full references 
 
 ^ Dissertations (jui j)enven( sei'vir de vrolegomines de Vtrriture sninte (ITJO, II. ii, 
 p. 441.
 
 12 THE SCHWEICH LECTURES, 1911 
 
 to all the writers who have considered the question. The favourite 
 hypothesis anion^ those who rejected the Caphtor-Crete identifica- 
 tion was founded on the Greek Version and Jose])hus : Caphtor was 
 by them identified with Cappadocia, and Casluhiui with the Colchians. 
 Hit/ig', as stated earlier in this chapter, identified them with the 
 ]'elasgians, who came, according to his view, fi-om Crete to North 
 Egypt, identified with the Casluhim of the Table of Nations : their 
 language he supposed to be cognate with Sanskrit, and by Sanskrit he 
 interpreted many of the names of people and places. Quatremere, 
 reviewing Hitzig's l)ook in the Journal des Savants (1846, pp. 257, 
 411), suggested a rival theory, deri\ing them from AVest Africa, 
 equating Casluhim with Sheluh, a sept of the Berbers. Stark 
 {Gaza, p. 70) assigned them to the Phoenicians, accepting the South 
 Semitic etymology of the name Pelistim, Caphtor being the Delta, 
 and Casluhim a name cognate with the Kasios mountain, denoting 
 a tribe living between Kasios and Pelusium.^ Kohler - had a compli- 
 cated theory to reconcile all the various lines of Biblical evidence : he 
 took Caphtor to be the Delta ; the Philistines springing from there 
 settled in Casluhim (between Casios and Pelusium) : 'going forth' 
 from Casluhim they sailed to Crete, and then returned to Philistia. 
 Knobel {Die Volkertafel der Genesis, p. 215 sqq.) proposed a double 
 origin for the Philistine people. The main body he took to be 
 Senates who came out (geographically, not racially) from the Casluhim 
 in North Egypt ; and the Caphtorim were a southern tribe of Cretan or 
 Carian origin. Knobel gave a very careful analysis of the evidence 
 available at his time, but he overlooked the Medinet Habu sculptures, 
 and, on the other hand, gave too much weight to the gossip of 
 Herodotus about Philitis and the Pyramids. 
 
 Ebers ^ made an elaborate attempt to find in the Delta a site 
 for Ca])htor ; but this can hardly stand against later discoveries. 
 They are no goods from the Land of Goshen which Rekhmara's 
 visitors are carrying. W. Max INIiiller'* equates Keftiu to Cilicia, 
 mainly on the ground of the order in which the name occurs in 
 geographical lists : but though this is not an argument to be 
 lightly set aside, we are confronted with the difficulty that Cilicia 
 could hardly have been a centre of distribution of Minoan ijoods 
 in the time of Rekhmara.'' 
 
 ' .\ place which, as has often been noticed, has the same radicals as the name of 
 the Philistines. 
 
 * Lehrhnrh d. liihi. Genrliirhte, vol. i. 
 
 ' Aer/i/ijfeii und dan JJiuh Moxc, p. 1^7 ff. * .A.iUn itnd Eiiropa, p. 3;}7. 
 
 " An elaborate refutation of the Cilician hypotlie.sis will hv found in Noordtzij, 
 Jje Filintljnf-H, j). 34-.
 
 THE ORIGIN OF THE PHILISTINES 13 
 
 Schwally ^ argues thus for the Semitic origin of the Philistines : 
 that if the Phihstines were immigrants, so were the Phoenicians and 
 Syrians {teste Amos) : that the identity of Caphtor and Crete is an 
 unproved assumption : the Greek translation twice renders ' Chere- 
 thites ' by ' Cretans', it is true, but not elsewhere, showing uncertainty 
 on the subject: and the reading 'Crete ' in Zephaniah ii. 6 is wrong. All 
 the personal names, and all the place-names (except possibly El-tekeh 
 and Ziklag)are Semitic, and there is no trace of any non-Semitic deity. 
 Stade - asserts the Semitic origin of the people, without giving any 
 very definite proofs ; Tiele ^ claims the Philistines as Semites on the 
 ground of their Semitic worship. Beecher (in Hastings's Diet, of the 
 Bible, s. V. Philistines) claims the name of the people as ' probably 
 Semitic', but considers that most likely they were originally Aryan 
 pirates who had become completely Semitized. The non-circumcision 
 of the Philistines is a difficulty against assigning to them a Semitic 
 origin ; and the vai-ious Semitic elements in their names, religion, 
 and language can most reasonably be explained by borrowing — pre- 
 sumably as a result of free intermarriage with Semites or Semitized 
 aborigines. 
 
 On the other hand, it may be said at once that it is perhaps a little 
 premature to call them Aryans. On the whole, the probability seems 
 to be against the Philistine being an Aryan tongue — it certainly was 
 not, if (as is not unlikely) it had affinities with Etruscan. 
 
 But these identifications are to a large extent the personal 
 opinions of those who put them forward. The identification of 
 Caphtor and Keftiu \\ith Crete is so generally accepted, that there 
 is a danger that some difficulties in the way should be overlooked. 
 For first of all we are met with a question of philology : whence 
 came the final r in the Hebrew word 'f It has been suggested that 
 it might be a nominative suflRx of the Keftian language. It would 
 in any case be more probably a locative or prepositional suffix : for place- 
 names are apt to get taken over into foreign languages in one or 
 other of those cases, because they are generally referred to in con- 
 texts that require them ; just as Eriu, the old Irish name of Ireland, 
 has been taken over into English in its prepositional case, now spelt 
 Erin. It might possibly be a plural : Mr. Alton has suggested to me a 
 comparison with the Etruscan plural ending er, ar, in: Letting the 
 question of the exact case pass, however, as irrelevant, there are two 
 points that must be indicated regarding the suggestion that r is 
 
 ' Zeitschr. fib- xoissensch. Theologie, xxxiv (1891), p. 103. 
 
 * Oesch. des Volk. Isr. i. 142. 
 
 3 Geschiedenu van den Godsdienst in de Oudheid, i. pp. -211, 241.
 
 14 THE SCH WEIGH LECTURES, 1911 
 
 a Keftian case-ending. In the first place, it assumes that Keftiu 
 is, after all, not the EgT[)tian word it resembles, but the native 
 ' Keftian ' name for the place in (j[uestion : it is incompatible with 
 the ' Back of Beyond ' theory of the meaning of the name. In the 
 second place, it is difficult to understand how the Hebrews should 
 have picked up a * Keftian ' case-ending or any such granniiatical 
 formative, rather than the Egyptians ; for the Egyptians were 
 brought into direct contact with Keftians, while the Hebrews 
 arrived on the scene too late to enjoy that advantage. Ebers 
 attempted to solve the difficulty by su[)posing the r to come from 
 the Egyptian adjective ioi\ ' great ', tacked on to the place-name. 
 jNIax Miiller (Asien und Eitropa, p. 390) and Wiedemann (Orient. 
 LHteraturzeitimg, xiii, col. 49) point out that there is no monumental 
 evidence for such an expression, and that in any case ' Great Keft- 
 land' would be Kcft-'a, not Keft-ecr. The latter (loc. cit.) has 
 an ingenious solution : in an astronomical text in the grave of 
 Ramessu VI occurs a list of places 'iwnr.r (the land of the Amorites) 
 
 ])b (unidentified) and ^ v\ (? f^-^"^ kfthr ('Upper Kefti"*). 
 
 'Caphtor', he suggests, may be a corruption of this latter expression. 
 The hypothesis may be noted in passing, though perhaps it is not 
 altogether convincinir. 
 
 Behind this problem lies another, perhaps equally difficult : why 
 did the Hebrews call the home-land of the Philistines by this name, 
 which even in Egypt was already obsolete .^ 
 
 To this question the only reasonable answer that seems to present 
 itself is to the effect that by the time of the Hebrews Crete or Keftiu 
 had, with its gorgeous palaces, passed into tradition. Like the 
 I Breasail or Avallon of Celtic tradition, the ))lace which the Hebrew 
 writers called ' Caphtor ' was no longer a tangible country, but a 
 dreamland of folklore, the legends of which had ])robably filtered 
 into Palestine from Egypt itself. Whether Caphtor was or was 
 not the same as the island of Crete was to the ancient Hebrew 
 historian a question of secondary interest beside the all-important 
 practical fact that the Piiilistines were obstinate in their occupation 
 of the most desirable jjarts of the Promised Ivand. When the in- 
 spired herdsman of Tekoa spoke of the Philistines being led from 
 Caphtor, he was probably just as unconscious of the requirements 
 of the scientific historian as a modern herdsman who told me that 
 a certain ancient monument on a Palestinian hill-slope belonged ' to 
 the time of the Itunr. He no doubt believed what he said: but 
 ^\ ho ())• what the I{um may have ])een, or how many years or centuries
 
 THE ORIGIN OF THE PHILISTINES 15 
 
 or geological aeons ago they may have flourished, he neither knew 
 nor cared. 
 
 All, then, that the Hebrews can tell us about their hereditary 
 enemies is, that they came from a vague traditional place called 
 Caphtor — a place by the sea, but of which they have nothing more 
 to say. The tradition of Caphtor seems to be a tradition of the 
 historical glories of Crete, so far as the Egyptians knew of them, and 
 the name seems to be a tradition of the name which, for some reason 
 not certainly known, the Egyptians applied to the source of the 
 desirable treasures of the Cretan civilization. 
 
 Even down to late times the tradition linking Philistia with 
 Crete persisted in one form or another. Tacitus heard it, though in 
 a distorted form : in the oft-quoted passage Hist. v. 2 he confuses 
 the Jews with the Philistines, and makes the former the Cretan 
 refugees.^ M E I N fl, Minos, is named on some of the coins of Ga/a. 
 This town was called by the name Mhioa: and its god Mania was 
 equated to ' Zeus the Crete-born.' ^ 
 
 But did the Philistines come from Crete .^ That is the question 
 which we must now consider. 
 
 The last generation saw the labours of Schliemann at Troy and 
 elsewhere, and was startled by the discovery of the splendid pre- 
 Hellenic civilization of Mycenae. For us has been reserved the yet 
 greater surprise of finding that this Mycenaean age was but the latest, 
 indeed the degenerate phase of a vastly older and higher culture. Of 
 this ancient civilization Crete was the centre and the apex. 
 
 The course of civilization in this island, from the end of the 
 Neolithic period onwards, is divided by Sir Arthur Evans into three 
 periods ^ which he has named Early, INIiddle, and Late ' IMinoan ' 
 respectively, after the name of ]\Iinos the famous legendary Cretan 
 king. Each of these three periods is further divided into subordinate 
 
 1 'ludaeos Creta Insula profugos nouissima Libyae insedisse memorant, qua 
 tempestate Saturnus ui louis pulsus cesserit regnis.' 
 
 ^ Stephanus of Byzantium, s. v. Va^u, it6\is ^oiv'iK-qs, vw 5e UaXaiarlvr^s tt/jo t^j 
 At7V7rroi;. kicXrjer) Koi "A(,a [nfj?]* icai /xfxp^ ''vu 'S.vpoi " ^iav avrfju KaKovatv, aTri'A^Wos 
 Tov TraiSos 'RpanXfovs. ^ivOoKoyovai 5e rices dnu Atos icTiadrtvai Kal iv aiiTrj airoKiiriiv t^jv 
 ISiav Td^av ovtoj tuv Ylfpawi' rd XPW"'''" KaKovvTOJV. Kal fieivdaT]^ avr^s tKti (kXtjOt] St 
 Kal Mivuia, on Mi'j/ojs (TW roh dSeXipois hlaK^ Kal "PabajxdvQii Iwv f^ avTOv ravrr^v iKaXfOiv. 
 (v6ev Kal to tov KprjTaiov A(Oj -nap avToTs dvat 6 Kal KaO' Tjfxds fKaXovv Mapvav tpurjvtvu- 
 fifvov KprjTayevrj. Tas iTapOivovi ydp ovtoj Kp^res irpoaayopfvovffi Mnpimi'. 
 
 3 The bare outline statement, which is all that is necessary here, can be supple- 
 mented by reference to any of the numerous books that have appeared recently on 
 the special subject of Cretan excavation : such as Professor Burrows's pleasantly 
 written work entitled The Discoveries in Crete (London, Murray, 1907), which con- 
 tains a most useful bibliography.
 
 16 THE SCHWEICH LECTURES, 1911 
 
 periods, indicated by numbers ; thus we have Early Minoan I, II, III, 
 and so for the others. The general characters of these nine periods 
 mav now be brietiv stated, with the approximate dates which Egyptian 
 synchronisms enable us to assign. 
 
 Into the question of the origin of the early inhabitants of Crete we 
 need not enter. That there was some connexion between Crete and 
 Egypt in their stone-age beginnings seems on various grounds to be 
 not improbable.^ The neolithic Cretan artists were much like 
 neolithic artists elsewhere. They never succeeded in attaining a very 
 high position among workers in Hint ; Crete has so far produced 
 nothing comparable with the best work of the Egyptians and the 
 Scandinavians. Their pottery was decorated with incised or pricked 
 patterns filled in with white powdered gypsum, to make a white pat- 
 tern on a black ground. 
 
 The Early Minoan I period inherited this type of ornament and 
 ware from its predecessors, but improved it. Coloured decoration 
 now ])egan to be used, the old incised ornaments being imitated with 
 a wash of paint. The ornament was restricted to simple geometrical 
 patterns such as zigzags. The pottery was made without the wheel. 
 In this period short triangular daggers in copper are found. In 
 Earhj Minoan II the designs are more free and graceful : simple 
 curves appear, side by side with straight lines, towards the end of 
 the period. The potter's wheel is introduced. Rude and primitive 
 idols in marble, alabaster, and steatite are found. The copper 
 dai^i^ers are likewise found, but the use of flint and obsidian is not 
 yet wholly abandoned. In Early Minoan III there is not much 
 advance in the art of the potter. We now, however, begin to find 
 seals with a kind of hieroglyphic signs upon them, apparently imitated 
 (in manner if not in matter) from Egyptian seals. These seem to 
 give us the germ of the art of writing, as practised later in Crete. 
 Scholars differ (between 2000 and 3000 n. c.)as to the proper date 
 to assign to the end of tlie Early jMinoan civilization : for our present 
 purpose it is not important to discuss the causes of disagreement, or 
 to attempt to decide between tliese conflicting theories. 
 
 The next period. Middle Minoan /, takes a great step forward. 
 We now begin to find polycln-ome decoration in pottery, with 
 elaborate geometrical patterns ; we also discover interesting attempts 
 to picture natural forms, such as goats, beetles, &c. Upon the ruins 
 of this stage of development, which seems to have been checked by 
 some catastrophe, are founded the glories of Middle. Minoan II, the 
 period of the great palace of Phaestos and of the first palace of 
 ' See Hall, Proc. Soc. Biblical Archaeology, xxxi, pp. 144-148.
 
 THE OIUGIN OF THE rillLISTINES 17 
 
 Knossos. To this period also belongs the magnificent polychrome 
 pottery called Kamares ware. Another catastrophe took place : the 
 first palace of Knossos was ruined, and the great second palace built 
 in its place : and the period known as Middle Minoan III began. 
 It was distinguished by an intense realism in art, speaking clearly 
 of a ra})id deterioration in taste. In this period we find the picto- 
 graphic writing clearly developed, with a hieratic or cursive script 
 derived from it, adapted for writing witli pen and ink. The Middle 
 Minoan period came to an end about IGOO h. ( . 
 
 Late Minoan I shows a continuation of the taste for realism. Its 
 pottery is distinguished from that of the preceding period by the 
 convention that its designs as a rule are painted dark on a light 
 background : in Middle Minoan III they are painted light on a 
 dark background. Linear writing is now developed. The palace 
 of Phaestos is rebuilt. Fine frescoes and admirable sculptured vases 
 in steatite are found in this period, to which also belong the oldest 
 remains at Mycenae, namely the famous gold deposits in the shaft 
 tombs. In Late Minoan II the naturalistic figures become con- 
 ventionalized, and a degeneration in art sets in which continues into 
 Late Minoan III. The foreign imports found at Tell el-Amarna 
 and thus of the time of Ikhnaton, are all of Late Minoan III ; this 
 affords a valuable hint for dating this phase of development. 
 
 Now while some of the earlier periods shade into one another, like 
 the colours of a rainbow, so that it is difficult to tell where the one 
 ends and the next begins, this is not the case of the latest periods, 
 the changes in which have evidently been produced by violence. The 
 chief manifestation is the destruction of Knossos, which took place, 
 apparently as a result of invasion from the mainland, at the very 
 end of the period known as Late Minoan II : that is to sav about 
 1400 B.C. The inferior style called Late Minoan III — the style which 
 till recent years we had been accustomed to call Mycenaean — succeeded 
 at once and without any intermediate transition to the style of Late 
 Minoan II immediatelv after this raid. It was evidentlv the degraded 
 style that had developed in the mainland among the successful in- 
 vaders, founded upon (or, rather, degenerated from) works of art 
 which had spread by way of trade to the adjacent lands, in the 
 flourishing days of Cretan civilization. 
 
 We have seen that in Egyptian tombs of about 1500 b. c. there are 
 to be seen paintings of apparently Cretan messengers and merchants, 
 called by the name of Ktftiu, bearing Cretan goods : and in addition 
 we find the actual tangible goods themselves, deposited with the 
 Egyptian dead. In Palestine and elsewhere occasional scraps of 
 
 c
 
 18 THE SCH WEIGH LECTURES, 1911 
 
 the ' palace ' styles come to light. But the early specimens of Cretan 
 art found in these regions are all exotic, just as (to quote a parallel 
 often cited in illustration) the specimens of Chinese or Japanese 
 porcelain exhibited in London drawing-rooms are exotic ; and they 
 affect but little the inferior native arts of the places where they are 
 found. It is not till we reach the beginning of Late INIinoan III, 
 after the sack of Knossos, that we find Minoan culture actually taking 
 root in the eastern lands of the Mediterranean, such as Cyprus and 
 the adjacent coasts of Asia Minor and Syria. We can hardly dis- 
 sociate this phenomenon from the sack of Knossos. The very limita- 
 tions of the area over which the ' Mycenaean ' art has been found 
 are enough to show that its distribution was not a result of peaceful 
 trade. Thus, the Ilittite domination of Central and Western Asia 
 Minor was still strong enough to prevent foreign settlers from 
 establishing themselves in those provinces : in consequence Mycenaean 
 civilization is there absent. The spread of the debased Cretan culture 
 over Southern Asia Minor, Cyprus, and North Syria, between 1400 
 and 1200 b.c. must have been due to the movements of j)eoples, one 
 incident in which was the sack of Knossos ^ : and this is true, whether 
 those who carried the Cretan art were refugees from Crete, or were 
 the conquerors of Crete seeking yet further lands to spoil. 
 
 In short, the sack of Knossos and the breaking of the Cretan power 
 was an episode — it may be, was the crucial and causative episode — in 
 a general disturbance which the fourteenth to the twelfth centuries b.c. 
 witnessed over the whole Eastern Mediterranean basin. The mutual 
 relations of the different connnunities were as delicately poised as in 
 modern Europe : any abnormal motion in one part of the system 
 tended to upset the balance of the whole. Egypt was internally in 
 a ferment, thanks to the eccentricities of the crazy dilettante Ikhnaton, 
 and was thus unable to protect her foreign possessions ; the nomads of 
 Arabia, the Sutu and Ilabiru, were pressing from the South and East 
 on the Palestinian and Syrian towns ; the dispossessed Cretans were 
 crowding to the neighbouring lands on the north ; the n)ight of the 
 Ilittites, themselves destined to fall to pieces not long afterwards, 
 blocked progress northward : it is little wonder that disorders of 
 various kinds resulted from the consecjuent congestion. 
 
 It is just in this time of confusion that we begin to hear, vaguely 
 at first, of a number of little nationalities — people never definitely 
 
 ' Other causes were at work producing the same result of restlessness among the 
 peoples. Thus Mr. Alton suggests to me that the collapse of the island of Thera 
 must have produced a considerable disturbance of population in the neigiibouring 
 lands.
 
 THE ORIGIN OF THE PHIUSTINES 19 
 
 assigned to any particular place, but appearing now here, now there, 
 fighting sometimes with, sometimes against, the Egyptians and their 
 allies. And what gives these tribelets their surpassing interest is the 
 greatness of the names they bear. The unsatisfying and contemptuous 
 allusions of the Egyptian scribes record for us the ' day of small 
 things *" of people destined to revolutior^ize the world. 
 
 We first meet these tribes in the Tell el-Amarna letters. The 
 king of Alasia (Cy})rus) complains that his coasts are ])eing raided 
 by the Lulcht, who yearly plunder one small town after another.^ 
 That indefatigable correspondent, Rib-Addi, in two letters, complains 
 that one Bihura has sent people of the Sutu to his town and slain certain 
 Sherdan men — apparently Egyptian merceiiaries in the town guard.^ 
 In a mutilated passage in another letter Rib-Addi mentions the 
 Sherdan again, in connexion with an attempt on his own life. Then 
 Abi-Milki reports " that ' the king of Danuna is dead, and his brother 
 has become king after him, and his land is at peace \ It is almost the 
 only word of peace in the whole dreary Tell el-Amarna record. 
 
 Next we hear of these tribes in their league with the Hittites 
 against Ramessu II, when he set out to recover the ground lost to 
 Egypt during the futile reign of Ikhnaton.* With the Hittites were 
 allied people from 
 
 _2^ 
 
 L Rk[w] 
 
 -=-a ^^\ (I [I r^^-^ D r d n w 
 
 qI r^^M i M [5] s w 
 I 
 
 AAA/Wl 
 
 AA/\/W. 
 
 [^-^"^ M, w n w or i r w n w 
 
 ^ C— ^"^^ ^ t^i:^ Pdi 
 
 .sw 
 
 w 
 
 no doubt the 
 
 ^^^|^[v^ Krks 
 
 This was in 1333 b. c. On the side of Ramessu fought mercenaries 
 called S;rd;„; (l>M ^ T ^ ¥ ] ^ l) 
 
 1 T.A. Letters, ed. Winckler, No. 28 ; ed. Knudtzon, No. 38. 
 
 "" ib. W. T7, K. 123. See also W. 100. 
 
 3 ib. W. 151, K. 1.51. 
 
 < For an exhaustive study of the great battle of Kadesh between Ramessu and 
 the united tribes, see Breasted, The Battle of Kadesh (Univ. of Chicago Decennial 
 Publications, Scr. I, No. 5\ 
 
 C 2
 
 20 THE SCHWEICH LECTURES, 1911 
 
 Sherdan of whom we have heard ah-eady in the Tell cl-Amarna 
 letters. These people were evidently ready to sell their services to 
 whomsoever paid for them, for we find them later operating against 
 their former Egyptian masters. 
 
 About thirty years later, when Merneptah was on the throne, there 
 was a revolt of the Libyans, and with many allies from the ' Peoples 
 of the Sea ' they proceeded to attack Egypt. Though the Philistines 
 do not actually appear among the names of the allies, the history of 
 this invasion is one of the most important in the oiig'incs of that 
 remarkable people. The details are recorded in four inscriptions set 
 up by the king after his victory over the invaders, one of which 
 inscriptions is the famous ' Israel ' stela. 
 
 The first inscription is that of the temple of Karnak, a translation 
 of which will be found in Breasted's Ancient Records, vol. iii, p. 241. 
 This inscription begins with a list of the allied enemies : 
 
 ^-^H^^l^ Trsw 
 
 ) V5i I R k w 
 
 I ^ I 
 
 
 «T *^ w ' ^ ) Vu^ I Srdnw 
 
 xS- I A/WW I >^ 1 I 
 
 The beginning of the inscription is lost, but the list is probably 
 complete, as in the secjuel, where the allied tribes are referred to 
 more than once, no other names are mentioned. 
 
 Merneptah, after extolling his own valour and the military 
 preparations he had made, tells us how he had received news that 
 
 i, n I ^ ^ ^ 1 NT (^^^''^I'^i^^i or something similar) ' the miser- 
 able chief of Libya"*, with his allies aforesaid, had come with his 
 family to the western boundary of Egypt. Enraged like a lion, 
 he assembled his officers and to them expressed his o})inion of the 
 invaders in a way that leaves nothing to the imagination. 'They spend 
 their time going about and fighting to fill their bellies day by day : 
 they come to Egypt to seek the needs of their mouths : their chief is 
 like a dog, without courage . . . .' Some of the vigorous old king's 
 expressions have been bowdlerised by the hand of Time, which has
 
 THE OllIGIN 01' THE 1»II1LIST1NES n 
 
 deprived us of a course of the inscribed masonry of the temple : 
 but notwithstanding we have an admirable desciiption of restless sea- 
 rovers, engaged in constant plunder and piracy. Then Merneptah, 
 strengthened by a vision of his patron Ptah which appeared to hiin 
 in the night, led out his warriors, defeated the I^ibyans — whose ' vile 
 fallen chief justified Merneptah\s opinion of him by fleeing, and, in 
 the words of the official report of the Egyptian general to his master, 
 ' he passed in safety by favour of the night . . . all the gods overthrew 
 him for the sake of Egypt : his boasting is made void : liis curses 
 have come to roost : no one knows if he be alive or dead, and even 
 if he lives he will never rule again. They have put in his place 
 a brother of his who fights him whenever he sees him \ The list 
 of slain and captives is much mutilated, but is of some importance. 
 For the slain were reckoned by cutting off' and counting the phalli of 
 circumcised, the hands of uncircumcised victims.^ From the classifica- 
 tion we see that at the time of the victory of Merneptah, the IJbyans 
 were circumcised, vvhile the Shardanu and Shekelesh and Ekwesh, as 
 we may provisionally vocalize the names, were not circumcised. The 
 inscription ends with the flamboyant speech of Merneptah to his 
 court, and their reply, over which we need not linger. Nor do the 
 other inscriptions relating to the event add anything of importance 
 for oiu' present purpose. 
 
 About a hundred years later we meet some of these tribes again, on 
 the walls of the great fortified temple of Medinet Habu near Thebes, 
 which Ramessu HI, the last of the great kings of Egypt, built to 
 celebrate the events of his reign. These events are recorded in 
 sculptured scenes, interpreted and explained by long hieroglyphic 
 inscriptions. It is deplorable that the latter are less informing than 
 they might have been : we grudge bitterly the precious space wasted 
 in grovelling compliments to the majesty of the victorious monarch, 
 and we would have gladly dispensed with the obscure and would-be 
 poetical style which the writer of the inscription affected.'-^ 
 
 Ramessu III came to the throne about 1200 n.c."' Another 
 Libyan invasion menaced the land in his fifth year, but the energetic 
 monarch, who had already been careful to organize the military 
 resources of Egypt, was successful in beating it back. Wai'-galleys 
 
 ^ See VV. Max Muller's important note in Proc. Sor. Bib. Arch, x, pp. l+7-l.i4, 
 where reasons are given against tlie exactly opposite interpretation, followed by 
 many authorities (e.g. Breasted, Ancient Ueconh . On the other hand the c-ontrary 
 practice seems to be indicated by 1 Sam. xviii. :?.>. The difTuulty of rendering lies 
 in the fact that we have to deal with Egyptian words not found elsewhere. 
 
 - See Breasted, Ancient Records, iv, pp. 1-S.j. 
 
 3 Petrie says U02, Breasted 1198.
 
 22 THE SCH WEIGH LECTURES, 1911 
 
 from the northern countries, especially the Purasat'i and the Zalckala, 
 accompanied the invading Libyans ; but this latter element in the 
 assault was only a foretaste of the yet more formidable attack which 
 they were destined to make on Egypt three years later — that is to 
 say, roughly about 1192 n.c. 
 
 The inscription describing this war is engraved on the second pylon 
 of the temple of Medinet Habu. Omitting a dreary encomium of the 
 Pharaoh, with which it opens, and a long hymn of triumph with which 
 it ends, we may confine our attention to the historical events recorded 
 in the hieroglyphs, and pictured in the representations of battles that 
 accompany them. The inscription records how the Northerners were 
 disturbed, and proceeded to move eastward and southward, swam[)ing 
 in turn the land of the Hittites, Carchemish, Arvad, Cyprus, Syria, 
 and other places in the same region. We are thus to picture a great 
 southward march through Asia Minor, Syria, and Palestine. Or, 
 rather, we are to imagine a double advance, by land and by sea : the 
 landward march, which included t\vo- wheeled ox-carts for the women 
 and children, as the accompanying picture indicates ; and a sea 
 expedition, in which no doubt the spare stores would be carried more 
 easily than on the rough Syrian roads. Clearly they were tribes 
 accustomed to sea-faring who thus ventured on the stormy Mediter- 
 ranean ; clearly too, it was no mere military expedition, but a 
 migration of wanderers accompanied by their families and seeking 
 a new home,^ 
 
 The principal elements in the great coalition are the following : 
 
 IJ 
 
 <^ n n AA/VS/V\ 
 
 I § r d n w 
 I 
 
 D n y n w 
 
 D^<=> [^ y V§i i Trstw 
 
 11 
 
 T D k r \\ 
 
 ^^^^I'^lflfl^^^^'^ W[?]ss w of the Sea 
 
 as well as the Sk rs^w, of which wc have heard in previous documents. 
 
 'With hearts confident and full of plans', as the inscription says, 
 
 they advanced by land and by sea to Egypt, But Ramessu was 
 
 ready ' to trap them like wild-fowl \ He strengthened his Syrian 
 
 ' Tlie details of these sculptures are more fully described later in this book.
 
 THE ORIGIN OF THE PHILISTINES 23 
 
 frontier, and at the same time fortified the liarl)()urs or river mouths 
 ' with warships, galleys, and barges \ The actual battles are not 
 described, though they are pictured in the accompanying cartoons : 
 but the successful issue of these military preparations is graphically 
 recorded. ' Those who reached my boundary,"" says the king, ' their 
 seed is not : their heart and their soul are finished for ever and ever. 
 As for those who had assembled before them on the sea . . . they were 
 dragged, overturned, and laid low upon the beach : slain and made 
 heaps from end to end of tlieir galleys, while all their things were 
 cast upon the water.' 
 
 The scenes in which the land and na\al engagements are represented 
 are of great importance, in that they are contemporary records of the 
 general appearance of the invaders and of their equipment. The naval 
 battle, the earliest of which any pictorial record remains, is graphically 
 portrayed. We see the Egyptian archers sweeping the crews of the 
 invading vessels almost out of existence, and then closing in and finishing 
 the work with their swords ; one of the northerners' vessels is capsized 
 and those of its crew who swim to land are taken captive by the 
 Egyptians waiting on the shore. In later scenes w'e see the prisoners 
 paraded before the king, and the tale of the victims — counted by 
 enumerating the hands chopped off the bodies. 
 
 The passage in the great Harris Papyrus, which also contains 
 a record of the reign of Ramessu III,^ adds very little to the informa- 
 tion afforded us by the Medinet Habu inscription. The ' Danaiuna ' 
 are there spoken of as islanders. We are told that the Purasati 
 and the Zakkala were ' made ashes ', while the Shekelesh (called in 
 the Harris Papyrus Shardan% who thus once more appear against 
 Egypt) and the Washasha were settled in strongholds and bound. 
 From all these people the king claims to have levied taxes in clothing 
 and in grain. 
 
 As we have seen, the march of the coalition had been successful 
 until their arrival in Egypt. The Hittites and North Syrians had 
 been so crippled by them that Ramessu took the opportunity to 
 extend the frontier of Egyptian territory northward. We need not 
 follow this campaign, whieli does not directly concern us : but it has 
 this indirect bearing on the subject, that the twofold ravaging of 
 Syria, before and after the great victory of Ramessu, left it weakened 
 and opened the door for the colonization of its coast-lands by the 
 beaten remnant of the invading army. 
 
 Ramessu III died in or about 1167 b.c, and the conquered tribes 
 
 ' Breasted, op. ril. p. -201.
 
 24 THE SCHWEICH LECTUKKS, 1911 
 
 began to recover their lost ground. For that powerful monarch was 
 succeeded by a series of weak ghost-kiugs who disgraced the great 
 name of Ramessu which, one and all, they bore. More and more 
 did they become puppets in the hands of the priesthood, who cared 
 for nothing but enriching the treasures of their temples. The 
 frontier of Egypt was neglected, l^ess than a hundred years after 
 the crushing defeat of the coalition, the situation was strangely 
 reversed, as one of the most remarkable documents that have come 
 down to us from antiquity allows us to see. This document is the 
 famous GolenischefF papyrus, now at St. Petersburg. But before 
 we proceed to an examination of its contents we must review the 
 Egyptian materials, which we have now briefly set forth, a little 
 more closely. 
 
 The names of the tribes, with some doubtful exceptions, are easily 
 equated to those of peoples living in Asia Tvlinor. We may gather 
 a list of them out of the various authorities which have been set 
 out above, adding to the Egyptian consonant-skeleton a provisional 
 vocalization, and remembering that r and / are interchangeable in 
 Egy})tian : 
 
 
 Tell el-Amarna 
 
 Ramessu 11 
 
 M 
 
 erneptah 
 
 Ramessu III 
 
 
 c. 
 
 UOO i!.c. 
 
 1333 B.C. 
 
 c. 
 
 1300 li.c. 
 
 c. 1198 B.C. 
 
 1. Lukku 
 
 
 X 
 
 X 
 
 
 X 
 
 — 
 
 2. Sherdanu . 
 
 
 X 
 
 X 
 
 
 X 
 
 X 
 
 3. Danunu . 
 
 
 X 
 
 — 
 
 
 — 
 
 X 
 
 •1. Dardanu . 
 
 
 — 
 
 X 
 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 5. Masa 
 
 
 — 
 
 X 
 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 6. Mawuna or Yaruna 
 
 ';0 
 
 — 
 
 X 
 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 7. Pidasa 
 
 
 — 
 
 X 
 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 8. Kelekesh . 
 
 
 — 
 
 X 
 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 9. Ekwesh . 
 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 
 X 
 
 — 
 
 10. Turisha . 
 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 
 X 
 
 — 
 
 11. Shekelcsh 
 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 
 X 
 
 X 
 
 13. Pulasati . 
 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 
 — 
 
 X 
 
 13. Zakkala . 
 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 
 — 
 
 X 
 
 14. Washasha 
 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 
 — 
 
 X 
 
 An X denotes 'present in', a — 'absent from' the lists. The 
 majority of these fourteen names too closely resemble names known 
 from classical sources for the resemblance to be accidental. It will 
 be found that almost every one of these names can be easily identified 
 with the name of the coast dwellers of Asia Minor ; and vice versa^ 
 with one significant exception, the coast-land regions of Asia Minor 
 are all to be found in recognizable forms in the Egyptian lists. The 
 -sha or -.sini termination is to be neglected as an ethnic formative. 
 
 Tims, begiiming with the Hellespont, the Tiioas is represented in 
 the Tun.slia, wlio have been correctly identified with the future 
 Tyhkhjaiaxs (Tursci) as are the Puhi.sat'i with the future Puii.istines.
 
 THE ORIGIN OF THE PHILISTINES '25 
 
 Daudanus in the Troad is represented by the Danlanu. They are 
 the carriers of the Trojan traditions to Italy.^ Mysia is represented 
 by the Masa, Lydia by the Sherdanu from the town of Saudis. 
 These are the future Sardixiaxs. And the more inhuid n'^ion of 
 Maeoxia is echoed in the Mazcnna, if that be the correct readiu<r. 
 We now come to a gap : the Carians, at the S.\V. corner of Asia 
 Minor, do not appear in any recognizable form in tlie list, except 
 that the North Carian town of Pkdasus seems to be echoed l)y 
 the P'ldasa. To this hiatus we shall return jjresently. The Lyciaxs 
 are conspicuous as the Lukku. 
 
 The name of the sea-coast region of l*amphylia is clearly a later 
 appellation, expressive of the variety of tribes and nationalities 
 which has always characterized the Levant coast. The inland Pisidian 
 town of Sagalassus finds its echo in the Shckelesli. The Ciliciaxs 
 are represented by the Kelekesh, and this brings us to the corner 
 between Asia Minor and North Syria. 
 
 The only names not represented in the foregoing analysis are 
 the Danunu, Ekwesh, and the three tribes which first appear in 
 the Ramessu III invasion, the Pidasati, Zakkala^ and Washasha. 
 The first two of these, it is generally agreed, are to be equated to the 
 Daxaoi and the Achakaxs - — the first appearance in historic record 
 of these historic names. The latter do not appear in the Kamessu III 
 lists: there Avere no Achaeans in the migration from Asia !Minor. 
 The Pidasati are unquestionably to be equated to the future Philis- 
 tines, north of whom we iind later the Zakkala settled on the 
 Palestinian coast. The Washasha remain obscure, both in origin 
 and fate; but a suggestion will be made presently regarding them. 
 They can hardly have been the ancestors of the Indo-European 
 
 OSCAXS. 
 
 The various lines of evidence which have been set forth in the 
 preceding pages indicate Crete or its neighbourhood as the probable 
 land of origin of this group of tribes. They may be recapitulated : 
 
 (1) The Philistines, or a branch of them, are sometimes called 
 Cherethites or Cretans. 
 
 (2) They are said to come from Caphtor, a name more like Keftiu 
 than anything else, which certainly denotes a place where the Cretan 
 civilization was dominant. 
 
 1 Turhha has also been identified with the Cilician town of Tausi s. 
 
 2 With reservations : see Weill, Jitivuf arcliioloijiqni', ser. IV, vol. iii, p. (it. And 
 even the identification of the Danaoi is uncertain. It is at least improbable that 
 Rib-Addi of Tyre, in the letter quoted above, should report on the peacefulness of 
 so remote a people as the Danaoi.
 
 26 THE SCIIWEICH LECTURES, 1911 
 
 (3) The hieratic school-tablet mentions 'Akasou' as a Keftian 
 name : it is also Philistine [Achish]. 
 
 To this may be added the important fact that the Fhacstos disk, 
 the inscription on which will be considered later in tliis Ijook. shows 
 us among its signs a head with a plumed head-dress, very similar to 
 that shown on the Philistine captives represented at ^ledinet Habu. 
 
 We must not, however, forget the fact at which we paused for 
 a moment, that thrice the Philistine guard of the Hebrew kings 
 are spoken of as the Carians ; and that the Carians are not other- 
 wise represented in the lists of Egyptian invaders. AVe are probably 
 not to confine our search for the origin of the Zakkala-Philistine- 
 W^ashasha league to Crete alone : the neighbouring strip of main- 
 land coast probably supplied its contingent to the sea-pirates. The 
 connexion of Caria with Crete was traditional to the time of Strabo ; 
 ' the most generally received account is that the Carians, then called 
 Leleges, were governed by Minos, and occupied the islands ; then 
 removing to the continent, they obtained possession of a large tract 
 of sea-coast and of the interior, by driving out the former occupiers, 
 who were for the greater part Leleges and Pelasgi.'' ^ Further, he 
 quotes Alcaeus''s expression, ' shaking a Carian crest,' which is sugges- 
 tive of the plumed head-dress of the Philistines. Again, speaking 
 of the city Caunus, on the shore opposite Khodes, he tells us that 
 its inhabitants ' speak the same language as the Carians, came from 
 Crete, and retained their own laws and customs'- — which, however, 
 Herodotus ^ contradicts. Herodotus indeed {loc. c'lt.) gives us the 
 same tradition as Strabo regarding the origin of the Carians : they 
 
 *had come from the islands to the continent. For l)eing subjects 
 of Minos, and anciently called Leleges, they occupied the islands 
 without paying any tribute, so far as I can find by in(|uiring into 
 the remotest times ; but whenever Minos required them, they 
 manned his ships ; and as Minos subdued an extensive territory, and 
 was successful in war, the Carians were by far the most famous of 
 all nations in those times. They also introduced three inventions 
 which the Greeks have adopted; of fastcnino; crests on hehnets, 
 putting devices on shields, and putting handles on shields. . . . 
 After a long time the Dorians and lonians drove the Carians out 
 of the islands and so they came to the continent. This is the 
 account that the Cretans give of the Carians, but the Carians do 
 not admit its correctness, considering themselves to be autochthonous 
 inhabitants of the continent . . . and in testimony of this they show 
 an ancient temple of Zeus Carios at Mylasa.' 
 
 ' .Strabo, xiv. ii. 21. ' .Slrabo, xiv. ii. 3. 
 
 = i. 17-'.
 
 THE ORIGIN OI' TIIK rillLISTINES 27 
 
 If then by the Puhxsati we are to fill in the hiatus in the Hst ot* 
 Asia Minor coast-dwellers, the most reasonable explanation of the 
 name is after all the old theory that it is to be equated with Pelasg't. 
 And if the worshippers of Zeus Carios settled in Palestine, they 
 might be expected to bring their god with them and to erect 
 a temple to him. Now we read in 1 Sanuiel vii, that the Philistines 
 came up against the Israelites who were holding a religious ceremony 
 in Mizpah ; that they were beaten back by a thunderstoi-m, and 
 chased in panic from Mizpah to a place called Beth-Car (v. 11). We 
 may suppose that the chase stopped at Beth-Car because it was within 
 Philistine territory ; but unfortunately all the efforts to identify this 
 place, not otherwise known, have proved futile. Very likely it was 
 not an inhabited town or village at all, but a sanctuary : it 
 was raised on a conspicuous height (for the chase stopped under 
 Beth-Car) : and the name means House of Car,^ as Beth-Dagon means 
 House or Temple of Dagon. This obscure incident, therefore, affords 
 one more link to the chain. 
 
 If the Cretans and the Carians together were represented by 
 Zakkala-Pulasati-Washasha league, we might expect to find some 
 elements from the two important islands of Rhodes and Carpathos, 
 which lie like the piers of a bridge between Crete and the Carian 
 mainland. And I think we may, without comparisons too far-fetched, 
 actuall}' find such elements. Strabo tells us ^ that a former name of 
 Rhodes was Ophhissa : and we can hardly avoid at least seeing the 
 similarity between this name and that of the AVashasha.'' And as for 
 Carpathos, which Homer calls Crapathos, is it too bold to hear in this 
 classical name an echo of the pre-Hellenic word, whatever it may have 
 been, which the Egyptians corrupted to Keftiu, and the Hebrews to 
 Caphtor ? "* 
 
 What then are we to make of the name of the ZakKala or 
 Zakkara? This has hitherto proved a crux. Petrie identifies it 
 with Zakro in Crete ^ ; but as has several times been pointed out 
 regarding this identification, we do not know how old the name Zakro 
 may be. As we have seen that all the other tribes take their name 
 
 1 Batex"P in the Greek Version (in some MSS. -Kop). Cf. the first footnote on p. 7. 
 
 '^ XIV. ii. 7. 
 
 ' Hall looks for the Washasha in Crete, and finds them in the name of the Cretan 
 town fa^os [Oldest Civilization of Greece, p. 177]. But if this comparatively obscure 
 Cretan name were really represented in the Egyptian lists, we might reasonably 
 look for the more important names to appear also. The name appears Jn the form 
 Oasasios) in an inscription from Halicarnassus : see Weill in lievtie urchcoluf/ique, 
 ser. IV, vol. iii, p. 63. 
 
 * Baur, Amos, p. 79, has already suggested this identification. 
 
 5 Froc. Soc. Bib. Arch., 1901, p. H.
 
 28 THE SCHWEICH LECTURES, 1911 
 
 from the coasts of Asia Minor, it is probable that the Zakkala are the 
 Cretan contingents to the coalition : and it may be that in their name 
 we are to see the interpretation of the mysterious Cashih'im of the 
 Table of Nations ^ (D^n^D^ being a mistake for 'i^3D), The most 
 frequently suggested identification, with the Teucriaxs (assigned by 
 Strabo on the authority of Callinus to a Cretan origin), is perhaps 
 the most satisfactory as vet })ut forward; notwithstanding the just 
 criticism of W. Alax Miillcr"^ that the double h and the vowel of the 
 first syllable are difficulties not to be lightly evaded. Clermont- 
 Ganneau ^ would equate them to a Nabatean Arab tribe, the Ao)(ap)jroi, 
 mentioned ])y Stephanus of Byzantium ; but, as Weill ^ points out, it 
 is highly improbable that one of the allied tribes should have been 
 Semitic in origin ; if the similarity of names be more than an accident, 
 it is more likely that the Arabs should have borrowed it. 
 
 The conclusion indicated therefore is that the Philistines were a 
 people composed of several septs, derived from Crete and the south- 
 west corner of Asia Minor. Their civilization, probably, was derived 
 from Crete, and though there was a large Carian element in their 
 composition, they may fairly be said to have been the people who 
 imported with them to. Palestine the memories and traditions of the 
 great days of Minos. 
 
 ^ Gen. X. 11'. 
 
 - Mittheil. der I'orderas. Geselhchafl, v, p. o. On Teurersee Frazer, Adoni'i, Attis, 
 Osirh, p. 112. 
 ^ lleciieil d'Archeoloffie urieid<de, iv. 250. * loc. cif. p. (ik
 
 CHAPTER II 
 
 THE HISTORY OF THE PHILISTINES 
 
 I. TiiK AnvF.XTUUEs OF AVkx-Amon amon(; tiik.m 
 
 The Golenischeff" papyrus' was found in 1891 at El-Khiheh in 
 Upper Egypt. It is the personal report of the adventures of an 
 Egyptian messenger to Lebanon, sent on an important semi-religious, 
 serai-diplomatic mission. The naivete of the style makes it one 
 of the most vivid and convincing narratives that the ancient East 
 affords. 
 
 Ramessu XII is nominally on the throne, and the papyrus is dated 
 in his fifth year. The real authority at Thebes is, however, Hrihor, 
 the high priest of Amon, who is ultimately to usurp the sovereignty 
 and become the founder of the Twenty-first Dynasty. In Lower 
 Egypt, the Tanite noble Nesubenebded, in Greek Smendes, has 
 control of the Delta. Egypt is in truth a house divided against 
 itself. 
 
 On the sixteenth day of the eleventh month of the fifth year of 
 Ramessu, one Wen-Amon was dispatched from Thebes to fetch 
 timber for the barge called User-het, the great august sacred barge 
 of Amon-Ra, king of the gods. Who Wen-Amon may have been, 
 we do not certainly know ; he states that he had a religious office, 
 but it is not clear what this was. It speaks eloquently for the rotten 
 state of Egypt at the time, however, that no better messenger could 
 be found than this obviously incompetent person — a sort of Egyptian 
 prototype of the Rev. Robert Spalding ! With him was an image 
 of Amon, which he looked upon as a kind of fetish, letters of credit 
 or of introduction, and the wherewithal to purchase the timber. 
 
 Sailing down the Nile, Wen-Amon in due time reached Tanis, and 
 presented himself at the court of Nesubenebded, who with his wife 
 Tentamon, received the messenger of Anion-Ra with fitting courtesy. 
 He handed over his letters, which (being themselves unable to 
 decipher them) they caused to be read : and they said, ' Yea, yea, 
 
 ^ See Max Miiller, Mitfheilunf/en der deutsclicn vorderastatischen Gesellschaft , 
 1900, p. 14 ; Erman, Zeitschr'ift fur iigypt'ische Sprache, xxxviii, p. I ; Breasted, 
 Ancient Records, iv, p. 274.
 
 30 THE SCH WEIGH LECTURES, 1911 
 
 I will do all that our lord Amon-Ra saitli.'' Wen-Ainon tarried at 
 Tanis till a fortniolit had elapsed from his first setting out from 
 Thebes ; and then his hosts put him in charge of a certain Mengebti, 
 captain of a ship about to sail to Syria. This was rather casual ^ 
 e\ndently Mengebti's vessel was an ordinary trading ship, whereas we 
 might have expected (and as appears later the Syrians did expect) 
 that one charged with an important special message should be sent 
 in a special ship. At this point tlie thoughtless "Wcn-Amon made 
 his first blunder. He forgot all about reclaiming his letters of 
 introduction from Nesubenebded, and so laid up for himself the 
 troubles even now in store for the helpless tourist who tries to land 
 at Beirut without a passport. Like the delightful pilgrimage of the 
 mediaeval Dominican Felix Fabri, the modernness of tiiis narrative 
 of antiquity is not one of its least attractions. 
 
 On the first day of the twelfth month Mengebti's ship set sail. 
 After a journey of um-ecorded length the ship put in at Dor, 
 probably the modern Tantura on the southern coast of the promon- 
 tory of Carmel. Dor was inliabited by Zakkala (a very important 
 piece of information) and they had a king named Badyra. AVe are 
 amazed to read that, apparently as soon as the ship entered the 
 harboui", this hospitable monarch sent to Wen-Amon ' much breads 
 a jar of wine, and a joint of beef. I verily believe that this was 
 a tale got up by some bakhshish-hunting huckster. The simple- 
 minded tourist of modern days is imposed upon bv similar magnificent 
 fables. 
 
 There are few who have travelled nnich by Levant steamers without 
 having lost something by theft. Sufferers may claim Wen-Amon as 
 a companion in misfoitune. As soon as the vessel touched at Dor, 
 some vessels of gold, four vessels and a jjurse of silver — in all 5 (Icheti 
 or about 1| lb. of gold and 31 deheii or about 7^ lb. of silver — were 
 stolen by a man' of the ship, who decamped. This was all the more 
 serious, because, as appears later, tliese valuables were actually the 
 money with which Wen-Amon had ])een entrusted for the purchase of 
 the timber. 
 
 So Wen-Amon did exactly what he would have done in the 
 twentieth century a. n. He went the following inorning and inter- 
 viewed the governor, Badyra. There was no I'^gyptian consul at the 
 time, so he was obliged to conduct the interview in person. ' I have 
 Ijeen robbed in thy harbour," he says, 'and thou, being king, art he 
 who should judge, and search for my money. 'I'lie money indeed 
 belongs to Amon-Ra, and Nesubenebded, and Ilrihor my lord : it also 
 belongs to Warati, and Makamaru, and Zakar-Baal prince of By bios '
 
 THE HISTORY OF THE PHILISTINES 31 
 
 — the last three being evidently the names of the merchants who 
 had been intended to receive the money. The account of Abraham's 
 negotiations with the Hittites is not more modern than the king's 
 reply. We can feel absolutely certain that he said exactly the woi-ds 
 which Wen-Amon puts in his mouth : 'Thy honour and excellency ! 
 Behold, I know nothing of this coni})laint of thine. If the thief were 
 of my land, and boarded the ship to steal thy treasure, I would even 
 repay it from mine own treasury till they found who the thief was. 
 But the thief belongs to thy ship (so I have no responsibility). 
 Howbeit, wait a few days and I will seek for him."' AVen-Amon had to 
 be content with this assurance. Probably nothing was done after he had 
 been bowed out from the governor's presence : in any case, nine days 
 elapsed without news of the missing property. At the end of the 
 time Wen-Amon gave up hope, and made up his mind to do the best 
 he could without the money. He still had his image of Amon-Ra, 
 and he had a child-like belief that the foreigners would share the 
 reverent awe with which he himself regarded it. So he sought per- 
 mission of the king of Dor to depart. 
 
 Here comes a lacuna much to be deplored. A sadly broken frag- 
 ment helps to fill it up, but consecutive sense is unattainable. ' He 
 said unto me "Silence !" . . . and they went away and sought their 
 thieves . . . and I went away from Tyre as dawn was breaking . . . 
 Zakar-Baal, prince of Byblos . . . there I found 30 dehen of silver and 
 took it . . . your silver is deposited with me ... I will take it . . . 
 they Avent awav ... I came to . . . the harbour of Byblos and . . . 
 to Anion, and I put his goods in it. The prince of Byblos sent a 
 messenger to me . . . my harbour. I sent him a message . . .' These, 
 with a few other stray words, are all that can be made out. It seems 
 as though Wen-Amon tried to recoup himself for his loss by 
 appropriating the silver of some one else. At any rate, the fragment 
 leaves Wen-Amon at his destination, the harbour of Byblos. Then 
 the continuous text begins again. Apparently Zakar-Baal has sent 
 a message to him to begone and to find a ship going to Egypt in 
 which he could sail. Why Zakar-Baal was so inhospitable does not 
 appear. Indeed daily, for nineteen days, he kept sending a similar 
 message to the Egyptian, who seems to have done nothing one way 
 or another. At last Wen-Amon found a ship about to sail for 
 Egypt, and made arrangements to go as a passenger in her, despairing 
 of ever carrying out his mission. He put his luggage on board and 
 then waited for the darkness of night to come on board with his 
 image of Amon, being for some reason anxious that none but himself 
 should see this talisman.
 
 32 THE SCH WEIGH LECTURES, 1911 
 
 But now a strange thing happened. One of the young men of 
 Zakar-Baars entourage was seized with a proplietic ecstasy — the first 
 occurrence of this phenomenon on record — and in his frenzy cried, 
 * Bring up the god ! Bring up Anion's messenger that has him ! 
 Send him, and let him go/ Obedient to the prophetic message 
 Zakar-Baal sent down to the harbour to sunnnon the Egyptian. The 
 latter was much annoyed, and protested, not unreasonably, at this 
 sudden change of attitude. Indeed he suspected a ruse to let the 
 ship go off, with his belongings, and leave him defenceless at the 
 mercv of the Byblites. The only effect of his protest was an 
 additional order to ' hold up' the ship as well. 
 
 In the morning he presented himself to Zakar-Baal. After the 
 sacrifice had been made in the castle by the sea-shore where the 
 prince dwelt, Wen-Amon was brought into his presence. He was 
 ' sitting in his upper chamber, leaning his back against a window, 
 while the waves of the great Syrian sea beat on the shore behind 
 him ". To adapt a passage in one of Mr. Rudyard Kipling's best- 
 known stories, we can imagine the scene, but we cannot imagine 
 Wen-Amon imagining it : the eye-xoitness speaks in every word of 
 the picturesque description. 
 
 The interview was not pleasant for the Egyptian. It made so 
 deep an impression upon him, that to our great gain he was able 
 when writing his report to reproduce it almost verbatim, as follows : 
 
 'Anion's favour upon thee,' said Wen-Amon. 
 
 ' How long is it since thou hast left the land of Anion t ' demanded 
 Zakar-Baal, apparently without returning his visitor's salutation. 
 
 ' Five months and one day,' said Wen-Amon. 
 
 (This answer shows how much of the document we have lost. We 
 cannot account for more than the fourteen days spent between Thebes 
 and Tanis, nine days at Dor, nineteen days at Byblos — six weeks in 
 all — plus the time spent in the voyage, which at the very outside 
 could scarcely have been more than another six weeks.) 
 
 ' Well then, if thou art a true man, where are thy credentials ? ' 
 
 We remember that Wen-Amon had left them with the prince of 
 Tanis, and he said so. Then was Zakar-Baal very wroth. ' What ! 
 There is no writing in thy hand "^ And where is the ship that 
 Nesubenebded gave thee .'' Where are its crew of Syrians .^ For 
 sure, he would never have put thee in charge of this (incompetent 
 Egyptian) who would have drowned thee— and then where would 
 they have sought their god and thee .'' ' 
 
 This is the obvious sense, though injured by a slight lacuna. 
 Nothing more clearly shows how the reputation of Egypt had sunk
 
 THE HISTORY OF THE PHH.ISTINES 33 
 
 in the interval since the exph)its of llamessu HI. Zakai--li,ial speaks 
 of Mengebti and his Egyptian crew with much the same contempt as 
 Capt. Davis in Stevenson's Ebb-tide speaks of a crew of Kanakas. 
 Wen-Amon ventured on a mild protest. ' Nesubencbded has no 
 Svrian crews : all his ships are manned with Egyptians.'' 
 
 'There are twenty ships in my harbour,' said Zakar-Baal sharply, 
 
 'and ten thousand ships in Sidon "" The exaggeration and the 
 
 aposiopesis vividly mirror the vehemence of the speaker. He was 
 evidentlv going on to say that these ships, though Egyptian, were 
 all manned by Syrians. But, seeing that Wen-Amon w^as, as he 
 expresses it, 'silent in that supreme moment ' he broke off", and 
 abruptly asked — 
 
 ' Now, Avhat is thy business here .'' '' 
 
 AVe are to remember that AVen-Amon had come to buy timber, 
 but had lost his money. We cannot say anything about whether he 
 had actually recovered the money or its equivalent, because of the 
 unfortunate gap in the document already noticed. However, it would 
 appear that he had at the moment no ready cash, for he tried the 
 effect of a little blufl". ' I have come for the timber of the great 
 august barge of Amon-Ka, king of the gods. Thy father gave it, as 
 did thy grandfather, and thou wilt do so too." 
 
 But Zakar-Baal was not impressed. 'True,' said he, 'they gave 
 the timber, but they were paid for it : I will do so too, if I be paid 
 likewise.' And then we are interested to learn that he had his father's 
 account-books brought in, and showed his visitor the records of large 
 sums that had been paid for timber. ' See now,' continued Zakar- 
 Baal in a speech rather difficult to construe intelligibly, ' had I and 
 mv property been under the king of Egypt, he would not have sent 
 money, but would have sent a conunand. These transactions of my 
 father's were not the payment of tribute due. I am not thy servant 
 nor the servant of him that sent thee. All I have to do is to speak, 
 and the logs of Lebanon lie cut on the shore of the sea. But where 
 are the sails and the cordage thou hast brought to transport the logs ? 
 . . . Egypt is the mother of all equipments and all civilization ; how 
 then have they made thee come in this hole-and-corner way ?' He 
 is evidently still dissatisfied with this soi-disant envoy, coming in 
 a common passenger ship without passport or credentials. 
 
 Then AVen-Amon played his trump card. He produced the image 
 of Amon. 'No hole-and-corner journey is this, O guilty one !' said 
 he. ' Amon owns every ship on the sea, and owns Lel^anon which thou 
 hast claimed as thine own. Amon has sent me, and Hrihor my lord 
 has made me come, bearing this great god. And yet, though thou didst 
 
 D
 
 34 THE SCH WEIGH LECTURES, 1911 
 
 well know that he was here, thou hadst kept him waiting twenty-nine 
 days in the harbour.^ Former kings have sent money to thy fathers, 
 but not life and liealth : if thou do the hid(hng of Amon, he will 
 send thee life and health. Wish not for tlivself a thing belonging to 
 Amon-Ra.' 
 
 These histrionics, liowever, did not im])ress Zakar-Baal any more 
 than the previous speech. Clearly Wen-Amon saw in his face that 
 tlie lord of Bvblos was not overawed by the image of his god, and 
 that he wanted something more tangible than vague promises of life 
 and health. So at length he asked for his scribe to be brought him 
 that he might write a letter to Tanis, praying for a consignment of 
 goods on account. The letter was written, the messenger dispatched, 
 and in about seven weeks returned with a miscellaneous cargo of gold, 
 silver, linen, 500 rolls of papyrus (this is important), hides, rope, 
 lentils, and fish. A little present for Wen-Amon himself was sent as 
 well by the ladv Tentamon. Then the business-like prince rejoiced, 
 we are told, and gave the \vord for the felling of the trees. And at 
 last, some eight months after Wen-Amon's departure from Thebes, 
 the timber lay on the shore ready for delivery. 
 
 A curious passage here follows in the papyrus. It contains 
 one of the oldest recorded jokes — if not actually the oldest — in the 
 world. When Zakar-Baal came down to the shore to give the 
 timber over to Wen-Amon, he was accompanied by an Egyptian butler, 
 by name Pen- Amon. The shadow of Zakar-Baal's parasol happened 
 to fall on the envoy, whereupon the butler exclaimed, ' Lo, the 
 shadow of Pharaoh thy lord falleth on thee ! "* The point of the 
 witticism is obscure, but evidently even Zakar-Baal found it rather 
 too extreme, for he sharply rebuked the jester. But he })roceeded 
 himself to display a delicate humour. ' Now,' said he, ' I have done 
 for thee what my fathers did, though thou hast not done for me what 
 thy fathers did. Here is the timber lying ready and complete. Do 
 what thou wilt with it. But do not be contemplating the terror of 
 the sea' (there cannot be tlie slightest doubt that Wen-Amon was at 
 this moment lilancinfj over the waters and estimatini; his chances of 
 a smooth crossing). ' Contemplate for a moment the terror of IVIe ! 
 Ramessu IX sent some messengers to me and' — here lie turned to the 
 butler — ' G(i thou, and show him their graves ! ' 
 
 ' Oh, let me not see them ! ' was the agonized exclamation of Wen- 
 Amon, anxiotis now above all things to be off without further delay. 
 'Those were people wlio had no god with them! Wherefore dost 
 thou not instead erect a tablet to record to all time " that Amon-Ra 
 ' An inconsistency : he has added ten days to his former statement.
 
 THE HISTOllV 01' THE I'lIILISTINES 35 
 
 sent to me and I sent timber to Egypt, to beseech ten tliousaiid years 
 of life, and so it came to pass " ? "* 
 
 'Truly that would be a great testimony 1" said the sarcastic ])riiice, 
 and departed. 
 
 Wen-Amon now set about loading his timber. But })resently 
 there sailed eleven ships of the Zakkala into the harbour — possibly 
 those on whom he had made a rash attempt at piracy to recoup him- 
 self for his losses at Dor. The merchants in them demanded his 
 arrest. The poor Egyptian sat down on the shore and wept. ' They 
 have come to take me again ! "" he cried out — it would appear that 
 he had been detained by the Zakkala before, but the record of this 
 part of his troubles is lost in one of the lacunae of the MS. We 
 despair of him altogether when he actually goes on to tell us that 
 when news of this new trouble reached Zakar-Baal, that magnate 
 wept also. However, we need not question the charming detail that 
 he sent to Wen-Amon an Egyptian singing-girl, to console him with 
 her songs. But otherwise he washed his hands of the whole affair. 
 He told the Zakkala that he felt a delicacy about arresting the 
 messenger of Anion on his own land, but he gave them permission to 
 follow and arrest him themselves, if they should see fit. So away 
 Wen-Amon sailed, apparently without his timber, and presumably 
 with the Zakkala in pursuit. But he managed to evade them. 
 A wind drove him to Cyprus. The Cypriotes came out, as he 
 supposed, to kill him and his crew ; but they brought them Ijefore 
 Hatiba, their queen. He called out ' Does any one here understand 
 Egyptian ? ' One man stepped forward. He dictated a petition to 
 be translated to the queen 
 
 And here the curtain falls abruptly, for the papyrus breaks off, 
 and the rest of this curious tragi-comedy of three thousand years ago 
 is lost to us. 
 
 We see from it that the dwellers on the Syrian coast had com- 
 pletely thrown off the terror inspired by the victories of llamessu HI. 
 An Egyptian on a sacred errand from the greatest men in the 
 country, bearing the image of an Egyptian god, could be robbed, 
 bullied, mocked, threatened, thwarted in every possible way. 
 Granted that he was evidently not the kind of man to connnand 
 respect, yet the total lack of reverence for the royalties who had sent 
 him, and the sneers at Egypt and the Egy})tian rulers, are \ery 
 remarkable. 
 
 We see also that the domain of the 'People of the Sea' was 
 more extensive than the scanty strip of territory usually allowed them 
 on Bible maps. Further evidence of this will meet us presently, 
 
 d2
 
 36 THE SCH WEIGH LECTURES, 1911 
 
 but meanwhile it may be noted that the name 'Palestine*' is much 
 less of an extension of the name 'Philistia'' than the current maps 
 would have us suj)pose. In other words, the two expressions are 
 more nearly sMionvmous than they are generally taken to be. We 
 find Dor. south of Carniel, to be a Zakkala town ; and Zakkala ships 
 are busy in the ports further north. 
 
 Indeed, one is half inclined to see Zakkala dominant at Bvblos 
 itself. Wen-Amon was a person of slender education — even of his 
 own language he Avas not a master — and he was not likely to render 
 foreign names correctly. Probably he could speak nothing but Egyp- 
 tian : he was certainly ignorant of the language of Cyprus, whatever 
 that may have been : and possibly linguistic troubles are indicated by 
 his rendering of the name of the lord of Byblos. Can it be that 
 this was not a name at all, but a title (or rather the Semitic transla- 
 tion of a title, given by a Zakkala dragoman) : that Zakar is not 
 13r ' remember \ but the name of the ZaJcJcala : and that Baal here, 
 as frequently elsewhere, means 'lord' in a human and not a divine 
 sense .'' If so, the name would mean ' the lord of the Zakkala \ 
 a phrase that recalls 'the lords of the Philistines' in the Hebrew 
 Scriptures. The syntax assumed is of course quite un-Semitic : but 
 it is often the case in dragomans' translations that the syntax of the 
 original language is preserved. Something like this idea has been 
 anticipated by M. A. J. Reinach.^ 
 
 Zakar-baal was no mere pirate chieftain, however. He was a sub- 
 stantial, civilized, and self-reliant prince, and contrasts most fiivour- 
 ably with the weak, half-blustering, half-lacrimose Egyptian. He 
 understood the Egyptian language ; for he could rebuke the jest of 
 his Egyptian l)utler, who would {)resumably speak his native tongue 
 in 'chaffing' his compatriot ; and no doubt the interview in the upper 
 room was carried on in Egyptian. He was well accpiainted with the 
 use of letters, for he knew where to jnit his finger on the relevant 
 parts of the accounts of his two predecessors. These accounts were 
 probably not in cuneiform characters on clay tablets, as he is seen to 
 import large (juantities of papvi'iis from Egypt. He is true to his 
 old maritime traditions : he builds his house where he can watch the 
 great waves of the Mediterranean beat on the shore, and he is well 
 informed about the ships in his own and the neighbouring har))()urs, 
 and their crew s. 
 
 There is a dim i-ecollection of a Philistine occu[)ation of Phoenicia 
 
 ' ' Byblos, oil ngne un prince qui pourrait bicn I'trc un Trhihara semitist', si Ton 
 en croit son nom de Tcliakar-baal.' JUrue archcoloi/ujtif, scr. IV, vol. xv, p. 4.5.
 
 THE IIIST()I{V OF THE PHILISTINES 37 
 
 recorded for us in an oft-cjiioted passage of Just in (xviii. ',}. 5),' 
 in which he mentions a raid by the king of Ashkelon, just before tlie 
 fall of Troy, on the riioenician tow n of Sidon (so called from an 
 alleged Phoenician word ' sidon \ meaning ' (isir). This is of course 
 merely a saga-like tradition, and as we do not know from what 
 authority Justin drew his information we can hardly put a very 
 heavy strain upon it. And yet it seems to hang together with the 
 other evidence, that in the Mycenaean period, when Troy was taken, 
 there actually was a Philistine settlement on the Phoenician coast. 
 As to the specific mention of Ashkelon^ a suggestion, perhaps a little 
 venturesome, may be hazarded. The original writer of the history 
 of this vaguely-chronicled event, whoever he may have been, possibly 
 recorded correctly that it was the Znkkala who raided Sidon. Some 
 later author or copyist was puzzled by this forgotten name, and 
 'emended' a rege Sacaloniorum to a rege Ascaloniorum. Stranger 
 things have happened in the course of manuscript transmission. - 
 
 The Papyrus gives us some chronological indications of importance. 
 The expedition of Wen-Amon took place in the fifth year of Ilamessu 
 XII, that is to say, about 1110 n.c. Zakar-Baal had already been 
 governor of Byblos for a considerable time, for he had received 
 envoys from Hamessu IX (1144-1129). Suppose these envoys to 
 have come about 1130, that gives him already twenty years. The 
 envoys of Ilamessu IX were detained seventeen years ; but in the 
 first place this may have been an exaggeration, and in the second 
 place we need not suppose that many of those seventeen years 
 necessarily fell within the reign of the sender of these messengers. 
 Further, Zakar-BaaPs father and grandfather had preceded him in 
 office. We do not know how long they reigned, but giving twenty- 
 five years to each, which is probably a high estimate, we reach the 
 date 1180, which is sufficiently long after the victory of Ramessu III 
 for the people to begin to recover from the ])low which that event 
 inflicted on them. 
 
 ^ ' Et quoniam ad Carthaginiensium inentionem uentum est, de origine eoruni 
 pauca dicenda sunt, repetitis Tyriorum paulo altius rebus, quorum casus etiam 
 dolcndi fuerunt. Tyriorum gens condita a Phocnieibus fuit, qui terraeraotu uexati, 
 relicto patriae solo, Assyrium stagnum prinio, niox mari proximum littus incoluc- 
 runt, condita ibi urbe quam a piscium ubertate Sidona appellaucrunt ; nam piscem 
 Phoenices sidon uocant. Post multo.s deindc annos a rege Asc'aloniorum expugnati, 
 nauibus appulsi, Tyron urbem ante annum Troianae cladis condiderunt.' 
 
 ^ On the other hand Scylax in his I'erqihts calls Ashkelon "a lity of the 
 Tyrians '.
 
 38 THE SCHWEICII LECTURES, 1911 
 
 II. TiiEiii SrurcGLE with the Hebrews 
 
 We now turn to the various historical referenc-es to the Philistines 
 in the Hebrew Scriptures. 
 
 It happens that the Zakkala, with whom the Golenischeff' Papyrus 
 is concerned, are not mentioned bv name in the received text of the 
 Old Testament. The southern Philistines were more conspicuous in 
 the history of the Hebrews, and this name is in consequence used 
 indifferently for all the tribal subdivisions of the hated enemy. The 
 first appearance of the Philistines on the coast of Southern Pales- 
 tine is not recorded in the Old Testament, but it may possibly be 
 inferred indirectly. In the oldest monument of Hebrew speech, 
 the Song of Deborah, the tribe of Dan is referred to as a maritime 
 people who ' remained in ships ' while their brethren bore the brunt 
 of the invasion of Sisera. Towards the end of the Book of Judges, 
 we find that certain of the tribe of Dan are compelled to seek a home 
 elsewhere, and choose the fertile, well-watered, but hot and fever- 
 haunted I^aish, a place remote from everywhere, and where the 
 people were '(juief— as they well might be in that malaria-stricken 
 furnace. Why did the Danites leave for this unsatisfactory territory 
 their healthy and rich land by the sea-coast ? Probably because they 
 were driven by pressure from without. The migration of the Danites 
 can best be explained by the settlement of the Philistines. And it 
 is suggestive that the first great champion to stand for Israel against 
 the intruders, Samson, belonged to Zorah, whence went forth the 
 Danite spies (Judg. xviii. 2). 
 
 The first allusion to the Philistines which we meet with in the Old 
 Testament, that in the genealogical table of the nations in Genesis x, 
 we have already discussed. Next we find a cycle of stories, told with 
 but little variation both of Abraham and of Isaac (Gen. xx, xxi, xxvi), 
 in which those heroes of old are brought into contact with a certain 
 ' Abimelech, king of the Philistines '. In both cases the patriarch, 
 to save himself, conceals his true relationship to his wife, which is 
 revealed to the deceived monarch : in both, the latter displays a 
 singular dignity and righteousness in the delicate position in which 
 his guesfs du[)licity places him : and in both there is a .subsecjuent 
 dispute about the possession of wells. The stories are in short 
 doublets of one another, and both echo a similar tale told of Abraham 
 in Egypt, at an earlier stage of his career (Gen, xii). Whoever 
 added the inept title to Psalm xxxi\ evidently had these stories in 
 his mind when he inadvertently wrote 'a Psalm of David when he 
 changed his behaviour hoiovQ J hi melech'' instead oi' Achish: an un-
 
 THE HISTOliV OF THE rHILISTINES 39 
 
 conscious reminiscence oftiie tide mi^ht possibly have been sugfrcsted 
 by vv. 12, 13 of the l*s;dni in cjuestion. 
 
 The use of the word ' IMiilistine ' in these stories has long been 
 recognized as an anachronism. Perhaps with less harshness and equal 
 accuracy we might characterize it as a rather free use of modern names 
 and circumstances in telling an ancient tale. Even now we might 
 find, for example, a popular writer on history saying that this event 
 or that of the Early British period took place 'in Norfolk ^ although 
 it is obvious that the territory of the North Eolk nmst have received 
 its Saxon name in later times. The tales of Abraham and Isaac were 
 written when the land where their scenes were laid was in truth the 
 Land of the Philistines ; and the story-teller Avas not troubled with 
 the question as to how far back that occupation lasted. Indeed when 
 Abimelech first appears on the scene he is not a Philistine, but the 
 Semitic king of the town of Gerar. The two passages in Gen. xxi, 
 which might be understood ' they returned into [what we call] 
 Philistia ""...' Abraham sojourned in [what is now] Philistia ', have 
 misled the writer (or copyist) of Gen. xxvi into supposing that 
 Abimelech was actually king of the Philistines. In fact the Greek 
 Version of xxvi. 8 seems to preserve an indication of older readings 
 in which he was simply called, as in the other story, king of 
 Gerar. 
 
 Noordtzij {Filist. p. 59) attempts to demonstrate a pre-llamessu 
 occupation of S. Palestine by the Philistines, principally on the ground 
 that the time between Ramessu III and Samson or Saul is too short 
 for the ' semitizing ' process to have taken place. This seems hardly 
 a cogent argument to me : the ' semitization ' was by no means 
 complete : the special Semitic rite of circumcision was not adopted : 
 there is no reason to suppose that the language of the Philistines 
 had been abandoned for a Semitic language. And we need have no 
 difficulty in supposing such changes to take place with great rapidity. 
 Thanks to the undermining influence of returned American emigrants, 
 the Irish peasant has shown a change of attitude towards traditional 
 beliefs in fairies and similar beings within the past twenty years as pro- 
 found as any change tliat inigul have taken place between Ramessu III 
 and Saul under the influence of the surrounding Semitic populations. 
 A similar anachronism meets us in Exodus xiii. 17, enshrining an 
 ancient tradition that the ordinary caravan-route from Egypt by way 
 of the coast was avoided in preference to the long and wearisome 
 march through the desert, in order to keep clear of the Philistines 
 and their military prowess. Likewise in the song preserved in 
 Exodus XV, we find (v. 14) despondency attributed to the dwellers
 
 40 THE SCHWEICH LECTURES, 1911 
 
 ill Pliilisti.i at the news of the crossing" of the Red Sea. This song, 
 however, is probal)ly not very ancient. 
 
 On the other hand, the writers who have contributed to the 
 Pentateuch in its final form do not all share the indifference to 
 chronoloL;ical detail shown by the Yahwist story-teller. Often as 
 are the tribes of Canaan enumerated in passages anticipatory of the 
 con(|uest of the Promised Land, the Philistines are never mentioned : 
 thev have no share in the territory of the Hittite, the Girgashite, the 
 Amorite, the Canaanite, and the Jebusite. In view of the prominence 
 of the Philistines in the later history, this is a very significant fact. 
 The solitary exception is so vague that it might almost be said to 
 prove the rule — a reference to the Mediterranean sea by the name of 
 'the Sea of the Philistines' in Exodus xxxiii. 3L In Joshua xiii. 2, 
 the ' districts "" or ' circles'* of the Philistines are enumerated among 
 the places not conquered by the leader of the Hebrew inmiigration — 
 the following verse, to which we shall return later, enumerates the 
 ' districts '. But there is no reference to the Philistines in the parallel 
 accoimt contained in Judges i. There, in verse 19, the ' dwellers in the 
 valley \ i. e. in the low coast-land on which the Judahite territory 
 bordered, are depicted as successfully resisting the aggression of the 
 Hebrew tribe with the help of their iron chariots : the previous verse, 
 which contradicts this, and -which unhistorically claims that Judah 
 captured the cities Gaza, Ashkelon, and Ekron, must necessarily be an 
 interpolation.^ In Judges iii. 3 we find an agreement with the passage 
 just cited from Joshua — the five lords of the Philistines, as well as the 
 ' Canaanites '' (whatever may be exactly meant by the name in this 
 connexion), the Phoenicians, and the Hi[tt]ites are enumerated as 
 being left unconcjuered. The curious reason assigned, that this was 
 to practise the Hebrews in war, is at any rate concordant with the 
 old tradition that the terror of the warlike Philistines prevented the 
 Hebrews following the direct route into the Px'omised Land. 
 
 The {)assages examined so far have rather been concerned with the 
 settlement of the protagonists in the great struggle for the possession 
 of Palestine than with the course of the struggle itself. AVe are to 
 picture tlie Hebrew tril)es crossing the Jordan from the East, and 
 some little lime afterwai'ds the Pliilistines (and Zakkala) establishing 
 themselves on the rich coast-lands: this much we can see with the 
 aid of the Egyptian records cited in the preceding pages. AVe now 
 follow the histoi-y of the conflict. 
 
 At the outset we are confronted by a i)uz/ling group of passages. 
 In the very ancient Song of Deborah, picturing the distracted state 
 ' See Moore's Commentary, p. 37.
 
 THE HISTORY OF THE PHHISTINES 4-1 
 
 of the country under foreign oppressors, the writer (l(.>(rilns hou 
 travellers and caravans, from fear, abandoned the main thoroughfares 
 and journeyed along the by-paths, of which the winding valleys of 
 Palestine offer an endless choice. This was in the days of a certain 
 Shamgar son of Anath ^ (Judges v, G). Tl\e name has a foreign 
 appearance-: a Hittite analogy (Sangar) has been sought for it. 
 We cannot, however, conclude that he was necessarily a foreigner, 
 even though his progenitor is said to be Anath, which happens 
 to be a well-known goddess-name. There is not another case ot 
 a Hebrew bearing so frankly idolatrous a name in the Old Testa- 
 ment. But in the Aswan papyri we have a glimpse of what 
 Jewish life was, independent of priestly influences ; and these 
 show an extraordinary tolerance of heathen names and practices. 
 We find Hosea son of Peti-Khnum. Names like 'Athar-ili, Nebo- 
 nathan, Ben-Tirash occur in the community : the daughter of one 
 Mahseiah swears in a law-court by the goddess Sati. Shamgar son 
 of Anath would have been quite at home in this company. 
 
 The antecedent for this reference in Deborah's Song a})pears to lie 
 in a verse at the end of chapter iii (v. 31), which says that Shamgar 
 son of Anath killed six hundred Philistines with an ox-goad, and 
 saved Israel. It is, however, obvious that this verse is out of place. 
 It interrupts the flow of the narrative : there is no word of Philistine 
 oppression in the context, and the text proceeds ' A\'hen Ehud was 
 dead . . . ' certain things happened, following on the story of Ehud 
 which the Shamgar passage interrupts. The later development of 
 the history contains no recognition of the labours of Shamgar. There 
 are indeed few passages in literature which are so clearly no part of 
 the original document: and we can hardly doubt that it has been 
 inserted from some other source, or from another part of the book, in 
 order to provide an explanation for the allusion in Deborah's Song. 
 
 It is curious that the chief Greek MSS. read Auax instead of 
 * Anath ' here, but not in Deborah's Song.^ A number of Greek MSS. 
 repeat the verse relating to Shamgar after xvi. 31— i. e. innnediately 
 after the story of Samson. This seems a better place for it.* 
 
 1 The additional note of time, 'In the days of Jael', is generally rejected as 
 a gloss. 
 
 - See Moore's Judges, pp. 14-2, IW, and Journal of American Oriental SorUtj/, 
 xixb, p. 159. 
 
 » The name Shamgar is given as -Sa/^fyap, :Safjiayap, ^e^ic/ap, 2f/^a7a/>, A^eyaO, 
 ■Xaniyae, naiycip, E^ityap. His father's name in Judges iii is given as Awax, Aftvax, 
 RvaO, Efax, Aipioe, AaaO ; in Judges V as AvaO, Ktvad, EvaO, EvaOajx, AreOffi. 
 
 * The verse as repeated says that ' Scmegar (or Emegar' son of Anan (Ainan, 
 Enan) arose after Samson, and slew of the Foreigners, GOO men without the cattle, 
 and he also saved Israel'. Note the transformation of the ox-goad.
 
 42 THE SCH WEIGH LECTURES, 1911 
 
 The Shamgar story, in short, looks like one of the floating traditions 
 that have more particularly crystallized round Samson and the mighty 
 men of David. A remarkable parallel to the exploit of Shamgar has 
 been found in the deed of ' Shammah the Hararite '—a not dissimilar 
 name — one of David's followers, who in some such rough and ready 
 way defended a field of crops — barley or lentils— from Philistine 
 marauders.^ 
 
 But can the story be so summarily dismissed ? Grant all the 
 difficulties — that Shamgar's name has a foreign aspect, that the prose 
 account of him is an interpolation, that the Philistines seem to appear 
 too early on the scene ; yet the scanty allusion to this obscure 
 champion may after all record a tradition of the beginnings of the 
 great struggle. 
 
 For besides Shamgar, Deborah's Song mentions another arresting 
 personality. The very grandeur of the paean throws a romantic halo 
 round the person of the unfortunate Sisera, victim of a crime against 
 the desert law of hospitality difficult to parallel even in the wild 
 annals of Bedawin life. The heartless glee with which the poet 
 triumphs over the chieftain''s anxious, watching mother makes the 
 latter for us one of the most pathetic figures in the whole crowded 
 gallery of the Old Testament. Time has brought its revenge for both 
 motlier and son. 
 
 In the prose version of the combat, Sisera is represented as the 
 general of Jabin, king of Hazor, and the latter is the head of the 
 attack on Israel. But Jabin has an altogether secondary place in the 
 narrative, and Sisera is the central figure. Jabin, indeed, is probably 
 imported into the story from the source that lies at the back of 
 Joshua xi, where there is no mention of Sisera. In Psalm Ixxxiii. 9 
 Sisera is mentioned before Jabin. He has a town of his own, 
 ' Harosheth of the Gentiles,'' more than a day's journey from the 
 city of Jabin ; and the vignette of his mother surrounded by her 
 court ladies gives us a picture of a more important estal)lishment 
 than that of a mere captain of a host. Sisera in short is an indepen- 
 dent king, and the story as we have it is either an account of a single 
 campaign in which two kings were in league, or, more })robably, 
 a combination of the narratives of two campaigns whollv independent. 
 
 Harosheth is generally identified wiMi the modern Harathiveh, in the 
 bottle-neck which forms the mouth of the plain of Esdraelon — a region 
 entirely in Philistine hands, at least at the end of Saul's wars. This 
 identification seems fairly trustworthy. Not far off from Harosheth 
 was a village with the name Beth-dagon : and Harosheth itself is distin- 
 ' 2 Sam. xxiii. 11 ; 1 Chron. xi. 13.
 
 THE HISTORY OF THE PHHJSTINES 4;J 
 
 guished by the appellation 'of the goylm"' or foreigners. In Joshua 
 xii. 23 'the king of the govini in Gilgal ' is mentioned in noteworthy 
 juxtaposition with Dor, whieh figures so conspicuously in the report 
 of Wen-Anion ; hut this passage has been suspected and various 
 emendations suggested, chief of which is to read b^bib for bibib and 
 to translate ' king of nations belonging to Galilee'. This is of course 
 reminiscent of the famous 'Galilee of the Gentiles'^; but on the 
 other hand we may compare nc'^2 ni/''^J 'the Galilees of Philistia'' in 
 Joshua xiii. 2 and Joel iii. 4 ( = Hebrew iv. 4), which in the latter 
 passage is mentioned immediately after the Philistine territory. The 
 word goylm is of no more specific meaning than our word 'nations' : 
 though usually applied to foreigners, it may even on occasion be 
 applied to the nation of Israel : so it cannot be said to be very 
 conclusive. But one wonders whether in such passages and phrases 
 as these it might not bear the special meaning of the foreigners paj- 
 excellence, the most outlandish people with whom the Hebrews came 
 into contact — that is to sav the Philistines and their cognate tribes, 
 for whom the Greek translators reserve the name a\\6(j)vkoi. In the 
 present case they would more especially be the Zakkala, of whom 
 Wen-Amon tells us, but who are not mentioned by name in the 
 Hebrew writings. 
 
 Sisera's enormous host of iron chariots, a possession which, as we 
 saw, also enabled the coast-dwellers of the South to hold their own, is 
 emphasized in the prose account of the battle, as in the speech put 
 by Deborah's Song into his mother's mouth : and it is interesting to 
 notice that we hear again of these iron chariots as being on the plain 
 of Esdraelon (Joshua xvii. 16). 
 
 The name of the prince nlso is suggestive. It is not Semitic : and 
 the numerous Hittite names ending in 6v';-a— Khetasira and the like — 
 have been quoted to indicate its possible origin. But we should not 
 forget Badyra, the Zakkala prince of the r.eighbouring town of Dor. 
 And may it not be asked whether Sisera, XIDT, could he a reduplicated 
 for)ri derived from the root of pD sereii (the latter being possibly 
 a participle), the one word of the Philistine language which we 
 certainly know — the technical term for the 'lords' of the Philistine 
 state? This guess presupposes that the language of the Philistines 
 was Indo-European — an assumption which it has not yet been possible 
 either to prove or disprove. Some possible evidence of reduplication is 
 afforded by such combinations as R E R E I ET and perha})s KRKOKLES 
 in the Praesos inscriptions. It is interesting to note that the name 
 
 ' Isa. ix. 1 ( = Hebrew viii. -23).
 
 44 THE SCHWEICH LECTURES, 1911 
 
 Benesasint occur.s in the list of Keftian names on the Egyptian tablet 
 described on a previous page. 
 
 If Sisera was a PhiHstine or at least one of cognate race, we have 
 some use for Shamgar and his ox-goad. Otherwise, the latter must be 
 expunged from the list of Judges, if he be not actually numbered among 
 the oppressors, as Moore in his Conunentary is inclined to do. The 
 combination AN A IT, which ends one of the Praesos inscriptions just 
 mentioned, has been compared to the name of Shamgar's parent 
 Anath ; but there is no probability that such a coincidence between 
 a short inscription on the one hand, and a few proper names on the 
 other, is of any importance. 
 
 In Judges x. 6, 7, 11 there is mention of Philistine oppression, in 
 strange and scarcely intelligible connexion with the Amorites. This 
 passage does not help us nearer to the solution of problems. It is in 
 the narrative of Samson that the Philistines first come conspicuously 
 on the scene. It is unnecessary to sunnnarize the familiar incidents : 
 indeed for our purpose these chapters, though of the deepest interest, 
 are disappointing. The narrator is content to tell his tale, without 
 troubling himself about the attendant circumstances which we would 
 so gladly know. 
 
 In discussing this remarkable series of episodes it is unnecessary 
 to raise the question of their historicity.^ Still more irrelevant 
 would be a discussion of the pseudo-scientific hypothesis that Samson 
 (like Achilles, Heracles, Max Midler, Gladstone, and other demonstrated 
 characters of mythology) was a solar myth. It is sufficient for the 
 purpose of our present discussion that the tale gives us an early 
 tradition of the condition of affairs at the time indicated ; and as 
 I have said elsewhere,- it is probably to be regarded as a prose epic 
 concentrating into the person of a single ideal hero the various 
 incidents of a guerrilla border- warfare. 
 
 This Ix'ing postulated, one or two points of importance strike us in 
 reading the story. The first is, that the Philistine domination was 
 complete, a}id was passively accepted by the Hebrews. ' The Philis- 
 tines are rulers over us ' say the men of Judah, who propose to betray 
 the champion to his enemies. As is so often the case with a nation of 
 separate clans, even the pressure of a formidable common enemy can- 
 not always heal their mutual jealousies. Ireland, in the face of the 
 Vikings in the ninth century, and of the English in the twelfth, offers 
 
 ' For a study (from a c'onservative standjioint) of tlie liistoricity of tlie Samson 
 narrative see Sdm.fon, nine i'litersuchimg dex historinch<n ClKtraktem run Richt. 
 xiii-xvi, von Dr. Kdmund Kalt, Freiburg i. Br., 1912. This brochure contains a very 
 useful bibliograjjliy. 
 
 * y/ //is/i,r>/ nf C'lv'il'i-jiilon in Palestine, p. ji.
 
 THE HISTORY OF THE PHILISTINES 45 
 
 ail instructive parallel. Only a chapter or two l)eforc the appearance 
 of Samson, we have the distractini^ ej)iso(le of Al)iinelech: a chapter 
 or two later comes the story of the massacre of the lienjamites by the 
 other tribes : and wliate\er may be the true chronological relationship 
 of these narratives to the historical setting of the Samson epic, they 
 at least indicate that there was a long period of inter-tribal disunion 
 that would make it easy for a well-organized military nation to gain 
 complete domination over the country. 
 
 But it was no mere military domination. The Philistines were 
 accompanied by their wives and daughters, and the attractiveness of 
 the latter in the eyes of Samson is a leading motive of his story. On 
 this side of the narrative, however, there is one point to be noticed. 
 There is no reason for branding the Philistines with the stigma of 
 having produced the mercenary traitress Delilah : indeed, whatever 
 indications there may be in her story point in an exactly opposite 
 direction. Had tradition called her a Philistine, like Samson's first 
 wife, the author of Judges would hardly have failed to make it clear. 
 She is described as a Avomaii in the Valley of Sorek ; which, if it be the 
 modern Wady es-Surar, as is generally agreed, was partly in Israelite 
 territory. Moreover, it would scarcely have been necessary for the 
 Philistine lords to have offered the gigantic bribe of 1,100 pieces of 
 silver each, to a woman of their own nation, that she might betray to 
 them the arch-enemy of her race : it would be much more likely that 
 they would use the persuasive argument of threatening her with the 
 fate of her unlucky predecessor. The name appears again as that 
 of a member of the tribe of Judah, in a genealogical fragment in 
 1 Chronicles iv. 19, preserved by the Greek Version, but lost from the 
 Hebrew textus receptus. It is not too much to say that if the Delilah 
 episode be read carefully, the various steps become more natural and 
 intelligible when we picture the central figure as a tribeswoman of the 
 men of Judah, who in the previous chapter had attempted to antici- 
 pate her act of betrayal. 
 
 It is noteworthy that nowhere in the Samson story is there any 
 hint that there was a barrier of language between Hebrew and 
 Philistine. Samson and his Philistine friends at Timnah exchange 
 their rough jests Avithout any difficulty ; Delilah, whatever her race, 
 converses with equal ease with the Philistine lords and with her 
 Hebrew husband. The same point is to be noticed throughout the 
 subsequent history, with the curious and significant exception of 
 the very last reference to the Philistines in the historical books. 
 Indeed, it has often been observed that the services of an interpreter 
 are but rarely called for in the Old Testament : although it is possible
 
 46 THE SCHWEICH LECTURES, 1911 
 
 that sLicli an intermediary was sometimes used without the fact being 
 specifically stated.^ But probably in ancient as in modern Palestine 
 everybody \\ ho had any position at all to maintain could speak several 
 languages. The officers of Hezekiah and Sennacherib, for instance, 
 could understand each the other's tongue, and could pass from one to 
 the other with the enviable ease of a modern Levantine polyglot. 
 
 The incident of Samson's hair has often been compared to the 
 purple hair of Nisus, plucked out by Scvlla at the instigation of 
 Minos ; and to the story of Pterelaos of Taphos and his golden hair 
 given him by Poseidon, which rendered him immortal. Both stories 
 are to be found in that endless mine, the B'lbliotheca of Apollodorus. 
 The connexion of Minos with the former story is noteworthy. It has, 
 I believe, been suggested (but I have no note of the reference) that 
 the story of the virtue inherent in Samson's locks may have been 
 actually received by the Hebrews from Philistine sources. It may 
 be merely a coincidence that the name of Samson's father, ]\Ianoah, 
 resembles the name Minos. 
 
 Lastly, we notice in the Samson epic that as seen through Hebrew 
 eyes the Philistines had already the three characteristics that marked 
 them out from the other nations round about. The adjective 'un- 
 circumcised ', obviously the current term of abuse in all generations, 
 already makes its appearance. Their peculiar government by ' lords ' 
 also meets us, but as it happens no particular ' lord ' is named, nor 
 does the Samson story give us any idea of their number. Thirdly, in 
 the final scene, we are introduced to the mysterious Dagon, the chief 
 deity of the Philistine pantheon. 
 
 For how long the Philistine domination lasted we have no means 
 of knowing. There is no indication of the length of time supposed 
 to elapse between the death of Samson and the a])pearance on the 
 scene of Samuel. Eli, the priest of the High Place at Shiloh, may 
 or may not have been contemporary with Samson : he a})pears 
 suddenly on the scene as a man in extreme old age ' who had judged 
 Israel forty years', and vanishes almost immediately. 
 
 The next stage of the history shows us the disunited and mutually 
 hostile tribes of Israel gradually welding together under the pressure 
 of their formidable enemy, and slowly but surely, though with more 
 than one serious set-back, reversing the situation. 
 
 We begin with the unlucky battle in which for a time the Ark was 
 lost (1 Sam. iv). The to})ography of the battle is uncertain : the 
 Philistines pitched at a place (|uite unknown, Aphek, the Israelites 
 
 ' Thus, it is only by a foot-note, as it were, that we learn that Joseph employed an 
 interpreter in conversing with his brethren.
 
 THE HISTORY OF THE IMHLISTINES 47 
 
 at a spot of e(jually obscure topography, Eben-ezer, where Samuel 
 afterwards set up a memorial pillar (vii. 12), The Philistines wore 
 the victors, and the Israelites attempted to turn the battle l)y fetching 
 their national palladium from its resting-place in Shiloh. The Philis- 
 tines were at first stricken with a superstitious fear ; but recovering 
 themselves they made a complete slaughter of the Israelites, and 
 captured the Ai-k itself. Their rallying-cry 'Be strong and be men, 
 that ye be not slaves to the Hebrews as they have been to you ' cor- 
 roborates, from the Philistine side, the evidence that the Philistines 
 were the masters of the Hebrews at the time. 
 
 Now begins that strange story of the Avandcrings of the Ark. It 
 would be natural to lay up the symbol of the deity of a van(|uished 
 people in the temple of the chief god of the conquerors : as Alesha 
 laid up his religious trophies before Chemosh, so the Ark was de])osited 
 in the temple of Dagon at Ashdod — a temple of which we hear down 
 to the time of the Maccabees (1 Mace. x. 84). But Dagon twice 
 falls prostrate before the Ark, the second time being broken by 
 the fall. At the same time a plague of mice or rats spread over the 
 Philistine plain. There Avas a very similar plague over the same 
 district in 1904, and enormous damage was done to the growing- 
 crops. Indeed, the peasants, whose fields were robbed almost as 
 though bv the prophet Joel's locusts, were reduced to tracking out 
 the rat-holes and collecting the grain that the animals had brought 
 down and stored : it was a curious sight to watch the women patiently 
 engaged in this weary work, and gradually filling bags with the 
 precious seed thus recovered. But in the Philistine experience 
 the plague of rats had a yet more serious consequence. Not only 
 did they ' mar the land ', but as we now know to be the natural 
 course of events, the parasites of the mice communicated to the 
 people the disease of bubonic plague.^ 
 
 The disease broke out first in Ashdod, and was naturally explained 
 as due to the presence of the Ark. They therefore dispatched it to 
 Gath, and of course the bearers carried the plague bacilli with them : 
 again it was sent to Ekron, and again the plague was carried thither ; 
 
 ^ Some commentators (e. g. H. P. Smith in the International Critical Commentary), 
 while recognizing that the disease was plague, have missed the essential significance 
 of the mice, and would remove them altogether as ' late redactional insertion '. 
 Although in the Hebrew received text, as reproduced in the English Bible, the 
 ' mice ' come in awkwardly as though a sudden afterthought, the Greek Version 
 makes them much more prominent throughout the narrative ; and there is no 
 possible reason why any redactor (unless he had divined some of the most recent 
 discoveries in bacteriology) should have introduced mice into the story at all. The 
 distorted version of the plague which destroyed Sennacherib's army, recorded in 
 Herodotus ii. 141, also introduces mice very conspicuously.
 
 48 THE SCH WEIGH LECTURES, 1911 
 
 and as the Philistines, even before they had secured their costly prize, 
 had associated it with outbreaks of pestilence in Egypt (1 Sam. iv. 8), 
 they easily connected it with their own troubles. How they returned 
 it to Beth-Shemesh, and how the bacilli (carried probably by para- 
 sites on the kine, or perhaps on the coverings of the Ark) proved to 
 be still virulent to the cost of the villagers who too rashly approached, 
 are tales too well know n to need repetition. 
 
 It is interesting that the Philistines sent back with the Ark votive 
 models of their twofold plague, which yet was one, as their ancestors 
 had been wont to do when, in search of healing from the ills of human 
 flesh, they visited the Dictaean Cave in the ancient homeland. 
 
 The following chapter (vii) apparently represents a different strand 
 of tradition. According to this the Ark was suffered to remain in 
 Kiriath-Jearim no less than twenty years, until, proliably, it was 
 brought up to Jerusalem at the beginning of the reign of David.^ 
 Samuel held a reconciliation service, as it might be called, in which 
 Israel renounced the various strange gods they had adopted. The 
 l^hilistines came up to plunder this peaceful assembly, but were 
 driven back by an appalling thunderstorm. The people gave chase, 
 and smote the invaders to the unknown place called Beth-Car, to 
 which reference has been made in the previous chapter ; and a great 
 memorial stone was set up at or near the spot where the Ark had 
 been captured. We are then told that the Philistines restored certain 
 cities, including Ekron and Gath (or according to the Greek text, 
 Ashkelon and ' Azob \ i. e. Gaza or Ashdod), to the Israelites, and 
 that they never again came up to invade Israel. 
 
 It is noticeable that the narrator, with all his desire to glorify 
 Samuel, avoids making a purely military leader of him, while 
 emjihasizing his religious functions. The victory is ascribed more to 
 the thunderstorm, which is an answer to the ' whole burnt offering ' 
 offered by Sanuiel, than to military skill on the part of the Israelites 
 or of any leader. The writer's patriotic enthusiasm (and perhaps 
 some such record as Judges i. 18) have betrayed him into exaggeration 
 with reirard to the ' restoration ' of cities that in fact had never 
 been Isi-aelite. But with regard to his conclusion 'that the Philistines 
 never again invaded Israel", it is (|uite })()ssiljle to judge him too 
 harshly. If the Pliilistiiies were confined to the narrow strip of 
 territory from Joppa southward, the statement would be absurd : but 
 we have now seen that, at the time, the suzerainty of the Philistines 
 
 ' The data for the ehronologj^ of Saul's reign are notoriously insuffieient. Note 
 that Eli's great-grandson was priest in Sliiloh at the time of the battle of Michmash 
 (1 Sara. xiv. 3).
 
 THE HISTORY OF THE IMHEISTINES 49 
 
 over the whole of Palestine wus complete, ami that in all probability 
 they actually occupied the Northrn coast, the plain of Esdraelon as far 
 as the Jordan, and even penetrated up the fertile valleys that wind 
 through the Judacan mountains. This being so it may well be that 
 the incident here recorded was actually the last case of aggression ; but 
 that in all the other cases in which the IMiilistines ' came up to war ' 
 the purpose was defensive, to meet Israelite encroachments on their 
 territory. The passage therefore is not necessarily so ' extravagant ' 
 as some critics have made out. 
 
 However, there can be little doubt that the desire of the Hebrew 
 people for a king, which now began to express itself, was the natural 
 outcome of the growing sense of unity which under the pressure of the 
 Philistine domination was rapidly developing. A leader was urgently 
 needed who should be free from the specitically religious duties to 
 which Samuel Avas entirely devoted ; it was hoped that one who could 
 thus give his whole attention to military )natters might ultimately rid 
 the people of the yoke that daily became more and more intolerable. 
 Authorities differ as to how Samuel was affected by the popular 
 demand. In one version he indignantly condemned it as a revolt 
 against the theocracy of which he himself was at once Emperor and 
 Pope. In another version he raised no objection to the new 
 departure, definitely recognized it as a step towards delivery from 
 the Philistines (1 Sam. ix. 16), chose the king and received him 
 courteously, and declared to him the signs that testified to his 
 election. From this progranmie we learn incidentally that the 
 Philistines had a sort of mudir or governor at a place called Gibeah 
 of God (probably to be identified with the modern village of Ram 
 Allah about twelve miles north of Jerusalem).^ This fact underlines, 
 so to speak, what has already been said about the absence of Philistine 
 aggressions after the battle of Beth-Car. AVith an outpost so far 
 east as the spot indicated, the actual territory of the Philistines 
 included all the places where fighting took place. 
 
 Saul assumed the kingdom, and immediately the first Israelite 
 aggression took place: Jonathan slew the Philistine governor of Geba, 
 where, as at Gibeah, there seems to have been a Philistine mudir. 
 
 The Philistines, rightly considering this a sign of revolt, came up 
 to quell the insurrection. The Israelites were gathered together with 
 Saul in Michmash,^ but when they saw the overpowering might of the 
 
 ' In the English version (1 Sam. x. j) the word 3''VJ, which in 1 Kings iv. 19 and 
 elsewhere means 'a prefect or officer', is translated, probably wrongly, 'camp'. 
 
 ^2 There are some difficulties of interpretation and other critical complications in 
 the passage, on which sec the standard commentators. 
 
 E
 
 50 THE SCIIWEICH LECTURES, 1911 
 
 Philistines swooping down upon them they hid themselves in the 
 caves with which the country abounds. Saul waited anxiously for 
 Samuel, and at last ventured himself to offer the necessary sacrifices : 
 the denunciation, with which the stern old prophet expressed his 
 resentment at this usurpation of his priestly functions, was apparently 
 the first shock that disturbed SauPs delicately poised mental 
 equilibrium, and paved the wav for the insanity by which he was 
 afterwards afflicted. 
 
 Jonathan again came to the rescue. With his armour-bearer he 
 showed himself to the Philistines encamped at Michmash. They 
 called to him to 'come up and see something'— note again that 
 difference of language was no bar to intercourse — and the two young 
 men, who had previously agreed to take such an invitation as an 
 omen, climlDcd up to the camp. In some way they succeeded in 
 throwing the camp into confusion, as Gideon had done with the 
 Midianites. Soon the Philistines broke into a panic, which a timely 
 earthquake intensified, and before long thev were in flight, with the 
 armies of Israel in hot pursuit. It is a remarkable story, and still 
 more remarkable is the pendant — the tabu put by Saul on food, which 
 had the natural result of making the victory less complete : the 
 unconscious violation of the tabu by Jonathan : the consequent silence 
 of the Divine oracle : his trial and condenniation : his redemption, no 
 doubt by the substitution of another life : the pouring out of the 
 blood when the tabu came to an end — all these are pictures of ancient 
 religious custom and belief of the highest value. 
 
 The familiar story of the battle of Ephes-Dammim, with its central 
 incident — the duel of David and Goliath — is the next scene in the 
 drama. For the present, however, we pass it over : it is involved in 
 a host of difficulties. Whatever view may be taken of the story, as 
 we have it, it is evident that neither the spirit nor the power of the 
 Philistines was broken by the rout at Michmash, but that they were 
 able to meet Israel again soon after David's introduction to the court 
 of Saul. David distinguished himself so as to arouse the jealousv of 
 Saul, now rapidly falling into the morbid mental state that clouded 
 his last days ; and to that jealousy was due the exile of David in the 
 wilderness. 
 
 With a madman's cunning, Saul at first attempted to work David's 
 destruction by guile : he bribed him with the offer of his daughter's 
 hand to go and bring him proof that he had slain a hundred of the 
 uncircumcised — the trick was not unlike that which in later years 
 David himself played on Uriah the Ilittite. David, however, was more 
 fortunate than his own victim, and fullilUd the tusk imposed on him.
 
 THE HISTORY OF THE PHHJSTINES 51 
 
 But Saul's jealousy still pursued him, and lie became a ccnnplete 
 outlaw. His life during this period as narrated consists of a series of 
 episodes, more or less disconnected. On one occasion he goes to the 
 sanctuary at Nob, on the slope of the Mount of Olives (as we learn from 
 Isa. X. 32), and takes the sword of Goliath thence to serve him as 
 a weapon : we are tiien surprised to find him fleeing with this equip- 
 ment to Gath, of all places — but probably the two incidents should 
 not follow consecutively. At Gatii he is recognized, and to avoid 
 unpleasant consequences feigns insanity. This affliction would in 
 Semitic circles secure him a measure of inviolability — the uncanny 
 manifestations of mental derangement or degeneracy ])eing curiously 
 mixed up with notions of ' holiness'. But Achish, the dignified though 
 simple-minded lord of Gath, was not a Semite, and had no such 
 superstitions. He is almost modern in his protests — ' If you see a 
 madman, why do you bring him to me.'' I want no madmen about 
 me, and I will not have him in my house ! '^ We almost hear an echo 
 of the sarcasms of Zakar-Baal. 
 
 All through the story of David's outlawry raids of the Philistines 
 run like a thread : and it must then, if never before, have been 
 impressed upon him that when he came into his kingdom his first 
 care must be to crush these troublesome neighbours finally and for 
 ever. Now we read of his band saving the threshing-floors of Keilah 
 from Philistine marauders : soon afterwards a Philistine raid breaks 
 off negotiations between Saul and the men of Ziph for the betrayal of 
 David. 
 
 But at last David, in despair of ever effecting a reconcilement with 
 the insane Hebrew king, threw in his lot with the Philistines. Once 
 more he comes to Gath — or, rather, we have probably a second version 
 of the one incident, omitting the essential detail of the feigned mad- 
 ness. Here he was safe from Saul : but he did not stay very long. 
 Probably (as in the previous version of the story) he found Gatii 
 uncomfortable as a place of residence, with his record of Philistine 
 slaughter. So in Oriental wise he dissembled, and, flattering the 
 king by pretending to be unworthy of living in the same city with 
 him, he persuaded him to purchase his vassalage by putting Ziklag at 
 his disposal. From this centre he raided various Bedawin camps, 
 and, presenting the booty to his new master, he pretended that lie 
 
 1 Tlic notion of a commentator, that Achish's protest M'as due to his being 
 already troubled with insanity in his family, deserves a place in the same cabinet 
 of curiosities with the speculations of the ancient blockliead who supposed that 
 when Our Lord wrote with His finger on the ground ^John viii. (i He was 
 making a catalogue of the secret sins of the bystanders ! 
 
 e2
 
 52 THE SCinVEICH LECTURES, 1911 
 
 had been attacking his own people. Thereby he gained the confi- 
 dence of Achish, and no doubt acquired much serviceable informa- 
 tion about Philistine military methods and resources. 
 
 Meanwhile the tragedy of Saul Avas working; to its close. The Philis- 
 tines were preparing for a final blow that would wipe off their recent 
 reverses. Achish wished David, whom he blindly trusted, to accom- 
 pany him as leader of his body-guard ; but in this his wiser colleagues 
 overruled him. They had already learnt, in the battle of Michmash, 
 that the ' Hebrews that were with the Philistines ' were not to be 
 trusted when the battle went against tlieir masters (1 Sam. xiv. 21). 
 So Achish sent David away, with a dignified courtesy which contrasts 
 pleasingly with the duplicity, not to say treachery, of his protege.^ 
 David accordingly departed to his own quarters, and while the battle 
 of Gilboa was being Avon and lost he was kept busy in aA'enging the 
 raid which during his absence the Bedawin had very naturally made 
 on Ziklag. 
 
 The armour of the dead Saul Avas hung in the house of Ashtoreth, 
 and his body Avas fastened on the Avail of Beth- Shan, the modern 
 Beisan — a place close to the banks of the Jordan. This further 
 corroborates the conclusion already indicated as to the Avide exten- 
 sion of Philistine territory. For they would hardly have put the 
 trophy Avhere they could not reasonably have expected to retain it.- 
 
 For the seven years of Dayid's reign in Hebron the Philistines gave 
 him no trouble. No doubt he continued to acknoAvledge himself as 
 vassal of Achish, or of the Philistine oligarchy at large. MeauAvhile 
 Ish-baal (Ish-bosheth), SauPs son, guided and directed by Abner, set 
 up a kingdom across Jordan, Avith its centre at Mahanaim : and the 
 land of Ephraim remained subject to the Philistines, In the last 
 tAvo years of Ish-baal's life he extended his kingdom, doubtless under 
 Philistine suzerainty, to Ephraim as Avell : an arrangement terminated 
 by the defection of Abner to David and by his own assassination. 
 This event left the Avay open for David to enlarge his borders, and to 
 unite under his single sAvay the discordant elements of Judah and 
 Ephraim. The ever-vigilant foes, not being Avilling to tolerate so 
 
 ' No doubt there was a certain element of policy in Achish's hospitality : David 
 being the known rival of the Hebrew king, it probably seemed desirable to foment 
 the division between them. Winckler (Oesch. Isr., p. 22+) says iex cathedra !) " Was 
 uber Davids Aufenthalt an seinem Hofe gesa-t wird, ist Fabel'. This sort of 
 negative credulity is just as bad science as the positive credulity Avhich swallows 
 whole all the fancies of historical myth-makers. 
 
 2 Unless, indeed, we are to identify this Beth-Shan with the unknown ' Shen ', 
 mentioned in the corrupt passage 1 Sam. vii. 12.
 
 THE HISTORY OF THE PHILISTINES 53 
 
 large an increase in the strength of a suhonHiiate, then came up 
 against him.^ 
 
 Three battles, disastrous to the Philistines, are recorded as taking 
 place early in David's reign over the united kingdoms. But the 
 accounts of them are scanty and confused, and require careful 
 examination. The following are the outline accounts of them which 
 the author of the Book of Samuel transmits : 
 
 A. The Battle of Baal-Pem::hn. 
 
 ' And when the Philistines heard that they had anointed David 
 king over Israel, all the Philistines went up to seek David ; and 
 David heard of it, and went down to the hold.-^ Now the Philistines 
 had come and spread themselves in the valley of Rephaim. And 
 David inquired of Yahweh, saying. Shall I go up against the Philis- 
 tines ? Wilt thou deliver them into mine hand ? And Yahweh said 
 unto David, Go up : for I will certainly deliver the Philistines into 
 thine hand. And David came to Baal-Perazim, and David smote 
 them there; and he said, Yahweh hath broken mine enemies Ijefore 
 me, like the breach of waters. Therefore he called the name of that 
 place Baal-Perazim. And they left their images there, and David and 
 his men took them away.'' — 2 Samuel v. 17-21. 
 
 B. The Battle of Geba. 
 
 •And the Philistines came up yet again, and spread themselves in 
 the valley of Rephaim. And when David inquired of Yahweh, he 
 said. Thou shalt not go up : make a circuit behind them, and 
 come upon them over against the balsams. And it shall be, when 
 thou hearest the sound of marching in the tops of the balsams, that 
 then thou shalt bestir thyself: for then is Yahweh gone out before thee 
 to smite the host of the Philistines. And David did so, as Yahweh 
 commanded him ; and smote the Philistines from Geba until thou 
 come to Gezer.'— 2 Samuel v. 22 25. 
 
 C. The Battle of ( ?) 
 
 ' And after this it came to pass, that David smote the Philistines, 
 and subdued them : and David took ( ) out of the hand of the 
 
 Philistines."' — 2 Sam. viii. 1. 
 
 1 For a discussion of the obscure period of the dual reign of David and Isli-haai, 
 with special reference to the problem of the reconcilement of David's seven and 
 a half years with Ish-bosheth's two years, see the important article by Kanii)hausen, 
 Philister iind Hebrder zur Zeit Davids, in Zeitsch. f. d. allffsl. Wisseuscli. ^1886;, 
 vi, p. 4i. 
 
 - Hardly Advillam, as some conmicntators have supposed. Did the Adullam life 
 continue after David was anointed king on Hebron ?
 
 54 THE SCH WEIGH LECTURES, 1911 
 
 These outlinesniay to some small extentbe filled in from other sources. 
 The priestly writer of Clironicles is careful to add to the account of 
 the first battle that the idols of the Philistines, captured after the 
 rout, were burnt with fire (1 Chron. xiv. S-lIii). The site of Baal- 
 Perazim is unknown. It seems to be mentioned again in Isaiah xxviii. 21, 
 in connexion with G'iheon : perhaps this passage refers to the first two 
 battles. In the account of the second battle the Chronicler likewise 
 substitutes Gibeon for Geba (1 Chron. xiv. 13-16) : while in the third, 
 instead of an unintelligible expression in the version of Samuel, he 
 has ' David took Gath and her towns out of the hand of the Philis- 
 tines ' (xviii. ] ). 
 
 Among these battles must probably be fitted some scraps of biography 
 that now find a place much later both in Samuel and in Chronicles. They 
 are confused and corrupt, but are to the effect that at certain specified 
 places, certain Philistine champions were slain by certain of the mighty 
 men of David. 
 
 The first is the familiar tale of David and Goliath, which we passed 
 over a while ago, and which cannot be dissociated from these fragments. 
 David is sent by his father to the battle-field of Ephcs-Danmiim, to 
 bring supplies to his elder brothers. His indignation is roused by 
 a gigantic Philistine champion named Goliath of Gath, who challenges 
 the Israelites to provide one who shall fight with him and decide the 
 battle by single combat. The champion is minutely described : he was 
 somewhere between nine and eleven feet high, with a helmet, a coat of 
 mail weighing 5,000 shekels, greaves and a javelin, all of bronze, as well 
 as an iron-pointed s])ear like a weaver''s beam. How David, though 
 a youth unable to wear armour, goes against the giant, exchanges 
 taunting speeches with hitn, and brings him down with his sling, are 
 tales too faniiliar to rehearse (1 Sam. xvii). 
 
 The difficulties of the passage are many. The inconsistency of 
 David, already (ch. xvi. 21 ) the armour-bearer of Saul, being now totally 
 uiik)iown to him, has heen a crux to the haniioiiists of all generations : 
 though tliis difficultv is evaded by an imjjortant group of the Greek 
 MSS., whicli omit bodily verses xvii. 12 Jil, 55-xviii. 5 — that is, every- 
 thing inconsistent with David"'s being already at court and known to 
 Saul. The omitted verses are ])robably fragments of another parallel 
 narrative. But even then we are not quite free from troubles. The 
 whole machinery of the ordeal by duel recalls incidents of the Trojan 
 war, or the tale of the Horatii and Curiatii, rather than what we are 
 accustomed to look for in Semitic warfare; David's improbable flight 
 to Gath soon after the battle has already been commented upon ; and, 
 as will presently be seen, we possess another account of the battle of
 
 thp: history of the phhjstines 55 
 
 Ephe.s-D.'uiimim, wliith i> (|uitc inconsistent with tliu (ioliatli story, 
 and, indeed, leaves no room lor it. 
 
 The second fra<fmentarv narration is unfortunatelv found in Samuel 
 only (2 Sam. xxi. 15 17). It reads 'And the I'hilistines had war a<rain 
 with Israel; and David went down, and his servants with him, and fought 
 against the Philistines : and David waxed faint. And (a champion) 
 which was of the sons of Kapha, the weight of whose spear was (300 
 (shekels) of bronze in weight, he being girtled with a new [word lost], 
 thought to have slain David. But Abishai the son of Zeruiah succoured 
 him and smote the Philistine and killed liim. Then the men of David 
 sware unto him, saying, " Thou shalt go no more out with us to battle, 
 that thou quench not the lamp of Israel."' ' 
 
 The rendering ' a champion ' is suggested for tiie unintelligible 13*J'^ 
 2J3, treated as a proper name ' Ishbi-benob ' in the English version. 
 As it stands it means ' and they dwelt in Nob \ which clearly makes no 
 sense ; and the emendation that is most current— by the change of one 
 letter, turning Xob to Gob, and moving the phrase so as to follow 
 'and his servants with him ' in the previous sentence — is not altogether 
 satisfactorv. For * Gob ' itself is probably, as we shall see, corrupt ; 
 and it is hard to see how the sentence could have been transposed from 
 a place where it makes passable sense to a place where it makes com- 
 plete nonsense. The reading here suggested is C"'Jnn"*j"N, literally ' man 
 of the betweens ', apparently a technical term for a champion, which is 
 actuallv applied to Goliath in 1 Samuel xvii. Though differing in detail, 
 and transmitted in a garbled form, the general resemblance of the 
 description of the equipment of this warrior to that of Goliath is too 
 striking to be overlooked ; and we are thus led to wonder whether this 
 may not be a version of the Goliath story in which the issue of the duel 
 was very nearly the reverse of that in the familiar narrative. One is 
 also tempted to ask whether in the 'oath' of the men of David (for 
 which compare 2 Sam. xviii. 3) we are to see an explanation of David's 
 having stayed in Jerusalem while Joab was acting for the king in his 
 operations against the Annnonites, w ith the disastrous consequence of 
 the episode of Bath-Sheba. If this oath is to be literally understood, 
 this incident of the champion slain by David's nephew must belong to 
 the end of David's operations against the Philistines, all of w hich seem 
 to have been directed by the king in person. 
 
 The third fragment ajipears in both 2 Samuel and 1 Chronicles. 
 The Samuel version says 'And it came to pass after this, that there 
 was asain war with the Philistines at Gob : then Sibbecai the Husha- 
 thite slew Saph, which was of the sons of Itaj^ha. And tliere was again 
 war with the Philistines at Gob ; and Elhanan the son of Jaare-oregim
 
 56 THE SCH WEIGH LECTURES, 1911 
 
 the Beth-leheniite slew Goliath the Gittite, the stafi' of whose] spear 
 was like a weaver's beam' (2 Sam. xxi. 18, 19). 
 
 In the parallel account (1 Chron. xx. 4), Gezer is substituted for 
 Gob, Sippai for Saph, Jair for Jaare-oregim, and ' slew Lahmi the 
 brother of Goliath ' for ' the Beth-leheniite slew Goliath \ 
 
 With regard to the first of these divergencies, it should be noticed 
 that the place-name ' Gob "" is not mentioned elsewhere. Following 
 Clermont-Ganneau I was formerly inclined to accept Gezer as the 
 correct reading — -the change would be easy, in for m: — but I now 
 see two formidable difficulties. In the first place, it is not likely that 
 the well-known place-name Gezer would be corrupted to a name 
 utterly unknown : in the second, the name ' Gob ' is written iij in 
 both places, without the mater leciioms which the emendation sug- 
 gested requires. Noting that in the text in Samuel the name ' Gob ' 
 is in botli places followed by a word beginning with the letter y, 
 I would now suggest that a second V has dropped out in both places, 
 and that for Gob we are to read y33, Geba.^ The advantage of this 
 correction is, that it would make both the Samuel and Chronicles 
 versions right, and would show us where to fit the fragment under 
 discussion. For we can scarcely avoid connecting an incident, said in 
 one version to take place at Geba, and in another version at Gezer, 
 with a battle which is definitely stated to have begun in one of these 
 two places and finished in the other. The deaths of Saph and of 
 Goliath therefore took place in the second of the three battles 
 enumerated above (p. 53). 
 
 The other divergencies need not detain us so long. The question 
 of the spelling of the champion's name is scarcely important : yet it is 
 tempting to inquire whether the form in Chronicles, "laD, is not to 
 be preferred, and, further, whether it may not be that it actually finds 
 an echo to this day in the commonplace Arabic name Tell es-SaJi, 
 commonly rendered ' The clear mound V" whereby the most probable 
 site of fuicient Gath is now known. Jair for Jaare-oregim is certainly 
 right, the latter half of the name as given by Samuel being a ditto- 
 graphy of the word 'weaver's beam'' in the next line; on the other 
 hand, the Chronicler's evolution of (yoliath's brother Lahmi out of the 
 name of Jair's native place is obviously some scril)e"s attempt to get 
 rid of an evident harmonistic difficulty. 
 
 The fourth fragment follows the last in both places. ' And there 
 was again war at Gath, where was a man of gi-eat stature, that had on 
 
 ' The Greek and Pesliitta \er.sions read Gath. 
 
 2 But really meanirifi^, if anythinj?, 'The mound of the clear one.' 'The clear 
 mound ' would be Et-tell ex-SOJi.
 
 THE HISTORY OF THE PHILISTINES 57 
 
 every hand six fingers, and on every foot six toes, four and twenty iu 
 number ; and he also was born to Kapha. And when he defied Israel, 
 Jonathan the son of Shiniei David's brother slew him. Tiiese four 
 were born to Uapha in Gath ; and they fell by the hand of David, and 
 by the hand of his servants.' The Chroiiiclei's version is substantially 
 identical. 
 
 Let us now trv to dovetail these seemingly incoherent frag- 
 ments into a consistent narrative. Nearlv all of them will be found 
 to hang together with a logical connexion between them. AVe begin 
 Avith the story of Jesse sending David as a youth to his brothers, and 
 their surly reception of him, in some campaign. This story, though, as 
 we have seen, it almost makes nonsense of the place where it is found, is 
 so graphic and circumstantial that it cannot lightly be thrown aside. It 
 is not improbable, ho" ever, that it was by his musical rather than his 
 military ability that lie attracted attention on this occasion, and was 
 brought to the notice of Saul and Jonathan (1 Sam. xvi. 14-18, xviii. 1). 
 At first he was received kindly, and made SauFs armour-bearer. 
 
 Then came the battle of Ephes-Dammim, the full account of which 
 is lost. But by combining 2 Samuel xxiii. 9 with 1 Chronicles xi. 13, 
 two mutilated but complementary passages, we can gain some idea of 
 what happened. The Philistines came up to battle at Ephes-Dammim ; 
 the men of Israel fled ; but David, aided by Eleazer the son of Dodo 
 the Ahohite (whatever that may mean), held them ' in the valley 
 between Shocoh and Azekah ' and fought till their hands clave to their 
 swords. They succeeded in turning the victory, and the people came 
 back ' only to spoil \ Well might the maidens, after such an exhibi- 
 tion of valour, sing that ' Saul had slain thousands but David had slain 
 myriads \ The folk-tale of a giant-killing shepherd-boy, coloured by 
 some actual incident of David's later campaigns, has been substituted 
 for the less picturesque story of the battle : a relic of the excised j)art 
 may possibly be seen in the verse inserted after 1 Samuel xix. 7 : ' And 
 there was war again : and David went out, and fought with the Philis- 
 tines, and slew them w ith a great slaughter ; anil they fled before him.' 
 And when the tribes of Israel came to David to make him king, they 
 remind him that even in Saul's lifetime it was he who used to lead 
 them out to war (2 Sam. v. 2). 
 
 The triumph-song of the women roused the jealousy of Saul, and he 
 drove David into exile. The other tales of Philistine routs, which 
 meet us in the lists of David's mighty men, appear to relate to the 
 time of the outlawry. Shammah's defence of the lentil-lield, to which 
 reference has already been made, was of the same order as the repulse 
 of the raid on the threshin<«;.Hoor of Keilah : the breaking through the
 
 58 THE SCHWEICH LECTURES, 1911 
 
 Philistine camp at Rephaini by the three heroes, in quest of the Beth- 
 lehem water, is definitely assigned to the Adullam period. Finally 
 David took service in Gath, and became thoroughly acquainted with 
 that important city. 
 
 When the kingdoms of Judah and Israel Avere united, the Philistines 
 came to break up his power ; and three engagements were fought, all 
 disastrous to the hereditary enemies of the Hebrews. The first was the 
 battle of Baal-Perazim, of which Me have no particulars save the picture 
 of a hurried flight in which even the idols were left behind. The 
 second, that of Geba, is more interesting. The incident of the oracle 
 of the sacred trees is one of the many noteworthy landmarks in Old 
 Testament religion. The topography of the battle seems at first sight 
 difficult to follow : but it works out easily when one knows the con- 
 figuration of the ground. The valley or plain of Rephaim is usually 
 etjuated with the Ijroad expanse that lies south-west of Jerusalem. 
 Geba was some four miles to the north of the city. What must have 
 happened was, that David's men circled behind the Philistine camp, 
 under cover, probably, of the hills to the west of the plain (now 
 crowned by the Greek Patriarch's summer residence Kat'emon); 
 that is, down the picturesque valley in which stands the Convent of 
 tlie Cross, Then crossing into the Wady el-AVerd by the site of the 
 modern village of Malhah,^ they attacked the Philistines on the rear. 
 Finding their retreat (down the present Wady el-Werd and its 
 western continuation, the Wady es-Surar) cut off', the Philistines fled 
 northward, past Jerusalem, as far as the village of Geba, and then 
 rushed down the valley of Aijalon, which opens out on the coast -plain 
 not far from Gezer. Some time in this battle or the subsequent rout 
 Sibbecai (or Mebunni) slew Sajjh, and Elhanan slew Goliath. 
 
 Contrary to most modern commentators I assume that this raid 
 of the Philistines took place after (or perhaps durinff, which is not 
 iniprobaljle) David's successful siege of Jerusalem. If David was 
 still in Hebron at the time, I cannot conceive what the Philistines 
 were doing in the valley of Re})haim. They would have come up 
 one of the more southerly valleys to attack him. 
 
 Lastly took place the final and decisive victory which crushed 
 for ever the Philistine suzerainty. The union at last effected among 
 the tribes of Israel gave them a strength they had never had before ; 
 yet it is hard to understand the comj)lete collapse of the people who 
 had been all-powerful but a few years previously. W. Max Miiller 
 
 ' They must in this case have passi-d close by some ancient tumuli, which stand 
 west of Malhali : possibly the sacred balsara-trees were associated with tliese.
 
 THE HISTORY OF THE PIHLISTINES 
 
 59 
 
 attempts to account for it^ by ;ui unrecorded attack ot" the Egyptian 
 king, whereby he possessed himself of the l*hilistine coastland : 
 arguing that in a list of Sheshonk"'s concpicsts in his campaign 
 
 y < of ^ 'Jip- ^0 ^ 
 
 
 G-e-bcL. » 
 
 Fiir. 2. Sketfli-map to iUu>tratc the Battk- of (u-lia. 
 
 recorded in 1 Kings xiv. 25 no Philistine city is mentioned, for the 
 simple reason that they must have been already in Egyptian hands. 
 On this theory also he accounts for the capture of Gezer (an extension 
 of the Egyptian territory) recorded in 1 Kings ix. 16. 
 1 Asien und Europa, pp. 389, 390.
 
 60 THE SCHWEICH LECTURES, 1911 
 
 The site of the h^st battle is successfully concealed under a hopeless 
 corruption of the text. We are told in Samuel that David took 
 Metheg lut-amviah out of the hand of the Philistines : a phrase that 
 means ' bridle of the cubit ' or ' of the metropolis ', but defies con- 
 vincing explanation or emendation. The old versions all presuppose 
 an identical or similar text : Chronicles has ' Gath and her suburbs '. 
 which is probablv a guess at a reading w hich should be at least intelli- 
 gible. It cannot be right, for we find Gath still independent under 
 its king Achish at the beginning of Solomon's reign (1 Kings ii. 39).^ 
 This, however, does not forbid our supposing the decisive battle to 
 have taken place at or near Gath : a verv likely place for David 
 to attack, as he was no doubt fiimiliar with its fortifications. There 
 certainly appears to have been a battle at Gath where the unnamed 
 polydactylous champion defied Israel and was slain by a nephew of 
 David. Perhaps he was one and the same with the Gittite champion 
 whom the English version calls Ishbi-benob, and from whom David, 
 when hard pressed, was rescued likewise by one of his nephews. In 
 this incident, on the theory here put forward, is the historical basis 
 of the David and Goliath story. In this case 2 Samuel xxi. 22 ('these 
 four were born to "the giant" in Gath") would be an editorial note. 
 Before leaving this record of the champions of the Philistines 
 which we have thus endea^ oured to put into order, we nuist notice 
 that, strictly speaking, thev are not to be classed as Philistines at all. 
 The expression 'son of Kapha', translated 'giant' in the English 
 version, implies rather that the family were of the remnant of the 
 Kephaites or Anakim, the tall aboriginal race which the Israelites on 
 their coming found established in Hebron and neighbouring villages, 
 Gath, Gaza, and Ashdod. According to Joshua xi. 21 they were driven 
 out utterly from the Hebron district, but a renniant was left in the 
 Philistine towns, where no doubt they mingled with the western new- 
 comers. The tall stature attributed to these ' champions ' — a physical 
 feature never ascribed in the history to the Philistines themselves- — 
 
 ' It is })Ossible that David showed kindness to Achish, in return for tiie kindness 
 he had received from liini, and allowed him to continue in his kingdom under 
 vassalage. But this is jn-rhaps hardly i)robable : and evidently the runaway 
 servants of Shimei thought that they would be out of their master's reach in Gath, 
 so that that town was most likely (juite independent of Jerusalem. 
 
 ^ I may quote from Thti Excavatian of Gezcr, vol. i, p. (il, the descriptions of the 
 only bones that have yet been found in Palestine which can be called ' Philistine ' 
 with reasonable probability. Thej' ' are comparable with the types of ancient 
 Cretan bones described by Duckworth and Hawes, and with Cretan bones in the 
 Cambridge Museum. They represent a people of fairly tall stature (the man in 
 grave 2 was ."/ lo", that in grave 'i was «i' :i\"). They were probably about or under 
 40 years of age. In all the femora were not pilastcred and the tibiae not platy-
 
 THE HISTORY OF THE rHH.ISTINES 61 
 
 fits in with this theory of the origin of the family. By Delilah 
 and Goliath the Philistine nation is judged: but there is no proof 
 that there was a drop of rhilistine blood in either the one or the 
 other. 
 
 The counnentators agree that the ancient psalm incorporated in 
 Psalm Ix. (8-12) and cviii. (7-10) can be as old as David. If so, 
 it may well have been a paean of the victory over the Philistines and 
 the other neighbouring nations. 
 
 That the Philistine power was utterly broken is shown by the 
 significant fact that in the distractions which vexed the later years 
 of David — the revolt of Absalom and of Shcba — they made no effort 
 to recover their lost ground. Quite the contrary : we are surprised 
 to find David's body-guard consisting of ' Cherethites and Pelethites ', 
 Cretans and Phili(s)tines : a Gittite called Obed-Edom houses the 
 ark when the ill-omened incident of Uzza had interrupted the first 
 attempt to bring it to Jerusalem : and another Gittite, Ittai by 
 name, was one of the few people who remained faithful to David 
 when Absalom had stolen the hearts of his followers. So their 
 ancient kinsmen the Shardanu appear, now as enemies, now as loyal 
 mercenaries of Egypt. And in the later history, except a few half- 
 hearted attempts like that in the time of Jehoram, the Philistines 
 took no decisive advantage of the internal dissensions between Judah 
 and Israel, or of their many struggles with the Syrians and other 
 foreign foes. From the time of David their power, and indeed their 
 very individuality, dwindle away with a rapidity difficult to parallel. 
 The contrast between the pre-Davidic and the post-Davidic Philistines 
 is one of the most extraordinary in human history. 
 
 But in Palestine the Philistines were, after all, foreigners: they 
 had come from their healthy maritime life to the fever-haunted and 
 sirocco-blasted land of Canaan. The climate of that country guards 
 it for its Semitic heirs, and Philistine and Crusader alike nmst submit 
 to the laws of human limitations. 
 
 The Philistine body-guard above referred to was perhaps organized 
 during David's stay in Ziklag. In the later history some traces of 
 the organization seem to survive. The ' Carites ■", as they are now 
 significantly called, help Jehoiada to put down the usurping queen 
 Athaliah. In Ezekiel (xliv. 7 sqq.) there is a prophecy against 
 
 cnemic. The skulls were ellipsoidal, mesaticephalic, orthognathous, raegaserae 
 (with wide orbits^ mesorrhine (with moderately wide nose), and microdont. The 
 female skuU in grave 4 was a little wider in proportion, and though the teeth were 
 moderately small, the incisors projected forward, though not enough to make the 
 face prognathous. The lower teeth were also very oblique.'
 
 62 THE SCHWEICH LECTURES, 1911 
 
 certain uncircumcised foreigners who are introduced, apparently in 
 some official capacity, into the Temple : and in Zephaniah i. 8, 9 
 'those that are clothed with foreign apparel' and 'those that leap 
 over the threshold ' in the ' day of the Lord's sacrifice ' are denounced. 
 Though suggestive, neither of these passages is as clear as we should 
 like : the possibility of there being some connexion between the 
 threshold rite in Zephaniah and the analogous rite in the Temple 
 of Ashdod (1 Sam. v. 5) has often been noticed. It is an interesting 
 possibility — we cannot say more — that there actually was a Philistine 
 body-guard round the king and his court at Jerusalem, and that 
 the Temple itself, built as we shall see after a Philistine model, was 
 protected by Philistine janissaries. This might explain the unex- 
 pected reappearance of the heathenish name of Sisera among the 
 Nethinim or Temple servitors recorded in Ezra ii. 53, Nehemiah vii. 55. 
 
 IIL Their Decuxe and Disappearaxce. 
 
 A few simple figures will show the comparative insignificance into 
 which the Philistines fell after their wars with David. In the first 
 book of Samuel, the name ' Philistine ' or ' Philistines ' occurs 
 125 times. In the second book it occurs only twenty-four times, 
 and some of these are reminiscent passages, referring to earlier inci- 
 dents. In the two books of the Kings too-ether the name occurs onlv 
 six times. 
 
 Achish was still 'King of Gath', as we have already seen, at the 
 beginning of Solomon's reign, and the coastland strip was still 
 outside Hebrew territory. Gezer was presented to Solomon's wife 
 as a marriage portion. After the partition of the kingdom, Nadab 
 son of Jeroboam I besieged Gibbetlion, a now unknown Philistine 
 village, w'here he was killed by his successor Baasha. The siege 
 was apparently renewed at the end of Baasha's own reign, but why 
 this village was made a centre of attack is a question as obscure 
 as its topography. Ahaziah sent to consult the Oracle of Ekron. 
 The Shunammite woman who had entertained Elisha sojourned during 
 the seven years' famine in the land of the Philistines — a testimony 
 to the superior fertility of that part of the country. Turning to 
 the records of the southern kingdom, we learn from the Chronicler 
 that certain of the Philistines brought presents and silver for tribute 
 to Jehoshaphat : but that under his son Jehoram they revolted and 
 carried away his sul)stance. In the parallel version in Kings the 
 revolt is localized in the insignificant town of Libnah. The great 
 king Uzziah, on the other hand, broke the walls of Gath — which 
 had probably been already weakened by the raid of Hazael of Syria
 
 THE HISTORY OF ^rilE mnUSTINES 63 
 
 (2 Kings xii. 18) — as well as the walls of Jabnch and of Ashdod, 
 and established cities of his own in Philistine territory. This is 
 the last we hear of the important city of Gath in history : henceforth 
 it is omitted from the enumerations of Philistine cities in prophetic 
 denunciations of the race. In the time of Ahaz there seems to have 
 been a revival of the old spirit among the beaten people. Profiting 
 by the Edomite raid which already harassed Judah, they took 
 some cities from Southern Judah, including Beth-shemesh, Aijalon, 
 Gederoth, Shocho, Tinniath, and Gimzo, which are not elsewhere 
 reckoned as Philistine property (2 Chron. xxviii. 18) ; certainly the 
 first of these was a Hebrew village even at the time of the greatest 
 extension of Philistine power. This ' Philistine revival ' seems to 
 have inspired Isaiah in a denunciation of Ephraim (Isa. ix. 12), but 
 whether the invasion of the northern kingdom there threatened ever 
 took place is not recorded. Probably not, as llezekiah once more 
 reversed the situation, smiting the Philistines as far as Gaza 
 (2 Kings xviii. 8). 
 
 At this point we glean some welcome details of history from the 
 annals of the Assyrian kings. Hadad-Nirari III (812-783) enumerates 
 the Philistines among the Palestinian states conquered by him about 
 803 M.C., but enters into no particulars. Tiglath-Pileser HI, however, 
 (745-727) gives us fuller details. Rezon (in the Hebrew Rezm) of 
 Syria, and Pekah of Samaria were in league, whereas Ahaz of 
 Jerusalem had become a vassal of the king of Assyria. The Philis- 
 tines had attached themselves to the Syrian league, so that in 734 b.c. 
 Tiglath-Pileser came up with the special purpose of sacking Gaza. 
 Hanunu, the king of Gaza, fled to Sebako, king of Egypt ; but he 
 afterwards returned and, having made submission, was received 
 with favour.^ 
 
 Some four years earlier Mitinti, king of Ashkelon, had revolted, 
 trusting to the support of Rezon. But the death of Rezon so 
 terrified the king that he fell sick and died — possibly he poisoned 
 himself, knowing what punishment would be in store for him at the 
 hands of the ferocious Assyrian. His son Rukipti, who reigned in 
 his stead, hastened to make submission. 
 
 ' • . . . The town of . . . over the land Beth-Oniri ... I cast its whole extent 
 under the rule of Assyria : I put my officials as lieutenants over it. Hanunu of 
 Gaza fled before my arms, and escaped to Egypt. Gaza I plundered, its posses- 
 sions and its gods . . . and I put my royal image (?;i in his palace. I laid the 
 service of the gods of his land under the service of Asshur. I laid tribute upon 
 hira ... As a bird he flew hither (made submission) and I set him again to his 
 place.' — Keilinschri/tliche Bibliothek, ii, pp. 3-2,33; Schrader, Keilinnchrifien^, p. 56. 
 See also Rost, Keilinschr. Tiglath-Pilesers, p. 78.
 
 64 THE SCHWEICH LECTURES, 1911 
 
 About 713 another Philistine city comes into prominence. This 
 is Ashdod, the king of which, Azuri, refused to pay tribute and 
 endeavoured to stir up the neighbouring princes to revolt. Sargon, 
 kingof Assyria (722-705), came down, expelled Azuri, and established 
 in his stead his brother Ahimiti. An attempt was made by the 
 Philistines — Sargon's scribe calls them Hittites — to substitute one 
 Yamani, who had no claim to the throne. But this bold usurper 
 fled to the land of Meluhha in N. Arabia when Sargon was on his 
 way to the city.^ These operations of Sargon against Ashdod are 
 referred to in a note of time in Isaiah xx. 1. 
 
 The next king, Sennacherib (705-681), had trouble with the 
 remnant of the Philistines. Mitinti's son Rukipti had been succeeded 
 by his son Sarludari, l)ut it seems as though this ruler had been 
 deposed, and a person called Zidka reigned in his stead. Sennacherib 
 found conspiracy in Zidka, and brought the gods of his father's house, 
 himself, and his family into exile to Assyria, restoring Sarludari to his 
 former throne, while of course retaining the suzerainty. In this 
 operation he took the cities of Beth-Dagon, Joppa, Bene-Berak, and 
 Azuri, which belonged to Zidka. These names still survive in the 
 villages of Beit Dejan, Ibrak, and Yazur, in the neighbourhood of 
 Jaffa. 
 
 At the same time the Ekronites had revolted against the 
 Assyrian. Their king, Padi, had remained a loyal vassal to his 
 overlord, but his turbulent sul)jects had put him in fetters and sent 
 him to Hezekiah, king of Judah, who cast him into prison. The 
 Ekronites summoned assistance from North Arabia and Egypt, and 
 met Sennacherib in El-Tekeh. Here they were defeated, and 
 Sennacherib marched against Ekron, slaying and impaling the chief 
 officers. Padi was rescued from Jerusalem, his deliverance being no 
 doubt part of the tribute paid by Hezekiah (2 Kings xviii. 14). 
 
 1 ' Azuri, king of Ashdod, devised in his heart to bring no more tribute, and sent 
 an invitation to the kings of his neighbourhood to hostility against Asshur. On 
 account of the misdeeds he wrought, I removed him from the lordshi]) of tlie people 
 of his land and put his brother Ahimiti in lordship over them. But evil-plotting 
 Hittites were hostile to his lordship and set over themselves Yamani, who had no 
 claim to the throne, who like them had no respect for my lordship. In my fury 
 I did not .send the whole body of my troops. ... I led merely the body-guard, who 
 follows me wherever I go, to Ashdod. But Yamani fled as I approac-hed to the 
 border of Egypt, which lies beside Meluhha, and was seen no more. I besieged 
 and plundered Ashdod, Gath, and Ashdodiramu ['* The port of Ashdod," D'H "IIICN, 
 or, " Gath of the Ashdodites," according to some interpreters], and carried off as 
 booty their goods, women, sons and daughters, property, the palace treasures, and 
 the people of the land. I re-peopled those towns anew . . . and put my lieutenants 
 over them and counted them to the people of Assyria.'— /r*//. BUil. ii, pp. C(i, G7. 
 
 KA'n. p. 71.
 
 THE HISTOUV OF THE PHILISTINES 65 
 
 Sennacheril) then cut off some of the tcriitorv of .Iiidali aiid divided 
 it anion<ij his vassals, Mitinti, kiii<^ of Aslidod. Padi the restored 
 king of Ekron, and Zilbel, king of Gaza.^ 
 
 Sennacherib was assassinated in C81,and his son lOsarhaddon (fJSl 
 G68) reigned in his stead. In the Hsts of kings in snbjectioii to this 
 monarch we find INIitinti, king of Aslikeh)n (the Assyrian records 
 seem to confuse Ashkelon and Aslidod), and Zilbel, king of Ga/a, of 
 whom we have heard before. Padi has disappeared IVoni Ekron, and 
 to him has succeeded a king with the old Philistine name of Ikansu 
 (=Achish). On the other hand a king with the Semitic name of 
 Ahimilki (Ahinielech) is king of xVshdod. All these kings survi\ed 
 into the reign of Assurbanipal, who began to reign in 6GH.'~ 
 
 According to Jeremiah xlvii. 1 (not the Greek Version) ' Pharaoh 
 smote Gaza' in the time of that j)rophet. This most likely was 
 Xecho, on his way northward when Josiah, with fatal consequences to 
 himself, tried to check him. Herodotus is supposed to refer to this 
 when he says (ii. 159) that Necho took a great city of Syria called 
 ^Kadytis\ which elsewhere (iii. 5) lie describes as a city in his 
 opinion not smaller than Sardis. It is a possible, but not a convincing, 
 
 ' ' Mcnahcni of the town of San\aria, Etliba'al of Sidoii, Milinti of Aslulod [and 
 a number of others] all the kings of the "West brought rieh presents . . . and kissed 
 my feet. And Zidka, the king of Ashkelon, who had not submitted to my yoke, the 
 gods of his house, himself, his wife, his sons, liis daughters, his brothers, the seed 
 j)f his liouse, I dragged off and brought them to Assyria. Sarludari, the son of 
 Itukipti, their former king, I set again as king over the people of Ashkelon, took 
 tribute and submission from him, and he beeame obedient to me. In the course of 
 my expedition, I besieged Beth-Dagon, Joppa, Bene-Barka, Azuri, the towns of 
 Zidka, which had not promptly submitted to me : I jilundered them and dragged 
 booty away from them. The princ-ipal men of Amkarruna (Ekron) who had cast 
 Padi, who by the right and oath of Assyria was the king, into fetters and delivered 
 iiim up to Hezekiah of Judah, who had shut him in prison — their heart feared. 
 'Ihe kings of the land of Egypt sent archers, chariots, and horses of the king of 
 Meluhha, a countless array, and came to help them. Their army stood against me 
 before the town El-Tekeh, they raised their weapons. Trusting in Asshur, my 
 Lord, I fought with them and subdued them ; I took the chiefs of the chariots and 
 the son of one of the kings of Egypt, and the chief of the chariots of the king of 
 Meluhha prisoners with my own hand in the in'li'e : I besieged El-Tekeh and 
 'J'imnath, and plundered them and took away their booty. Then I turned before 
 Ekron, the chief men who had done evil I slew and hung their bodies on poles 
 round the city : the inhabitants who had done evil I led out as prisoners : with the 
 rest, who had done no evil, I made peace. Padi their king I led from Jerusalem 
 and put him again on the throne of his lordship. I laid the tribute of my lordship 
 upon him. Of Hezekiah ... I besieged forty-six fortified towns . . . his towns which 
 I had i)lundered, I took from his land and gave them to Mitinti, king of Ashdod, 
 Padi, king of Ekron, and Zilbel, king of Gaza, and I cut his land short. To the 
 former tribute I added the tribute due to my lordship and laid it upon them.' — 
 yr. Ji. ii, pY>. i)0-9j. 
 
 '' K. B. ii, pp. 1-18, U9, and 238-211. 
 
 F
 
 66 THE SCIiWEICH LECTURES, 1911 
 
 hypothesis, that Kadvtis may represent some form of tlie name of 
 Gaza.i 
 
 Here the Assyrian records leave us. A\^e have, however, one more 
 Biblical reference, in the last paragraph of the book of Nehemiah, which 
 is of very great importance (xiii. Sfi, 24). The walls of Jerusalem had 
 been restored ; the law published and proclaimed ; all the steps had 
 been taken to establish an exclusive theocratic state in accordance with 
 the priestly legislation ; when the leader was dismayed to discover 
 certain Jews who had married women of Ashdod, of Ammon, and of 
 Moab, the very connnunities that had put so many obstacles in the 
 way of the work of restoration.^ Not only so, but there were already 
 children ; and as is usual in such cases of mixed marriage, these 
 children spoke the language of their mothers only. Nehemiah 
 indulged in a passionate display of temper, treating the culprits with 
 personal violence, and probably he compelled them to put away their 
 wives, as Ezra did in a similar case. But the interest for us is not in 
 Xehemiah's outburst, but in his reference to the speech of the children. 
 They spoke half in the speech of Ashdod, and could not speak in the 
 Jews'* language. In spite of Sennacherib's transportations and 
 deportations ; in spite of the long and exhausting siege of twenty- 
 nine years which the city (according to Herodotus ii. 157) sustained 
 in the following century at the hands of Psammctichus ; ye!; the 
 ancient tongue of the Philistines lingered still in Ashdod, the town 
 which probably retained exotic characteristics the longest. The 
 distinction which Strabo (XVI. ii. 1) draws between the TaCcnoL and 
 the 'ACcorioi ('Jews, Idumaeans, Gazaeans, and Azotii' being the four 
 minor races of Syria which he enumerates) may possibly be founded 
 on a reminiscence of these linguistic survivals. No doubt the language 
 was by now much contaminated with Semitic words and idioms, but 
 still it possessed suflicient individuality to be unintelligible without 
 special study. It had of course lost all political importance, so that 
 it was not as in the days of Samson and Jonathan, when every 
 Hebrew of position was obliged to know something of the tongue of 
 the powerful rivals of his people : it was now a despised patois, nuich 
 as are the ancient Celtic languages in the eyes of the average Saxon. 
 In the chatter of these little half-breeds the stern Jewish puritan was 
 perhaps privileged to hear the last accents of the speech of Minos, 
 whose written records still 'mock us, undeciphcrcd'. 
 
 1 See ^Meyer's History of the City of Gaza, p. 38. Noordtzij, De Filistijnen, 
 p. 171, identifies it with Kadesh, which is reasonable. 
 
 '' Nell. iv. 7. See also Ps. Ixxxiii, which, accord inj^ to the most likely view, was 
 composed during the anxieties altcndin;^ the restoration of Jerusalem.
 
 THE HISTORY OF THE IMHLISTINES 67 
 
 It is true that some critics have explained tlie ' speecli of Ashdod' 
 as being the tongue of Sennacheril/s colonists. If so, however,. 
 Nehcmiah (himself a returned exile from a neighhouriiii;- em|)ire to 
 Sennacherib's) would })rol)ably have had some undei^tanding of it and 
 of its origin, and would have described it differently. The Semitic 
 speech of the children of the Annnonite and Moabite mothers does 
 not seem to have caused him so much vexation. 
 
 In Gaza, too, Philistine tradition still survived. Down to the 
 time of the Maccabean revolt there remained here a temple of 
 Dagon, destroyed by Jonathan Maccabaeus (1 Mace. x. 8'3, 8-i ; xi. 4). 
 But these traditional survivals of religious peculiarities are mere 
 isolated phenomena : apart from them the absorption of Philistia iu 
 the ocean of Semitic humanity is so complete that its people ceases to 
 have an independent history. It were profitless to trace the story of 
 Philistia further, through the campaigns of Alexander, the wars of 
 the Maccabees and the Seleucids, the Roman domination, and the 
 complex later developments : the record is no longer the history of 
 a people ; it is that of a country. 
 
 Nevertheless, the tradition of the Philistines still lives, and will 
 continue to live so long as the land which they dominated three 
 thousand years ago continues to be called ' Palestine ', and so long as 
 its peasant parents continue to tell their children their tales of the 
 Fen'ish. One accustomed to the current English pronunciation of 
 the name of the Phoenicians might for a moment be misled into 
 snpposing that these were the })eo})le meant : but the ecjuation is 
 philoh)gically impossible. There can be no doubt that this people of 
 tradition, supposed to have wrought strange and wonderful deeds in 
 the land, to have hewn out its great artificial caves and built its 
 castles and even the churches and monasteries whose fast-decaying 
 ruins dots its landscape — that this people is none other than the 
 mighty nation of the Philistines. 
 
 f2
 
 CHAPTEK III 
 
 TIIK LAND OF THE PHILISTINES 
 
 The c'ountrv of the Philistines is definitely limited, in Joshua xiii. 2, 
 between the Shlhor or ' River of E,L?yjit \ the present Wady el-Arish, 
 on the Etcvptian frontier, wliich joins the sea at Rhinocolura — and 
 *■ the borders of Ekron northward, which is counted to the Canaanites \ 
 AVestward it was bounded by tlie Mediterranean Sea : eastward by the 
 foothills ofthe Judean mountains. From Deuteronomy ii. 23 we learn 
 that this territory had previously ])een in the possession of a tribe 
 called *Avv{m, of whom we know nothing but the name: from the 
 passage in Joshua just quoted it would appear that a remnant of 
 these aborigines still remained crowded down to the south. They 
 may possibly have l^een ofthe same stock as the neolithic pre-Semitic 
 people whose remains were found at Gezer. No doubt, as in the 
 majoritv of cases of the kind, they survived as a suljstratum of the 
 population in the rest of their ancient territory as well, engaged in 
 the hard manual labour to which the wilv (Tibeonites were con- 
 <lennu'd. 
 
 We also learn from Joshua (xi. 21) that there was a Rephaite or 
 'Anakim"' i-emnant left in some of the chief cities of the Philistine 
 territory, which must have l)een of considerable importance, to judge 
 from the stories of giant champions analvsed on a previous page. 
 How far the alliance of these formidable al)origines (which probablv 
 represent a pre-Canaanite immigration, later than the insignificant 
 'J Trim) enabled the southern Philistines to liold their ground so 
 nnidi longer than the northern Zakkala is an interesting question 
 the answer to which, however, could be noihing more than 
 speculative. 
 
 'J'hough no ancient aulhoritv ddinilclv states it, there can hardly 
 be any doubt that tlie repulse of the great attack on Egypt, in tlie 
 days of Ramessu III, was the event which led to the jK'rmancnt 
 settlement of the Cretan tribes on the coast land. It is possible, 
 indeed, fhat ihey already occupiid the rountrv as a militarv base for 
 their ojierations against Egypt: the dcs(ri[)tion, in the MedinetIIal)U 
 temj)le, of the advance of the invaders through the lands of the
 
 Tin: LAND OF Tin: Philistines 6^ 
 
 Hittites and North Syrians makes this at least noL iiii[)robable. 
 However the exact details of chronology work out, we cannot dis- 
 sociate the invasion of Egypt from the contemporaneous settlement 
 by foreigners on the sea-coast. 
 
 Israel was already, as we learn iVom tiie stela of Merneptah,^ 
 established in the promised land ; and the Hebrew tribes had 
 already been reinforced by the contingent of Egyptian serfs (possiblv 
 the enslaved descendants of the Bedawin invaders known to history 
 as the Hyksos) and Kenites, whose traditions became the received 
 version of Hebrew onglnes. The tribe of Dan, situated on the sea- 
 coast, was driven inland, and forced to establish itself elsewhere : 
 but as we have seen, the whole length of the shore was occupied by 
 the intruders, even north of Joppa. Wen-Amon has chronicled for us 
 the settlement of Zakkala at Dor : that Sisera belonged to this tribe is 
 also highly probable : and the remarkable developments displayed by 
 the Phoenicians which distinguished them from all other Semites- 
 developments to be noted in the following chapter— make it no 
 longer possible to doubt that a very large Philistine or Zakkala 
 element entered into the composition of that people. 
 
 In the earlier part of the histoi-y, as we have already indicated, the 
 empire of the Philistines was Avidely spread over the country. As is 
 well known, the name Palestine is merely a corruption of PhUistia ; 
 and when Zephaniah or one of his editors calls Canaan ' the land of 
 the Philistines' (ii. 4) he is expressing little more than what was at 
 one time a fact. Their domination over the Hebrews is insisted on 
 in both Judges and Samuel : the early kings of the Hebrews are 
 elected with the specific purpose of freeing the people from the 
 foreign yoke : a governor is established in a town close to Jerusalem : 
 even at Beth-Shan, at the inner end of the plain Esdraelon, which 
 once swarmed with the chariots of Sisera, the Philistines were 
 able to fix Saul's body as a trophy : and the coui-se of the history 
 shows that they were there established in sufficient strength and with 
 sufficient permanence to make the recovery of the trophy ditiicult. 
 
 The name of Beth-Dagon, the house of their chief god, is found 
 among the towns enumerated to the northern coast-dwellers of the 
 tribe of Asher (Joshua xix. 27) ; and there was a similarly named and 
 better known town in the land of the southern Philistines ; but these 
 names, as we shall see in the following chapter, are older than the 
 Philistine settlement. ' The stronghold above Jericho called Dagon 
 (mentioned in Josephus, Ant. xiii. 8. 1, Wars, i. ii. 3) is no doubt 
 the same as Dok (now 'Ain ed-Duk) where Simon was murdered 
 (1 Mace. xvi. 15) : probably the form of the name in Josephus is
 
 70 THE SCHWEICH LECTURES, 1911 
 
 an error. There is a modern Beit Dejan near Nablus, which marks 
 a third place of the same name, not recorded in history. 
 
 The Northern tribe of the foreigners must have become early 
 absorbed by their Semitic neighbours. The Southern people, however, 
 seated on their rich coast-plain and established in their powerful 
 metropolitan cities, were longer able to maintain their ethnic inde- 
 pendence. The wars of David drove them back on the coast, and 
 reduced them to a subordinate position ; and, as the names of the 
 kings recorded in the Assyrian records show, they rapidly became 
 ^emitized as time went on. As we have seen in the last chapter, 
 however, their national traditions fought a long fight against absorp- 
 tion and oblivion. The pride of the Philistines — their persistent 
 refusal to submit to Hebrew prejudices, such as the tabu against 
 eatinff flesh with the ])lood and forbidden meats — was as offensive 
 to Deutero-Zechariah (ix. 7) as is the pride of the Irish or Welsh 
 nationalist to the average Englishman. Though in the later history 
 we hear so little about them, they nnist still have been troublesome 
 neighbours ; otherwise there would not be such a constant chain of 
 prophetic denunciations. Amos first, then Isaiah, Zephaniah, Joel, 
 and the later prophets Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Zechariah all pronounce 
 woes upon them. One of EzekieFs strongest denunciations of the 
 corruptions of his own people well expresses the national hatred — 
 even the daughters of the Philistines are ashamed at contemplating 
 them (Ezek. xvi. 27). The son of Sirach says that ' his heart 
 abhorreth them that sit upon the mountains of Samaria, and them 
 that dwelt among the Philistines'' (Ecclus. 1. 26). Except for the 
 naturalized Philistines in David's entourage, there is but one lull in 
 the storm of war between the two nations throughout the Old Testa- 
 ment. This is in the charming poem, Psalm Ixxxvii, written apj)arently 
 imder some one of the later kings. The psalmist pictures Yahweh 
 enthroned upon His best-loved seat, the holy n)ountains of Zion, and 
 reading, as it were, a census-roll of His peoj)le. This one was born in 
 Egypt or Babylon — that one in Philistia or Tyre — yet all own Zion 
 as their common Mother. The })salm is a miniature edition of the 
 Book of Jonah : the poefs large-hearted univei'salism looks forward 
 to an abolition of national jealousies. 
 
 Their cities all existed from pre-Philistine days. They are all, 
 except the Beth-Dagons, mentioned in the Tell el-Amania cor- 
 respondence, and were then already connnunities of importance : how 
 much faither ])a(k their history may go it is impossible to tell. Like 
 the Hebrews, who aj)pear to have added only one city — Samaria — to 
 those which thev inherited in the Promised Land, the Philistines
 
 TIIK LAND OF 'J1I]<: rillLISTINES 71 
 
 were not city builders. Indeed we liardlv would expect this of tlie 
 'reoj)les of the Sea\ Ziklaf^, soniewJierc in the soutli of" tlie ^hili^tine 
 territory, but not }'et identified satisfactorily, may have been a new 
 foundation: this, however, rests merely upon the vague circumstance 
 that it has been impossible to find a satisfactory Semitic etymology 
 for the name, which conceivabl}' echoes the name of the Zakkula. If 
 so, we understand better how the southern sept of the Philistines comes 
 to be specifically called ' Cherethites ' or 'Cretans'. On the other 
 hand, we elsewhere find the Zakkala in the north. 
 
 The five metropolitan cities of the Philistines were Ga/a, Ashkelon, 
 Gath, Ashdod, and Ekron. The first-mentioned is the only one of 
 the five that still retains anything of its former importance. It is 
 a modern, well-Avatered, and populous town, standing on the ancient 
 site, and in the form Gh7izr:eh letaining the ancient name. It is 
 ])rominent in the Samson epic. We have already noticed the revolt 
 of its leader, Ilanunu, against the king of Assyria — a revolt that led 
 to the battle of Raphia (710 n. c), the first struggle between Egypt 
 and Assyria. From Amos i. we learn that Gaza was the centre of 
 a. slave-trade, which added bitterness to the relations between the 
 Philistines and their Israelite neighbours. In 3;32 n.c. the city was 
 besieged for two months })y Alexander the Great. Its later history 
 but slightly concerns us, though we mav mention its total destruction 
 by Alexander Jannaeus. It recovered even from this catastrophe, and 
 Ave find it in the second and third centuries a.d. as the centre of 
 worship of a deity ])eculiar to itself, called Mama, the ritual of 
 whose service recalls in some respects that of the rites of Dagon. 
 T^his cult, indeed, was probably the last relic of the Philistines, apart 
 from the vague modern traditions to which we have already referred. 
 
 The city was surrounded by a wall, and watch-towers were erected 
 at a distance from it, to give warning as early as possible of the 
 approach of an enemy (2 Kings xviii. 8).^ A neighbouring harbour 
 town, called Matou/xd ra^'vjs', was of considerable im})ortance and for 
 a time was the site of a bishopric. 
 
 Ashkelon was the only city of the five that stood on the sea- 
 coast, though other maritime cities, such as .Io])pa, wei'e (at least 
 from time to time) also in Philistine hands. Its harbour, though 
 inadequate for modern use, was sufficient for the small ships of 
 antiquity. Samson visited Ashkelon to seize the wager he was 
 obliged to pay after his riddle had been solved.'- It is, however, from 
 
 ' So a sentry-station was cstablislKcl on a liill sonic way S. of Gczer : sec my 
 Excavation of Gezer, vol. ii, p. '^G!). 
 
 " It lias been suggested that this took \A;\vv not at Aslikelon. bul at a small site
 
 72 THE SCH WEIGH LECTURES, 1911 
 
 much later times — INIaccabean, early Arab, and Crusader — that the 
 chief historical importance of the city dates. These lie outside our 
 present scope. We need not do more than mention the etymological 
 speculations of Stephanus of Byzantium, who tells us that this city 
 was founded by Askalos, brother of Tantalos and son of Hymenaios ; 
 and the statement of Benjamin of Tudela that Ezra re-founded 
 Ashkelon under the name Benebrah.^ 
 
 Gath, reasonably identified with the enormous mound known as 
 Tell es-Safi at the embouchure of the V^alley of Elah, had a different 
 history from the rest. It seems in the time of the greatest extension 
 of the Philistine power to have been the principal city of the five : at 
 least the application to its ruler Achish of the title melrJc, ' king- ' 
 (rather than the technical term ^eren, applied normally to the ' lords ' 
 of the riiilistines), if not a mere inadvertence, suggests that at least 
 he v>'as j)rb/nis 'niter pares. He has, however, to bow to the wishes of 
 his colleaiiues in the matter of David's alliance with him. In l)avid\> 
 lament over Saul and Jonathan, Gath and Ashkelon are the two 
 pronn"nent cities specially mentioned ; and (probably through the 
 influence of that popular lay) ' tell it not in Gath ' became a current 
 catchword, which we meet once again in ]Micah i. 10. It is not 
 infrequently used as such among ourselves ; but in Hebrew it has 
 a further aid to popularity in an alliteration, as though one should 
 say ' gad not in Gath '. 
 
 But as we have already noticed, the name drops out from all 
 references to the Philistines in the later literature : the Pentapolis 
 becomes a Tetrapolis, and the hegemony passes over to Ashdod, 
 which in time becomes the last typical Philistine city. This cannot 
 be explained, however, by a total destruction of the city of Gath. 
 For the excavations carried on by the Palestine Exploration Fund in 
 1900 at Tell es-Safi showed that the site had been continuously 
 occupied from very early times to the days of a modern village, 
 whose houses and extensive graveyards seal up the secrets of the 
 greater part of this im])ortant mound IVom the curiosity of the 
 explorer. The tiue explanation is, that from the time of its contjuest 
 by Uzziah, (iath was reckoned a city of Judah by the Hebrew 
 prophets. In the gradual shrinking oi' the JMiilistine border it 
 would be one of the first to fall into Hebrew hands. 
 
 A destruction of Gath — probably the sacking by Uzziah — was still 
 
 in the valley of Elah called Khnrbel (= ruin 'Askalan. This is cerlainly nearer 
 to Timnath, but there are here no traccjibk- remains older than the Roman period. 
 ' A description of the remains at Ashkelon, with a plan, will be found in tiie 
 Qnnrttrly Stnfimenl of the Palestine Exploration Fund for January I!»i:{.
 
 THE I.AM) OF THE PIIIEISTINES 7'5 
 
 fresh ill iiieinory when .Vinos prophesied, and was used by him as an 
 ilhistration to enforce his deiiuneiation of Samaria (\ i. 2) ; in his (irst 
 chapter we ah-eady find Gath omitted from the hst of IMiiHstine cities; 
 and the reference immediately afterwards to ' the remnant of the 
 Phihstines''(i. 8) suggests that that people had shortly before siifferetl 
 loss. In iii. 9 the words ' publisii in the palaces at Ashdod ' 
 may possibly be an adaptation of the proverbial catchword already 
 mentioned, modified to suit the altered circumstances. It lii<ewise 
 is assonantal in Hebrew. 
 
 Sargon, it is true, shortly after Uzzialfs time, calls the city ' Gath 
 of the Ashdodites ' (if this be the correct translation of the phrase) ; 
 but no doubt it was a matter of indifference in the eyes of the great 
 king which of two trumpery communities claimed the possession 
 of a town, so long as he himself had a satisfying share of the 
 plunder. 
 
 It is unfortunate that the city had such a conniionplace name. Its 
 meaning, ' winepress,"" was applicable to many sites, and it was 
 evidently used for more places than one. This makes the reconstruc- 
 tion of the history of Gath rather difficult. Thus, the Gath fortified 
 by liehoboam (2 Chron. xi. 8) can hardly be the Philistine city of that 
 name ; and certain other places such as Gath-hepher, Gath-rimmon, 
 and Moresheth-gath, must be carefully distinguished therefrom. The 
 same word appears in the Gethsemane of the New Testament. 
 
 Ashdod, the city to which the ark was first taken, is now repre- 
 sented by an insignificant village, whose only object of interest is 
 the ruin of a large Saracenic khan : but ruins of more important 
 buildings seem to have been seen here by seventeenth-century 
 travellers.^ Yet it must have been a city of special importance in 
 the Pentapolis. Like Gaza, it had its ' palaces ' (Amos iii. 9). As 
 we have seen, Ashdod longest preserved the Philistine national 
 tradition. ' The speech of Ashdod ' lasted down to the time of 
 Nehemiah. The temple of Dagon stood there till tlestroyed l)v 
 the Maccabees (1 Mace. x. 83, 84). But the ' altars and gods ■" of 
 the city, destroyed by Judas a few years before (1 Mace. v. 08), were 
 perhaps objects rather of Iliilcnic cult, Avhich at this date was well 
 established in Western Palestine. 
 
 The great siege of Ashdod by Psamineticus, already referred to, is 
 unknown to us except from Herodotus. It seems almost incrediblv 
 protracted, and probably there is something wrong with Herodotus" 
 figures. Jeremiah's references to the rcmiuitd of Ashdod (xw. 520) 
 and Zephaniah^s emphasis on a siege which shall drive out Ashdod at 
 
 * See Sepp, Jerusalem und (/<t-i hfilnje Lnmi, vol. ii, p. .iUH.
 
 74 THE SCIIWEICIT LECTURES, 1911 
 
 the nooiitlay (ii. -i)— i. e. wliicli shall last half a day only — are 
 plausibly supjjosed to imply allusion to this event. A small inlet 
 in the neighb()unn<jf coastline served Ashdod for a harbour : it is 
 now called Mlnct el-KaVah^ 'the harbour of the fortress ' : a tradition 
 of some fortification of the harbour is thus preserved, as well as 
 the Greek name Kijxm], which has been transformed into the Arabic 
 El-M'nieh ; the initial A ha\ iiii^- been mistaken for the Arabic 
 article. 
 
 Ekron, since the time of l{obinson, has alwavs been ecpiated to the 
 village of 'Akir, now the site of a flourishing Jewish colony, whose 
 red roofs are conspicuous on the seaward side of the Jerusalem 
 railway soon after leaving Hamleh. But there are no remains of 
 any ancient occuj^ation here commensurate with the importance of 
 the place. There are a few local traditions in 'Akir, but they are 
 quite vague. Bauer {Mitthe'iluugen d. dentscli. Pal. Vereins^ 1899, 
 p. 43) describes a visit he paid to the old moscjue, the one stone 
 building in the fellah village, erected on its highe.-t point. There 
 is a forecourt and portico with two rows of pillars. The thresholds 
 are of marble. An old sheikh told him that the mosque was as old 
 as the time of Abraham ; but many such tales ai-e told in Palestine 
 of comparatively modern buildings. Ekron, if the place of the 
 ancient oracle of Baal-zebub were really at 'Akir, has vanished 
 utterly, leaving scarcely a potsherd behind. This is not what usually 
 happens to ancient Palestine cities. AVith some hesitation I venture 
 on tlie followiufj sui^irestions. 
 
 o or? 
 
 To me there seems to be a confusion between two places of the 
 same name. In Joshua xiii. 1-3, where the land not possessed 
 by Joshua is detailed, we find mention made of the region of the 
 Philistines and of the little southern tribe of the Geshurites, to ' the 
 border of Ekron-Saphonah, ■n'ltiih is counted to the Canaanites''^ and 
 also the five lords of the PhiUsthie.s, among which by contrast are 
 enumerated the Ekronites. This expression ' Ekron-Saphonah ' is 
 correctly translated ' Ekron northward ' in the English Bible ; but 
 it can also mean 'Northern Ekron \ which to me seems here to give 
 a more int(']ligi])le sense. 
 
 Again, in Joshua xv. 11 we iiiul ilie border of Ihc lenitorv of Judah 
 as running 'unto the side of Ekron-Saj)hona]i ' ; an ex})ression which 
 I take to mean that this city, though adjoining the territory of 
 Judaii, was actually bevond its border. If so, it would be in the 
 tribe of Dan ; and in Joshua xix. 43 we actually find an Ekron 
 enumerated among the Danite towns. Here, as there is no ambiguity, 
 the qualifying adjective ' Northern ' is omitted. The Southern Ekron
 
 THE LAND OF THK PIIILISTINES 75 
 
 would then l)el()ii^' to the trilx' of" Jiidali, in the thcoivtical scheme 
 •elaborated in the book ot" Joshua ; and \vc (ind it diilv imiitioned. 
 between Mareshah and Aslidod. 
 
 Again, the story of the rout after the l)attle of Kphes-Danniiiin 
 (1 Sam. xvii. 52-54) is suggestive. The pursuit went 'by the w.-iy 
 to the two gates, to Gath and to Ekron \ 'Akir, the usual site given 
 for Ekron, eannot be spoken of a gate^ in the sense that Gath, com- 
 manding as it does the mouth of the valley of Elah, can be so termed ; 
 and a chase of the Philistines jirolonged through Philistine tcrntorij 
 for sueh a long distance as from Gath to 'Akir is not very prol)al)le. 
 We seem io find the other gate at a subsidiary outlet of the \'alley of 
 Elah, to the south of Gath, where stands a village called Dhikerln. 
 And Dhikerln lies exactly in a straight line between Ik'it Jibrln and 
 'Esdud, the modern representatives of Mareshah and Ashdod. 
 
 Written in English letters, ' Dhikerln ' is not unlike ' Kkron ' in 
 general appearance. But philologically there can be no direct con- 
 nexion between them, and my arguments in fa\ our of the identification 
 here suggested rest on grounds different from the superficial similai'ity 
 of name. The single letter A,' in English represents two entirely different 
 sounds in Hebrew and Arabic; one of these (d) appears in 'DMkerin, 
 the other (p) in Ekron, as in 'AJdr. These letters can be treated as 
 interchangeable in one case only. As in English, so in Greek, one sound 
 and one character represent these two letters : and if for a \\hile 
 a district had become thoroughly Hellenized, the Greek k might have 
 been (so to speak) as a ' bridge' for the passing of one sound into the 
 other. When the Semitic speech reasserted itself, it might have 
 taken up the name with the wrong /r. There is thus a possibility 
 that a different word has become sulistituted for a half-forgotten and 
 wholly misunderstood Hebrew name. But no stress can be laid upon 
 this possible accident. 
 
 Dhikerin presents obvious signs of anticpiity. Great artificial caves 
 and huge cisterns are cut in the rock, testifying to its former impor- 
 tance, and it has never been finally identified with any other ancient 
 site, though some of the earlier explorers have thought to find here no 
 less a place than Gath itself. The Tahnuds have iiotliing to say 
 about it save that the name is derived from N~I3T 'male', because 
 the women there all beai- male children.^ Clcrmont-Ganneau {livcueil 
 /Tarch. orient, iv. 25-i) suggests a connexion between this place-name 
 and that of the Zakkala. 
 
 Let us now look back for a moment to the story of the wanderings 
 of the Ark. Suppose that the Gittitcs, when the plague broke out 
 ' Neubauer, Geog. d. Talm. j). 71.
 
 76 THE SCHWEICH LECTURES, 1911 
 
 anioii" tliiin. sent the .\rk, not to 'Akir, hut to Dliikerin — which was 
 much nearer and more convenient — we have tlien an immediate 
 answer to an ohvious ditticulty. AVhy did the I'hihstines expect 
 the ark to go anywhere near Beth-Shemesh at all r We must 
 remember that thev were not merely trying' to get rid of the ark: 
 they were on the look-out for a sign that the pestilence was a mani- 
 festation of the wrath of the God of the Hebrews. They must 
 therefore have expected the Ark to return whence it had come, to 
 the sanctuary at Shiloh, of whose existence and importance they could 
 not have been ignorant. This was the natural goal of the sacred 
 symbol, north of the great Canaanite wedge that centred in Jerusalem 
 and separated the northern Israelites from their brethren in the 
 south. From Shiloh the Ark had been taken : Shiloh was the chief 
 centre of Hebrew religious life at the time : and to Shiloh the Ark 
 should be expected to find its way back.^ Therefore, if it was at 
 the time in 'Akir, it ought to have gone by the northern \alley route, 
 into the Valley of Aijalon, so striking into the road for Shiloh some 
 ten miles north of Jerusalem. If from 'Akir it went southward it 
 would be shunted oft' south of the Canaanites into the southei'u 
 territory, where no specially important shrine of the period is recorded. 
 From 'Akir, therefore, it should not go within miles of Beth-Shemesh. 
 But from Dliikerin, the only way toward Shiloh, avoiding Jerusalem, 
 is by a valley route that leads straight to Beth-Sheinesh and perforce 
 passes that town. 
 
 Further evidence is given us by the ^torv of the march of Sen- 
 nacherib. That monarch was engaged in reducing })laces easily 
 identified as the modern Jaffa, Yazur, Ibn Berak, and Beit Dejan, 
 when the Ekronites leagued themselves with the North Arabians 
 and the Egyptians. Sennacherib met the allies at El-Tekeh, a place 
 unfortunately not identified : it presumably was near the Northern 
 Ekron, as the two j)laces are mentioned together as border towns in 
 Dan, Joshua xix. 40. This Northern Ekron, we may agree, might 
 well be represented by 'Akir, whose poverty in anticpiities accords 
 with tlie apparent insignificance of the Daniti,- town. Close to 'Akir 
 is a village in the plain, called ZenmkaJi, a name which may possibly 
 echo the name of El-Tekeh. In any case Sennacherib was victoriou.v 
 and then went straiglit to Tiiiinath, which he reduced, after which 
 he proceeded to attack Ekron. This order of proceedings is iucon- 
 
 ' Meyer, (Jesch. d. Alterlhams, i, j). :}J8, suggests from Jer. vii. It, tliat Sliiloli 
 was destroyed. But the space of time between Samuel and Jeremiah is so long, 
 that many unrecorded events miglit have taken place in the meanwhile : and, 
 indeed, Shiloli is still an imj^ortant sanctuary in 1 Sam. xiv. 3.
 
 THE LAND OF THE IMHLISTINES 77 
 
 sistent witli 'Akir as tlio site of I'.kron. Scniiaclicriirs successful 
 progress against the south we should exj)ect to proceed steadily 
 southward, involving an attack on 'Akir before the reduction of 
 Timnath. Ekron must therefore have been south from 'I'ibjicli. 
 whicli fits the conditions of the site now suggested. 
 
 Ski'tfli-mai) of IMiili^ti.i. 
 
 The denunciations of Ekron in flie jirophetic books help us very 
 little in the solution of the prol)lem. liut there is a suggestive hint 
 in the opening verses of :2 Kings. Ahaziah having met with an 
 accident sent to iiuiuire of Baal-zebub 'lord of flies', the go 1 of 
 Ekron, as to his ])rospects of recovery. When we find that less 
 than a couple of miles from Dhikerin there is a village bearing the 
 name o? Dcir edh-Dhuhhaii. ' tlie convent of the flics", we feel some
 
 78 THE SCHWEICH LECTURES, 1911 
 
 juslilication in asking, can it be that Baal-zebuh still rules his 
 ancient lordship ? 
 
 The land of the Philistines, dominated by these five cities, lias 
 been so often described that it is needless to waste space in an account 
 of it. BrieHy, we may say that whoever held that part of the country 
 was at an enormous advantage, ^^'^ith the possible exception of the 
 plain of Esdraelon, it is the most fertile land in Western Palestine. 
 Though there are few perennial streams, water can be found wherever 
 one chooses to dig for it. Through it runs the great trade-route 
 from Egypt by Damascus to Babylon. The mart of Gaza is the 
 natural rendezvous of all who have commerce with Arabia. The 
 seaports of Southern Palestine are all commanded, as are the valleys 
 which are the doorways to the Hinterland : so that the coast dwellers 
 can engage in commerce on their own account, while at the same time 
 they can control the progress and civilization among the aliens in the 
 interior. When we stand on some eminence that commands this rich 
 strip of territory we find it easy to understand the bitterness with 
 which throutih the centuries the Hebrews regarded the Philistines.
 
 CHAPTER IN 
 
 THE CULTURE OE THE IMHLIS TINES 
 
 I. Their LaX(;ia{;k. 
 
 Of the languaj^e of the PhilistiiiL's \vc arc profoiiiHlly i<;iioraMt. 
 An inscription in their tongue, written in an intelligible script, would 
 be one of the greatest rewards that an explorer of Palestine could 
 look for. As vet, the only materials we have for a study of the 
 Philistine language are a few proper names, and possibly some words, 
 apparently non-Semitic, embedded here and there in the Hebrew of 
 the Old Testament. Thus, our scanty information is entirely drawn 
 from foreign sources. We are exactly in the same position as a 
 student of some obscure Oriental language would be, if his only 
 materials were the names of natives as reported in English news- 
 papers. Now, we are all familiar with the barbarous and meaningless 
 abbreviation ' Abdul ', applied with various dei)reciatory epithets to 
 a certain ex-potentate. Some time ago a friend called my attention 
 to a paragraph in, I think, a Manchester pa{)er, describing how 
 a certain Arab ' named Sam Seddon' had been prosecuted lor some 
 offence: though the 'Arabian Nights' is almost an English classic, 
 the reporter had failed to recognize the connnon name SJiciiis cd-Din\ 
 If we were obliged to reconstruct the Arabic language from materials 
 of this kind, we could hardly expect to get very far ; but in at- 
 tempting to I'ccover something of the Philistine language wc are no 
 better off". 
 
 The one common noun which we know with tolerabk- certainty is 
 .v;-^7i, the regular word in the Hebrew text for the 'lords' by which 
 the Philistines were governed : a word very reasonably compared with 
 the Greek Tvpavio's.^ This, however, does not lead us very far. It 
 happens that no satisfactory Indo-European etymology has been 
 found for rupai-i-oy, so that it may be a word altogether foreign to 
 the Indo-European family. In any case, one word could hardly 
 decide the relationship of the Philistine language any more than 
 
 1 The ' Lords of the Philistines ' are, however, in tlie Greek Vtrsioii called 
 aarpcLTtai; but in Judges (except iii. IJ), Codex Vatieanus and allied MSS. have 
 apyovTis, a rendering also found soinelinies in Josepluis.
 
 80 THE SCHWEK'H LECTURES, 1911 
 
 could 'benvaP (sici) decide the relationship of Pictish in the hands 
 of Sir Walter Scott's amateur philolonjists. 
 
 The word sereii is once used (1 Kings vii. ;}()) as a technical term 
 for some lironze objects, part of the 'bases' made for the temple 
 (wheel-axles ?). Tliis is probably a different word with different 
 etymological connexions. The word m'^konah in the list cited 
 below, is found in tlie same verse. 
 
 Renan, in his so-called H'tsto'vc du penple (TIsrn'cl, has collected 
 a list of words which he suggests may have been imported into 
 Hebrew from Philistine sources. That there should be such borrowing 
 is a priori not improbable : we have already shown that the leaders 
 among Hebrew speakers must have understood the Philistine tongue 
 down to the time of David at least. But Renan's list is far from 
 convincing. It is as follows : 
 
 parbar or par var, ' a suburb' : compare /;^r/7;oZ».?. 
 m'^konah, something with movable wheels: compare uiachina. 
 m ^ k he rah, ' a sword ' : compare fxdx^aipa. 
 caphtor, 'a crown, chaplet': compare capital. 
 pllegesh, 'a concubine': compare ^;^//^j'. 
 
 A further comparison of the name of Araunah the Jebusite, on 
 A\hose threshing-floor the plague was stayed (and therefore ' the 
 place in Jerusalem from which pestilential vapours arose' !), with 
 the neuter plural form Averna, need hardly he taken seriously. 
 
 But since Renan wrote, the discovery of the inscription on the 
 Black Stone of the Forum has shown us what Latin was like, as near 
 as we can get to the date of the Philistines, and gives us a warning 
 against attempts to interpret su])posed Philistine words by comparison 
 with Classical Latin. And, even if the above comparisons be sound, 
 the borrowing, as Noordtzij ^ justly remarks, might as well have taken 
 place the other way ; as is known to have haj)})ened in several cases 
 whicli he (|notes. 
 
 There is a word ynin or ynip meaning a 'helmet', the etymology of 
 which is uncertain." It may possibly be a IMiilistine word : the 
 random use of 2 and p suggests that they are attemj)ts to represent 
 a foreign initial guttural (cf. ante, \). 75). Both forms are used in 
 1 Sanniel xvii, the one ('n) to denote the helmet of tlie foreigner 
 Golialji, Die other ('p) that of the Ilchre-iC Saul. No stress can, 
 liowever, be laid on this distinction. The form 'p is used of the 
 lielmets of the foreigners named in l'',/ekic'l xxiii. 24, while '^ is 
 used of those of Uzziah's Ilehrdv army, 2 Cbronicles xxvi, 14. 
 
 ' J)e Filhd/nfii, ].. SI. 2 Cf. Latin rai^pa, kc. (r).
 
 THE CULTURE OF THE rillLISTINES 81 
 
 Of the ])lace-n;uiies mentioned in the Old 're.st:uiient there is not 
 one, with the possihle exee])tion of /ik].i<i;, which e.m be referred to 
 the rhihstine hinguage. All are either oljviously Semitic, or in any 
 case (being mentioned in the Tell el-Amarna letters) are older than 
 the Philistine .settlement. liit/ig has made ingenions attempts to 
 explain some of them by various Indo-European words, but these are 
 not successful. 
 
 The persons known to us are as follows : 
 
 (1) Abhuehrh, the king who had dealings with A])raham. A Semitic 
 
 name. 
 
 (2) AIjuz^Mth, Counsellor of No. (1): Semitic name. 
 
 (3) Phicol, General of No. (1). Not explained as Semitic : possibly 
 
 a current Philistine name adopted by the narrator. 
 
 (4) Badyra, king of Dor, in AVen-Amon's report. Probably not 
 
 Semitic. 
 
 (5) WaTati, a merchant, mentioned by Wen-Amon. 
 
 (6) Makaniani, a merchant, mentioned by Wen-Amon. 
 
 (7) Duffon, chief god of the Pliilistines. 
 
 (8) Delilah, probably not Philistine. See arite, p. 45. 
 
 (9) Si.s'era, king of Ilarosheth. See ante, p. 41, and com])are 
 
 Benesasira on the tablet of Keftian names. 
 
 (10) Achish or EkosJi,^ apparently the standard Philistine name, like 
 
 ' John ' among ourselves. It seems to reappear in the old 
 Aegean home in the familiar form Ancliisea. It occurs twice 
 in the tablet of Keftian names {ante, p. 10) and in the 
 Assyrian tablets it appears in the form Ikau.'iur 
 
 (11) Maoch, father of Achish, king of Gath. Unexplained and 
 
 probably Philistine. 
 
 (12) Ittai, David's faithful Gittite friend, perhaps Philistine. 
 
 (13) Obed-Edom, a Gittite who sheltered the Ark : a pure Semitic 
 
 name. 
 
 (14) Goliath, a Rephaite, and therefore not Philistine. 
 
 (15) Saph, a Rephaite, and therefore not Philistine. 
 
 (16) Zaggl, a person signing as witness an Assyrian contract tablet 
 
 of the middle of the seventh century b. c. found at Gezer. 
 The name is not explained, and may be Philistine. 
 
 1 Max Miiller in his account of the school-tablet {ante, p. 10) compares the 
 Assyrian form Ikaiisu and the Greek 'Ayxovs, and infers that the true pronuncia- 
 tion of the name was soniethinfr like I'Jkd.ih. 
 
 2 But in the last edition of KAT. p. 4-37, it is noticed that this name can possibly 
 be read Ikasamsu or Ikasamsu.
 
 82 THE SCH WEIGH LECTUllES, 1911 
 
 (17-26) The ten Philistine kings mentioned on the Assyrian tablets, 
 who without exception bear Semitic names. Sarhidari is an 
 Assyrian name, which may possil)ly have been adopted by its 
 bearer as a compliment to his master. 
 
 This list is so meagre that it is scarcely worth discussing. It will 
 be observed that at the outside not more than eight of these names 
 can be considered native Philistine. 
 
 Down to about the time of Solomon the Philistines preserved their 
 linguistic individuality. A basalt statuette of one Pet-auset was 
 found somewhere in the Delta,' in which he is descril)ed as an 
 
 mterpreter ax" CF^ tor Canaan and 
 
 PhUist'ia'. There would be no point in mentioning the two places 
 if they had a common language. Ashdod, we have seen, preserved 
 a patois down to the time of Nehemiah ; but it is clear that the 
 Philistines had become semitized by the time of the operations of the 
 Assvrian kings. It is likely that the Kephaite element in the 
 population was the leaven through which the Philistines became 
 finally assimilated in language and other customs to the surrounding 
 Semitic tribes, as soon as their supremacy had been destroyed by 
 David's wars. The Rephaites, of course, were primarily a pre-Semitic 
 people : but probablv they had themselves already become thoroughly 
 semitized by Amorite influence before the Philistines appeared on the 
 scene. 
 
 We have, besides, a number of documents which, when they have 
 been deciphered, may help us in reconstructing the ' speech of 
 Ashdod'. The close relationship of the Etruscans to tlie Philistines 
 suggests that the Etruscan inscriptions may some time be found to 
 have a bearing on the problem. It is also not inconceival)le that some 
 of the obscure languages of Asia Minor, specimens of which are pre- 
 served for us in the Hittite, Mitannian, Lycian, and Carian inscriptions 
 may have light to contribute. The inscriptions of Crete, in the 
 various Minoan scripts, and the Eteocretan inscriptions of Pracsos - 
 may also prove of importance in the investigation. Two other 
 alleged fragments of the ' Keftian ' language are at our service : the 
 list of names already quoted on p. 10, which suggestively contains 
 AkahoK and Bejieyisim : and a magical formula in a medical j\IS. of 
 the time of Thutmose III, published by Birch in 1871,'' which contains 
 
 ^ See the description bj- Chassinjit, llullefin de Vinst. fraiir. (Varrh. au Caire, i. 
 (1901), p. J)8. 
 
 "^ See Conway in the Annual nf the British School at Athens, vol. viii, p. 12.5, for 
 an exhaustive analysis of tliese inscrij)tions. 
 
 ■' Zeitschr. f. oyypt. Spraclie (1871), p. Gl.
 
 THE CULTURE OF THE PHILISTINES 83 
 
 mter alia the following' — copied here from a corrected version pub- 
 lished by Ebers.^ 
 
 snt nt '7 niw in dd-uf k f ti w 
 
 s 11 t w k p \v ■) y ^ 
 
 nt r k 
 
 'Conjuration in the Atnu language which people call Keftiu — 
 senutiiiAapincaimant'ireJc'' or something similar. This is not more 
 intelligible than such formulae usually ai'e. Mr. Alton calls my atten- 
 tion to the tempting resemblance of the last letters to trke, turke, 
 r k e, a verb (?) common in the Etruscan inscriptions. 
 
 There is one document of conspicuous importance for our present 
 purpose, although it is as yet impossible to read it. This is the 
 famous disk of terra-cotta found in the excavation of the Cretan 
 palace of Phaestos, and dated to the period known as ^Middle Minoan 
 III — that is to say, about 1600 h.c. It is a roughly circular tablet of 
 terra cotta, 15-8-16-5 cm, in diameter. On each face is a spiral band 
 of four coils, indicated by a roughly drawn meandering line ; and an 
 inscription, in some form of picture-writing, has been impressed on 
 this band, one by one, from dies, probably resembling those used by 
 bookbinders. I suppose it is the oldest example of printing with 
 movable types in the world. On one face of the disk, which I call 
 Face I, there are 119 signs ; on the other face, here called Face II, 
 there are 123. They are divided into what appear to be word-groups, 
 30 in number on Face I and 31 on Face II, by lines cutting across the 
 spiral bands at right angles. These word-groups contain from two to 
 seven chai'acters each. There are forty-five different characters 
 employed. It is likely, therefore, from the largeness of this number 
 that we have to deal with a STjllaharij rather than an alphabet. 
 
 I have discussed this inscription in a paper contributed to the 
 Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy,- to which I must refer the 
 reader for the full investigation. Its special importance for our 
 present purpose is based upon the fact that the most frequently used 
 character, a man's head with a plumed head-dress, has from the 
 
 1 Zeitscin: der D. ^f. O. xxxi, pp. 4jl, 4.H. 
 
 2 Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy, vol. xxx, section C, p. 342. 
 
 G 2
 
 84 
 
 THE SCHWEICH LECTURES, 1911 
 
 moment of its first discovery been recognized as identical in type with 
 the plumed head-dresses of the Philistine captives pictured at iNIedinet 
 Habu. This character appears only at the heginnings of words, from 
 which I infer that it is not a phonetic sign, but a determinative, 
 most probably denoting personal names. Assuming this, it next 
 appears that Face II consists of a list of personal names. Hepresent- 
 
 Fig. 4 A. The IMiaestos Disk (Face 1). 
 
 ing each character by a letter, which is to be regarded as a mere 
 algebraic svmbol and not a phonetic sign, we may write the inscription 
 on the disk in this form : 
 
 Face I (Fig. 4 a). 
 M^X.^^ S/3hw Mu^c xrjs logf pCa'i taxi /^htacr 
 XnFr\ hosw M(|vj srjya noogw pzir nla dwjxl IM-sa 
 nvhf nft n/3h xnvhf sm^?/ hrrw h/Sh \\C,<t8 xnvhf 
 TTOX'rh Mdw^h \\m(i] j-ih
 
 THE CULTURE OF THE PHILISTINES 
 
 85 
 
 Face II (Fi<^. -1 n) : written as a list of names. 
 L M^tao- 8ff n^h nnm 
 
 2. Mfbsf s/3hf S(/)f 
 
 3. Mfd(r(<|)) kqw 
 
 4. M^rrw arsh 
 
 5. ^I^Cy XK MsrjA^o- pa M^kq 
 
 X 
 
 '^. 
 
 t: 
 
 4 
 ^ 
 
 ■t' 
 
 \i 
 
 X 
 
 ^ 
 
 eA' 
 
 iP^\^ 
 
 ^ 
 
 ^^ 
 
 -^^sP; 
 
 U^ 
 
 %S? 
 
 1 
 
 w 
 
 f^i 
 
 1)^^ 
 
 ,^- 
 
 f 
 
 •1 , =% 
 
 Fig. 4 b. The Pliaestos Disk (Face II). 
 
 6. Mfssvru6' If Mfkq MsrjACcr pa Mfkq 
 
 7. Mfszjcrs d(T(/)r kqf 
 
 8. IMfta (>w Aey 
 
 9. ]M£sswu^ ta Aey 
 
 There is just one type of ancient document whicli shows such a 
 ' sediment ', so to speak, of proper names at the end. This is a contract 
 tablet, which ends with a list of witnesses, and in the paper above
 
 86 THE SCHWEICH LECTURES, 1911 
 
 referred to I have put forward the conjecture that the disk is of this 
 nature. In Face I, although not one word of the inscription can be 
 deciphered, it will be found that, applying the clue of the proper 
 names, everything fits exactly in its })lace, assuming the ordinary 
 formula of a contract such as we fhid it in cuneiform documents. 
 
 The first two words would give us the name and title of the pre- 
 siding magistrate : then comes the name of one of the contracting 
 parties, u^c x^js : then come six words or word-groups, quite unin- 
 telligible, but not improbably stating what this person undertakes to 
 do : then follows w hat would be the name of the other contracting 
 party. 
 
 Next come some words which ou<;ht to ijive some such essential 
 detail as the date of the contract. And we find among these words 
 just what we want, a proper name 7:sa, denoting the officer who was 
 eponvmous of the year. 
 
 The last thirteen words we might expect to be a detailed inventory 
 of the transaction, whatever its nature may have been. It is there- 
 fore satisfactory to notice that they arrange themselves neatly, just 
 as they stand, in three parallel colunnis, having obvious mutual 
 relations: thus — 
 
 nvhf 
 X-nvhf 
 
 X-nvhf Troxo-h ]MdwCh 
 
 . . . 
 
 n-ft 
 
 n-/:ih 
 
 s-m(>; 
 
 h-sw 
 
 h-/3h 
 
 n-m(,'7/ 
 
 
 ,ih 
 
 h-Cah 
 
 which table not only confirms the conclusions arrived at, but illus- 
 trates a rule that may also be inferred from the list of witnesses on 
 Face II. Words are declined by prefixes ^, s, n, h, x and suffixes 
 w, ^ ; and 7Cords hi apposition have the same 'prefix. See the third 
 column of the above table, and the titles of witnesses 1, 2. We 
 have a word ^h in several forms : s-/3h-w, n-/ih, h-/3h, s-/3h-^. 
 Further, ^, prefixed to the ' name of the magistrate ' and all the 
 names of witnesses, probably means 'before, in the presence of. 
 The name which follows that of the two witnesses 5 and 6 is 
 probably that of their father, and this assumed it follows that 
 the prefix s probably has a genitive sense. 
 
 There remains one imjjortant point. At the l)ottom of certain 
 characters there is a sloping line running to the left. This is always 
 at the end of a word-group : the two apparent exceptions shown in 
 some drawings of the disk (in word-groups G and %h on Face II) being 
 seemingly cracks in the surface of the disk. The letters marked are 
 underlined in the transcript given above. I suggest with regard to
 
 THE CULTURE OE THE PHHJSTINES 87 
 
 these marks that thev are meant to ixpress a modification of" the 
 phonetic vahie of" the character, too sh'^ht to re(juire a different letter 
 to express it, but too marked to allow it to he neglected altogether. 
 xVnd obviously the most likely modification of" the kind would be the 
 olision of the vowel of a final open syllable. 'J'lie mark would thus 
 be exactly like the v'naina of the Devanairiul alj)hal)et.^ ^Vhen we 
 examine the text, we find that it is only in certain words that this 
 mark occurs. It is found in /3h, however declined, except when the 
 suffixes w, £, are present. It is found in the word nvhf, however 
 declined, and appears in the two similar words juhta<7 and Mftao-. It 
 is found in the personal name kq (in the fonnula pa M^kq). There 
 are only one or two of the eighteen examples of its use outside these 
 grouj)s, and probably if we had some moie exanq)les of the script, or 
 a longer text, these would be found to fit likewise into series. This 
 stroke would therefore be a device to express a final closed syllable. 
 Thus, if it was desired to write the name of the god Diigon, it would 
 be written on this theory, let us say, DA-GO-XA, with a stroke 
 underneath the last symbol to elide its vowel. The consequences 
 that may follow if this assumption should at any time be proved, 
 and the culture which the objects represented by the various signs 
 indicate, are subjects for discussion in later sections of this chapter. 
 For further details of the analysis of the disk I must refer to my 
 Royal Irish Academy paper above quoted : I have dwelt on it here, 
 because if, as is most probable, the plumed head-dress shows that in 
 this disk Ave have to deal with ' proto-Philistines \ we must look to 
 this document and others of the same kind, with which excavators 
 of the future may be rewarded, to tell us something of the language 
 of the people with whom we have to deal. 
 
 II. TuKiR Okc;axization". 
 A. Political. 
 
 From the time when the Philistines first appear in their Palestinian 
 territory they are governed by Lords, seranim, each of whom has 
 domination in one of the iive chief cities, but who act in council 
 together for the common good of the nation. They seem, indeed, to 
 engage personally in duties which an Oriental monarch would certainly 
 delegate to a messenger. They negotiate with Delilah. They con- 
 vene the great triumph-feast to which Samson put so disastrous an 
 
 ' I find that this comparison has been anticipated in an article in llarper^s Maffinhu 
 (European Edition, vol. Ixi, p. 187), which I have read smce writing the above. 
 The rest of the article, I regret to say, does not convince nie.
 
 88 THE SCHWEICH LECTURES, 1911 
 
 end. There is a democratic instinct manifested by the men of Ashdod 
 and Ekron, who peremptorily ' sunnnoned ' the council of lords to 
 advise tliem what to do on the outbreak of plague : just as thu 
 merchants of the Zakkala obliged even a forceful ruler like Zakar- 
 Baal to make an unsatisfiictory compromise in the matter of 
 Wen-Amon, and in nmch later times the people of Ekron deposed 
 and imprisoned a ruler who persisted in the unpopular course of 
 submission to Assyria. Achish makes arrangements with David, 
 vhich his colleamies overrule. Of the methods of election of these 
 officers we know absolutely nothing. From the Assyrian documents 
 we hear of a series of rulers over Ashdod, ftither and son, but this 
 does not necessarilv prove that the hereditary })rinciple was recognized. 
 Such a political organization was quite unlike that of the nations 
 round about : but the government of the Etruscans, who, as we have 
 seen, were probaljlv a related race, presents some analogy. There is 
 a consideraljle similarity between the luaimones of Etruria and the 
 Philistine seranim. 
 
 Nowhere do we read of a king of the Philistines.' To infer, as 
 has actually been done, from 1 Kings iv. 21 ('Solomon ruled over all 
 the kingdoms from the River unto the land of the Philistines ') that 
 their territory was organized as a kingdom, displays a sad lack of 
 a sense of humour. When Hel^rew writers speak of 'a king of Gath' 
 (1 Sam. xxvii. 2), ' him that holdeth the sceptre from Ashkelon ' 
 (Amos i. 8), ' all the kings of the land of the Philistines ' (Jer. xxv. 20), 
 ' the king [perishing] from Gaza ' (Zech. ix. 5), they obviously are 
 merely oft'ering a Hebrew word or periphrasis as a translation of the 
 native Philistine title. The same is true of the analogous expressions 
 in the Assyrian tablets. The case of the Etruscan 'kings' seems 
 exactly similar, though there appears to have been an Achish-like 
 king in Chisium. 
 
 In Gibeah, and probably in other towns as well, a resident officer, 
 like a Turkish imid'ir, was maintained at the time of their greatest 
 power. 
 
 It is possible tliat, if we had l)efore us all the documents relating to 
 the history of the Philistines, we miglit be able to divide them into 
 clans, corresponding perhaps in some degree to the threefold division 
 of the Egyptian momnneiits — Zakkala, Washasha, and Pulasati, i.e. as 
 we have tried to show already, Cretans, Jthodians, and Carians, The 
 continually recurring phrase ' Cheretliites and Pelethites ' suggests 
 some twofold division. Ezekiel xxv. 1(5 (' Pehold, I will stretch out 
 my hand upon the Philistines, and I will cut off the Cherethites ') may 
 ^ Except Abiraelech, Gen. xxvi. 1. Exceptio prubat rec/ulam.
 
 THE CULTURE OF THE PHILISTINES H9 
 
 or may not iiiiplv a similar division. Tin- rcjjort of the voimg 
 Egyptian (1 Sam. x\x. 14^^ implies that the name ' Cherethites ', if it 
 had a specific meaning apart from ' Philistines'", denoted tiie dwellers 
 in the extreme south of Philistine territory : and we have already 
 made passing note of the occurrence of the name Z'tklag; a possible 
 echo of the Zakkala, in that part of the country. The almost 
 accidental allusion to Carians in the history of the kings must not be 
 overlooked. But our data are so slender that very little can be built 
 upon them. All we can say is that the origin of the Philistines 
 makes it improbable that they were a single undivided tribe, and that 
 the scanty hints which the history affords render it still more unlikely. 
 
 Nor can we necessarily infer that the peculiar government by 
 a council of the lords of five cities implies that they were divided 
 into five tribes. For though there seems to have been an actual 
 division of the territory into districts, each of them under the 
 hegemony of one of these cities, the limits are rather indefinite; 
 and to judge from the scanty materials at our disposal, seem to 
 have varied from time to time. The recurrence of the phrase ' [such 
 a city] and the border thereof ^ seems to indicate a definite division 
 of the country into provinces governed each by one of the cities ; and 
 this is confirmed by David's speech to Achish,^ 'Give me a place in 
 one of the cities in the country {nT^'n ny nnsa), for why should thy 
 servant dwell in the royal city (nD^OCn T'ya) with thee ? ' A similar 
 polity is traceable in Etruria. 
 
 Of the division of the minor cities of the Philistine territory among 
 the Pentapolis — perhaps Pentarchy would be a more correct term to 
 use — we know very little. In the time of David's exile Ziklag was 
 under the control of the king of Gath. Sargon, according to one 
 interpretation of his insci'iption, supposes Gath itself to belong to 
 Ashdod. AVe may compare ' Gazara that bordereth on Azotus' 
 (1 Mace. xiv. B-i), though they are about sixteen miles apart, and each 
 only just visible on the other's horizon. Rather curiously, Joppa 
 and the neighboiuing villages depended, according to Sennacherib, 
 on Ashkiion. 
 
 Besides these towns we hear of certain unwalled villages (1 Sam. 
 vi. 18) which are not specified by name. 
 
 B. Mil'darij. 
 
 Certain functionaries called sarim meet us from time to time in the 
 history (1 Sam. xviii. 30, xxix. -J, 9). It is the sfirlm whose protest 
 
 ' See Judp. i. 18, 1 Sam. v. G, 2 Kinps xviii. 8. 
 - 1 Sam. xxvii. j.
 
 90 THP: SCHWEICH lectures, 1911 
 
 })revcnts David from joinini^ in the l:)attle of Gilhoa. The word is, of 
 course, a coninionjjlace Semitic term, and is applied in DeboralTs Song 
 to the princes of Issachar, and bv Zephaniali to those of Jerusalem. 
 Among the Philistines the otHcials denoted ])v this word were no 
 doubt military captains. 
 
 It is obvious throughout the whole history, from the davs of the 
 Medinet Habu sculptures onwards, that the military forces of the 
 Philistines were well organized. In 1 Samuel xiii. 5 we read of 
 ;3(),0()0 chariots and 6,000 horsemen, which, even if the numbers 
 are not to be taken literally, indicates a considerable wealth in 
 war equipment. Elsewhere (ib. xxix. 2) we hear of 'hundreds and 
 thousands"', which may indicate a system of division into centuries 
 and regiments. Of their methods of fighting w^e have no certain 
 information : Judges i. 19 emphasizes their corps of war-chariots : in 
 the account of the battle of Gilboa the archers are specially alluded 
 to. Tlie ]\Iedinet Habu sculptures and the description of the equip- 
 ment of the champions are analysed in the following section. 
 
 C. Doinest'ir. 
 
 On the subject of family life among the Philistines nothing is 
 known. The high-minded sense of propriety attributed to Aliimelech 
 in the patriarchal narratives has already been touched upon. Samson's 
 relations with his Timnathite wife can hardly be made to l)ear undue 
 stress : a Scui'it'ic marriage of the sadlka ty])e is pictured by the story- 
 teller. The wife remains in her father's house and is visited by her 
 husband from time to time. JNIen and women apparently mingle freely 
 in the temple of Dagon at Gaza. No further information is vouch- 
 safed us. 
 
 III. Thkiii 1{i:i.u;[ox. 
 
 Of the religion of the Philistines we know just enough to whet 
 a curiosity that for the present seeks satisfaction in vain. The only 
 hints given us in the Old Testament history are as follows : 
 
 (1) Tlie closing scene of Samson's career took j)lace in a temple of 
 Dagon at Gaza, which must have been a large structure, as different 
 as possil)le from the native High Places of Palestine. 
 
 (2) In this ten)ple sacrifices were offered at festivals conducted 1)V 
 the 'Lords' of the Philistines (Judg. xvi. ^.'3). It is not unreasonal)le 
 to suppose that Samson was destined to be offered in sacrifice at the 
 great feast of rejoicing there descril)ed. Tliis was probably an annual 
 festival, occurring at a fixed time of the year, and not a special cele- 
 bration of the capture of Samson : because an interval of some months, 
 during which Samson's shorn hair grew again, must have taken place
 
 THE CULTURE OF THE PHHJSTINES *)1 
 
 between the two events. A\ e are reminded of the .Mhciiian C-)apy//Aia, 
 with Samson in the role of the (/)ap/aaKos-. Human sacrifices were ottered 
 in the tem{)le of Mania at (4aza down to the I'ourth centnrv a. n., as we 
 learn from a passage presently to be (juoted from ]\Iarcus the Deacon. 
 
 (3) There was also a temple of Dagon at Ashdod, wliic h indicates 
 that the deity was a xmiversal god of the Philistines, not a local 
 divinity like the innumerable Semitic lia'alim. Here there were 
 priests, and here a rite of 'leaping on (or rather stepping ovei) the 
 threshold ' was observed. A sculptured image of the god stood in this 
 temple. 
 
 (4) There was somewhere a temple of Ashtaroth (Samuel) or of 
 Dagon (Chronicles) where the troj)hies of Saul were suspended. It is 
 not expressly said that this temple was in Beth-shan, to the wall 
 of which the body of Saul was fastened. 
 
 (5) The Philistines were struck with terror when the Ark of Yahweh 
 was brought among them. Therefore they believed in (a) the exis- 
 tence and {b) the extra-territorial jurisdiction of the Hebrew deity. 
 This suggests a wider conception of the limitations of divine power 
 than was current among the contemporary Semites. 
 
 (6) Small portable images (□''^vy) were worn by the Philistines and 
 carried as amulets into battle (2 Sam. v. 21). Tiiis practice lasted till 
 quite late (2 Mace. xii. 40). 
 
 (7) News of a victory was l)ronght to the image-houses, prol ably 
 because they were places of public resort, where they could be jjroclaimed 
 (1 Sam. xxxi. 9). 
 
 (8) At Ekron there was an oracle of Baal-zebub, consulted by the 
 Israelite king Ahaziah (2 Kings i. 2). 
 
 Let us clear the ground by first disposing of the last-named deity. 
 This one reference is the only mention of him in the Old Testament, 
 and indeed he is not alluded to elsewhere in Jewish literature. He 
 must, however, have had a very prominent position in old Palestinian 
 life, as otherwise the use of the name in the Gospels to denote tiie 
 ' Prince of the Devils ' (]Matt. xii. 24, tK:c.) would be inexplicable. A hint 
 in Isaiah ii. 6 shows us that the Philistines, like the Etruscans, were 
 proverbial for skill in soothsaying, and it is not unlikely that the 
 shrine of Baal-zebub should have been the site of their principal 
 oracle. If so, we can be sure that Ahaziah was not the t)nly Isiaelite 
 who consulted this deity on occasion, and it is easy to understand that 
 l)ost-exilic reformers Avould develop and propagate the secondary 
 application of his name in order to break the tradition of nucIi 
 illegitimate practices. It is, however, obvious that the Philistines 
 who worked the oracle of Baal-zebub sim])ly entered into an old
 
 92 THE SCnWEICH LECTURES, 1911 
 
 Canaanite inheritance. This is clear from the Semitic etymology 
 of" the name. When they took over the town of Ekron and made it 
 one of their chief cities, they naturally took over what was probably 
 the most profitable source of emolument that the town contained. 
 The local divinity had already established his lordship over the flies 
 when the Philistines came on the scene. 
 
 This was no contemptible or insignificant lordship. A man who 
 has passed a summer and autumn among the house-flies, sand-flies, 
 gnats, mosquitoes, and all the other winged pests of the Shephelah will 
 not feel any necessity to emend the text so as to give the Ba'al of Ekron 
 a ' lofty house ' or ' the l*lanet Saturn '' or anything else more worthy 
 of divinity ^ ; or to subscribe to Winckler's arbitrary j udgement : ' Natl'ir- 
 lich nicht Eliegenba'al, sondern Ba'al von Zebub, worunter man sich 
 eine Oertlichkeit in Ekron vorzustellen hat, etwa den Hugel auf dem 
 der Tempel stand' {Gesch'ichte Israels, p. S.^l). The Greek Version 
 lends no countenance to such euhemerisms, for it simply reads rcZ BiaA 
 ixvlar. Josephus avoids the use of the word Baal, and says 'he sent 
 to the Fly' {Ant. ix. 2. 1). The evidence of a form with final I is, 
 however, sufficiently strong to be taken seriously. Although the 
 vocalization is a difficulty, the old explanation seems to me the best, 
 namely, that the by-form is a wilful perversion, designed to suggest 
 zebel, 'dung.' The Muslim argot which turns kiy iimsih (Anastasis 
 = the Church of the Holy Sepulchre) into kumamah (dung-heap) 
 is a modern example of the same kind of bitter wit. 
 
 The Lord of Flies is hardly a fly-averter, like the Zeus' d7ro'/xi"os- of 
 Pliny and other writers, with whom he is frequently compared. In fact, 
 what evidence there is would rather indicate that the original con- 
 ception was a god in the bodily form of the vermin, the notion of an 
 averter being a later develo})ment : that, for instance, Apollo Suiiiitheus 
 has succeeded to a primitive mouse-god, who very likely gave oracles 
 through the movements of mice. That Baal-/,ebub gave oracles by. 
 his flies is at least proliabie. A passage of lamblichus {apud Photius, 
 ed. Bekker, p. 75) referring to Babylonian divinations has often been 
 (quoted in this connexion ; but I think that j)rol)ably mice rather 
 than flies are there in question. Lenormant {La divination cher: Ics 
 Chaldcens, p. 9")) refei's to an omen-tablet from which auguries are 
 drawn from the l)ehaviour or peculiarities of flies, but unfortunately 
 the tablet in (juestion is too broken to give any continuous sense." 
 
 ' Neither will he feel any necessity to picture John the Haptist feeding on locust- 
 pods instead of locusts, which the fellahin still eat with apparent relish. 
 
 ^ For Babylonian omens derived from various insects see Hunger, Bahylon'uiche 
 Tieromina in Mitt, vorderas. (Jesell. i^l9()9;, S.
 
 THE CULTURE OF THE PHILISTINES 93 
 
 A curious parallel niav be cited from Scotland. In the account of" 
 the parish of Kirkniichael, BanHshirc, is a desciiption {Sttiti.sticdl 
 Account of Scotland, vol. xii, p. 4C-i) of the holy well of St. ^Michael, 
 which was supposed to have healing properties : 
 
 * Many a patient have its waters restored to health and many 
 more have attested the efficacies of their virtues. But as the pre- 
 siding power is sometimes capricious and apt to desert his charge, 
 it now [a.u. 1794] lies neglected, choked with weeds, unhononrcd, 
 and unfre(|uented. In better days it was not so ; for the winged 
 guardian, under the semblance of a fly, was never absent from his 
 duty. If the sober matron wished to know the issue of her husband's 
 ailment, or the love-sick nvniph that of her languishing swain, they 
 visited the well of St. Michael. Every niovemcnt of the svmpathetic 
 fly was regarded in silent awe ; and as he appeared cheerful or 
 dejected, the anxious votaries drew their presages ; their breasts 
 vibrated with correspondent emotions. Like the Dalai Lama of 
 Thibet, or the King of Great Britain, whom a fiction of the English 
 laAv supposes never to die, the guardian fly of the well of St. Michael 
 was believed to be exempted from the laws of mortalitv. To the 
 eye of ignorance he might sometimes appear dead, but, agreeably 
 to the Druidic system, it was only a transmigration into a similar 
 form, which made little alteration in the real identity.*' 
 
 In a foot-note the writer of the foregoing account describes having 
 heard an old man lamenting the neglect into which the well had 
 fallen, and saying that if the infirmities of years permitted he would 
 have cleared it out and 'as in the days of youth enjoyed the pleasure 
 of seeing the guardian fly'. Let us suppose the old man to have 
 been eighty years of age : this brings the practice of consulting the 
 fly-oracle of Kirkmichael down to the twenties of the eighteenth 
 century, and probably even later. 
 
 Leaving out Baal-zebub, therefore, we have a female deity, called 
 Ashtaroth (Astoreth) in the passage relating to the temple of Beth- 
 shan, and a male deity called Dagon, ascribed to the Philistines. We 
 may incidentally recall what was said in the first chapter as to the 
 possibility of the obscure name Beth-Car enshrining the name of an 
 eponymous Carian deity : it seems at least as likely as the meaning 
 of the name in Ilelirew, • house of a lamb.' Later we shall glance 
 at the evidence which the Greek writers preserve as to the peculiar 
 cults of the Philistine cities in post-Philistine times, which no doubt 
 preserved reminiscences of the old worship. In the meanwhile let us 
 concentrate our attention on the two deities named above. 
 
 I. AsHTORETH. At first sight we are tempted to suppose that the 
 Philistines, who otherwise succeeded in preserving their originality, 
 had from the first completely succumbed to Semitic influences in the
 
 94 THE SCH WEIGH LECTURES, 1911 
 
 province of religion. ' As innnigrants ', says Winckler in his Geschichte 
 Israels, ' thev naturally adopted the civilization of the land they seized, 
 and with it the cultus also.' And certainly Ashtaroth or Ashtoreth 
 \\as par excellence the characteristic Semitic deity, and worshippers 
 of this goddess might well be said to have become completely 
 semitized. 
 
 But there is evidence that makes it doubtful whether the assimila- 
 tion had been more than partial. We begin by noting that Herodotus ^ 
 specially mentions the temple of ?/ Ovj)avia ' AcfypooiTi-j as standing at 
 Ashkelon, and he tells us that it was the oldest of all the temples 
 dedicated to this divinity, older even than that in Cyprus, as the 
 Cyprians themselves admitted : also that the Scythians plundered 
 the temple and were in consequence afflicted by the goddess with 
 a hereditary roCcros- f^j/Aem.- The remarkable inscription found at 
 Delos, in which one Damon of Ashkelon dedicates an altar to his 
 tutelary divinities, brilliantly confirms the statement of Herodotus. 
 It runs : 
 
 All OYPICOI KAI ACTAPTHI HAAAICTINHI 
 
 KAI AOPOAITHI OYPANIAI eEOIC EnHKOOIC 
 
 AAMOJN AHMHTPIOY ACKAAOJNITHC 
 
 COJeEiC Ano nEIPATOJN 
 
 EYXHN 
 
 OY eEMlTON AE nPOCATEIN 
 
 AirEION YIKON BOOC GHAEIAC 
 
 'To Zeus, sender of fair winds, and Astarte of Palestine, and 
 Aphrodite Urania, to the divinities that hearken, Damon son of 
 Demetrios of Ashkelon, saved from })irates, makes this vow. It is not 
 lawful to offer in sacrifice an animal of the goat or pig species, or 
 a cow."" '"^ 
 
 1 i. 105. 
 
 " Some have compared with this the outbreak of disease consequent on the 
 capture of the Ark. But the two are entirely indejiendent. The Scythian disease, 
 whatever it may have been, was not buboni(! plague, and the Philistine disease 
 was not a hereditary curse. (The Scythian disease is much more Hke the cess 
 vnindin or * childbirth pangs ' with which the men of Ulster were jjeriodically 
 afflicted in consequence of the curse of Macha, according to the Irish legend of 
 the Tii'tn Bo Cua'dw/e. This is supposed to be a distorted tradition of the custom of 
 the couvade, a theory which only adds difficulties to the original obscurity of the 
 myth.) 
 
 '■' Clermont-Ganncaw, discussing this inscription Acad, dis Jnscnpllons, 1909;, 
 acutely points out that ai-fdov, Ilki'jv are neuter adjectives, depending on some such 
 word as ^iov, so that all animals of these species are forbidden : whereas ftmnh' 
 animals of the cow kind alone are forbidden, so that bulls are lawful. Such limita- 
 tions of the admissible sacrificial annuals are well known in analogous inscrii)tions :
 
 THE CULTURE OF THE rHHJSTINES [)r, 
 
 The Palestinian Astarte is here (listiii^iiishcd IVoiu Hie Aphrodite 
 of Aslikelon ; aiul though there olniously was niiieh confusion between 
 them, the distinction was reah From Liician Mve learn that there 
 were two goddesses, wlioni he keeps carefully apart, and who indeed 
 were distinguished by their bodily form. The goddess of Hierapolis, 
 of whose worship he gives us such a lurid des(rij)tion, was in human 
 form: the goddess of Phoenicia, wliom he calls Derketo (a Greek 
 corruption of the Semitic Atargatis, nny^ny), had the tail of a (ish, 
 like a mermaid. 
 
 The name of this goddess, as written in Sidoniaii insci iptions, was 
 long ago explained as a compound of "iny and nny, 'Atar and 'Ate. 
 These are two well-established divine names; the former is a variant 
 of 'Ashtart, but the latter is more obscure : it is possiblv of L^(lian 
 origin.- In Syriac and Talnuidic writings the compound name 
 appears as Tar'atha. 
 
 The fish-tailed goddess was already antiquated when Lucian wrote. 
 He saw a representation of her in Phoenicia {op. cit. § 14), wliich 
 seemed to him unwonted. No doubt he was correct in keeping the 
 two apart ; but it is also clear that they had ])ecome inextricablv 
 entangled with one another by his time. The figure of the goddess 
 of Hierapolis was adorned with a cesUis or girdle, an ornament 
 peculiar to Urania (§ 3^), who, as we learn from Herodotus, was 
 regarded as the goddess of Ashkelon. There was another point 
 of contact between the two goddesses— sacred fisli were kept at their 
 shrines. The fish-pond of Hierapolis is described bv Lucian 
 (§§ 45, 46) as being very deep, with an altar in the middle to which 
 people swam out daily, and with many fishes in it, some of large size 
 — one of these being decorated with a golden ornament on its fin. 
 
 To account for the mermaid shape of the Ashkelonite goddess 
 a story was told of which the fullest \ ersion is presei'ved for us by 
 Diodorus Siculus (ii. 4). ' In Syria is a city called Ashkelon, and not 
 far from it is a great deep lake full of fishes ; and beside it is a slu'ine 
 of a famous goddess Avhom the Syrians called Uerketo : and she has 
 the f^xce of a woman, and otherwise the entire bodv of a fish, for 
 some reason such as this ; the natives most skilful in legend fable 
 that Aphrodite being offended by the aforesaid goddess inspired 
 
 the triple prohibition in this case probably corrcsponcts to the triple dedication, the 
 purpose being to secure that none of the three deities in joint ownership of the altar 
 shall be offended by a sacrifice unlawful in his or her worship. Otlier inscriptions 
 are quoted in the same article showing a considerable intercourse between the 
 Ashkelonites and the island of Delos. 
 
 ' De Dea Syria, 14. 
 
 - See a careful discussion in Baethgen, Beitr. 71 11".
 
 96 THE SCHWEICH LECTURES, 1911 
 
 her with furious love f'oi' a certain youth among those sacrificing: 
 and that Derketo, uniting with the Syrian, Ijore a daughter, and 
 being aslianied at the fault, caused the youth to disa])pear and 
 exposed the child in certain desert and stony places : and cast herself 
 in shame and grief into the lake. The form of her body was changed 
 into a fish : wherefore the Syrians even yet abstain from eating this 
 creature, and honour fishes as gods.' The legend is told to the same 
 effect by Pausanias (II. xxx. 3). 
 
 This legend is of great importance, for it helps us to detect the 
 Philistine element in the Ashkelonite Atargatis. An essentially 
 identical legend was told in Crete, tlie heroine being Britomartis or 
 Dictynna. According to Callimachus'' Hymn to Artemis Britomartis 
 was a nymph of Gortyna beloved of Artemis, whom Minos, inflamed 
 with love, chased over the mountains of Crete. The nymph now 
 liid herself in the forests, now in the low-lving meadows ; till at last, 
 when for nine months she had been chased over crags, and Minos was 
 on the point of seizing her, she leaped into the sea from the high 
 rocks of the Dictaean mountain. But she sprang into fishers" nets 
 (hLKTva) which saved her ; and hence the Cydonians called the nymph 
 Dictynna, and the mountain from which she had leaped called they 
 Dictaean ; and they set up altars to her and perform sacrifices. 
 
 The myth of the Atargatis of Ashkelon fits very badly on to the 
 Syrian deity. She was the very last being to be troubled with shame 
 at the events recorded by Diodorus Siculus : she had no special 
 connexion with the sea, except in so far as fishes, on account of their 
 extreme fertility, might be taken as typical of the departments of 
 life over which she presided. There can surely be little question 
 that the coyness of the Cretan nvmph, her leap into the sea, and 
 her deliverance by means of something relating to fishes, has been 
 transferred to the Ashkelonite divinity by the immigrants. The 
 Atargatis myth is more ])rimitive than that of Britomartis : the 
 union from which Britomartis was fleeing has actuallv taken place, 
 and the metamorphosis into a fish is of the crudest kind ; the ruder 
 Carians of the mainland might well have jjreserved an earlier phase of 
 the myth which the cultured Cretans had in a measure refined. 
 
 The cult of Britomartis was evidently very ancient. Her temple 
 was said to have ])een built by Daedalus. The name is alleged to 
 mean uirgo dukis ^ ; and as Ilcsychius and the Ktijmulogicon Magnum 
 give us respectively yXvKV and ayaOov as meanings of /-ipLTV or fiftiTov^ 
 
 ^ ' Crctes Dianam reliffiosissime venerantur, $pt6ofmpTTjv gentiliter nominantes 
 quod sermone nostro sonat uirgiiiern dulccm.'— Solinus, Polj/liistor. ch. xvi.
 
 THE CULTURE OF THE PHILISTINES 97 
 
 the explanation is very likely correct. The imiiie of the barley drink, 
 /3pvros or jSimrov, may possibly have some connexion \\ itii this word. See 
 also the end of the quotation from Stephanus of Bvzantium, ante p. L5. 
 
 Athenaeus (viii. 37) gives us an anuisin<; piece of etymology on the 
 authority of Antipater of Tarsus, to the effect that one Gatis was 
 a (pieen of Syria who was so fond of fish that she allowed no one to 
 eat fish without inviting her to the feast — in fact, that no one could eat 
 arep rart8o9 : and that the connnon peoj)le thought her name was 
 'Atergatis' on account of this formula, and so abstained fi-om fish 
 altogether. He further quotes from the History of Asia by Mnaseus 
 to the effect that Atargatis was originally a tyrannous (pieen who 
 forbade the use of fish to her subjects, because she herself was so 
 extravagantly fond of this article of diet that she wanted it all for 
 herself; and therefore a custom still prevails to offer gold or silver 
 fish, or real fish, well cooked, which the priests of the goddess eat. 
 Another tale is told by Xanthus and repeated by Athenaeus in the 
 same place, that Atargatis was taken j)risoner by Mopsus king of 
 Lydia, and with her son 'Ix^i^'? (' fish ') cast into the lake near Ashkelon 
 (fr r?/ TTept 'AcrKaAoji'a Xi}xvr\) because of her pride, and was eaten by 
 fishes. 
 
 Indeed, the Syrian avoidance of fish as an article of food is a 
 commonplace of classical writers. A collection of passages on the 
 subject will be found in Selden, De Diis Syris^ II. iii. 
 
 Lucian further tells us (§ 4) that the temple at Sidon was said 
 to be a temple of Astarte ; but that one of the priests had informed 
 him that it was really dedicated to Europa, sister of Cadmus. This 
 daughter of King Jgenor the Phoenicians lionoured with a temple 
 ' when she had vanished ' (fVetOT/ re a<j)avi}^ (yeyore^), and related the 
 legend about her that Zeus, enamoured of her, chased her, in the 
 form of a bull, to Crete. 
 
 Here then we have distinctly a legend to the effect that a certain 
 temple of the Syrian goddess was really dedicated to a deity who had 
 fled from an unwelcome lover, and who was directly comiected with 
 Crete. In fact, we have here a confused version of the Britomartis 
 legend on the Syrian coast. And v.hen we turn to the Metamorphoses 
 of Antoninus Liberalis, ch. 30, we find a version of the Britomartis 
 story that is closely akin to the tale told by the Sidonian priest to 
 Lucian. We read there that 'of Cassiepeia and Phoenix sun of 
 Agenor was born Carme : and that Zeus uniting with the latter 
 begat Britomartis. She, fleeing from the converse of men, wished to 
 be a perpetual virgin. And first she came to Argos from Phoenicia, 
 with Buze, and JMelite, and IVIaera, and Anchiroe, daughters of
 
 98 THE SCIIWEIC'II LECTURES, 1911 
 
 Erasinos; and thereafter she went up to Cephalleiiia from Arf::;os ; 
 and the Cephallenians call her Laphria; and they erected a temple 
 to her as to a deity. Thereafter she went to Crete, and Minos seeing 
 her and being enamoured of her, pursued her ; but she took refuge 
 among fishermen, and they caused her to hide in the nets, and from 
 this the Cretans call her Dictynna, and offer sacrifices to her. And 
 fleeing from Minos, Britomartis reached Aegina in a ship, with 
 a fisherman Andromedes, and he laid hands on her, being desirous 
 to unite with her ; but Britomartis, having stepped from the ship, 
 Hed to a grove where there is now her temple, and there she 
 vanished (eyeVero a(j)av>'is) ; and they called her Aphaea, and in the 
 temple of Artemis the Aeginetans called the place where Britomartis 
 vanished Aphae, and offered sacrifices as to a deity.'' The relation- 
 ship to Agenor, the love-chase, and the curious reference to 
 ' vanishing ' can scarcely be a mere coincidence. Lucian, though care- 
 less of detail and no doubt writing from memory, from the report 
 of a priest who being a Syrian was not improbably inaccurate, has 
 yet preserved enough of the Britomartis legend as told in Sidon to 
 enable us to identify it under the guise of the story of Europa. 
 
 To the same Cretan-Carian family of legends probably belongs the 
 sea-monster group of tales which centre in Joppa and its neighbour- 
 hood. The chief among them is the story of Perseus the Lycian 
 hero and Andromeda ; and a passage in Pliny seems to couple this 
 legend with that of Derketo.^ Some such story as this may have 
 suggested to the author of the Book of Jonah the machinery of his 
 sublime allegory ; and no doubt underlies the mediaeval legends of 
 St. George and the Dragon, localized in the neighbouring town of 
 Lydd. We can scarcely avoid seeing in these tales literary })arallels 
 to the beautiful designs which the Cretan artists evolved from the 
 curling tentacles of the octopus. 
 
 We are now, I think, in a position to detect a process of evolution in 
 these tangled tales. We begin with a connnunity dwelling somewhere 
 on the sea-coast, probably at the low cultural level of the tribes who 
 heaped the piles of midden refuse on the coasts of Eastern Denmark. 
 These evolved, from the porpoises and other sea-monsters that came 
 under their observation, the conception of a mermaid sea-goddess who 
 sent them their food ; and no doubt prayers and charms and magical 
 formulae were uttered in her name to ensure that the creeks should 
 be filled with fish. The sacredness of fish to the goddess would 
 
 ' 'lope Phoenicum, antiquior tcrrarum inundatioiu-, ut ferunt. Insidct colleiu 
 praeiaccnte saxo, in quo uinculorum Andromedac uestigia ostcnduiit ; colitur illic 
 fabulosa <Der)ceto.' — Ilist. Nat. v. xiii. 69.
 
 THE CULTURE OF THE rHHJSTINES 99 
 
 follow as a matter of course, ami would be most naturally expressed 
 bv a prohibition against eating certain specified kinds. ^ And 
 aetiological myths would of course be developed to account for her 
 fish-tail shape. The Dictynna legend, with a Volk-.s-cfyi/tologie con- 
 necting the name of the nymph with a lishing-net, is one version ; 
 the legend afterwards attached to Atargatis is another. 
 
 When the Carian-Cretan league, after their repulse from Egvpt, 
 settled on the Palestine coast, they of course brought their legends 
 with them. In their new home they found a Bona Dcd all powerful, 
 to whom inti'r alia fish were sacred, and with her they confuted their 
 own Virgo Dulcis, patroness of fishermen. Tliev l)uilt her temples — 
 a thing unheard-of Ijefore in Palestine — and told of her the same 
 tales that in their old home they had told of liritomartis. They 
 transferred the scene of the tragedy from tlie eastern headland of 
 Crete to the At//r?; of Ashkelon, and they fashioned the legend into the 
 form in which it ultimately reached the ears of Uiodorus Siculus. 
 
 To the legend of Atargatis Diodorus adds that the exposed child was 
 tended and fed by doves till it was a year old, when it was found by 
 one Simma, who being childless adopted it, and named it Semiramis, 
 a name derived from the word for ' dove "* in the Syrian language. 
 In after years she became the famous Babylonian (jueen : and the 
 Syrians all honour doves as divine in consecpience. The etymology 
 is of the same order as Justin's derivation of ' Sidon ' from 
 ' a Phoenician word meaning " fish " ' : the tale Avas no doubt told 
 primarily to account for the sacredness of doves to the Syrian goddess. 
 The goddess of Ashkelon was likewise patroness of doves, and this 
 bird frequently figures on coins of the city. 
 
 II. Dagox was evidently the head of the pantheon of the Philistines, 
 after their settlement in Palestine. We hear of his temple at Gaza, 
 Ashdod, and, possibly, according to one version of the story of the 
 death of Saul, at Beth-Shan.^ Jerome in connnenting on 'Bel 
 boweth down, Nebo stoopeth \ in Isaiah xlvi. 1 (where some versions of 
 the Greek have Dagon for Nebo\ says Dagon is the idol of Ashkelon, 
 Gaza, and the other cities of the Philistines.^ The important temple 
 
 ' Possibly some apparently irrational prohibition of a i)alatable species is at the 
 base of the half-humorous stories of the fireedy queen. 
 
 2 Assuming the trophy to have been exposed in the same town as the body — which 
 is nowhere stated— then even if it were actually hung in the temple of ' Aslitaroth ' 
 (i. e. Atargatis-Britomartis), there was probably a temjile of Dagon also in the town, 
 to give rise to the parallel tradition. 
 
 3 ' Nabo autem et ipsum idolum est quod interpretutur proplutia et diuinatio, 
 quam post Euangelii ueritatem in toto orbe conticuisse significat. Sine, iuxta 
 LXX, JJiif/on, qui tanien in Hebraico non habetur. I't est idolum Ascalonis, 
 Gazae, et reliquarum urbium Philisthiim.'
 
 100 THE SCHWEICH LECTURES, 1911 
 
 of Gaza is mirrored for us in tlie graphic storv of tlie ckatli of 
 Samson, as we shall see in the following section. 
 
 In the temple of Ashdod there was an image of the god — 
 a thing probably unknown in the rude early Canaanite shrines. 
 Josejihus (Wo7-s, y. 9. 4) calls it a ^uavov, which jiossibly preserves 
 a true tradition that the figure was of Avood. Some interesting 
 though obscure particulars are given us regarding it in 1 Samuel v. 1-5. 
 The Ark, ca])tured at A])hek, was laid up two nights in the temple. 
 The first night the image of Dagon fell on its face before the Ark, 
 and was replaced by ' the priests of Dagon ' ; the only reference we 
 have to specifically religious functionaries among the Philistines. 
 The second night he was fallen again, and the head of the figure and 
 the palms of its hands were broken off and lay on the threshold. 
 
 The account of the abasement of Dagon is of considerable impor- 
 tance with regard to the question of the form under which he was 
 represented. The current idea is that he was of merman form, the 
 upper half man, the lower half fish. This theory is by modern 
 writers derived from the mediaeval Jewish commentators : Rabbi 
 Levi, in the third century, said that Dagon was in the figure of 
 a man : the first statement of his half-fish form, so far as extant 
 authorities go, is made by David Kimhi, who w rites, ' They say that 
 Dagon had the shape of a fish from his navel downwards, because 
 he is called Dagon [n = fish] and upwards from his navel the form 
 of a man, as it is said "both the palms of his hands were cut off 
 on the threshold".' Abarbanel appears to make the god even more 
 monstrous by supposing that it was the ujipei' end which was the 
 fishy part. But the idea must have been considerably older than 
 Kimhi. As we shall see presently, it underlies one of the readings 
 of the Greek translation : and the attem})ts at etymology in the 
 Onomastica ^ show clearly that the idea arose out of the accident 
 that :n means 'a fish', while the story in 1 Samuel v requires us 
 to picture the god with hands ; coupled with vague recollections of 
 the bodily form of the Atargatis of Ashkelon. 
 
 If we examine the passage, we note, first, that he had a head and 
 hands, so that he must have been at least partly human. Next we 
 observe that exactly the same phrase is used in describing both falls 
 of the idol. The first time it was unbroken, and the ])riests could 
 
 ' £i.a-yujv t'ihos 1x6 Cos tj Xvmj i ]'(t('tcun Onomaxticou, cd. I.ag'urcif, p. 215): 'Dagon 
 piscis tristitiac' (Jerome, Liber interpret, liehraic. nom'inum, ed. Lagarde, p. 62). 
 The analysis suggested is pN"^1. It reminds one of Stephanus of Bj'zantium's 
 story about Asiidod : "Ac^'cutos" ■nuKt's Vlakaiarivq's. tqvttjv itKriaiv th twv inai'tKOui'Tav 
 utt' ff)v6pas 0a\daaT]i (j>vya5wi', ical dno rrji ywaiKus civtoG 'A^'a? wyufiaati', o Iotl \liJ.atpa.v\
 
 THE CULTURE OF THE TIIILISTINES 101 
 
 put it in its place a^aiii. Tlie sc'coiul lime it was fallen again, l)ut 
 the projecting- parts of it were broken off. In other words, the first 
 fjill of the statue was just as bad as the second, except that it was 
 not broken : there is no statement made that on the second occasion 
 the image, whatever its form, snapped across in the middle. In both 
 cases it fell as a xcholc, being smashed the second time, just as might 
 happen to a china vase ; this would imply that what was left standing 
 and intact was not so much any part of the statue itself, as the 
 pedestal or some other accessory. 
 
 The difficulty lies in the words which follow the account of the 
 fracture of the statue — xhv INC'J p3T P"i. In the English version 
 these are rendered ' only [the stump of] Dagon was left\ The words 
 in brackets, for which the Hebrew gives no warrant, are inserted 
 as a makeshift to make some kind of sense of the passage. Wellhausen 
 ingeniously suggested omission of the I at the end of pn, supposing that 
 it had been inserted by dittography before the initial J of the following 
 word. This would make the word mean ' only his fish was left \ But 
 this assumes the thesis to be proved. 
 
 When we turn to the Greek Version we find that it represents 
 a much fuller text. It reads thus : kox Ke(l)aXi} Aayb)v [kuI aiJi(l)6T€pa 
 TO. tx^*? xetpwv avTOV a(l)ripf]ixiva (ttl to. iixnpoadia ajjiafpeO tKaaroL. /cat 
 ajXipoTepoi ol KapTTol Tdiv yetpdv avrov TreiTTcoKOTes (irl to irpoOvpov, 7rA?jy 
 r] pdxts Aaycov v-neX€t(p9)]. The passage in brackets has no equivalent 
 in the Hebrew text : it suggests that a line has been lost from the 
 archetype of the extant Hebrew Version.^ If with some MSS. Me 
 omit the first x€ipG>v (which makes no satisfactory sense with l\v>]\ 
 this lost line would imply that Dagon'sy^T^ were also fallen on the 
 threshold {ap.a^e6 = Hebrew ;n2?::n). This does not accord with the 
 ' fish-tail ' hypothesis. But, on the other hand, it shows that the fish- 
 tail conception is considerably older than Kim hi, for x^H'^^ must in 
 the first instance have been. inserted by a glossator obsessed with it. 
 
 And what are we to make of TrAlp ?/ /jci^t^ v-e\eL(})di] ? ' The 
 backbone of Dagon was left"* is as meaningless as the traditional 
 Hebrew, if not worse. But when we look back at the Hebrew we 
 beiiin to Avonder whether we may not here be on the track of another 
 Philistine word — the technical term for, let us say, the pedestal or 
 console on which the image stood ; or, it may be, some symbol 
 associated with it. Wellhausen (Text d. Buch. Sam. p. 59) has 
 
 ^ Probably two adjacent lines ended thus : 
 and the homoeoteleuton caused the scribe's eye to wander.
 
 102 THE SCHWEICH LECTURES, 1911 
 
 put forward the suggestion that /3u)(t9 really depends on pT 'only\ 
 But the translators would j)resuinably have understood this simple 
 word — thev have indeed rendered it eorreetly, by 77/\7/r. We need 
 a second P~i to account for pd\L^, and such, I submit, nmst have stood 
 in the Hebrew text. Some Avord like (let us say) "ipi, especially 
 if unintelligible to a late Hebrew copyist, would certainly drop out 
 sooner or later from the collocation (i:n "tp"i p~i. It would be very 
 natural for the original author to use such a word, for the sake of 
 the paronomasia ; and it would fully account for paxi?, which in this 
 case is not the Greek word at all, but a transliteration of an unknown 
 word in the Hebrew original. The word aixacpeO, immediately before, 
 which has given much trouble to the copyists of the Greek text (see 
 the numerous variants in Holmes and Parsons), is an example of 
 an even easier word in the Hebrew being transferred to the Greek 
 untranslated. 
 
 Further we are told that the priests and those who entered the 
 house of Dagon — an indication that the temple was open to ordinary 
 worshippers — did not tread on the threshold of the temple in Ashdod, 
 in consequence, it was said, of this catastrophe ; but, as the Greek 
 translators add 'overstepping they overstepped it' {v-eplBaLvorrci 
 v-ep3aLi'ov(TL). That the explanation was fitted to a much more 
 ancient rite we need not doubt : the various rites and observances 
 relating to thresholds are widespread and this prohibition is no 
 isolated phenomenon,^ It is not certain whether the threshold of 
 the Ashdod temple only was thus reverently regarded, or whether 
 the other Dagon temples had similar observances : the latter is 
 probable, though evidently the writer of Samuel supposed that the 
 former was the case. The possible connexion between the Ashdod 
 prohibition and the ' leaping on (preferably over) the threshold ' of 
 Zephaniah i. 9, has already been noted. 
 
 We must, however, face the fact that Dagon cannot be considered 
 as exclusively a Philistine deity, even though the Semitic etymologies 
 which have been sought for his name are open to question. There 
 are n ' fish ', as already mentioned, and pn ' corn \ Philo Byblios 
 ftwoured the second of these. The inscription of Eshmuna/ar, king 
 of Sidon, is well known to refer to Joppa and Dor as |n ;'-|S*, which 
 seems at first sight to mean 'the land of Dagon". But more probably 
 this is simply a reference to that fertile region as 'tlie land of corn \ 
 However we have, through Philo, leferences associating Dagon with 
 the Phoenicians. In the Sanclumiathon cosmogony reported in the 
 
 ' On tlie whole subject see II. C. Truiuhiill, Thu Tlirfshold Covenant, <»• the 
 Beffinniiuj of Reliyiouii Rites (Edinburgli, ISiXi .
 
 TIIK CULTURE OV TIIi: PIIILISTINKS 103 
 
 fragments of Philo we have an aceount of his hirtli from Ouranos 
 and Ge,' with his brethren Kh)s and Kronos and Baetvlos ; he is 
 equated to ^ircor ' corn \ which is a})parently personified; and by 
 virtue of tliis equation he is identified with a Zti/j 'ApoTpto'i. All 
 this is very nebulous : and not more definite is the curious note 
 respecting the gods Taautos, Kronos, ]3agon and the rest being 
 symbohzed by sacred letters.- If these passages mean anything at 
 all, they imply that the people who taught the Phoenicians the use 
 of letters (and possibly also of baetylic stones) also imparted to them 
 the knowledge of the god Dagon. But stories which ostensibly reach 
 us at third hand afford a rather unsafe apparatus cr'it'icus. 
 
 In Palestine itself there is clear evidence of the presence of Dagon 
 before the coming of the Philistines. A certain Dagan-takala con- 
 tributed two letters ' to the Tell el-Amarna correspondence. By 
 ill-luck they do not mention the place of which he was apparentlv 
 the chieftain, nor do they tell us anything else to the point : the one 
 letter is merely a protestation of loyalty, the other the usual petition 
 for deliverance from the Aramaean invaders. 'Dagan'is not here 
 preceded by the usual determinative prefix of divinity ; but neither 
 is the name so preceded in the references to the town of Beth-Dagon 
 in the inscriptions of Sennacherib. 
 
 This name, Beth-Dagon, appears in several Palestinian villages. 
 They are not mentioned in the Tell el-Amarna correspondence ; and 
 we might fairly infer that they were Philistine foundations but for the 
 fact that the name appears in the list of Asiatic towns conquered by 
 llamessu III at IMedinet Habu — a list probably copied from an earlier 
 list of llamessu 11. There seems no possibility of escaping the con- 
 
 elusion that I- j ^ ^ () ] ^ f ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ Bty- 
 
 l)kn, which appears in this list, is meant one of the towns called 
 Beth-Dagon.^ 
 
 Of these villages, one was in the tribe of Asher, another in 
 Judah. The southern village described by Jerome^ as of large size, 
 
 1 Ttvvarai 5« tovto) dSf\ij>f) (ic ru/v irpotipiiiifi'wv ■(] Kal (kKtjOt] Tij, /cai Sia tu KaKXoi aw 
 avTTJ; (prjalif iKaKtaav ttjv ifiwi'Vfjiov yfji'. 6 5^ tovtodv vaTtjp o vipiaroi iv av/i0o\fi Or]pi(iji> 
 T(\(VTr]dai dipif paiOj] , cu X°'^^ "''' ^vaias ol iratSei fTiKtaay. YlapaKa^uuv 5t o Ovpafoi tt/i' 
 TOO narpui 0Lp\f]v dyfrai Trpus ydfiov ttjv d5eA.<f ^f T^f, nat noitirai i( avrrjs iratSaj riaaapa^, 
 'HA.oi' riv Kal Kpuvov Kal BairvKov Kal Aa7u;»' os iari Sj'toii' kuI 'ATXavra. — Frag. Philo 
 Byblios 13, Miiller, Fragmm. iii, p. 5(i7. 
 
 - npo Se TOxiTojv Ofoi TdavTos nifir](jdfj.tvoi T(iv ovpavuv tuv 6fwv uffts, Kpui'ov tc kqI 
 Aay^JfOT Kal rwv \onrwv, SifTVTTwrrf roiis Ifpovi (Ttoix*"'"' xapaKrrjpa's. — ib. p. 569. 
 
 ' Winckler, -21,3. 216 ; Knudtzon, 317, 318. 
 
 * See Max Miiller, Egyptinn Researches, i. +9, plate 68. 
 
 ^ De situ et nominihus locurum, ed. Lagarde, p. 138.
 
 104 THE SCHWEICH LECTURES, 1911 
 
 was in his time called Caferdago, between Diospolis and Jamnia 
 (Lydd and Yebnah). Jerome's village is probably to be identified 
 Avith a ruin known as Dajun, dose by the present village of Beit 
 Dejan ; the latter has })reserved the old name and is ])uilt on a 
 mound which is possibly the old site. 
 
 Moreover, the name Dagan appears in Mesopotamia : there seems 
 no longer to be any doubt that a certain group of cuneiform signs, 
 relating to a deity, is to be read Du-gan. In Babylonia it enters 
 into the composition of proper names of about Sl'OO n. c. : a king 
 dated 2145 b. c. was Idin-Dagan and he had a son Isme-Dagfin : a seal- 
 cylinder exists of a certain Dagan-abi son of Ibni-Dagan. In Assyria 
 we find it in the name of Dagan-bllu-usur, eponym of the year 
 879 B.C.: and the name is several times coupled with that of Anu^ 
 in cosmogonies and in invocations of various Assyrian kings. The 
 name disappears after the ninth century : the late reference to Dagon 
 in the Hebrew version of Tobit, chap, i^, speaking of Sennacherib 
 being killed iniyu jiiT '•Js^ \h^nrb Djnrw* ny:;'n 'at the hour when he 
 went in to pray to his idol Dagon \ is not of any special importance. 
 
 The fragments of Berossos relate how originally the people of 
 Babylon lived like animals, without order : but a being named 
 Oannes rose out of the Erythraean sea, with a complete fish-body, 
 and a man''s head under the fish-head, and human feet and voice. 
 This being was a culture-hero, teaching the knowledge of the arts, 
 writing, building, city-dwelling, agriculture, &c., to men : he rose 
 from the sea by day, and returned to it at sunset. 
 
 Other fragments of Berossos tell us that Oannes was followed by 
 similar beings, who appeared from time to time under certain of the 
 antediluvian kings. There were in all seven, the second and probably 
 the following four being called Annedotos, and the last being called 
 Odakon {'iloaKcuv or 'OoaKcoi'). The last resembles ' Dagon' in out- 
 ward form : but the elaborate discussion of Hrozny " has shown that 
 the comparison between the two cannot stand : that the -oiv of 
 'HbttKitiv is a mere termination : that tlie names Oannes and Odakon 
 (not however Annedotos, so far as has yet been discovered) have their 
 prototypes in Sumerian, and cannot be equated to the Babylonian 
 and Assyrian Dagan. The sole evidence for the fish-form of Dagan 
 therefore disappears. The statenuiits of Damascius {dc Principiis, 
 
 ' See Jensen, Kosmolof/ie der Bahylonier, ])p. I l!»-4,)(j, and Paton's article * Dagan ' 
 in Hastings's Enryrlojiaedia of liellijion and i'Aliirs. 
 
 ^ Ed. Neubauer, p. 2o, xlvii. 
 
 " Sumerisch-h(ilii^loni.'<rlii Mi/f/im von dim Uutli Alnni;/ (IMittli. der vorderas. Gesell. 
 (1903), 5,.
 
 THE CULTURE OF THE PHILISTLNES 105 
 
 c. 125) about a Babylonian divine pair, Auxo!>^ <'iii(l ^a^i'i ' add uotliinii; 
 to the j)roblem : as Rev. P. Rovlan and Mr. Alton have both pointed 
 out to nie, the A is a mistake for an A in both cases, and the beings 
 referred to are evidently Lahiuii and Lahainu. 
 
 That Dagan and the pre-Philistine Dagon of Palestine are one and 
 the same being ean scarcely be questioned. Ilro/nv {oj). (it. \). lO'i) 
 points out that the difference of the vowel is no dillicullx, csjiecially 
 as the name appears once in Assyrian as an element in a proper name 
 in the form Daguna. Rut we may perhaps ask if the post-lMiilistine 
 deity was identical with the pre-Philistine god, and whither there 
 may not have been a conHation analogous to that which has taken 
 place between Rritomartis and Atargatis. 
 
 It is relevant to notice here in passing that the Philistine religion 
 never had any attraction for the reactionarv kings of the Hebrews. 
 Only in a rather vague passage (Judges x. 6) is there any indication 
 of the influence of Philistine worship on that of the Israelites. Else- 
 where we read of altars built to the abomination of the Zidonians, of 
 Moab, of the Ammonites, but never of the Philistines. The solitary 
 exception is the consultation of the Ekronite oracle, which, as we have 
 seen, was not Philistine at all. In spite of the semitization of the 
 Philistines during the latter part of the Hebrew monarchy, their 
 cult still remained too exotic to attract the Semitic temperament. 
 
 Now strange though it may seem, there is a possibility that the 
 Philistines brought Avith them from their western home a god whose 
 name was similar to Dagon. We have not found any trace of him in 
 or around Crete : the deciphermen I of the Minoan tablets may possibly 
 tell us something about this in the future. But the Etruscans, kins- 
 men of the Philistines, had a myth of a certain Tages, who appeared 
 suddenly^ from the earth in the guise of a boy, and who, as they 
 related, was their instructor in the arts of soothsaying. This took j^lace 
 ' when an Etruscan named Tarchon was ploughing near Tarijuinii '' 
 — names which immediately recall the Tarkhu, Tarlcou-dcmofi, and 
 similar names of Asia Minor.^ Festus {siih voce) describes Tages as 
 a ' genii filius, nepos louis \ As the Etruscans rejected the letter D, 
 
 ^ Tuiv hi ^ap^dpo^v ioiKaat Ba^v\wi'toi fiiu ttjv filav twv iJKwv (^PX^" c^J'l TapUvai Zio 
 hi TTOiftv TavOi Koi 'A-naawv^ riiv (j.iv 'Airaawv dvSpa ttjs TavO't Troiovvra ravriji' oi fj.i]Tepa 
 Oiwv uvo/xd^ovTis (( Sjv /xovoftvfj iraiba yfvvrjOfji'ai tov tiluvuiv avTuv oifiat tuv i'oijtuu 
 KuCjiOV iK tSjv hvoiv dp\uiv irapayoixfvov. 'Ef 5e tuii' avrSjv dWrji/ yd'tdv npo€\$ni\ AaxTjy 
 Kal Adxov. Eira av rplr-qv ixrwv avTuiv, Kiaaapfi Kal 'Aaaaipof, ff uiv yti'taOai rpfis 'Avuv 
 Kal 'IWivui/ Kal 'Avv. Tov 5( 'AoO icai Aavmjs v'luv yfviaOai riv B^Xor, or hi]pnoi'pyuv tii-ai 
 ipaalv. 
 
 ^ Cf. the sudden appearances of Britoniartis in Aegina, rausaiiias, II. xxx. 3. 
 
 ^ See Cic. de Divhiadone, ii. 23.
 
 loG Tin: sciiwijcii ixcTrRES, 1911 
 
 Tages is closeh' coin})arablo to a name beginning Avitii Dag- ; and 
 indeed the -es termination is probably not part of the Etruscan name, 
 but a nominative termination added by the ft)reign writers who have 
 reported tlie story. If the Philistines brought such a deity with them 
 in tiieir Syrian home, they might well have identified him with the 
 god Dagon, whom they found there before them. 
 
 It is difficult otherwise to explain how Dagan, whose worship seems 
 to have been on the whole of secondarv importance, should have 
 acquired such supreme importance among the foreigners. 
 
 But after all. the Canaanite Dagon and the hypothetical Philistine 
 Dag- may have been one — the latter having been borrowed by the 
 'proto-Philistines'', as we may for convenience call them, at some 
 remote period. The intercourse which led to the adoption of clav 
 tablets as writing materials by the Cretans at the begiiming of the 
 middle Minoan period, and to the adoption of certain details of legal 
 procedure (if there be any value in the conjectures given in this book 
 regarding the Phaestos disk) — may well have led to the Ijorrowing of 
 the ffod of one nation bv the other. 
 
 The FAtjmologicon Magnum calls Dagon — or rather Bjjraycoz-, sub- 
 stituting the place Beth-Dagon for the name of the god — 6 KpoVos 
 
 V-d ^l^OLVLKMl'. 
 
 After the collapse of the Philistine power in David's time, we hear 
 nothing more about Dagon except the vague guesses of etymologists 
 and mvthographers. The temple, and presumably the worshi{) of 
 the deity, under the old name, lasted down to the time of the 
 Maccabees in Aslulod (1 Mace. x. 83, 84). But in Gaza the case was 
 different. Here powerful Hellenic influences introduced numerous 
 foreign deities, which, however, there is every reason to believe were 
 grafted on to the old local gods and numina. Josephus tells us of 
 a temple of Apollo ; but our leading source is the life of Porphyrins, 
 bishop of Gaza at the end of the fourth and beginning of the fifth 
 century, written by his friend the deacon Marcus. 
 
 This valuable little work gives us a picture of the last struggle of 
 heathenism, of which Gaza was the storm-centre. The descriptions 
 are terse but vivid. We see Porphyrins, after his appointment to 
 the bishopric, making his way paiiifullv from Diospolis (Lydd) 
 because the heathen living in the villages on tlie way erected barriers 
 to prevent his passing, and annovcd him bv l)urning substances that 
 gave forth fetid odours. After thcv had arri\ed, a drought fell in 
 the same year, which the heathen ascribed to the wratii of Marna 
 their god, on account of the coming of i'orpiiyrius. For two months 
 no rain fell, ncjtwithstanding their pravers to Marna ('whom they say
 
 THE cri/rnu: of t\u: piiiustines iot 
 
 is Zeus'') in his capacity of lord of rain. There was a ph\ce of praver 
 outside the city, and the whole of the heathen population frequented 
 this for intercession to the kv/ho9 tQv 6\xi-ii)U)v. This place was no 
 doubt a sanctuary with an ancient tradition ; most probably to Ijc 
 identified with tiie Aldioina, or place of Zeus Aldemios. Tiiis, 
 according to the Etijiiiolog'u-oii Magnuvi, was the name of the chief 
 god of Gaza, and a god of fertility ; [)r()l)al)ly therefore identical with 
 Marna.^ Wc hear of the same sanctuary in the Talmud : near (ia/a 
 was a place called Yerld or 'Itloza (nn^i^y, also written r^cx and C'^l;n) 
 out>ide the city where an idol was worshipped.'-' In the slcjucI we 
 learn that Porphyrins took from the Aldioma thi- stones with which 
 he built the church erected by him on the site of the Marneion. 
 
 Near modern Gaza is a hill, crowned by the shrine of a Mu>lim 
 saint called SJte'ikh Miuitar. As usual, this true belieyer has succeeded 
 to the honours of a pagan diyinity. Muntar means ' a watch tower ' ; 
 but possibly the name is a corruption of Marna or [Britojmartis. 
 
 The name Marna is capable of being rendered in Aramaic, 
 Mar-na,'' ' Our Lord,' and not improbably this is its actual meaning. 
 If so, it is probably an illustration of the widespread dislike to, or 
 actual prohibition of, the mention of the real name of a diyinity.'* 
 At some time a hesitation to name the god — who can hardly be other 
 than Dagon — had arisen : the respectful expression ' Our Lord ' had 
 by frequent use become practically the personal name of the diyinity, 
 and had assumed a Greek form 'yiapva^, with a temple called the 
 ^\apva.ov, the chief temple of Gaza. 
 
 It is likely that Gaza at the time claimed to be a sacred city : the 
 rigidness of the tabu against carrying a dead body into it suggests 
 that such an act would pollute it. The Christians had serious 
 trouble, soon after the coming of Porphyrins, on account of the case 
 of one Barochus, a zealous young Christian, who was set upon by 
 heathen outside the city and beaten, as was thought, to death. His 
 friends happening to find him lying unconscious, wished to carry him 
 
 1 Aldemios was probably another name of Marna. The Etymulogicon Magnum 
 gives us 'A\5r/^tos 77 'AASos] d Zei/j [oj] iv Ta^Tj rrji Svpi'aj rifxaraf -rrapd To aKSalia;, to 
 av^avw o inl rfji ai^rjaftus ruiv Konwl'i'. — FAyin. Mai/ii. cd. Gaisford, col. .>S. ;?(». 
 
 ^ Neubauer, Geog. d. Talmud. With Yerld coiniiare Jin Yn-dth, tlu- name of 
 a spring outside the important city of Gezer. 
 
 3 It is probably a mere coincidence that there was a river-god of the same name 
 at Ephesus, mentioned on coins of that city of the time of Domitian wWAPNAC 
 or E<t>ECU2N A\APNAC), as well as in an inscription from an acjucduct at Ephesus, 
 now in the British Museum. See Uoscher, LtJ-iron, s. v. 
 
 ♦ The word Mar, ' Lord,' is used in the modern Syrian church as a title of respect 
 for saints and bishops. A pagan name 3nn?2 (= ^n" nC, 'Mar has given') 
 illustrates its application to divinitj'.
 
 108 THE SCHWEICII LECTURES, 1911 
 
 home; but only sucfceded in doing so with the greatest difficulty, 
 owing to the upi-oar caused by their carrying the apparent corpse into 
 the city. 
 
 Stirred by eyents of this kind, Porphyrins determined to invoke the 
 ciyil power to aid him in his struggle with heathendom, and sending 
 IVIarcus to Constantinople obtained an order for the closing of the 
 temples of Gaza, As usual, howeyer, in the East, the official 
 responsible for the carrying out of the order did so with one hand, 
 allowing the other hand to be ' greased ' to undo the work sur- 
 reptitiously. In other words, Ililarios, the adjutant sent to carry out 
 the order, and especially charged to close the ]\Iarneion and to put 
 a stop to the consultation of the oracle, while appearing to execute 
 the duty connnitted to him, secretly took bribes to permit the rites 
 of heathen religion to ])e carried on as before. Porphyrins therefore 
 went in })erson to Constantinople; interyiewed the em})ress Eudoxia; 
 obtained her favour by the prophecy of the birth of a son to her, 
 which was fulfilled by the birth of Theodosius ; and obtained her 
 intercession with the emperor to secure the closing of the temples. 
 So Porphyrius returned with his suite, and Avas received at Gaza with 
 jubilation on the part of the Christians, and corresponding depression 
 on that of the Pagans. 
 
 Some valuable hints are preserved to us by Marcus of the nature of 
 the worship thus destroyed. A few excerpts from his work may be 
 here giyen. 
 
 ' As we entered the city, about the place called the Four AVays, 
 there was standing a marble })illar, which they said was Aphrodite ; 
 and it was above a stone altar, and the form of the pillar was that of 
 an undraped woman, ix'-^vai-js u\a to. aaxi]ixa (jiuwuixera,^ and they all 
 of the city used to honour the pillar, especially the women, lighting 
 lamps and burning incense. For they used to say of her that she 
 used to answer in a dream those who wished to enter into matrimony; 
 and telling falsehoods tlu'V used to deceive one another.' The worship 
 of this statue evidently retained some of the most lurid details of the 
 High Place worship. This statue was the first to be destroyed — by 
 a miracle, Marcus says, on the exhibition of the Cross. He is probably 
 mindful of the prostration of Dagoii on the .\rk being brought into 
 his presence. 
 
 Ten days afterwards Cynegius, the emjjcror's messenger, arrived 
 with a band of soldiers, to destroy the temples, of which there were 
 eight — of the Sun, Aphrodite, Apollo, Kore (Persephone), Hekate. 
 
 ' The fisli-tail li.is now (]is;i]ij)earc-(i.
 
 THE CULTUKK Ol 11 IK FIIILIS TINKS 109 
 
 the Heroeion, the Tychaion or teiiiplc of tht- Lnrk (rt^'xi/) of the city, 
 and the Marneion, or temple of the Crete-boni Zeus, the most 
 honourable of all the temj)les, which has already been mentioned. 
 Besides these there were a countless number of minor deities in the 
 houses and the villages. The destroying party first made its way to 
 the Marneion. The })riests, however, had been forewarned, and 
 blocked the doors of the inner chamber with great stones. In the 
 inner chamber or adytum they stoi'ed the sacred furniture of the 
 tem})le and the images of the god, and then tied by otiier exits, of 
 which it was said there were several, opening out of the adyta of the 
 temple in various directions. Baffled therefore for the time, the 
 destroying l)arty made their way to the other temples, which they 
 demolished ; Porphyrins, like another Joshua, laying under an 
 anathema any of the Christians who should take to himself any 
 plunder from the treasuries. This work occupied ten days, and the 
 question of the fate of the Marneion was then discussed. Some were 
 for razing it, some for burning it, others again wished to preserve it 
 and after purifying it, to dedicate it for Christian worship. Porphyrius 
 therefore proclaimed a fast with prayer for Divine guidance in the 
 difficulty. The Divine guidance came in strange wise ; and though it 
 has nothing to do with the Philistines, the story is so curious that it 
 is wx'll worth relating exactly as Marcus himself tells it. As the 
 people, fasting and praying, were assembled in the church, a child of 
 seven years, standing with his mother, suddenly cried out in the 
 Syrian tongue, * Burn the temple to the ground : for many hateful 
 things have taken place in it, especially human sacrifices. And in 
 this manner burn ye it. Bring licjuid pitch and sulphur and lard, 
 and mix them together and smear the brazen doors therewith, and lay 
 fire to them, and so the whole temple will burn ; it is impossible any- 
 other way. And leave the outer })art {tov t^(liiTtj)ov) with the enclosing 
 wall {-rrepLftoXos). And after it is burnt, cleanse the place and there 
 build a holy church. I witness to you before God, that it may not 
 be otherwise : for it is not I who speak, but Christ that speaketh in 
 me.' And when they all heard they wondered, and glorified God. 
 And this portent came to tlie ears of the holy bishop (Porphyrius), 
 who stretching his hands to heaven gave glory to God and said, 
 ' Glory to Thee, Holy Father, who hast hidden from the wise and 
 prudent, and hast revealed even these things to babes.' When the 
 people were dismissed from the church he sunnnoned the child and 
 his mother to him in the bishop's house, and setting the child apart 
 he said to the woman, 'I adjure thee by the Son of the Living God to 
 say if it was on thy suggestion or of some other known to thcc that
 
 no THK SCHWEICII LECTURES, 1911 
 
 thy son spoke as he did concerning the ]\Iarneion.' The woman said, 
 'I dehvei' nivself to the dread and awful judgement-seat of Christ, if 
 I had fore-knowledge of any of those things that my son spoke this 
 day. But if it seem fit to thee, behold the boy, take him and 
 examine him with threats, and if he said tliese things on the 
 suggestion of anv, he will confess it in fear ; if he says nothing 
 else it will be clear that he was insj)ired by the Holy Spirit." So 
 to make a long story short, the boy was brought in, and the bishop 
 bade him speak and say who had put these words in his mouth — 
 brandishing a whip as he spoke. The ])oor bewildered child kept 
 silence, even though 'We who were around him' — INIarcus speaks as 
 an eve-witness — repeated the questions likewise with threats. At last 
 the child opened his mouth and made exactly the same utterance as 
 before, Ijut this time in Greek — a language of which, as appeared on 
 inquirv from the mother, he was ignorant. This settled the matter, 
 and sealed the fate of the Marneion. The bishop gave three pieces 
 of money to the mother, but the child, seeing them in her hand, said 
 in the Svrian tongue, ' Take it not, mother, sell not thou the gift of 
 God for monev ! ' So the woman returned the money, saying to the 
 bishop, ' Pray for me and my son, and recommend us to God." And 
 the bishop dismissed them in peace. It is a strange coincidence that 
 the first and last events in the recorded history of Philistia have 
 a mantic prodigy as their central incident ! 
 
 The reference to human sacrifices is for our innnediate purpose the 
 most noteworthy point in this remarkable story. The sequel was 
 equally remarkable. The method approved by the oracle was applied, 
 and immediately the whole temple, which on the first occasion had 
 resisted their assaults, was wrapped in flames. It ])urnt for many 
 davs, during which there was a good deal of looting of treasures ; in 
 the course of this at least one fatal accident occurred. At the same 
 time a house-to-house search for idols, books of sorcery, and the like 
 relics of heathenism, was cfri'cted. and anything of the kind discovered 
 was destroyed. 
 
 When the plan of the new church came to be discussed some were 
 for rel)uilding it after the fashion of the old temple ; others for 
 making a complete break with heathen tradition by erecting a building 
 entirelv different. The latter counsel ultimately prevailed. Important 
 for us is the _/ac^ of the dispute, Ix'cause, a propos thereof Marcus has 
 given us a few words of description wliich tell us something of what 
 the building was like. It was cvlindric.il. \\ itli two porticoes, one inside 
 the other ; in the middle like a ciljoriuin (the canopy above an altar) 
 'puii' (1 out" (i.e. j)i-e.^nmablv domed) but stretciied upwards ( = stilted),
 
 THE CULTUKE OF THE rillLISTINES 111 
 
 and it had other things fit for idols and suited to the liorri]>le and 
 lawless concomitants of idolatry.' 
 
 This clearly takes us far away from the inc<^-iiroii plan of the old 
 Dagon temple. We have to do with a peristyle circular building, 
 not unlike the Roman Pantheon, but with a stilted dome and sur- 
 rounded by two rows of colunms (see the sketch, p. 124). The 
 'other things' suita])le for idol-worship were presumably the adyta 
 of which we have already heard, which must have been either recesses 
 in the wall or else underground chambers. The apparently secret 
 exits made use of by the priests seem to favour the latter hypothesis. 
 Not improbably they were ancient sacred caves. I picture the temple 
 to myself as resembling the Dome of the Kock at Jerusalem, substi- 
 tuting the double portico for the aisle that runs round that building. 
 
 In clearing off the ashes and di-hris of the IMarneion, Porphyrins 
 came upon certain marbles, or a ' marble incrustation ' — jj.ajifj.djona-i'i 
 — which the IVIarna-worshippers considered holy and not to be trodden 
 upon, especially by women. We are of course reminded of the 
 threshold of Dagon at Ashdod, but as we have no information as to 
 the part of the temple to which the marbles belonged, we cannot say 
 if there was any very close analogy. Porphyrius, we are told, paved 
 the street Avith these sacred stones, so that not only men, but ' women, 
 dogs, pigs, and beasts ' should be compelled to tread upon them — a 
 proceeding which \ve learn caused more pain to the idolaters than even 
 the destruction of their temple. ' But yet to this day \ says Marcus, 
 ' most of them, especially the women, will not tread on the marbles.' 
 
 On coins of Gaza of the time of Hadrian a different temple is 
 represented, with an ordinary distyle front. This ty})e bears the 
 inscription GAZA MARNA, with figures of a male and female 
 divinity, presumably Mama and Tyche. The coin is evidence that 
 the distyle temple — the old nlegaron type — survived in Gaza till 
 this time, and it is not improbable that the IVIarneion destroyed 
 by Porphyrius was built immediately afterwards. The resemblance 
 to the Dome of the Rock at Jerusalem may be more than merely 
 superficial. This structure was built on the ruins of Hadrian's 
 temple of Jupiter, the Dodecapylon, which he erected over the sacred 
 Rock, when he made his determined effort to paganize the Holy City. 
 We have no description of this building, which was already in ruins 
 in A. D. 33;3 ; but its situation seems to require a round or synnnetri- 
 cally polygonal structui'e, and the name dodecapylon suggests a twelve- 
 
 ^ 2T|)077i/A,o<i5ts -^ap vn^pxfy, irfpi^tpKrjfxivot' Svalv aroali dWj]\otacuT(pais, to St fxiaov 
 avTOV T]V dva<pvaT]T<Jv KttSdipiov nal dvamaixivov eis v.pos, iixiv 5« koI dXKa rivd a rots 
 (iScuAoiy iirptnfv, dOira 5e Trp&s ra '^ivupava vapd tjjv ilSo:Xo)xavCv fivaapd t« koi dOtfiiTa.
 
 112 
 
 THE SCHWEICH LECTURES, 1911 
 
 sided l)uil(ling. The Dome of the Kock (an octagon) may well have 
 been built after this model ; and the Pantheon, which has also been 
 compared with the building indicated by the account of Marcus, is 
 likewise of the time of Hadrian. The Marneion, therefore, might 
 have been erected under the auspices of that enthusiastic builder, or 
 at least after the model of other buildings which he had left behind 
 
 Ficf. 5. Coins of (i;iza and Asbkeloa :— 1. Coin of Gaza showing Temple of 
 Marna. 2. Coin of (iaza l)earing the figure and nameof lo, and a debased Plioeni- 
 c-ian M, the symbolic initial of Mania.' 3. Coin of Gaza bearing tlie figure and 
 name of Minos. 4. Coin of (Jaza I)earing the initial of Mania. 5. Coin of 
 Ashkeloiij with the sacred fishpond. G. Coin of Ashkelon, with figure of 
 Astarte. 7. Coin of Aslikelon, Avith figure bearing a dove : below^ a sea- 
 monster. B. Coin of Ashkelon, with figure of a dove. 
 
 him in Palestine. This would give a date for the break with the 
 tradition of the old building. The sacred marbles miglit well have 
 been some stones preserved from the old structure, and on that account 
 of peculiar sanctity. 
 
 The rest of the acts of Por])hyrius do not concern us, though we 
 may note that there was a well in the courtyard of the Marneion, 
 
 1 ToT( uvofxa^ufxevov i'l ianv tvOua vpOfj fxla koX rpeis TiKayiot in' avTrjs . . . vapa Fa^aioii 
 rov AiJs. — Dainascius.
 
 THE CULTURE OF THE PHILISTINES 113 
 
 as we learn from the account of a miracle performed by him soon 
 after the erection of the church. 
 
 Jerome, in his Life of Hilarion^^ narrates sundry miraculous events, 
 especially a remarkable victory in the circus l)y a Christian combatant, 
 in which even the pagans were compelled to acknowledge Mamas 
 victus a Christo. Epiphanius of Constantia in his Ancoratus, p. 109,^ 
 enumerating a number of persons who have been deified, speaks of 
 Manias the slave of Asterios of Crete as having so been honoured in 
 Gaza. Here again the persistent Cretan tradition appears, but what 
 the value or even the meaning of this particular form of it may be 
 we cannot say. Mr. Alton has ingeniously suggested to me that 
 Epiphanios saw and misunderstood a dedicatory inscription from the 
 old sanctuary inscribed MAPNAt ACTERIGOt KPHTATENHt. 
 
 Outside Gaza there is scarcely any hint of Marna-worship. The 
 name is used as an expletive in Lampridius's Lfe of Alexander Severus: 
 and Waddington ^ reports an inscription from Kanata (Kerak), built 
 into a modern wall, and reading A N N H A[0]C KAMACANOY EHO H C E 
 All MAPNAt TCOt KYPICOi. But AnnGlos very likely was a native 
 of Gaza. A well-known statue found many years ago near Gaza, and 
 now in the Imperial Ottoman Museum at Constantinople, has been 
 supposed to represent IMarna ; but there is no evidence of this. The 
 eccentric Lady Hester Stanhope found a similar statue at Ashkelon, 
 but destroyed it. 
 
 Certain heathenized Jews of Constantia adored as deities Marthus 
 (or Marthys) and Marthana, the daughters of a certain false prophet 
 of the time of Trajan, by name Elzai * : but this is hardlv more than 
 a coincidence. 
 
 In Ashkelon, also, there was a special deity in late Pagan times. 
 This was 'Ao-kAtjttioj Aeoi;ro{)xo?, once referred to by Marinus, writing 
 in the fifth century a. d.'' It may be that this is the deity spoken of 
 in the Talmud, which mentions a temple of Saripa (N^ni) at Ashkelon, 
 evidently a form of Serapis.^ But we know nothing of ' Asclepius the 
 lion-holder ^ but his name. Probably the name of the town suggested 
 a dedication to the similarly sounding Asclepius, just as it suggested 
 the word AC4)AAHC on the coins of the city. Asclepius does not 
 appear, so far as I can find, on any coins of Ashkelon. Mars, Neptune, 
 
 1 Ed. Migne, xxiii. 27. 
 
 ^ Ed. Migne, xliii. 209 : koI Mapvas SovKos 'Aartptov rov KprjTus napa ra^atois. 
 
 ^ Inscriptions, in Le Bas, Voyaija arch6ologique en Grcce . . . 
 
 * Epiphanius, Contra Ilaeres. I. xix. 
 
 ^ 'AWa Kal Mapvav Fa^aiov iifivovaa Kal 'A(Tic\T]niuv Aiovrovxov 'AoKaXuviTqv kol 
 Qvavdpirrjv dWov 'Apa^iois noXvTifj.rjTov 6(uv. — Marinus, Vita Procli, ch. 19. 
 
 * Hildesheiraer, Beitriige znr Geog. Paliistinas, p. 3. 
 
 I
 
 lU THE SCHAVEICH LECTURES, 1911 
 
 the genius of the city, and Aphrodite Urania, are the deities generally 
 found on the coins : once or twice the latter is represented standing 
 on lions. ^ On other coins an erection is represented which may be 
 the Atu"/ or fish-pond for which the sanctuary was famous (see fig. 5, 
 p. 112). 
 
 IV. Their Place in History and CiyiLiZATioN 
 
 A people, or rather a group of jieoples, the remnant — the de- 
 generate remnant if you will — of a great ciyilization, settled on the 
 Palestine coast. They found before them a servile aboriginal popu- 
 lation ready to their use, who could relieve them of the necessary 
 but unaccustomed labour of extracting life and wealth from the 
 prolific soil. They were thus free to cultivate the commercial fEicilities 
 which were already established in the land they made their own. 
 Gaza, Ashkelon, and Ashdod had harljours which opened the way 
 to trade by sea. The great land route from Egypt to Babylon 
 passed right through the heart of the country from end to end — 
 Gaza was from the beginning the principal mart for northern Arabia : 
 in the expressive words of Principal G. A. Smith, we hear the jingling 
 of shekels in the very name of Ashkelon. Corn and wine were pro- 
 duced abundantly within their favoured territory, even in years when 
 the rest of the country suffered famine ; an active slave-trade (one 
 of the most lucrative sources of wealth) centred in Philistia, as we 
 learn from the bitter denunciation of Amos, Small wonder then 
 that the lords of the Philistines could offer an enormous bribe to 
 a wretched woman to betray her husband. Small wonder that the 
 Philistines were the carriers and controllers of the arts of civilization 
 in Palestine. 
 
 The settlement of the Philistines in Palestine falls in that j)eriod 
 of fog, as we may call it, when the iron culture succeeds the bronze 
 in the Eastern Mediterranean. Recent excavations have given us 
 a clear-cut picture of the development of civilization during the 
 bronze age ; that wonderful history which was sketched in its barest 
 outline in the course of Cha])tcr I. Then a cloud seems to settle 
 down on the world, through which we can dimly perceive scenes of 
 turmoil, and the shifting of nations. When the mist rolls away it is 
 as though a new world is before us. We see new powers on earth, 
 new gods in heaven : new styles of architecture, new methods of 
 warfare : the alphabet has been invented, and above all, iron has 
 become the metal of which the chief implements are made. Crete 
 and the great days of Egypt belong to the past : the glorious days 
 of classical Greece are the goal before us. 
 
 ' See De Saulcy, Numismatique de hi Terre Sa'uite.
 
 THE CULTURE OF TIIK IMIILTSTIXES 115 
 
 The chief interest of the PhiHstines lies in this, that their history 
 falls almost entirely within this period of obscurity, wlien the iron 
 age of Europe was in its birth-throes. They and their kin, the 
 Zakkala in the east and Turisha in the west, bridge the gap between 
 the old world and the new. It is owing to them that the remi- 
 niscences of the days of Crete were handed across a couple of 
 troubled centuries, to form the basis of new civilizations in Greece, 
 in Italy, and in the East. 
 
 Our materials for estimating the culture of the Philistines and 
 their place in civilization are the following : (1) The Phaestos Disk ; 
 (2) The ^Nledinet Habu sculptures ; (3) The results of excavation 
 in Philistia ; (4) Scattered Biblical references. 
 
 (1) On the Phaestos Disk ai'e forty-five characters. Of some of 
 these it is not very easy to determine the signification, but others 
 have some value as indicating the nature of the civilization of those 
 w^ho invented its script, and its analogues. 
 
 The writing, running from right to left, is in the same direction 
 as the Carian inscriptions, but not as the Minoan linear tablets. 
 
 The plumed head-dress of the sign here called M has been referred to 
 as being the link which connects this disk with Caria on the one 
 hand and with the Philistines on the other. A. J. Reinach (Revue 
 archeologique, Ser. V, vol. xv, pp. 26, 27) publishes Sardinian statuettes 
 showing the same form of head-dress. The Sardinians being probably 
 a later stage in the history of one branch of the sea-peoples, it is 
 natural that they should show an analogous equipment. 
 
 The sign a, a man running, shows the simple waist-band which 
 forms the sole body-covering of the Keftian envoys. 
 
 The sign h, a captive with arms bound behind, has no more 
 covering than a girdle. The symbol z appears to represent a hand- 
 cuff or fetter. Perhaps Samson was secured with some such fastening. 
 
 The sign c from its small size appears to represent a child. He 
 is clad in a tunic fitting closely to the body and reaching barely to 
 the hips. No doubt, as often in Egypt ancient and modern, in some 
 of the remoter parts of Palestine and among the Bedawin, young 
 children went naked. 
 
 Fig. d represents a woman. She has long flowing hair, and seems 
 to be wearing a single garment not unlike the fiistan of the modern 
 Palestinian peasant, the upper part of which, however, has been 
 dropped down over the lower so as to expose the bodv from the 
 girdle upwards. Hall, in a recent article in the Journal of Hellcuir 
 Studies, shows that the figure has Mycenaean analogies. 
 
 I 2
 
 116 
 
 THE SCHWEICH LECTURES, 1911 
 
 Fig. e, with the sha^•ed head, perhaps represents a slave. A figure- 
 of-ei5it (an ownership mark in tatu) is represented on the cheek.^ 
 
 <^ 
 
 ''^^ -^ 
 
 
 '^^^ 
 
 ^1 
 
 
 
 ^-i 
 ^ 
 
 Fig. / niav represent a sandalled foot ; fig. g may possibly repre- 
 sent a closed hand; but both are doubtful. Figs, h and i possibly 
 represent a breast and vicmhrum muUehrc respectively, though the 
 
 1 Compare the scarified lines still to be seen on the faces of negroes who have 
 been liberated from slavery within recent years in the Turkish empire.
 
 THE CULTURE OF THE IMHLISTINES 117 
 
 former iiiav be ;i Phrvyian cap. The interpretation of these lour 
 signs is too uncertain to allow us to attach any weight to them. 
 
 In figs. J and k we may possible/ see the sacred doves, and in I the 
 sacred fish. But this cannot be pressed. The ram's head (o), 
 the hoof (p), the horn (q), and the hide (.s) all indicate a pastoral life. 
 The symbols f, it, v, re, .r, 7/ are drawn from the plant world, and 
 it must be noticed that those who developed the script of the Disk 
 showed an unusual apj)reciation of plant-shapes. It is (juite remark- 
 able to find such a variety of fioral symbols. 
 
 The sign /3 is probably a section of a river, suggestive of water. 
 
 The sign b is very remarkable. It is almost certainly a represen- 
 tation of a domed house, such as is imitated in the Lycian tombs. 
 It may be the prototype of one of the ' palaces of Ashdod ' ! The 
 sign C is a pillar with a square capital. The curious sign may 
 represent some kind of key. 
 
 Very important is the ship, fig. rj. It is one more link with the 
 Medinet Habu sculptures, in which, as we shall see, an identical ship 
 makes its appearance. 
 
 The bow and arrow, figs, k, A, are especially interesting. Reinach 
 (op. cit. p. 35) ingeniously points out that it is a true picture of the 
 bow of the Lycian Pandarus, made of two horns of the wild goat 
 fixed and bound on a piece of wood. 
 
 avTLK tcrvXa tu^ov iv^oov, i^dKov atyo? 
 aypiov . . . 
 
 Tov K^pa €K. K€(f)a\rjS (KKatheKabcopa incpvueL' 
 Kol TO. jjikv aaKi](ras Kepao^oo'i ijpape t^ktcov, 
 Tiav 5' eS Aeu/yas xpvae-i]v iir^OiiKf Kopojrrjv. 
 
 lUud, iv. 10.5-11. 
 
 The curved poignard (p) has also Lycian and Carian analogies 
 (Reinach, op. cit. p. 35). The axe {p.), scjuare (o-), plane (r), signet-ring 
 (\/^), and leather- cutter's knife {(^), the latter perforated with a hole 
 in the butt for suspension, all show the specializing of tool> which is 
 a characteristic of civilization. 
 
 Of especial importance is the round shield with bosses (^). It 
 is not Cretan : the Cretan sliicld is a long oval. But the Sherdanian 
 warriors at ^ledinet Habu bear the round bossed shield, and Reinach 
 (oj9. cit. p. 30) figures an Etruscan statuette which bears an identical 
 protection. 
 
 The other signs (-, y, r, x and f) are not sufficiently clear to 
 identify (r may be an astragalus, used in games, and tt may be an 
 adze). But enough will have been said to show that quite apart
 
 118 
 
 THE SCHWEICH LECTURES, 1911 
 
 from its literarv value, the Phaestos Disk is of very considerable 
 importance as a document in the history of Aegean civilization. 
 
 (2) AVe now turn to the sculptures on the temple of Medinet Habu. 
 Here avc have precious illustrations of costumes, vehicles, and arms. 
 
 Fig. 7. ^^'agons of the Pulasati. 
 
 Fig. 8. Tlic Head-dress of tlie Tulasati. 
 
 The Pulasati wear a plumed head-dress, the plumes being fitted 
 into an elaborately embroidered band enc-ircling the temples, and 
 secured bv a chin-strap passing in front of the ears. The other tribes 
 wear similar head-dresses, except the Shekelesh, who have a cap. 
 The Zakkala are represented as beardless. Their sole body-costume 
 is the waistband, though some of them seem to have bracelets or 
 armlets, and bands o)- stra])s crossing the upper part of the body. 
 The women liavc tlie c]osv-i\ttmgJ'usta7i; the children are naked. 
 
 The land contingent travel in wagons, of a scpiare box-like shape, 
 some witli framed, some with wickerwork sides. They have two 
 solid wlieels, secured to the axle by a liiuli-pin ; and are drawn
 
 THE CULTURK OF THE IMHLISTINES 
 
 119 
 
 
 l''^**"I'l'{ 
 
 >>*^'^;- 
 
 
 
 ■h-'i-:.? 
 
 * 
 
 ^^iiia
 
 120 THE SCHWEICH LECTURES, 1911 
 
 by four oxen abreast. The sea-contingent travel in ships which show 
 a marked resemblance to that of the Phaestos Disk. The keel is 
 curved (more so at IVIedinet Habu than at Phaestos) and both bow 
 and stem rise high above the deck, with ornamental finials. A rudder- 
 oar projects from the stem ; and at Medinet Habu (not at Phaestos) 
 a mast rises from the middle of the boat, with a yard and a lug-sail. 
 The ships are fitted with oars, which in the summary Phaestos 
 hieroglyphic are not shown. 
 
 The warriors in the coalition are armed with a sword and with the 
 long Carian spear ; they have also daggers and javelins for throwing, 
 and carry circular shields. 
 
 A number of enamelled tablets, once forming part of the decoration 
 of the temple, have been described,^ and these add some further 
 valuable details. They show prisoners in full co8tume,not the summary 
 fighting costume. A number of these do not concern us, being Semitic 
 or North African ; but a Shekelesh, a PhUistine, and one of the 
 Tur'isha are represented, if Daressy''s identifications are to be accepted. 
 Unfortunately there is no explanatory inscription with the figures. 
 
 The Shekelesh has a yellow-coloured skin, a small pointed beard, 
 not meeting the lower lip. His hair is combed backward, in a way 
 remarkably similar to the hair of the woman in the Phaestos disk 
 (or he wears a crimped head-dress). He is apparelled in a gown, black 
 with yellow circles above, green below, with vertical folds ; over 
 this is a waistband divided into coloured squares by bands of green. 
 On his breast he wears an amulet, in the shape of a ring suspended 
 round his neck by a cord. A sort of torque [or a chain] surrounds 
 his neck, and his hands are secured in a handcuff. 
 
 The Philistine is more fully bearded: he has likewise a yellow- 
 coloured skin. The top of the tablet is unfortunately broken, so 
 onlv the suggestion of the plumed head-dress is to be seen. He wears 
 a long white robe with short sleeves, quatrefoil ornament embroidered 
 upon it, and with some lines surrounding the neck ; over this is 
 a waistband extending from the knees up to the breast, with elaborate 
 embroidery upon it : a tassel hangs in the middle. Oil the arms are 
 bracelets. The face of this j)risoner is of a nuich more refined cast 
 than any of the others. 
 
 The supposed Turisha has a red skin : his costume resembles that 
 of the Philistine, but it is less elaborately embroidered. Three long 
 ornamental tassels hang from the waistband. 
 
 (3) In a country like Palestine, frecjuently jiluudcied and })ossessing 
 
 ^ Daressy, 'Plaquettes emaillces de Medinet Habu," in pinnules du Service des 
 Aniiquites de VEyyi^e, vol. xi, p. 49.
 
 THE CUL'l'UllE or TIIK TIIILISTINES 121 
 
 a climate that does not permit of the preservation of frescoes and 
 similar ancient records, we cannot liope to find anything like the rich 
 documentation that Egypt offers us on tlie suhject of connnerce. 
 Some suggestive facts may, however, be learnt from finds made in 
 recent excavations, more especially pottery with coloured decoration. 
 This will be found described in the section on pottery in my Excavation 
 ofGezer, vol. ii, pp. 128-241. 
 
 Fig. 10. A Bird, as painted on an Amorite and a Philistine \'ase respectively. 
 
 Putting aside details, for which I may refer the reader to that 
 work, it may be said that the periods, into which the history 
 down to the fall of the Hebrew monarchy is divided, are five in 
 number ; to these have been given the names pre-Semitic, and First 
 to Fourth Semitic. The Second Semitic, which I have dated 1800- 
 1400 «.('., the time which ends in the Tell el-Amarna period, shows 
 Egyptian and Cypriote influence in its pottery, and here for the first 
 time painted ornament becomes prominent. The figures are outlined 
 in broad brush strokes, and the spaces are filled in afterwards, wholly
 
 122 THE SCHWEICH LECTURES, 1911 
 
 or partly, with strokes in another colour. The subjects are animals, 
 birds, fishes, and geometrical patterns generally, and there can be 
 little douljt that they fire crude local imitations of models of I^ate 
 iMinoan ware, directly imported into the country. The Third Semitic, 
 1400-1000 B.C., includes the time of the Philistine su})remacy : and 
 though I have dated the beginning of the period rather earlier 
 than the time of their arrival, the peculiar technique of painted 
 pottery that distinguishes it need not be dated so early, and may well 
 have been introduced by them, as it certainly comes to an abrupt end 
 about the time of their fall. In this there is a degeneration observable 
 as compared with the best work of the Second Semitic ware. The 
 designs had in fact become ' hieratic "■, and the fine broad lines in 
 several colours had given place to thin-line monochrome patterns, 
 which will be found illustrated in the book referred to. 
 
 The Philistines thus, in this particular art, show an inferiority to 
 their Semitic predecessors. The reason is simple : they were removed 
 farther in time from the parent designs. But the sudden substitution 
 of the fine-line techni(|ue of the Third Semitic period for the broad-line 
 technique of the Second, while the general plan of the designs remains 
 the same, can be most easily accounted for by the assumption that 
 the art passed from one rrtce to another. And the sudden disappearance 
 of the fine-line technique coincides so completely with the subjugation 
 of the Philistines, that we can hardly hesitate to call painted ware 
 displaying the peculiar Third Semitic characters ' Philistine \ This 
 may be a valuable help for future exploration. 
 
 The five graves found at Gezer, of which a fully illustrated detailed 
 description will be found in Excavation of Ge::er, vol. i, pp. 289-300, 
 were so absolutely different from native Palestinian graves of any 
 period that imless they were those of Philistines or some other foreign 
 tribe they would })e inexplicable. They were oblong rectangular 
 receptacles sunk in the ground and covered with large slabs. Each 
 contained a single body stretched out (not cr(mched,as in the Canaanite 
 interments), the head, with one exception, turned to the east. Orna- 
 ments and food-deposits were placed around. The mouth-plate 
 found on some of the skeletons was an im})ortant link with Cretan 
 tradition, and the graves, as a whole, show decided kinship with the 
 shaft-graves of Knossos or Mycenae, although naturally the art-centre 
 has shifted to Cyprus, which was the origin of such of the deposits as 
 had no Egyptian analogies. The bones from these tombs presented 
 analogies with Cretan bones (see ]). 60 ante) ; but of course five skeletons 
 are quite insufficient as a basis for anthropological deductions. 
 
 ^Vith further excavation the debt of Palestinian civilization to the
 
 THE CrLTUUE OF THE rillLISTINES 123 
 
 Philistines will proba])lv hv found to 1)e even f^reater than the fore- 
 going paragraphs would suggest. IJrietly, the impression which the 
 daily study of objects found in excavation has made on the present 
 writer is, that from about I^OO-ISOO n.c. onwards to about 800 n.c. 
 Western Palestine was the scene of a strunjj-le between the Aewan 
 and Egyptian civilizations, with a slight mingling of Mesopotaniian 
 influence, and that the local tribes took a merely passive interest in 
 the conflict and made no contribution whatever to its development. 
 
 (4) The Biblical and other literary sources point to the same 
 conclusion. 
 
 Let us take as an illustration the art of Architecture. It is notable 
 that the only Palestine temples we read about in the Old Testament, 
 until the building of Solomon''s temple, are the houses of the Philistine 
 deities.^ Yahweh has a simple tent ; the Canaanite deities have to 
 be content with their primitive High Places — open areas of ground 
 with rude pillar-stones. But Gaza, Ashdod, and Beth-Shan have 
 their temples, and most likely the place called Beth-Car and some of 
 the Beth-Dagons derived their Semitic names from some conspicuous 
 temples of gods of the Philistine pantheon. 
 
 W^e can deduce something as to the architecture of the Gaza 
 temple from the account of its destruction by Samson (Judges xvi). 
 There Mere two groups of spectators — a large crowd (the figure 3000 
 need not be taken literally) on the roof, and the lords and their 
 attendants inside. If Samson was also inside, those on the roof 
 could not have seen him, for no hypaethrum of any probable size 
 would have allowed any considerable number to enjoy the sport. 
 Samson must therefore have been outside the temple ; and it follows 
 that the lords and their attendants must have been, not in an enclosed 
 naos, but under an open portico. That is to say, the structure must 
 have been a building of the megaron type. AVhen Samson rested — 
 just where we should expect, at the edge of the grateful shade of the 
 portico, where he could the more quickly recover his strength but 
 would be at a respectful distance from the Philistine notables — he 
 seized the wooden pillars of the portico, which probably tapered 
 
 ^ Except the temple at Shcchem (Judges viii. 33— ix. 46\ The events described 
 as taking place there certainly postulate a covered building. This, however, is 
 perhaps no real exception : it may have originally been a Philistine structure. 
 It was dedicated to a certain Baal- or El-Berifh. But 'the Lord of the Covenant' 
 is a strange name for a local ha'al : can it be that Ihrith is a corruption of BpiTo- 
 [/xapriy] ? The Book of Judges was probably written about the sixth century it. c. : 
 by then the temple was most likely a ruin, and the memory of its dedication might 
 easily have become obscured. The curious expression in Kzekiel, connnented uj)on 
 on p. 6 ante,, might be similarly explained : by the ordinary canons of criticism the 
 difficult original reading is to be preferred to the easy emendation there quoted.
 
 124 
 
 THE SCHWEICH LECTURES, 1911 
 
 downwards in the ]\lycenean style. He pnshed them off their base6 
 by ' bowing himself with all his might**, and, the portico being distyle 
 and having thus no other support, he brought the whole structure 
 down. Only a meg-afoii plan will satisfy all the conditions of the story. 
 Buildings such as this must have been fjimiliar to David in Gath, 
 and perhaps the sight of them suggested to his mind the idea of 
 erecting a more worthy temple to his own Deity, as soon as he came 
 into his kingdom. And when the work was carried out by Solomon, 
 \\e see that the same model was followed. 
 
 I 
 
 < /O -^ 
 
 ..-30 .--■'■■ 
 
 I o^isthodc 
 
 -■20 
 
 II 
 
 
 Fig. 1 1. .Sketcli-plaiis and Kk'vatioiis of tlic Manicioii at ( ia/.a and ofSolotnoii's 
 Temple (accessory buildings omitted). 'J'lie dimensions of the latter are figured 
 in cubits : the former is not to scale. 
 
 The description in 1 Kings ^ i, ^ ii is not an architect's sjjecification, 
 and it has numerous technical terms hard to understand. Many 
 attempts have been made to design a building which should conform 
 to this account, helped out by the not always trustworthy Josephus. 
 The nuitual incomjjatibility of these restorations (to say nothing of 
 their prima facie architectural improbability) is sufficient to deter the 
 present writer from attempting to add to their number. The main
 
 THE CULTURE OF THE rHH.ISTINES 125 
 
 lines of the description are, liowever, clear enough to show witli what 
 kind of building wc have to deal. We need not attempt to assign 
 a place to the subsidiary external buildings in three stories, their 
 winding stairs and other appurtenances, erected against the outside 
 of the main structure. But we note that the latter was oblonif. 60 
 cubits long, 30 cubits high, and 20 cubits broad. These figures show 
 a classical sense o^ prnport'wn for which we look in vain in any ancient 
 building that excavation has revealed in Palestine. A portico in 
 front, of the breadth of the house, was 20 cubits broad and 10 cubits 
 deep. Here again the dimensions are proportioned. The portico 
 was distyle, like that in the temple of Gaza : the two pillars were 
 called by names which show that they w^ere not masse both — 'the 
 stablisher ' and ' strength in it ' are very suitable names for pillars 
 that have to bear the responsibility of keeping up a heavy portico. 
 These pillars had shafts 18 cubits long, and capitals 5 cubits high — 
 a total length of 23 cubits, which leaves, when subtracted from the 
 height of the building, 7 cubits, a margin that is just about sufficient 
 for the entablature above and the plinth below. At the opposite end 
 of the building 'the oracle' or 'the most holy place' corresponds 
 exactly to the opisthodomos. It was 20 cubits square, which left 
 a naos, measuring 30 cubits by 20, in the middle of the building : the 
 'forty cubits ' of 1 Kings vi. 16 evidently includes the portico. 
 
 With regard to the ordinary domestic architecture of the Philis- 
 tines, it must be admitted that the excavations which have been made 
 in Philistine towns do not lead us to infer that they were on the 
 whole much better housed than their Semitic neighbours. Amos, it 
 it true, speaks of the ' palaces' of Gaza and Ashdod (i. 8, iii. 9) ; but 
 this is rather a favourite word (n"i:)0~ix) of the prophet's, and he finds 
 ' palaces ' in other towns as well. To a rough herdsman many build- 
 ings would look palatial, which when viewed from another standpoint 
 would hardly make the same impression. 
 
 One of the Philistine tombs at Gezer contained a small knife of iron ; 
 and this leads us at once to a discussion of fundamental importance. 
 
 Inserted into the account of the battle of Michmash there is a very 
 remarkable passage (1 Sam. xiii. 19-23). It is corrupt, and some 
 parts of it cannot be translated, but the meaning of it seems to be 
 something like this : ' Now there Avas no smith found throughout all 
 the land of Israel, for the Philistines said, " Lest the Hebrews make 
 them sword or spear." But all the Israelites went down to the 
 Philistines to sharpen every man his share, and his coulter, and his 
 axe and his ox-goad (?).' The next verse is too corrupt to translate, 
 and then the passage proceeds : ' In the day of battle there was neither
 
 126 THE SCHWEICH LECTURES, 1911 
 
 sword nor spear in the hand of any of the people, except with Saul 
 and Jonathan themselves."' 
 
 This is sometimes referred to as a ' disarmament ', but there is no 
 hint of anything- of the kind. It simply says that the Philistines kept 
 the monopoly of tlie iron trade in their own hands, and naturally 
 restricted the sale of weapons of offence to the Hebrews, just as 
 modern civilized nations have regulations against importing firearms 
 among subject or backward connnunities. The Hebrews were just 
 emerging from the bronze age culture. Iron agricultural implements, 
 which seem slightly to precede iron war-weapons, had been introduced 
 among them ^ ; but the novelty of iron had not worn off by the time 
 of Solomon when he built his temple without the profaning touch of 
 this metal (1 Kings vi. 7) — just as when Joshua made flint knives to 
 perform the sacred rite of circumcision (Joshua v. 2) ; the old traditions 
 must be maintained in religious functions. The champions of the 
 Philistines, of course, were able to use iron freely, although for defensive 
 purposes thev still use bronze.^ 
 
 Goliath had a bronze helmet, a bronze cuirass of scale-armour (not 
 a mail-coat, as in the English translation), bronze greaves, and a bronze 
 'javelin', but a spear with a great shaft and a heavy head of iron. 
 The armour of ' Ishbi-benob ' was probably similar, but the text 
 is corrupt and defective. The armour of Goliath is indeed quite 
 Homeric, and very un-Semitic. The Kwh] TrciyxaAKOs^, the x'^Xkokv/]- 
 fMLOes/" and the enormous spear — 
 
 (v6' "EiKTOjp ilarj\6( bLiifukos, er 5 apa x^V*- 
 eyX^o? e'x er8e/cd7r>)x^ * — 
 
 are noteworthy in this connexion, especially the greaves, the Hebrew 
 word for which (nnvo) occurs nowhere else. The Ocopa^ AcTngcoroj 
 alone would seem post-Homeric, but this is an argumenUim e silentio. 
 Fragments of a scale-cuirass, in iron, and of a rather later date, were 
 found in the excavation of Tell Zakariya, overlooking the scene where 
 the battle is laid {Excavatimis in Palestine, p. 150). But the culture 
 that Goliath's equij)ment illustrates, like his ordeal by single combat, 
 is much more European or Aegean than Palestinian. 
 
 ' See the essay on 'Bronze and Iron' in Andrew Lang's T/ie ^V()l■l(l of Homer, 
 pp. 96-101.. 
 
 ' An elaborate paper, entitled ' Die Erfinder der Eisentechnik ', by W. Belck, will 
 be found in Zeilgrhrift fiir JJlIinoloyle (1!H)7), p. 831-. It claims the Philistines as the 
 original inventors of the smith's art. That is, perhaps, going a little too far. 
 
 ^ Greaves a{)pear to be unknown in Oriental or Egyptian warfare. See Darem- 
 berg and Saglio, Did. des antt. yr. el rum., s.v. Ocrea. 
 
 * Jl. vi. :ji8.
 
 THE CULTURE OF THE PHILISTINES 127 
 
 In the report of Wen- Anion we found that the Zakkala were busy 
 in the Phoenician ports, and had large influence in Phoenicia. The 
 representations of Phoenician ships, such as the sadly damaged fresco 
 which W. Max Mi'iller has published,^ shows them to have heen 
 identical in type with the ships of the Pulasati. It is highly probable 
 that further research will show that it was due to the influence of 
 the 'Peoples of the Sea' that the Phoenicians were induced to take 
 to their very un-Semitic seafaring life. And it is also probable that 
 it was due to Zakkala influence that the same people abandoned the 
 practice of circinncision, as Herodotus says they did when they had 
 commerce with ' Greeks '. ^ 
 
 An interesting question now arises. Was it to the Philistines and 
 their kinsmen that the civilized world owes the alphabet ? The 
 facts that suggest this query may be briefly stated. For countless 
 generations the Egyptians, the Babylonians, and probably the Hittites, 
 had been lumbering away with their complex syllabaries ; scripts as 
 difficult to learn and to use as is the Chinese of to-day. As in 
 China, the complexity of the scripts was a bar to the diffusion 
 of learning : the arts of reading and writing were perforce in the 
 hand of specially trained guilds of scribes. No one thought of the 
 possibility of simplifying the complexities ; while current ' hieratic ' 
 forms of the letters might come into being with hasty writing, all 
 the elaborate machinery of syllables and ideograms and determinatives 
 was retained without essential modification. 
 
 Suddenly we find that a little nation in Syria appears to have 
 hit upon a series of twenty-two easily- Avritten signs by which the 
 whole complex system of the sounds of their language can be expressed 
 with sufficient clearness. If it was really the Phoenicians, of all 
 people, who performed this feat of analysis, it was one of the most 
 stupendous miracles in the history of the world. That the Phoenicians 
 ever originated the alphabet, or anything else, becomes more and more 
 impossible to believe with every advance of knowledge. 
 
 The alphabet makes its appearance soon after the movements of 
 the 'sea-peoples'. Zakar-Baal is found keeping his accounts, not 
 on clay tablets (and therefore not in cuneiform) but on papyrus, 
 which he imports from Egypt in large quantities. And we are 
 tempted to ask if the characters he used were some early form of 
 the signs of the so-called ' Phoenician ' alphabet. 
 
 The oldest specimen of this alphabet yet found has come to 
 light in Cyprus : the next oldest is the far-famed Moabite Stone. 
 
 » Mitth. der vorderas. Gesell. (1904), 2, plate iii. » II. 104.
 
 128 THE SCHWEICH LECTURES, 1911 
 
 W. Max Miiller^ cleverly infers from some peculiarities in the 
 rendering of names in the list of Sheshonk's captured towns, that 
 the scribe of that document was working from a catalogue in which 
 the names were written in the Phoenician alphabet. This would 
 bring the use of this alphabet in Palestine back to about 930 b. c, 
 or about a century earlier than the Moabite Stone. A letter in 
 neo-Babylonian cuneiform, probably not much earlier than this, and 
 certainly of local origin, was found at Gezer : the date of the 
 introduction of the Phoenician alphabet is thus narrowed down 
 very closely. 
 
 Whence came the signs of this alphabet ? De Rouge's theory, 
 which deri\ L'd them from Egyptian hieratic, was the most reasonable 
 of any, but no longer commands favour. There was for long a script 
 of linear signs, strangely resembling the Phoenician alphabet, in use 
 in Crete. It must be admitted, however, that so far no very satis- 
 factory analogies have been drawn between them, though their 
 comparison is not without promise of future fruit. 
 
 But in this connexion the Phaestos Disk once more seems to assume 
 importance. We are inclined to ask if it is possible that in the 
 script of which this document is so far the sole representative, we 
 are to see the long-sought origin ? It is not unreasonable to suppose 
 that in process of time the script of the Disk would become simplified 
 into just such a linear script as that alphabet : and the principle of 
 elision of the terminal vowel of syllables, already noticed in analysing 
 the inscription on the Disk, is just what is wanted to help the process 
 of evolution over that last most difficult fence, which divides a 
 syllabary from a pure alphabet. Suppose that three syllables, lea, 
 A:o, leu, represented each by a special symbol, lost their vowel under 
 certain granmiatical or euphonic conditions ; then all three being 
 simply pronounced A' might in writing become confused, leading 
 ultimately to the choice of one of the syllabic signs to denote the 
 letter k. Thus an alphabet of consonants would develop, which is 
 just what we have in the Phoenician alphabet. The 45 ^-x characters 
 of the original script — for we have no guarantee that we have all the 
 characters of the script represented on the disk — could very easily 
 wear down by some such process as this to the twenty-two signs of 
 the Phoenician alphabet. 
 
 As to the forms of the letters, in the total absence of intermediate 
 links, and our total ignorance of the phonetic value of the Phaestos 
 signs, it would be premature to institute any elaborate comparisons 
 between the two scripts. The Phaestos Disk is dated not later than 
 
 ^ Anien uml IJurojui, ]). 171.
 
 THE CUi;rUllK OF rilK PIIILISTINKS 1*29 
 
 1600 n. ('., the Phoenician alpliabet c-aniiot he trat-ed even so far back 
 as about 1000 u.c., and what may have happened in the intervening- 
 six hundred years we do not know. But some arrestin<^ comparisons 
 are already possible. The symbol wliicli I have called (h) miirht well 
 in rapid writing develop into the Plioenician si<^n (ileph. The little 
 man running (a) is not unlike some forms of trsade. The head (e) 
 both in name and shape reminds us of rcsh. The dotted triangle (i) 
 recalls daleth or tcth, the fish (1) in name and to some extent in shape 
 suggests ?iun — it is notable that the fish on the Disk always stands 
 upright on its tail — the five-leaved sprig (w) is something like 
 .mmeJch, the water-sign (13) might be mem (the three teeth of the 
 rhocnician letter preserving tlie three lines of the original sign). 
 The manacles (z) resembles beth, the nail-pillar or prop (Q resembles 
 vav in both shape and meaning, the remarkable key (6) simplifies 
 into rsaijin, the square {a) into gimel, and the object (tt) whatever 
 it may be, into pe. These tentative equivalents have been added for 
 comparison to the table of characters on p. 116. The direction of 
 writing is from right to left in each case. 
 
 The plumed head-dress, so conspicuous as a sign on the Disk, 
 connects it witli the Philistines : and the evidence afforded us by 
 the Golenischeff papyrus of the Syrian colonies of Philistines, or of 
 their near kinsmen the Zakkala, links it with the I'hoenicians. How 
 far it may be possible to make farther comparisons, with the various 
 scripts of Crete, Cyprus, and Asia Minor, are cjuestions which must 
 be left for future discoveries and for special research. 
 
 We are not here writing a history of the alphabet : but one or 
 two points may be noticed which have a bearing on the subject. 
 It is commonly assumed that because the names of the letters have 
 a meaning in Semitic, and no meaning in Greek, therefore they are 
 Semitic words adapted into Greek. This is, however, a 7wn sequHur} 
 It would be more probable that the horrozcing nation should cast 
 about for words similar in sound, and possessing a meaning Avhich 
 would make the names of the letters easily remembered. Such an 
 attempt would be sure to be unsuccessful in some cases : and in })oint 
 of fact there are several letter-names in the Semitic alphabet to which 
 the tortures of the Incjuisition have to be applied before a meaning 
 can be extracted from them through Semitic. It may thus be that 
 all the letter-names are a heritage from some pre-Hellenic, non- 
 Semitic language : and instead of the old idea of a Phoenician 
 Ur-Alphabet from which all the South Semitic, North African, AWst 
 
 ' See M. Rene Dussaud's paper ' L'Origine egeenne des alphabets scniitiqucs' 
 in Journal asiatique, Ser. X, vol. v, p. 3,!>7. 
 
 K
 
 130 THE SCIIWEICH LECTURES, 1911 
 
 Asian, Ilellenic, and Italic alphabetic scn})ts are derived, we are to 
 picture a number of parallel and nearly related alphabets developing 
 out of one of the hieroglyphic syllabaries of the Aegean basin — one 
 of which scripts was taught to the Phoenicians by the despised 
 Philistines. "Whoever invented the alphabet laid the foundation- 
 stone of civilization. Can it be that we owe this gift to the 
 Philistines, of all people? 
 
 And even this is not all. The rude tribes of Israel were 
 i'orced to wage a long and stubborn fight with the Philistines for 
 the possession of the Promised Eand. For long it seemed 
 doubtful whether Canaan would be retained by the Semitic tribes 
 or lost to them : and it is no mere accident that the best-known 
 name of the country is derived from that of the sea-rovers. In the 
 struggle the Hebrews learned the lessons of culture which they needed 
 for their own advancement : and what was more important, they 
 learned their own essential unity. The pressure of external opposition 
 welded, as nothing else could have done, their loosely-knitted clans into 
 a nation. This was the historic function of the Philistines ; they 
 accomplished their task, and then vanished with startling suddenness 
 h"om the stage. But the Chosen People were led on from strength to 
 strength, till they too fulfilled their mission of teaching mankind 
 to look forward to a time when the knowledge of the Lord should 
 cover the earth as the waters cover the sea. 
 
 Thus the influence of the Philistines remains, even if indirectly, 
 a heritage of huniiinity to the end of time.
 
 INDEX 
 
 Abarbanel, 100. 
 
 Abimek'ch, 38, 81. 
 
 Abi-Milki, 19. 
 
 Abi-abam, 38. 
 
 Achaeans, 25. 
 
 Achish, 51, 52, 60, 02, 65, 72, 81. 
 
 Adullaiii, 53. 
 
 Agenor, 97. 
 
 Ahaz, Philistine revolt under, 03. 
 
 Ahimilki, 65. 
 
 Ahimiti, 64. 
 
 Ahuzzath. 81. 
 
 Aijalon, 03. 
 
 Akasou, 10, 11, 20 {see also Achisli\ 
 
 'Akir, 74. 
 
 AlaSia, 8, 19. 
 
 Alcaeus, 26. 
 
 Aldemios, 107. 
 
 Aldioma, 107. 
 
 dWopvKot, 2. 
 
 Alphabet, origin of, 127. 
 
 Alton, 13, IS, 83, 105, 113. 
 
 Amos, 125 (see also undtr Scnptui'al 
 
 Passages). 
 Anakim, CO, 68. 
 Anath, 41. 
 Anchises, 81. 
 Antipater of Tarsus, 97. 
 Antoninus Liberalis, 97. 
 Aphek, 46. 
 
 Aphrodite, statue of, at Gaza, 108. 
 Architecture, Philistine influence on, 
 
 123 
 Ark, the, 47, 76, 91. 
 Armour of Goliath, 54, 120. 
 Arnold, 3. 
 
 Aryans, Philistines jjrobablv not, 13. 
 Ashdod, 47, 60, 63, 64, 65, 71, 72,81, 100, 
 
 106. 
 
 — history and site of, 73. 
 
 — palaces of, 117. 
 
 — siege of, 66, 73. 
 
 — speech of, 66. 
 
 — temple at, 47. 
 Ashdodimmu, 64, 73. 
 Asher, tribe of, 69. 
 Ashkelon, 37, 40, 95, 97. 
 
 — coins of, 112. 
 
 — history and site of, 71. 
 Ashtoreth, Ashtaroth, 93. 
 
 — temple of, 52, 91. 
 Asi, 7, 8. 
 
 'Ad/fAj^TTios AeorToCxoS) 115. 
 Assyrian annals, Philistines in, 63 sqq. 
 Astarte, 95 (see also Ashtoretli). 
 Aswan, Jewish colony at, 11, 41. 
 
 Atar, Ate, 95. 
 
 Atargatis, 95-97, 99. 
 
 Athenaeus, 97, 
 
 'Avvim, 5, 68. 
 
 Azuri (king of Ashdod), 64. 
 
 Azuri (city captured by Sennaclierib), 
 
 64. 
 'AfwTtojj 66. 
 
 Baal-Berith, 123. 
 
 Baal-Perazim, 53, 54, 58. 
 
 Baal-zebub, 91. 
 
 Badyra, 30, 81. 
 
 Baethgen, 95. 
 
 Bauer, 74. 
 
 Baur, 27. 
 
 Beech er, 13. 
 
 Beit Dejan, 70 see also Beth-Dagon), 
 
 Belck, 126. 
 
 Bene-Berak. 04. 
 
 Benesasira, 10, 44. 
 
 Benjamin of Tudela, 72. 
 
 Berossos, 104. 
 
 Br^Taywv, 106 {see also Beth-Dagon\ 
 
 Beth -Car, 27, 48, 49, 93. 
 
 Betli-Dagon, 42. 04, 09, 103. 
 
 Beth-Shan, 52, 91, 93. 
 
 Beth-Shemesh, 48, 03, 76. 
 
 Birch, 82. 
 
 Body-guard of Hebrew kings, Philistine, 
 
 61. 
 Bones of Philistines, 60. 
 Boylan, 105. 
 Breasted, 19, 20, 21, 29. 
 Britomartis, 96, 97, 9«, 99, 123. 
 'Bpvrov, BfjvTos, 97. 
 Burrows, 15. 
 Byblos, 8, 30 sq., 30. 
 
 Callimaehus, 96. 
 
 Callinus, 28. 
 
 Calmet, 11. 
 
 Can opus, decree of, 11. 
 
 Caphtor, Caphtorim, 4, 5, 11, 12, 13, 27. 
 
 Cappadocia, 11, 12. 
 
 Carians, Carites, 7, 25, 20, (51. 
 
 Car])atlios, 27. 
 
 Casluhim, 4, 5, 12, 28. 
 
 Caunus, 26. 
 
 Chariots, 40, 43. 
 
 Chassinat, 81. 
 
 Cherethites, 5, 61, 88, 89. 
 
 Cicero, 105. 
 
 Cilicia, Cilicians, 12, 25. 
 
 Circumcision, 21, 39, 46.
 
 132 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Clermont-Giiiuuau. 28, yfi, 75, 94. 
 
 Clusiuni, 88. 
 
 C'olcniaii.s, 12. 
 
 Conway, 82. 
 
 Coinilf, 6. 
 
 Crest, Carian, 26. 
 
 Crete, Cretans, G, 9, 10, 13. 
 
 — messengers fi-om, to Egypt. 8. 
 Cyprus, 8, 35, 122. 
 
 Daedalus, 90. 
 
 Dagon, Dagan, 4G, 81, 99, 104. 
 
 — image of, 100. 
 
 — names compounded with, 103. 104. 
 
 — temples of, (>7, 73, 90, 91, 99. 
 Dagon, a place 1)y Jericho, ()9 (see also 
 
 Beth-Dagon). 
 Aaxaprjvoij 28. 
 Damascius, 104, 112. 
 Dan, tribe of, 38, 69. 
 Danaoi, 25. 
 
 Danuna, Danunu. 19, 22, 24, 2o. 
 Dardanu, 19. 25. 
 Daressy, 120. 
 
 Deborah, sunn of, 38, 40, 41, 90. 
 Dciredh-Dhul)l)an. 77. 
 Delilah, 55, 61, 81, 87. 
 Delos, inscription at. 94. 
 Delta, 12. 
 
 Democratic instincts of Philistines, 88. 
 Derketo, 95, 98. 
 De Kou£je, 128. 
 Do Saufcy, 114. 
 Dhikerin, 75. 
 Dictynna, 96, 98. 99. 
 Diodorus Siculus, 95. '.)('>. 99. 
 Dodecapylon, 111. 
 
 Dome of the Rock, Jonisakni. 111. 112. 
 Dor, 30, 36, 69. 
 Dus'saud, 129. 
 
 Ehen-Ezer. 47. 
 
 Ehers, 12, 14, 83. 
 
 Ekron, 40, 47, 62, 64. (\r,. 71,91. 
 
 — history' and site of, 74. 
 p]kron-Saphoiiah. 74. 
 Ekwesh, 20. 21, 25. 
 Elhanan, 55. 
 
 Eli, 46. 
 
 El-Tekeh, 13, C.l. 7(;. 
 
 Ephes-Damniini, 5ii, 51, 57. 
 
 Epiphanius of Coiistaiitia. 1 13. 
 
 Erman, 29. 
 
 J'.'sar-haddon, (55. 
 
 Eshmunazar, 102. 
 
 Etruscans, 1.3, 82, 88, 89, 91, 105, 117. 
 
 Europa, 97, 
 
 Evans, 15. 
 
 Ewald, 6. 
 
 Fenish, 67. 
 Festivals, 90. 
 Festus, 105. 
 Fish, saii'ed, 95. 
 
 — avoided by Syrians, 97. 
 Fourmont, 2. 
 
 Frazer, 28. 
 
 Gath, 47, 51, 54, 60, 71, 89. 
 
 — history and site of, 72. 
 Gatis, 97. 
 
 Gaza, 40, 60, 65-67, 71, 100, 106. 
 
 — coins of, 15, 112. 
 
 — history and site of, 71. 
 
 — temples of, lOS. 
 Fa^aioi, <>•). 
 
 Geba, 49, 53, 54, 56, 58. 
 
 Gederoth, 63. 
 
 George, St., and the Dragon, 98. 
 
 Gesenius, 2. 
 
 Gezer, 56, 59, 62. 122. 
 
 Gibbethon, 62. 
 
 Gibeah of God, 49. 
 
 Gibeon, 54. 
 
 Gilboa, 52. 
 
 Gimzo, 63. 
 
 Gob, 55, 56. 
 
 Golenischeff Papyrus, 24, 29 (see also 
 Wen -Anion), 
 
 Goliath, 50, 54, 60, 61, 81, 126. 
 
 Governors, Philistine, in Hebrew terri- 
 tory, 49, 88. 
 
 Goylm, 43. 
 
 Greaves, 126, 
 
 Habiru. 18. 
 
 Hadad-Nirari III cinquers the Philis- 
 tines, ()3. 
 
 Hadrian, 111. 
 
 Hall, H. R,, 5, 7, 8, 16, 27, IKJ. 
 
 Hanunu, king of Gaza, (53. 
 
 Harosheth, 42. 
 
 Harris Papyrus, 23. 
 
 Hazael. 62. 
 
 Head-dress of Philistines, 83, 87 (ste 
 rt?so Crest). 
 
 Hebrews in Philistine service, 52. 
 
 Herodotus, 6, 12, 26, 47, 65, 66. 73. 94. 
 127. 
 
 Hesychius, 96. 
 
 Hezekiah, 63, Hi. 
 
 Hiei'apolis, 95. 
 
 Hittites, 18, 
 
 Hitzig, 2, 12. 81. 
 
 Ilrihor, 29. 
 
 Hrozny, 104, lo5. 
 
 Human sacrilice, 91, lo'.i, 110. 
 
 Hunger, 92. 
 
 lamblichus, 92. 
 
 Ikasamsu. 81. 
 
 Ikausu, <)5. 81. 
 
 Ikhnaton, 18, l'.>. 
 
 Images used as aniuUts, Dl. 
 
 Insanit\', Semitic attitude towards, 51. 
 
 Iron, introduction of, 125. 
 
 Isaac, 38. 
 
 Ish-baal or Ish-boshclli. 52. 
 
 Ishbi-benolj, 55, 60. 
 
 Ittai, 61, 81. 
 
 Jabin. 42.
 
 INDKX 
 
 135 
 
 Jiibiibii, (;;>. I 
 
 Johorani, Philistine revolt under, (>], Ol*. 
 Jehoshaphat, Philistines tributaries to, 
 
 62. 
 Jensen, lot. 
 Jerome, 1)9, lOo, 113. 
 Jest, Egyptian, 34. 
 Jonah, 1)8. 
 
 Jonathan Maccabaeus, ()7. 
 Jonathan, son of Shiniei, 57. 
 Joppa, Hi. 
 
 Josephus, 1, 12, (>1), 71), 92, 100, lUO, 124. 
 Justin, 37. 
 
 Kadesh, 66. 
 
 Kadytis, 65. 
 
 Kalt, 44. 
 
 Kaniphausen, 5:t. 
 
 Karnak, temple of, S, 20. 
 
 Kasios Mountain, 12. 
 
 Kanata, inscription at, 113. 
 
 Keftiu, 7-11, 14. 
 
 Keilah, 51, 57. 
 
 Kelekesh, 19, 24. 25, 
 
 Kimhi, David, loO, lol. 
 
 Kingship, Hebrew, foundation of, 49. 
 
 Kiriath-Jearim, 48. 
 
 KirkmicJiael, hulj- well at, 93. 
 
 Knobel, 12. 
 
 Knossos, 9, 10, 18, 122. 
 
 Knudtzon, 19, 103. 
 
 Kcihler, 12. 
 
 Kom Ombo, 4, 11. 
 
 Lagarde, 100. 
 
 Lakemacher, 6. 
 
 Lampridius, 113. 
 
 Land of Philistines, borders of, 68. 
 
 — physical character of, 78. 
 Lang, 126. 
 
 Language, 50, 79. 
 
 Leaping over threshold, 62 i^ste «te" 
 
 Threshold). 
 Leleges, 26. 
 Lenormant, 92. 
 Levi, Eabbi, 100. 
 Libnah, 62. 
 Libyans, 20, 21. 
 Lords of Philistines, 46, 87. 
 Lucian, 95, 97, 98. 
 Lucumones, 88. 
 Lukku, 19, 20, 25. 
 Lycians, 25, 
 
 — their tombs, 117. 
 Lydia, 25, 
 
 Maeonia, 25. 
 
 Magical formula in Kel'tiaii lanuuage, 
 
 83. 
 Maiouma, 71. 
 Makamaru, 30, 81, 
 Manoah, 4<). 
 Maoch, 81. 
 
 Marcus the Deacon, 91, 106. 
 Marinus, 113. 
 Marna, 2, 15, 71. 91. 106. 107, 118. 
 
 Ma melon, 107 sqq., 124. 
 
 Masa, 19, 24. 
 
 Mawuna, 19, 24, 25. 
 
 Mediiiet Ilabu, 12, 21, 23, 26, 68, 90. 103, 
 
 117, 118. 
 Menkheperuseneb, tomb of, 8, 9, 
 Mermaid form of deity, 98, 100, 
 Merneptali, 20, 69, 
 Metheg ha-ammah, 60. 
 Meyer E.), 76, 
 Meyer M. A. , 66. 
 Michmash, battle of, 49, 50. 
 Military equipment of Philistine-. 90. 
 Minet el-Kal'ah, 74. 
 Minoa, 15. 
 
 Minoan Periods, 15 sqq. 
 Minos, 26, 46, 96. 
 Mitinti, king of Ashkelon, 65. ()8. 
 Mnaseus, 97, 
 Moabite stone, 128. 
 Moore, 40, 41. 
 Movers, 2. 
 Muller, W. Max, 8, 9. lo. 12, 14, 21, 28, 
 
 29, 58, 81, 103, 127. 
 Mysia, 25, 
 
 Necho, 65. 
 
 Nehemiah, 66. 
 
 Nesubenel)ded. 29. 
 
 Neubauer, 75, 10". 
 
 Nisus, 46, 
 
 Nob, 51. 
 
 Noordtzij, 12, 39, 66, 80, 
 
 Oannes, 104. 
 
 Obed-Edoni, 61. 
 
 Odakon, 104. 
 
 Ophiussa, 27. 
 
 Oracle at Ekroii, 62, 91, 106. 
 
 Oscans, 25. 
 
 Padi, 64, 65. 
 Pamphylia, 25. 
 Pantheon, 111, 112. 
 Paton, 104. 
 Pausanias, 96, 105. 
 Pedasus, 25. 
 Pelasgians, 2, 12, 2(). 
 Pelethites, 6, 61. 
 Peoples of the sea, IS s(|q. 
 Perseus, 98. 
 Pet-auset, statue of, 82. 
 Petrie, 21, 27. 
 Phaestos, 16. 
 
 — Disk, 26, 83 s(iq., 106. 115. 
 Phicol, 81. 
 
 I'hilistia in the time of Abraham, 39. 
 
 — fertility of, 62, 114. 
 Philistine, the name, 1, 2, 
 
 — language, 43. 
 Philitis, Philition, 6, 12. 
 Philo, 102, 103. 
 Phoenicians, 11. 
 
 — Philistine influence on, 69. 127. 
 Pidasa, 19, 24, 25. 
 
 Pisidia, 25,
 
 134 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Pliny, 92. 
 Porpliyrius, 100. 
 Pottery, Pliilistine, 121. 
 Praesos inscriptions, 43, 82. 
 Priests, Philistine, 100. 
 Prophetic denunciations of Philistines, 
 70. 
 
 — Ecstasy, fits of, 32, 10'.». 
 Psammetichns, 06. 
 Piilasati, Purn-atu. 22, 24. 2o. 
 
 QuatreniLn-. 12. 
 
 Ramessn II. lU. 
 
 — Ill, 21, 22. 3r,. 
 
 — VI, U. 
 
 — IX, 34. 
 
 — Xli, 2<». 
 Raplia, <)0. 
 Rcdslob, 3. 
 
 Reinach (A. J.), 3t). 115, 117. 
 
 Rekhniara, tomb of, 8, '.), 11. 12. 
 
 Renan, 80. 
 
 Rephaites, Rei)haim, (>0, 68. 
 
 Rephaim, Philistine camp at, 58. 
 
 Rhinoeolura, 68. 
 
 Rhodes, 27. 
 
 Rib-Addi, lU, 25. 
 
 River of Eiij'pt, 68. 
 
 Rost, 63. 
 
 Rukipti, king of Ashkelon. 63. 
 
 Sagalassus, 25. 
 
 Samson, 38, 44, 87, 100. 
 
 Samuel, 47, 41). 
 
 Sardinians, 25. 
 
 Sardis, 25. 
 
 Sargon, 64. 
 
 Sarludari, 64. 
 
 Saph, 55, 8 1 . 
 
 Saul, 40 sqq. 
 
 Sayce, 4. 
 
 Schliemanii, 15. 
 
 School exercise-tablet, Hieratic, Hi, 44. 
 
 82. 
 Schradei-. 63. 
 Schwally, 13. 
 Scylax, 37. 
 Scylla, 46. 
 Sea-monsters, 1)8. 
 Selden, 1)7. 
 Semiramis, 1)9. 
 Sen-mut, tomt> of, 8. 
 Sennacherit), 64. 104. 
 S«pp, 73. 
 Serapis, 113. 
 
 Seren, 43, 79, 87 (see also Lord^ . 
 Shamgar, 41. 
 
 Shammah the Hararite, 42, 57. 
 Slioclieni, tenifile at, 123. 
 Shekele^sh, 20, 22, 24, 25. 
 Slion, 52. 
 
 Sherdanu, 19, 20, 22, 24. 
 Sheshoiik. .59. 
 Shihor, 68. 
 Shifoh, 76. 
 
 Sliips, 117, 120, 127. 
 
 Shocho, 63. 
 
 Sliunammite sojourns among Philistines, 
 
 62. 
 Sibbecai, 55. 
 Sidon, 33, 37. 
 Si sera, 42, 62, 81. 
 Skinner, 4. 
 Slave-trade. 71, 114. 
 Smith i^G. A.\ 114. 
 Smith (H. P.), 47. 
 Solinus, 96. 
 Soothsaying, 91. 
 Sorek, valley of, 45. 
 Speech of Ashdod, 73. 
 Spiegelberg, 10. 
 Stade. 13. 
 Stark, 12. 
 Stephanus of Byzantium, 15, 28, 72, 97, 
 
 100, 
 Strabo, 2t>, 27, 28, 66. 
 Sutu, 18. 
 
 Symbolic initial of Marna, 112. 
 Syntax of names in Hebrew, 3. 
 
 Table of nations, 1, 4, 28. 
 
 Tacitus, 15. 
 
 Tages, 105. 
 
 Tarsus, 25. 
 
 Tell el-Amarna, 19. 
 
 Tell es-Safi, 56, 72. 
 
 Tell Zakariya, 126. 
 
 Temple, Solomon's, 124. 
 
 Temples, Philistine, 123. 
 
 Tent-Amon, 29. 
 
 Teucrians, 28. 
 
 Thargelia, 91. 
 
 Thera, 18. 
 
 Threshold, rites connected with, 102, 
 
 111. 
 Thutmose III, 7-9, 
 Tiele, 13. 
 
 Tiglath-Pileser III, 03. 
 Timnath, 63. 
 Tobit, 104. 
 Toy, 6. 
 
 Traditions, modern, of Philistines, 67. 
 Trees, sacred, 58. 
 
 Tribal subdivisions of I'hilistines, 88. 
 Troas, 24. 
 Trumbull, 102. 
 Turisha, 20, 24. 
 Tyrrhenians, 24. 
 
 Urania, 94, 95. 
 Uzziah, 62, 72, 
 
 Virey, 8. 
 
 Warati, 30, 81. 
 Washasha, 22, 25, 27. 
 Waddington, 113. 
 Wady el-Arisli, 08. 
 Weill, 25, 27, 2S. 
 Wellhausen, 101. 
 Wen-Amon, 29,69, 81, 127.
 
 INDEX 
 
 135 
 
 Wilkinson, S. 
 
 Winckler, l'.», 52, <»:.', 04. 10.;. 
 
 Wredomann, 14. 
 
 Xanthus, 07. 
 
 Yamani, (»4, 
 Yaruna, 10, L'4. 
 
 Zaggi, 81. 
 
 Zakar-Baal, 30, 127. 
 
 Zakkala, 22, 24, 25. :$(», (js, (10. 
 
 Zakro, 27. 
 
 Zcrnukah, 7(j. 
 
 Ztiiy OLTToixvios, 02. 
 
 — Ciireos, 20, 27. 
 
 Zibel, king of Ga/,a. <).'>. 
 
 Zidka, C4. 
 
 Ziklag, 1:5, 51, 52, CI. 71, 81. SO. 
 
 Ziph, 51.
 
 136* 
 
 INDEX OF SCRIPTURAL REFERENCES 
 
 ( W'ltni flic Kiiy/ish miDienifioii of rersr.s dijfi'r.s J'rniH the HrhiTir, t hi' former 
 
 !.\- hrri- fu/o/ifci/. ) 
 
 Genesis x. (>, 1:J, 14 : 4, 28. 
 
 xii. 6 : :5. 
 
 xii. 10-20 : 38. 
 
 XV. IG : o. 
 
 XX. 1-18 : 38. 
 
 xxi 22-34 : 38, 39. 
 
 xxvi. 1-23 : 38, 39, 88. 
 Exodus xiii. 17 : 39. 
 
 XV. 14 : 39. 
 
 xxxiii. 31 : 40. 
 Deuteronomy ii. 23: •"). 11, 
 
 68. 
 Joshua V. 2 : 126. 
 
 xi. 21 : 60. 68. 
 
 xii. 23 : 43. 
 
 xiii. 1-3: 4,40,43,68,74. 
 
 xiii. 4 : 5. 
 
 XV. 11 : 74. 
 
 xvii. 16 : 43. 
 
 xix. 27 : 69. 
 
 xix. 40 : 76. 
 
 xix. 43: 74. 
 Judges i. 18, 19 : 40, 48, 89, 
 90, 
 
 Hi. 3: 40, 79. 
 
 iii. 31 : 41. 
 
 V. 6 : 41. 
 
 viii. 33 -ix. 46 : 123. 
 
 X. 6, 7, 11 : 2, 44, KC. 
 
 xiii. 1,5: 2. 
 
 xiv. 2 : 2. 
 
 xvi. 23-31: 41, 90, 123. 
 
 xviii. 2 : 38. 
 1 Samuel iv : 46. 
 
 V. 1-5 ; 62, 89, 100. 
 
 vi. 18 : 89. 
 
 vii : 48. 
 
 vii. 11, 12 : 4,27, 47, .->2. 
 
 ix. 16 : 49. 
 
 X. 5 : 49. 
 
 xiii. 5 : 90. 
 
 xiii. 19-23 : 4, 125. 
 
 xiv. 3 : 48. 76. 
 
 xvi. 14-18 : 57. 
 
 xvi. 21 : 54. 
 
 xvii : 54, «(). 
 
 xvii. 51-51 : 4. 7-5. 
 
 1 Samuel xviii. 1 : 57. 
 xviii. 30 : 89. 
 
 xix. 7 : 57. 
 XX vii. 2 : 88. 
 xxvii. 5 : 89. 
 xxix. 2 : 90. 
 XX ix. 3, 9 : 89. 
 XXX. 14 : 5, 89. 
 xxxi. 9 : 91. 
 
 2 Samuel v. 2 : 57. 
 V. 17-21 : 4, 53. 
 v. 21 : 91. 
 
 V. 22-25 : 53. 
 viii. 1 : 53. 
 xviii. 3 : 55. 
 XX. 23 : 7. 
 xxi. 12, 17 : 4, 55. 
 xxi. 18, 19 : 56. 
 x.Ki. 22 : <>0. 
 xxiii. 9 : 57. 
 xxiii. 11: 42. 
 
 1 Kings ii. 39 : 60. 
 iv. 19 : 49. 
 
 iv. 21 : 88. 
 vi, vii : 124. 
 vi. 7 : 12(). 
 vii. 30 : 80. 
 ix. 16: .59. 
 xiv. 25 : 59. 
 
 2 Kings i. 2 : 77, 91. 
 xi. 4. 19 : 7. 
 
 xii. 18 : 63. 
 
 xviii. 8 : 63. 71, 89. 
 
 xviii. 14 : 64. 
 
 1 Chronicles iv. 19 : 45. 
 vii. 12 : 6. 
 
 xi. 13 : 4. 42, 57. 
 xiv. 8 12: 1. 54. 
 xiv. 1316: 54. 
 xviii. 1 : 54, 
 XX. 4 : 56. 
 
 2 Chronicles xi. 8 : 7.3. 
 xxi. K; : 4. 
 
 xxvi. 14 : 80. 
 
 xxviii. 18: 6.3. 
 Rzra ii. 53: 62. 
 .Vuliemiali iv. 7 : 66. 
 
 Neliemiali vii. 55 : 62. 
 
 xiii. 2.3. 24 : M. 
 Psalm XXX iv. title : 38. 
 
 Is.. 8-12 : 61. 
 
 Ixxxiii : 66. 
 
 Ixxxiii. 9 : 42. 
 
 Ixxxvii. : 70. 
 
 cviii. 7-10 : (U. 
 Isaiah ii. <> : 91. 
 
 ix. 1 : 43. 
 
 ix. 12: 2,6:5. 
 
 X. .32 : 51. 
 
 XX. 1 : 64. 
 
 xxviii. 21 : 54. 
 
 xlvi, 1 : 99. 
 Jeremiah vii. 14 : 76. 
 
 XXV. 20 : 73, 88. 
 
 xlvii. 1 : 65. 
 
 xlvii. 4 : 5. 11. 
 Ezekiel xvi. 27 : 70. 
 
 xxiii. 24 : 80. 
 
 XXV. 16 : 6. 88. 
 
 XXX. 5: 6, 123. 
 
 xliv. 7 : 61. 
 Joel iii. 4 : 43. 
 Amos i. <> : 71. 
 
 i.8: 73. 88, 125. 
 
 iii. 9 : 7:!, 125. 
 
 vi. 2 : 73 
 
 ix 7 : I, 5, 11, 13. 
 Micali I. 10 : 72. 
 Zephaniah i. 8, 9 : 62. 102. 
 
 ii. 4 : 69, 74^ 
 
 ii. 5 : 6. 
 
 ii. 6 : 13. 
 Zecliariali ix. 5 : 88. 
 
 ix. 7: 70. 
 Ecclcsiasticus 1. 26 : 70. 
 
 1 Maccabees v. <)8 : 7.3. 
 
 X. 83, 84: 47,67,73, 106. 
 xi. 4 : 67. 
 xiv. 34 : 89, 
 xvi. 15 : 69. 
 
 2 Maccabot's xii. 40 : 91, 
 Matthew xii. 24 : 91. 
 .lulm viii. (» : .^1.
 
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