Philistines (Philistia) in the Gaza Strip

ProofRead and Updated March 30th 2020

Philistine bichrome pottery was produced during the Iron I
period in ancient Canaan (circa 1200–1000 B.C.E.)

Overview: The Philistines were people who lived in Canaan along the Mediterranean coast at the time the Israelites sought to occupy the land. They were centered in five cities called the Philistine Pentapolis: Ashkelon Ashdod Ekron Gath and Gaza (2) ...

Excerpt: Amos 1:6–8 Thus says the Lord: For three transgressions of Gaza and for four I will not revoke the punishment ... I will cut off the inhabitants from Ashdod and the one who holds the scepter from Ashkelon; I will turn my hand against Ekron and the remnant of the Philistines shall perish says the Lord God ...

Prologue: The Philistines are among the most maligned peoples of ancient history. The Bible characterized them as cunning pagan warmongers; the ancient Egyptians as pirates and marauders ... One of the Aegean Sea Peoples who settled on the southern coast of Canaan at the end of the twelfth century BC, they entered history as the main adversaries of the Israelites (1) ...

The two erstwhile major powers at the time (Egypt and the Hittites) were politically weak and militarily impotent and the Sea Peoples -- among them the Philistines -- exploited this power vacuum by invading areas previously subject to Egyptian and Hittite rule. This confederation of tribes included also the Tjekker –- Sheklesh –- Denyen -– and Weshesh. In wave after wave of land and sea assaults they attacked Syria –- Palestine -– and even Egypt. Ramesses III defeated the invaders at his doorstep but was unable to stop them from subsequently settling on the southern coast of Palestine. There they developed into an independent political entity of major importance and constituted a threat to the disunited Canaannite city-states (ibid).