Philistine languageThe Philistine language (ˈfɪləstiːn,_ˈfɪləstaɪn,_fəˈlɪstən,_fəˈlɪstiːn) is the extinct language of the Philistines. Very little is known about the language, of which a handful of words survived as cultural loanwords in Biblical Hebrew, describing specifically Philistine institutions, like the seranim, the "lords" of the Philistine five cities ("Pentapolis"), or the ’argáz receptacle, which occurs in 1 Samuel 6 and nowhere else, or the title padî.
GoliathGoliath (ɡəˈlaɪəθ ) is a character in the Book of Samuel, described as a Philistine giant defeated by the young David in single combat. The story signified King Saul's unfitness to rule, as Saul himself should have fought for Israel. Some modern scholars believe that the original slayer of Goliath may have been Elhanan, son of Jair, and that the authors of the Deuteronomic history could have changed the original text to credit the victory to the more famous character David.
EkronEkron (Philistine: 𐤏𐤒𐤓𐤍 *ʿAqārān, עֶקְרוֹן, عقرون), in the Hellenistic period known as Accaron (Akkarōn) was a Philistine city, one of the five cities of the Philistine Pentapolis, located in present-day Israel. In 1957, Ekron was first identified with the mound of Tel Miqne (Hebrew) or Khirbet el-Muqanna (Arabic), near the depopulated Arab village of 'Aqir, on the basis of the large size of the Iron Age archaeological remains; the judgement was strengthened by the discovery in 1996 of the Ekron inscription.
PhilistiaPhilistia (Pəlešeṯ; Koine Greek (LXX): Γῆ τῶν Φυλιστιείμ, romanized: gê tôn Phulistieìm) was a confederation of five main cities or pentapolis in the Southwest Levant, made up of principally Hazat (Gaza), Isqaluna (Ascalon), Asdudu (Ashdod), Amqarruna (Ekron) and Gath, and for a time, Jaffa. Scholars believe the Philistines were made up of people of an Aegean background that from roughly 1200 BC onwards settled in the area and mixed with the local Canaanite population, and came to be known as Peleset, or Philistines.
SaulSaul (sɔːl; , Šāʾūl; Σαούλ, Saoúl; ) was, according to the Hebrew Bible, the first monarch of the United Kingdom of Israel. His reign, traditionally placed in the late 11th century BCE, supposedly marked the transition of Israel and Judah from a scattered tribal society ruled by various judges to organized statehood. The historicity of Saul and the United Kingdom of Israel is not universally accepted, as what is known of both comes exclusively from the Hebrew Bible.
IsraelIsrael (ˈɪzri.əl,_-reɪ-; יִשְׂרָאֵל Yīsrāʾēl jisʁaˈʔel; إِسْرَائِيل ʾIsrāʾīl), officially the State of Israel (מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl mediˈnat jisʁaˈʔel; دَوْلَة إِسْرَائِيل Dawlat Isrāʾīl), is a country in West Asia. It is bordered by Lebanon to the north, by Syria to the northeast, by Jordan to the east, by the Red Sea to the south, by Egypt to the southwest, by the Mediterranean Sea to the west, and by the Palestinian territories - the West Bank along the east and the Gaza Strip along the southwest.
List of minor Hebrew Bible figures, A–KThis article contains persons named in the Bible, specifically in the Hebrew Bible and Old Testament, of minor notability, about whom little or nothing is known, aside from some family connections. Abdeel (Ab'dē el) (Hebrew עַבְדְּאֵל "servant of God"; akin to Arabic عبد الله Abdullah) is mentioned in Jeremiah 36:26 as the father of Shelemiah, one of three men who were commanded by King Jehoiakim to seize the prophet Jeremiah and his secretary Baruch. The Septuagint omits the phrase "and Shelemiah son of Abdeel", probably a scribal error due to homoioteleuton.
Sea PeoplesThe Sea Peoples are a hypothesized seafaring confederation that attacked ancient Egypt and other regions in the East Mediterranean before and during the Late Bronze Age collapse (1200–900 BCE). Following the creation of the concept in the 19th century, the Sea Peoples' incursions became one of the most famous chapters of Egyptian history, given its connection with, in the words of Wilhelm Max Müller, "the most important questions of ethnography and the primitive history of classic nations".
AshdodAshdod (ʾašdōḏ, ʔaʃˈdod; ʾasdūd, ʔasˈduːd, or ʾisdūd ʔɪsˈduːd; Philistine: , romanized: *ʾašdūd) is the sixth-largest city in Israel. Located in the country's Southern District, it lies on the Mediterranean coast south of Tel Aviv and north of Ashkelon. The city was named after the historical town of Ashdod, located c.6 km southeast, which dates originally to the 17th century BCE as one of the five Philistine city-states. The ruins of Ashdod-Yam also lie on the coast to the southwest of the city center and adjacent to the city's expanding suburbs.
PhilistinesThe Philistines (Pəlīštīm; Koine Greek (LXX): Φυλιστιείμ, romanized: Phulistieím) were an ancient people who lived on the south coast of Canaan during the Iron Age. The Philistines originated as an immigrant group from the Aegean that settled in Canaan circa 1175 BCE. Over time, they gradually assimilated elements of the local Levantine societies while preserving their own unique culture. In 604 BCE, the Philistine polity, after having already been subjugated for centuries by the Neo-Assyrian Empire, was finally destroyed by King Nebuchadnezzar II of the Neo-Babylonian Empire.