There have been several online debates about the origins and history of the name Palestine. Where did the name Palestine come from? Has it ever been used to describe geography, specifically a geographic location in the Levant (present-day Lebanon, Israel, Jordan, and part of Syria) before the modern era? Was the name created as part of an aspirational movement to push a nationalist agenda? What exactly is Palestine? Is it a Country, State, City, or territory? Does the Philistines, Israel, the Sea Peoples, the Bar Kokhba revolt, or the history of Canaan have anything to do with modern Palestine? This article will discuss the origins and history of the name Palestine.
The Sea Peoples and the Peleset: Ancient Beginnings
The name Palestine finds its roots in the Sea Peoples, a significant group in ancient history. As early as 1177 BC, Pharaoh Ramses III identified one of these Sea Peoples as the Peleset (transliterated from hieroglyphs as P-r-s-t) on the walls of his mortuary temple at Medinet Habu, built near the Valley of the Kings around the 12th century B.C. This historical connection to the Sea Peoples is crucial in understanding the origins of the name Palestine.
Photo of Temple Medinet Habu of Ramesses III in Luxor, Egypt.
Historical Evidence and the Egyptian Records
Historical Egyptian texts state the Sea Peoples landed in modern-day Syria before settling on the coast of Canaan and the Nile Delta of Egypt. The Peleset settled in Pileshet, a Cannan region encompassing five Philistine city-states, including Gath, Ashdod, Gaza, Ashkelon, and Ekron. The Hebrew word Pəlešeṯ also refers to the coastal territory controlled by the five Philistine city-states of Gath, Ashdod, Gaza, Ashkelon, and Ekron.
The Sea Peoples, including the Peleset, remain a mystery in history. Little is known about their origin, leading scholars to speculate that they may have been six diverse, multicultural groups from different geographical locations, including Italy, Crete, Western Anatolia, Cyprus, or the Eastern Mediterranean. The general scholarly consensus is that the Peleset originated in Crete; however, it should be noted that some scholars question if the Peleset are Sea-Peoples or if they were an indigenous population originating from the Levant. This mystery adds a layer of intrigue to the historical narrative.
Map of the Sea People invasions in the Aegean Sea and Eastern Mediterranean at the end of the Late Bronze Age. David Kaniewski, Elise Van Campo, Karel Van Lerberghe, Tom Boiy, Klaas Vansteenhuyse, Greta Jans, Karin Nys, Harvey Weiss, CC BY 2.5 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.5>, via Wikimedia Commons
As early as 1836, Western scholars such as Jean-Francois Champollion used linguistic and archeological evidence, including pottery styles and architecture, to identify the Peleset as the Philistines. The Philistines lived on the southern coast of the Levant, as shown in the illustration below.
The Philistine and Biblical Origins of Palestine
The Bible provides clues about the Philistines’ origins and sparks scholarly debates. According to the Bible, in Genesis 10, the Philistines’ lineage comes through Noah’s son Ham. The Bible explains that Ham’s son Egypt was the father of Casluhim and that the Philistines came from Casluhim. 1 Chronicles 1:12 also states that the Philistines were descendants of Casluhim. The Bible states in Amos 9:7 and Jeremiah 47:4 that the Philistines came from Caphtor. Scholars debate the location of Caphtor, with theories ranging from Crete (the most popular theory) to Phoenicia and Cilicia. These debates are part of the ongoing scholarly discourse that keeps the historical narrative alive and engaging.
Map of the Philistine expansion, Philistia, in the time of King Saul and David. Map of Philistine Cities and Conquests. Attribution: bible history online, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons
The Philistine and Biblical Connections
As detailed in my previous Blogs titled “The Creation of the Land of Canaan: A Journey Through Time,” The Rise and Fall of the Kingdom of Israel,” and “The Creation of the Jewish People: A Historical Overview,” Cannan was a diverse, multicultural area that included different City-States, like Philistine and the Kingdom of Israel. The Hebrew Bible records stories that speak of the interaction of the Philistines and the Hebrews in stories such as Samson and Delilah, illustrating how the Israelites and Philistines fought as the Philistines expanded into Cannan. The Biblical story of David and Goliath also demonstrates how the Philistine and Israeli armies fought.
The Israelite King David defeated the Philistines and then displaced them. A civil war divided the Kingdom of Israel into a northern Kingdom called Israel and a southern Kingdom called Judah. Historical evidence shows that the Philistines re-emerged after the Civil War, reestablishing themselves during the divided Kingdoms and having border battles with the Kingdom of Israel and Judah.
Philistine: Archaeological and Historical Evidence
As mentioned in my previous Blog, “The Diverse Land of Canaan: Ancient Conflicts and Modern Implications,” the Philistines came to power in the land of Cannan after the Egyptians and Hittites of Anatolia’s influence in the region began to decline due to battles with Sea-Peoples of the North at the end of the 12th century B.C.
The Assyrian King Adad-nirari III (810 - 782 B.C.) annals provide a significant non-biblical reference to the Philistines. In these annals, the King boasted about collecting tributes from Philistsia. The Assyrians referred to the Philistines as Palashutu/Palastu or Pilistu. The Philistines were likely a vassal state of the Assyrian rulers. At the same time, the Kingdom of Israel was a vassal state during the early 7th century B.C. Like the Kingdom of Israel and Judah, the Philistines became a vassal state of the Egyptians, Babylonians, Persians, Greeks, and Romans. This historical evidence from the Assyrian King’s annals adds weight to the narrative of the Philistines’ history.
The so-called Tell al Rimah stele of Adad-nirari III. This "Mosul marble" stele depicts the Assyrian king Adad-Nirari III (reigned 810-783 BCE) praying before gods and goddesses symbols (Ishtar, Sin, Sibitti, Nabu, Marduk, Adad, Anu, and Assur). The cuneiform inscriptions mention the king's titles and military campaigns. The name of Jehoash the Samarian, who paid tribute to the king, was mentioned. From Tell al Rimah, in modern-day Nineveh Governorate, Iraq. It is on display at the Iraq Museum in Baghdad, Republic of Iraq. IM70543. Osama Shukir Muhammed Amin FRCP(Glasg), CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons
Sennacherib, King of Assyria, who demanded an enormous tribute from King Hezekiah of Judah, defeated the Philistines in 702 BC. The Philistines then faded into history.
Historical Use of the Name Palestine”
The Greeks called the land of Philistine Palestine. Although Herodotus’ “The Histories,” written around 430 B.C., was written after King Adad-nirari II wrote his annals referencing Philistsia, Herodotus is often credited as the first historical record mentioning Palestine.
Herodotus map of the world, modified from The Challenger Reports (summary), 1895. Website of origin. Cush, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Herodotus and Early Mentions of Palestine
In “The Histories,” Herodotus references Palestine as a Syrian district that includes both the inland and coastal regions in southern Cannan. Following Herodotus, many Roman authors writing in Latin and Greek, including Jewish and Greek authors, regularly used the name Palestine (Palaistínē) to describe the southern Levant region between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River.
Historical Authors Using Palestine
About a century after Herodotus wrote “The Histories,” Aristotle wrote about a lake in a land called Palestine in “Meteorologica.” The Romans began to use Palaistínē in Latin as Palestina in the late first century B.C., as demonstrated by Tibullus, a Roman poet, in “Elegies 1.7.17.” Jewish authors who wrote in Greek frequently used the name, as shown by the Jewish historian Josephus, who mentioned Palestine in “The Antiquities of the Jews.”
Aristotle bust. After Lysippos, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
The Bar Kokhba Revolt and Roman Influence
Scholars debate if Syria Palaestina became the official name of the land of Cannan in 130 BC or 132 BC. Some argue the name was changed during Emperor Hadrian’s visit to Judaea in 130 BC, two years before the Bar Kokhba revolt. Others say Hadrian changed the name to Syria Palestina after the second Jewish revolt against the Roman Empire led by Bar Kokhba. The three-year Bar Kokhba revolt against the Roman Empire led to the Romans destroying almost 1000 villages, killing more than half a million people, and virtually exterminating Jews that lived in Judaea (Judaea is the Hellenized version of the Hebrew word Judah). According to Eusebius of Caeseria’s “Ecclesiastical History,” Jews were prohibited from entering Jerusalem or the surrounding area after the Bar Kokhba revolt.
Palestine at the time of Hadrian. Image extracted from page 197 of The Holy Land in Geography and in History. [With maps and plans.], by MACCOUN, Townsend. The original was held and digitized by the British Library.
Although the Romans named the area Syria Palestine, some people still informally referred to the area as Judea. When the Byzantines conquered the land around 390 AD, they reorganized Syria Palaestina into Palaestina Prima, Palaestina Secunda, and Palaestina Salutaris, solidifying the use of the name Palestine.
TLDR - Conclusion: What is Palestine? A Historical Perspective
In brief, Palestine’s independent history dates back to the Classical Era. The name Palestine was used intermittently throughout history to define an area in the Levant between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River. Notably, historical evidence does support the existence of a land called Palestine before the modern era. This independent history of Palestine can be studied without the need for an appendage to Israel’s history.
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References:
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Mark, Joshua J.. “Palestine.” World History Encyclopedia. Last modified October 25, 2018. Accessed November 12, 2023. https://www.worldhistory.org/palestine/
Britannica, T. Editors of Encyclopaedia. “Philistine.” Encyclopedia Britannica, August 11, 2023. Accessed November 17, 2023. https://www.britannica.com/topic/Philistine-people.
Wainwright, G. A. “Caphtor - Cappadocia.” Vetus Testamentum 6, no. 2 (1956): 199–210. https://doi.org/10.2307/1515724.
Master, Daniel M. “Who Were the Philistines, and Where Did They Come From?” The Biblical Archaeology Society. April 16, 2023.
“The Collapse of Civilizations.” Princeton University. April 8, 2024. http://assets.press.princeton.edu/chapters/s10185.pdf.
“The Nimrud Slab.” Livius. July 29, 2020. https://www.livius.org/sources/content/anet/281-the-nimrud-slab/.
"Who Was the First in Naming a Country "Palestine" ?" Research Gate. February 1, 2016. https://doi.org/10.13140/RG.2.1.4860.6481.
McDaniel, Spencer. “No, the Roman Emperor Hadrian Didn’t Invent Palestine.” Tales of Times Forgotten. October 23, 2023. https://talesoftimesforgotten.com/2023/10/23/no-the-roman-emperor-hadrian-didnt-invent-palestine/.
Aristotle. “Meteorologica.” The Loeb Classical Library. P.159, January 1, 1951. https://ia804505.us.archive.org/6/items/L397AristotleMeteorologica/L397-Aristotle%20Meteorologica.pdf.
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