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Who Were the Philistines?

sooda

Veteran Member
Biblical Philistines and the 'Sea Peoples': Ancient Dna Is Starting to Reveal Who These Mystery People Were
By Hannah Osborne On 7/3/19 at 2:01 PM EDT

he ancient remains of 10 Biblical Philistines uncovered at an Iron Age cemetery are helping scientists understand who these people were and where they came from. The results potentially link them to the so-called 'Sea Peoples'—a group thought to have migrated across the Mediterranean and caused a major cultural shift in the region over 3,000 years ago.

From around the 12th century B.C., civilizations across the Eastern Mediterranean started to collapse. Cities were destroyed and the region was plunged into disarray. At this point, it is believed that a mystery group of seafaring people swept through the region, attacking places like Canaan, Syria and Egypt.

Until now, it was unclear whether the cultural upheaval was driven by internal issues, or from the movement of people into new territories. Limited archaeological evidence meant determining the true identity of the Sea Peoples was extremely challenging.

However, researchers recently excavated the remains of 10 individuals that lived in the ancient port city of Ashkelon 3,000 to 3,500 years ago. In the Hebrew bible, Ashkelon was a core Philistine city. Understanding the genetic origins of these people—and how they changed over time—allows scientists to understand the cultural exchanges that were taking place at the time.

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Biblical Philistines and the 'Sea Peoples': Ancient DNA is starting to reveal who these mystery people were
 

sooda

Veteran Member
Indoeuropeans as all the sea peoples were.

The Philistines are the bad guys in the Bible, like Goliath who confronted David in battle. They arrived in the Holy Land in the 12th century B.C. and disappeared from history 600 years later. Archaeologist Daniel Masters (ph) of Wheaton College in Illinois says his team wanted to know more.

DANIEL MASTER: The stories about the Philistines had always painted them as sort of these uncouth louts. And we use the term philistine in that way today.

ESTRIN: Archaeologists who dug the ancient Philistine city of Ashkelon found that they actually had an advanced artistic culture. The Bible says the Philistines immigrated to the Holy Land from a place in the West.

Their pottery suggested the Aegean, but archaeologists found more direct evidence to sample - the bones of babies who they believe were born to the original Philistine immigrants who came from overseas in the 12th century. They sent samples to a DNA lab in Germany.

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DNA Study Reveals Philistines Were Originally From Europe
 

sooda

Veteran Member
MASTER: These babies showed distinctive patterns of DNA that we find in the European Stone Age. And as we track those distinctive patterns of DNA, we find them in places like southern Europe. We find them in Italy or the Aegean, southern Spain, some of those places.

ESTRIN: It's DNA patterns you don't find in the ancient peoples of the Middle East.

MASTER: It's contemporary, direct, physical evidence that the Philistines immigrated into the region, and we're really excited that this is a breakthrough.

ESTRIN: Their research is in the journal Science Advances. Master's team also dug up another set of bones - Philistines who lived two centuries after their ancestors' migration. Their DNA shows they were intermarrying with the people around them, but they were still considered outsiders.

MASTER: Because in the Hebrew Bible, there are texts as late as the 8th and 7th century, and those texts remember that the Philistines came from the West and came from outside.

ESTRIN: Now the genetics back up those texts that the Philistines came from abroad. But the Philistines would eventually disappear from the area and from history, perhaps taken as captives to Babylon. Daniel Estrin, NPR News, Jerusalem.

DNA Study Reveals Philistines Were Originally From Europe
 

Polymath257

Think & Care
Staff member
Premium Member
I have seen suggestions that the philistines we essentially the same as the Greeks that invaded Troy. This paper seems to support that link to some extent.
 

sooda

Veteran Member
Where they Minoans?

That's been the conventional belief for 50 years.

Sounds to me like there was a massive collapse in the 12th century that had lots of people on the move.. What is certain is that they were not warmongering brutes as they are portrayed in the Bible.
 

Polymath257

Think & Care
Staff member
Premium Member
That's been the conventional belief for 50 years.

Sounds to me like there was a massive collapse in the 12th century that had lots of people on the move.. What is certain is that they were not warmongering brutes as they are portrayed in the Bible.

The Minoan theory is somewhat problematic because the Minoans also fell at about that same time, evidently also due to 'sea peoples'.

On the other hand, there is a Greek legend of Theseus (if I recall correctly) going to Crete to fight the Minotaur (the bull was a Minoan symbol). So that also links up with the sea peoples being at least partly Greeks.
 

sooda

Veteran Member
The Minoan theory is somewhat problematic because the Minoans also fell at about that same time, evidently also due to 'sea peoples'.

On the other hand, there is a Greek legend of Theseus (if I recall correctly) going to Crete to fight the Minotaur (the bull was a Minoan symbol). So that also links up with the sea peoples being at least partly Greeks.

I have been fascinated with the Minoans since the 1950s... I loved this fiction.

The Bull from the Sea | Wiki | Everipedia
EveripediaBull_from_the_Sea
The Bull from the Sea is the sequel to Mary Renault's The King Must Die.It continues the story of the mythological hero Theseus after his return from Crete.. Plot introduction . The story is a retelling of the life of mythological hero Theseus after his return from the Minoan palace of Knossos.The novel follows his later quests, his friendship with Pirithoos, and his liaison with Hippolyta and ...
 

Neutral Name

Active Member
Biblical Philistines and the 'Sea Peoples': Ancient Dna Is Starting to Reveal Who These Mystery People Were
By Hannah Osborne On 7/3/19 at 2:01 PM EDT

he ancient remains of 10 Biblical Philistines uncovered at an Iron Age cemetery are helping scientists understand who these people were and where they came from. The results potentially link them to the so-called 'Sea Peoples'—a group thought to have migrated across the Mediterranean and caused a major cultural shift in the region over 3,000 years ago.

From around the 12th century B.C., civilizations across the Eastern Mediterranean started to collapse. Cities were destroyed and the region was plunged into disarray. At this point, it is believed that a mystery group of seafaring people swept through the region, attacking places like Canaan, Syria and Egypt.

Until now, it was unclear whether the cultural upheaval was driven by internal issues, or from the movement of people into new territories. Limited archaeological evidence meant determining the true identity of the Sea Peoples was extremely challenging.

However, researchers recently excavated the remains of 10 individuals that lived in the ancient port city of Ashkelon 3,000 to 3,500 years ago. In the Hebrew bible, Ashkelon was a core Philistine city. Understanding the genetic origins of these people—and how they changed over time—allows scientists to understand the cultural exchanges that were taking place at the time.

continued


Biblical Philistines and the 'Sea Peoples': Ancient DNA is starting to reveal who these mystery people were

Thank you for that very interesting news. I can't wait to find out more. I love ancient history and I would love to know where the Philistines originated from, maybe Crete or maybe somewhere else. I hope that they can find some non-degraded dna to determine this. I would also like to see an ancient history forum on this site since many religions have a long history.
 

Twilight Hue

Twilight, not bright nor dark, good nor bad.
As more and more history bubbles up to the surface, it further disproves the Bible of containing any kind of accuracy and reliability when it comes to its storytelling.
 

sooda

Veteran Member
As more and more history bubbles up to the surface, it further disproves the Bible of containing any kind of accuracy and reliability when it comes to its storytelling.

Well, its only been fairly recently that Nag Hamadi and the Ugarit have come to light.
 
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