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The
critics belief that there were no Philistines in the middle east
until the 12th century bce is based mainly on the Medinet
Habu inscriptions of Ramesses III,and His mention of the Prst,which
was interpreted as Philistines.The inscription contained a reference
to “Northern isles,” and the name “Haunebu”,translated
as sea people,which seemed to verify the original theory of the
invaders being Philistines.Wall paintings from Medinet Habu showed
Egypt in a sea battle with their enemies who wore headress similar to
the Mycenae. The Egyptian “Kieftu,” believed to have been
Crete,from the Biblical Caphtorim,was added to the mix,although they
were not mentioned by Ramesses.The problem is that the Kieftu were
trading with Egypt since at least 4,000 bce.,making the Philistines a
much older group of people than once believed,if the Philistines are
to be equated with the Kieftu.That would mean the Philistines were
sailing to Egypt from Crete 3,000 years prior to the period they were
supposed to have suddenly appeared in Egypt.There is no reason to
believe they would not have settled the southern Mediterranean or
Canaan during that time.Still,there was no better explanation of why
the Philistines had not been mentioned in Egyptian texts prior to the
reign of Ramesses III.One possibility is that the Egyptians may not
have known them as Philistines,or Prst,earlier.Another explanation
would be that the Prst and the Kieftu may not have been the same
people.The Prst may possibly have been the Philistines,but may not
have come from Crete,and Kieftu may not have been referring to
Crete,although it most likely indicated Caphtorim.The inscriptions
never mentioned Ionia,or any name that could be definitely placed in
the Greek isles,although historians tell us that Greece was
“beyond,or behind the islands,”as the inscriptions seemed
to indicate.
It is not my intention to prove the
archeologists wrong about their translations of the Medinet Habu
inscriptions,only that historians may have been in error in their
interpretations.New evidence has surfaced since the original
interpretations,and in some cases historians have revised their
material to reflect that new evidence.Some have not bothered,and are
still being quoted from their outdated history.Many historians now
accept the belief that Kieftu may have been referring to Cappadocia
which may not have been the actual origin of the Kieftu or
Philistines.Cappadocia took the place of Crete,using the same
evidence with different interpretations.The Philistines/Mycenae
supposedly invaded the Greek isles,from Anatolia,around 1,000 bce,and
were given credit for destroying the Hittite empire as well as
Troy.The newer theory is that the Philistines settled Crete from the
Lavant,rather than originating on Crete.The Philistines,we are
told,replaced the Mycenae on Crete,who had replaced the Minoans.There
are signs of an invasion form outside,rather than an internal
struggle with the Mycenae.The Philistines were not Semitic,but they
may have been of Hamitic decent as the Bible claims.The Mycenae were
most likely Aryan,as were the Ionians.Many historians now accept the
theory that he may have been referring to the
people of Pelistim,who were not living in the Greek isles at the
time.The inscriptions of Ramesses III mentioned countries that were
affiliated with the Prst,which were all in Syria or Anotolia with the
possible exception of Alashia.
The
countries -- --, the [Northerners] in their isles were disturbed,
taken away in the [fray] -- at one time.
Not one stood before
their hands, from Kheta, Kode, Carchemish, Arvad, Alashia, they were
wasted.
{The}y {[set up]} a camp in one place in Amor.
They
desolated his people and his land like that which is not.
They
came with fire prepared before them, forward to Egypt.
Their main
support was Peleset, Tjekker, Shekelesh, Denyen, and Weshesh.
(These) lands were united, and they laid their hands upon the
land as far as the Circle of the Earth.
Their hearts were
confident, full of their plans.
Now, it happened through this
god, the lord of gods,
that I was prepared and armed to [trap]
them like wild fowl.
He furnished my strength and caused my plans
to prosper.
I went forth, directing these marvelous things.
I
equipped my frontier in Zahi, prepared before them.
The chiefs,
the captains of infantry, the nobles,
I caused to equip the
river-mouths [1], like a strong wall, with warships, galleys, and
barges, [--].
They were manned [completely]
from bow to stern
with valiant warriors bearing their arms,
soldiers of all the
choicest of Egypt, being like lions roaring upon the mountain-tops.
The charioteers were warriors [-- --], and all good officers,
ready of hand.
Their horses were quivering in their every limb,
ready to crush the countries under their feet.
I was the
valiant Montu, stationed before them, that they might behold the
hand-to-hand fighting of my arms.
I, king Ramses III, was made a
far-striding hero, conscious of his might, valiant to lead his army
in the day of battle.
Those who reached my boundary, their seed
is not;
their heart and their soul are finished forever and ever.
As for those who had assembled before them on the sea,
the
full flame was in their front, before the river-mouths,
and a
wall of metal upon the shore surrounded them.
They were dragged,
overturned, and laid low upon the beach;
slain and made heaps
from stern to bow of their galleys,
while all their things were
cast upon the water.
(Thus) I turned back the waters to remember
Egypt;
when they mention my name in their land, may it consume
them,
while I sit upon the throne of Harakhte, and the
serpent-diadem is fixed upon my head, like Re.
I permit not the
countries to see the boundaries of Egypt to [--] [among] them.
As
for the Nine Bows, I have taken away their land and their boundaries;
they are added to mine.
Their chiefs and
their people (come) to me with praise.
I carried out the plans of
the All-Lord, the august, divine father, lord of the gods.
Alashia
is believed to have been Cyprus,but the inscription doesn't say
Alashia was part of the affiliation,but that it was “disturbed”,by
the invaders.The invaders were named as the Peleset, Tjekker,
Shekelesh, Denyen, and Weshesh.All of those,except the Weshwesh and
Peleset,are known from other texts,including Egyptian to have been in
the Lavant since at least the 15th century bce.There is
evidence enough to believe that the Peleset were originally from the
Mediterranean coast,between Egypt and Canaan.The Bible claims the
people of Pelistim were related to the people of Cashluhim and
Caphtorim,and the Philistines were descendents of those people,who
were descendents of Ham through Mizraim.Egyptian sources agree with
the Bible that Mizraim was indeed the people of Egypt.In one Amarna
letter,the king of Byblos,Rib-Addi wrote to the Pharoah thus:
“Now I cannot enter
the land of Mitsru ;
I am old and I
suffer of a serious disease in my own flesh.”
The
Biblical Mitzraim denotes the people of Mitzra,in that “im”
is similar in use to the Egyptian “u” which
indicates a people of,rather than a place.The Denyen may never have
been in the Greek isles,and appear to have been Semitic from Egyptian
and Hittite texts.They were known as Denyen, Danunites, Danaoi,
Danaus, Danaids, Dene, Danai, Danaian.They may have given their name
to the Biblical Danites,who moved from central Canaan into Syria and
were forced into the by mountains the Amorites.That was the same area
where the Haunebu set up “a camp in
one place in Amor.” Danaian is a Semitic word
derived from Kar-Duniyas, or the wall of the god D-iniyas,which
indicated the area that was later Northern Babylonia.The Judge
Deborah wrote of Dan remaining in ships while the other Israelites
went North to battle the Canaanites and Syrians.They apparently had
something in common with the sea going Philistines.Ramesses III wrote
of the Prst coming by land as well as by sea,and mentioned them
together with the “Nine bows,”which had always in the
past,referred to the vassel states of Canaan and Syria,under Egyptian
control.Ramesses also wrote that “Those
who reached my boundary, their seed is not;”
which is speaking of a group
different than “those who
had assembled before them on the sea.” Those
coming by land were stopped at the eastern border
garrison at Zahi.Ramesses never equated the Prst with the Kieftu and
never mentioned Caphtorim.No Egyptian texts ever used the phrase “sea
people.”Another of Ramesses inscriptions tell of the Prst being
shut up in their towns,and other texts refer to their orchards.Since
Ramesses never wrote about sailing across the Mediterranean to “shut
them up in their towns,” it's apparent that He never saw the
orchards of Crete.
Utterance of the
princes, companions, and leaders of the infantry and chariotry:
"Thou art the king who shinest upon Egypt.
When {thou}
ristest, the Two Lands live.
Great is thy might in the midst of
the Nine Bows.
Thy roaring is as far as the circuit of the sun.
The shadow of thy sword is over thy army.
They march, filled
with thy might.
Thy heart is stout, (for) thy excellent plans are
established.
Amon-Re appears, leading the way.
He lays low
for thee every land beneath thy feet; {thy} heart is glad -- forever.
[Thou art] the protection which comes forth
without delay.
The heart of the Temeh is {dis}turbed, the Peleset
are hung up, [--] in their towns,
by the might of thy father,
Amon, who has decreed to thee --------."
Great first span of
his majesty (named): "Amon-He-Giveth-the-Sword."
Ramesses
III believed he was putting down a rebellion rather than repelling an
invasion from hundreds of miles across the sea.
“His
majesty marches out in victorious might, to destroy the rebellious
countries.
His majesty {marches out} for Zahi,
like the form
of Montu, to crush every country that has transgressed his boundary.
His infantry are like bulls, ready for battle upon the field.
{His} horses are like hawks in the midst of his fowl before him.
The Nine Bows are under (his) power.
Amon, his august father,
is for him a shield, King -- --, Lord of the Two Lands, Ramses III.
There is another inscription that also depicts the sea
battles:
“Lo, the northern
countries, which are in their isles,
are restless in their limbs;
they infest the ways of the river-mouths.
Their nostrils and
their hearts cease breathing breath,
when his majesty goes forth
like a storm-wind against them, fighting upon the strand like a
warrior.
His puissance and the terror of him penetrate into their
limbs.
Capsized and perishing in their places, their hearts are
taken, their souls fly away,
and their weapons are cast out upon
the sea.
His arrows pierce whomsoever he will among them, and he
who is hit falls into the water.
His majesty is like an enraged
lion, tearing him that confronts him with his hands (sic),
fighting
at close quarters on his right, valiant on his left, like Set;
destroying the foe, like Amon-Re. He has laid low the lands,
he
has crushed every land beneath his feet,
the king of Upper and
Lower Egypt, the Lord of the Two Lands, Usermare-Meriamon.
Ramesses
never referred to those coming by sea as Prst.Ramesses did claim the
Haunabu were shut up in their isles,but may not have been referring
to islands.It is now known and accepted by many historians that the
word gezira indicated elevated land and was used for highlands as
well as mounds.The phrase “Northern isles” had been used
for millennium to identify the gezira in the Nile delta,as this
inscription form Weni shows:
I dispatched
them from the Northern Isle, the Gate of Ihotep,
the bend of
Horus, Nibmat.
While I was of this rank .... .... ....
everything, I [inspected] the number of these troops,
(although)
never had any servant inspected.
The
gate of Ihotep was near the coast of the Mediterranean along the “way
of Horus,” known in the Bible as “The way of the
Philistines.” The archaeological translation of sea came from
the mention of Ramesses to “The Great Green,”believed at
the time to indicate the Mediterranean sea.
It is now known
that great green did not necessarily mean sea.In reality it doesn't
even have to be equated with a sea,or any body of water.The color
green (wadj) was the color of vegetation and new life.To do "green
things" was slang for beneficial, life-producing behavior.Osiris
was often portrayed with green skin and was also referred to as "the
Great Green".He was also depicted as a god of the north.The Nile
delta could have been accurately referred to as the "great
green,”and it is very possible that Ramesses was referring to
the delta.One
particular Egyptian texts gives some hint as to the location of the
Haunebu:
“Thou
art great, thou art green, in thy name of Great Green
; lo, thou
art round as the Great Circle ; lo, thou art
turned about, thou
art round as the circle that encircles the Haunebu”
The
above is referring to Osirus by His other name “Great Green.”
It isn't clear what the Great Circle is,but other texts use great
circle of gods in reference to the nine gods that formed the
ennead.Osirus had his residence east of the Nile delta,in Hat
Nebes,in the “land of the henna.”The Egyptian references
to the land of henna appear to be speaking of the same area as the
land of the Haunebu and Hat-Nebes,which are all similar in spelling
and pronunciation.Just off shore of the northern Sinai,between
present day port Said and El-Arish is a large body of water enclosed
by a semi circle of islands on the north and land on the west and
south.That may well be the circle that encircles the Haunabu,and what
Ramesses III was calling the “circle of earth.”.There
is an inscription from the 16th century bce,at a time when
critics and historians can't make the claim that Egypt held sway over
the Greek isles.It was written by Ahhotep,the mother of Ahmose:
"Make
praise to the mistress of the country,
the sovereign of the
borders of the haunebut,
whose name is praised in all foreign
regions,
who governed the affairs of state,who united
egypt,
gathered his nobles,united them,brought back his
fugitives,
regrouped his dissidents,pacified egypt and pushed back
it's rebels,the royal wife Ahhotep.”
The
inscription was puzzling to archeologists who had previously
associated the Haunebu with the Aegean islands.Some archeologists
preferred to see it as a more general term for one of the nine
bow-countries, focusing on the seabound region of Phoenicia.That
coincided with Gardner,who believed Ramesses III had written about
battles fought in Syria.In the above inscription gave the title of
Queen Ahhotep as:
“hnwt idbw
H3w-nbwt,”or “the mistress of Haunebut”
In
other inscriptions the name “H3w-nbwt” was translated as
Hau-Nabut,indicating the people of “Ha-Neb.” In reality
H3w would have been rendered Hrw,but would indicate the same
Har-Neb.The result of the confusion was to discount the inscription
as having no particular importance,other than a trade relationship
with the Minoans.If so,it would be the first known inscription of an
Egyptian claiming sovereignty over a country they did not
conquer.There is another inscription that proved just as puzzling to
historians and archaeologists.It was dated in the middle kingdom and
was called the inscription of Henu:
Year
8, first month of the third season (ninth month), day 3;
his
real favorite servant, who does all that he praises every day,
wearer of the royal seal, [sole] com[panion], //// overseer of
that
which is and that which is not, overseer of the temples,
overseer of
the granary and White House, overseer of horn and
hoof, chief of the
six courts of justice, high-voiced in
proclaiming the name of the king
on the day of his warding off
[////] who judges the prisoner
according to his deserts
//////////////////// (omitted lines
containing titles) Satisfying
the heart of the king as Keeper of the
Door of the South; over
the administration of the nomes of the South,
chief treasurer
////////////. who quells the Haunebu, to
whom the Two
Lands come bowing down, to whom every office
reports; wearer of the
royal seal, sole companion, the steward,
Henu says:......................”
Reign
of Mentuhotep II J.H.Breasted,
Ancient Records of Egypt, Part One, § 428f
Some historians
use the term Prst/Plst as if the inscription can be interpreted
either way.The inscription was written with a 3 which is the Semitic
equivilent of R,not L.For lack of any group of people that could be
equated with Prst,it was decided the 3 could also be rendered
L.Critics may not realize that the relationship with the R was due to
the Biblical Philistines.Using the Bible as a reference for
translating an Egyptian inscription seems to be a contradiction for
those who believe the Bible was fabricated.If we must consult the
Bible to find a people that could possibly have been the prst,why not
the Perizzites?The Egyptian “s” was interchangeable with
the “z”,which could have just as easily rendered Prst as
Przt.The truth is that there is no evidence of who the Prst actually
were,or even if they had customs similar to the Philistines or the
Mycenae.
It's probably safe to say that no
vizier,governor or treasurer would have been sent to the Aegean to
quell a revolt by a people that were not subjects of Egypt.There seem
to be several interpretations of Hau-Nebu,one of which is “my
sun-god.”Although Neb had to do with a god of the sun,a more
accurate interpretation would have been the “people of the sun
god.” Various other Egyptian inscriptions mention the god geb
and seb in connection with the eastern edge of Egypt.They are
variations of the god Osiris,who had a residence on the east of the
Nile delta.He was also known as Onophris,who's residence the Hebrews
called “On.”Osiris was also known as Pethempamentes, the
"Dweller in Lades." There are no references to Haunebu from
Crete,or any other island,and the only Greek reference to them comes
from the Rosetta stone,discovered in the Nile delta,and translated
from Egyptian.The region east of the Egyptian border was referred to
as the “place of Henna,”among other names,and Isaiah 30:4
refers to it as “Hanes,” which may have come from the
more ancient name of Hau-Nebu,which was also known by the Egyptians
as Hat-Nebes.Amos
9:7 compares the Israelites to African nations and people.One of
those is Caphtor and the Philistines.The Septuagint and other ancient
translations of the Bible identify Caphtor with Cappadocia,indicating
that the Philistines settled Anatolia long before they settled
Crete.By studying the Amarna letters,the inscriptions of Ramesses II
and III,as well as other texts,it becomes clear that the Kieftu were
originally from the Mediterranean coast near or in Egypt,and migrated
into Anatolia and eventually to the Greek isles.
Egyptian records tell of Kieftu
being a copper producing country,while copper is found on Crete in
trace amounts only.Most of the people mentioned are from the same
ancient Mitzraim (Egypt),where they began to disperse throughout the
islands.Pathros is also mentioned in Egyptian texts as Patoris.The
book of Jasher places the origin of the Philistines in the are
between Egypt and Canaan,very near the river of Egypt:
Jasher
10:
2 And when the Lord had
scattered the sons of men on account of their sin at the
tower,
behold they spread forth into many divisions,and all the
sons of men were dispersed into the four corners of the earth.
3
And all the families became each according to its language,its
land,or its city.
17 And the children of Dudonim are those who
dwell in the cities of the sea Gihon, in the land of Bordna.
20
All these went and built themselves cities as they found fit places
for them,
and they called their cities after the names of their
fathers Cush, Mitzraim,Phut and Canaan.
21 And the children of
Mitzraim are the Ludim,Anamim,Lehabim, Naphtuchim,Pathrusim,Casluchim
and Caphturim,seven families.
22 All these dwell by the river
Sihor,that is the brook of Egypt,and they built themselves cities and
called them after their own names
23 And the children of Pathros
and Casloch intermarried together,
and from them went forth the
Pelishtim, the Azathim, and the Gerarim, the Githim and the
Ekronim,
in all five families; these also built themselves cities,
and they called their cities after the names of their fathers unto
this day.
Jashur claims they were children of
Pahtrusim,Caphtorim and Casluchim came from an area near the
Sihor,which the Bible calls “the river of Egypt.”
The
Bible also tells us the Philistines came from the same place:
Genesis
10:13:
And Mizraim begat Ludim and Anamin and Lehabim
and Naphtuhim.
Genesis 10:14:
And
Pathrusim,and Casluhim,(out of whom came the Philistines) and
Caphtprim.
(Sandars 1985: 120).
“A
striking feature of the land battle scene is the imagery of ox-pulled
carts
carrying women and children in the midst of a battle.
These carts seem to represent a people on the move.”
Archaeologists have
now discovered evidence of a famine in Anatolia,prior to the reign of
Ramesses III.It is believed that the Prst may have been going to
Egypt to escape famine,as the Canaanites and Syrian had done for
millennium.There is no doubt there was an invasion,but it may not
have been according to the description of Ramesses III,and certainly
not according to early interpretations by historians.The god of the
Philistines was dagan,which originated in Mesopotamia and was
worshiped in Syria.The Akkadians knew Him as daguna. It is doubtful
the Philistines,after entering Egypt for the first time,would have
adopted a Syrian god after settling in southern Canaan.They would not
have been familiar with Dagan,which not even the Canaanites worshiped
to any extent.The Cretans did not worship Dagan.,and since the name
“dgn,”showed up in inscriptions from Assyria and
Babylonia,it is doubtful the god was brought from Crete.Dagan was the
father of the Mesopotamian god baal,who By the 15thcentury
bce,became the god of choice for many Syrians.That would have made it
more difficult for newcomers in the 12th century bce to
have encountered Dagan.Why would a people entering southern Canaan
for the first time,adopt a Syrian god,rather than the Canaanite god?
The evidence would indicate that the Philistines had been in Syria
long enough to have been familiar with the “fish god”.The
Philistines,like any other group,didn't have to be from Crete,or any
other island to have been sea going.
The
date of the Philistine immigration has been questioned by Bietak and
Stager, who argue that the absence of Egyptian artifacts in the
Philistine
context supports a settlement before the attempted conquest of
Canaan.In this scenario the battle described by Ramsses II in his
eighth regnal year would have taken place on the eastern borders of
Egypt, not the Nile Delta. The nature of their material culture has
been considered eclectic and derivative, because of the range of
artifacts and architecture with Philistine, Canaanite and some
Egyptian traits.the Philistines at Medinet Habu are pictured wearing
"feathered headdresses" very similar to those pictured on
the Phaistos Disk, a round, baked clay disk discovered on Crete at
Phaistos and dated to the Middle Minoan IIIB period, circa 1600 B.C.
The clay and firing of the disk are not similar to what is generally
found on Crete; it is possibly an import from Caria or Lycia in
southwest Anatolia.The type of bow pictured on the disk is of Asiatic
origin. Nearly five hundred years separate the Phaistos Disk and the
Egyptian reliefs at Medinet Habu.There is little doubt that Ramesses
III settled a group of people in southern Canaan following a failed
conquest.They may have been the Prst in His inscriptions.They may
have been part of the Haunebu.It's evident,however,that neither the
Haunebu or the Philistines were newcomers during the reign of
Ramesses III.