Are there passages in the Bible which contribute to the search for the origins of the Philistines? Origins of peoples is not a focus of the Bible, but Genesis 10 with its "Table of Nations" is a unique document and gives us a starting point. The Philistines are named and linked in verses 13 and 14 to Egypt and a place called Caphtor: "Mizraim [Egypt] begot . . . the Pathrusim, the Casluhim, and the Caphtorim, from whom the Philistines descended" (Speiser 1964, 64, 68-69; see also NRSV). The list linking Egypt to the Caphtorim/Philistines might not indicate Philistine filial relationship with Egypt, but it could refer to a geographical relationship. The Israelites were familiar with the Philistines on the coastal plain to the west; therefore, this information was added to inform the reader that the Philistines, associated with the Egyptians, were originally from Caphtor.

The reason the Anchor Bible Commentary (Speiser 1964) and the New Revised Standard Version placed the phrase "from whom the Philistines descended" after the word Caphtorim, differing from the Revised Standard Version and the New International Version, is that both Jeremiah 47:4 and Amos 9:7 make it clear that the Philistines are from Caphtor (see also Bromiley 1979, hereafter ISBE, 1:610).

It is also interesting to note here that the Philistines are not listed with the pre-Israelite nations in Canaan in Abraham's time (Gen. 15:19-21). If the text reflects a tradition that goes back to the Mosaic period, this is logical to expect, since the Philistines were not "settled" by Pharaoh Ramesses III on the coast of southern Canaan before the time of Moses.

Therefore, if the Caphtorim were the ancestors of the Philistines (Stiebing 1980, 14) and the Philistines of Medinet Habu did not arrive in Canaan before the time of Ramesses III, then Deuteronomy 2:23 may also give us an approximate time for the coming of the Philistines into Canaan. There, Moses reviews the chronology of events after leaving Egypt and states, "As for the Avvim, who had lived in settlements in the vicinity of Gaza, the Caphtorim, who came from Caphtor, destroyed them and settled in their place." Moses does not use the term Philistines, though Joshua does. The southern coast of Canaan, including Gaza, is the territory Joshua associated with the Philistines. The passage from Deuteronomy 2 supports Joshua 13:2-3, which clarifies the boundaries of the Philistine territory yet to be conquered, territory which formerly belonged to the Avvites, who were Canaanite: "This is the land that remains: all the regions of the Philistines and Geshurites: from the Shihor River on the east of Egypt to the territory of Ekron on the north, all of it counted as Canaanite (the territory of the five Philistine rulers in Gaza, Ashdod, Ashkelon, Gath and Ekron -- that of the Avvites) . . . " (NIV).

Part of the same territory is also said to be home to the Cherethites or Cretans (1 Sam. 30:14 and Stiebing 1980, 14), who with the Pelethites became David's personal, professional Philistine military force. The Cherethites/Cretans and the Philistines are linked in Ezekiel 25:15-17 and in Zephaniah 2:4-7 in the prophecies against Philistia. The name Pelethite may be an adaptation of the name Philistine (ISBE 1:610; 3:736-37; Douglas 1962, 207-8); if so, then we have another link between Caphtor/Crete and the Philistines.

Let us look further at the Cherethites, who composed part of David's bodyguard. First Samuel 30:14 speaks of the "Negeb of the Cherethites/Cretans." It is easy to see from the Hebrew why scholars equate Cherethite with Cretan. Cherethite is kereti. Hebrew script is consonantal, and notice that kereti has the same consonants as in the name Crete (McCarter 1980, 435; Albright 1975, 512; Stiebing 1989, 175-76). One biblical reference to the Cherethites though, 2 Samuel 20:23, reads kari rather than kereti; therefore, this reference could be translated as Carians rather than Cherethites. However, it may be concluded that at least some of the Philistines/Sea Peoples came from Crete.

As we have seen, the coastal area of Canaan became home to Caphtorites, Cherethites (Cretans), Pelethites, Carians, and others (Gittites of Gath, for example, who will be discussed later). Somehow the Philistines, who appeared in the Egyptian records early in the twelfth century, seem to have absorbed the others and become the dominant force, since the Bible refers primarily to Philistines (Albright 1975, 511). A similar example of a mixture of peoples being called by one name comes out of the exodus from Egypt, when Israel was joined by "rabble" (Num. 11:4), making it a "mixed crowd" (Exod. 12:38) with "aliens" (Josh. 8:35). The entire group came to be called Israel or the Israelites, since the descendants of Jacob were dominant. This, I believe, is true for the Philistines as well.

Most biblical scholars agree that the location for Caphtor is the island of Crete and its environs. During the first half of the second millennium B.C., Crete evidently controlled much of the Aegean and its coastline, which included western Anatolia, and traded throughout the region. During parts of the second half of this millennium, the Late Bronze Age, Crete was controlled by the Mycenaean Greeks of mainland Greece; this lasted up to the thirteenth century B.C. when Knossos, the major city on Crete, was destroyed, as were numerous cities in the Aegean. The Mycenaean Greeks not only controlled or traded with Crete and western Anatolia, but also had extensive trade with the entire eastern Mediterranean, including the area along the coast south of Mount Carmel, which came to be known as Philistia by the twelfth century B.C.

On the northern coast of Canaan opposite the island of Cyprus lie the ruins of Ugarit, a city-state destroyed about the time that the Sea Peoples were moving through the area towards Egypt. From these ruins a text was found speaking of a ship from "Kapturi." Another text from Ugarit speaks of a place called "Kptr," but no specific location is given in either case. However, Egyptian records of the Late Bronze Age speak clearly of four localities on Crete or "Keftiu" (Kftyw), which could also be translated "Caphtor" in the Egyptian language (T. Dothan 1982a, 13, 21, and footnotes; Stiebing 1989, 175). There is almost universal agreement that the Egyptian "Kftyw" refers to Crete (Macqueen 1986, 162 n. 30). We have noted that the Bible says the Philistines came from Caphtor, which, when examined with other biblical passages, appears to be Crete. It would be reasonable to conclude that extrabiblical sources, too, seem to equate Caphtor with Crete.

No doubt, as the Bible states, some of the Philistines had their origins in Caphtor/Crete. However, remember that in our examination of the Egyptian records for the Sea People invaders, during the reigns of Merneptah (ca. 1215 B.C.) and Ramesses III (ca. 1185 B.C.), we noted an Aegean -- and especially a western Anatolian -- origin for the invaders. In order to determine the heritage of the people the Bible refers to as the Philistines, I believe that we must expand the scope of our search beyond Crete to encompass the entire Aegean. With a further examination of biblical and extrabiblical material, I believe that we are even able to place part of this "Philistine" confederation on the Troad at the time of the Trojan War in the thirteenth century B.C.

A coalition of five city-states and their lords like that of the Philistines (Gaza, Ashkelon, Ashdod, Gath, and Ekron) was common to Bronze Age Greece, and such a coalition is evident in the Iliad (2.484ff., Lattimore 1951). The Bible uses the word seranim or its singular form seren twenty-one times for the lords or rulers of the five Philistine cities (e.g., 1 Sam. 5:8; 6:4, 16-18). This word appears to have been borrowed from the Philistines and may be related to the Greek word tyranos (tyrant) (T. Dothan 1982a, 18-19; A. Mazar 1990, 306; Achtemeier 1985, 790; ISBE 3:842; Buttrick 1962, 3:792). In reading the plague story of 1 Samuel 5 and 6, as well as the account of the Philistine lords disagreeing among themselves and telling Achish to send David back to Ziklag (1 Sam. 29), it becomes clear that no one lord had absolute power over military affairs. This is analogous to the situation in the Iliad where Agamemnon was the overlord of the kings of the other city-states, yet Achilles could oppose him vehemently with impunity (1.121-87, Rieu 1950; M. Wood 1986, 145).

The names Achish and Goliath are not Semitic, and parallels to these names may be found on Crete and in western Anatolia (Achtemeier 1985, 790; Buttrick 1962, 3:792; Albright 1975, 513). The biblical Achish may have had the same name as the Dardanian Anchises, the father of Aeneas from the Troad (Buttrick 1962, 3:792; T. Dothan 1982a, 22-23; Wainwright 1959, 77). The Dardanians were also on the list by Ramesses II of Hittite allies (see p. 64). Some sources, when discussing the origins of the Philistine names in the Bible, will mention the Luwian language. The Luwian language, according to extrabiblical material, was used in western Anatolia in the Late Bronze Age, the end of which witnessed the movement of the Sea Peoples (A. Mazar 1990, 306; Mendenhall 1973, 107; Barnett 1975, 440). Among the people who spoke Luwian were the Lukka/Lycians, mentioned in ancient lists (p. 64) as Hittite allies, as Trojan allies, and later as one group among the Sea Peoples who invaded Egypt (Barnett 1975, 440-41; Stiebing 1989, 176).

We presently possess few examples of Philistine writing, but some tablets, associated with Philistine pottery, were found at Deir Alla in the Jordan Valley. The script has not yet been deciphered, but it is believed by some scholars to be related to scripts used in the Aegean. They point specifically to a Cretan script called Linear A, which has a "purely phonetic syllabary, analogous to the Cypriot and in part to the Carian [emphasis mine]" (Albright 1975, 510; see also Stieglitz 1982a, 31 with picture, and Raban and Stieglitz 1991, 40). George Mendenhall suggests that the tablets are closer to the western Anatolian language Luwian (1973, 161).

The Phaistos Disk mentioned earlier was found on Crete but may have been an import from Caria in southwest Anatolia. Miletus, in Caria, may have been settled first by Cretans, then taken over by the Mycenaeans. According to the Iliad, Miletus was in Carian hands by the time of the Trojan War (2.867-68, Rieu 1950, 62; Cook 1975, 794-95; Huxley 1960, 13-14). The ties of the biblical Philistines to Crete and western Anatolia seem to be strong.

Further, the Cretans had definite associations with the allies of the Trojans (the Carians and the Lycians), and these allies were later among the Sea Peoples. Crete had also sent a contingent to Troy as an ally to the opposing Achaeans (Iliad 2.645-52, Lattimore 1951; Stubbings 1975, 349). There is even a legend that Troy was settled by Cretans.

The chart on page 64 demonstrates that some of the peoples listed were associated with one another for more than one hundred years, and this association included the Achaeans, who entered the scene along with the Sea Peoples. The "Philistines," as named in the Bible and discussed above, had more than just a passing acquaintance with Crete, the Troad, and western Anatolia; we must conclude that they originated in these regions.

An additional clue concerning the origins of the Sea Peoples may be available from an examination of rectangular chamber tombs at Tell el-Far`ah in southern Israel (Waldbaum 1966, 332-40; T. Dothan 1982a, 260f., 294; A. Mazar 1990, 300, 326-27; B. Wood 1991, 51-52). This site is located about fourteen miles south of Gaza and around sixteen miles west of Beersheba on the trade route linking Egypt and Mesopotamia (Negev 1986, 137). Jane Waldbaum presents a case for relating these tombs to Mycenaean chamber tombs at Mycenae and other Mycenaean areas. There are two different series of tombs at Tell el-Far`ah relevant to our study. The first is the group of tombs from cemetery 900, which is dated to the Late Bronze Age/Iron Age IA in the late thirteenth and early twelfth century B.C. The artifacts in these tombs date from the Ramesses II period down to Ramesses IV. Waldbaum ascribes the cemetery 900 tombs to an earlier wave of Sea Peoples who may have become Egyptian mercenaries stationed at Tell el-Far`ah. This is possible, since the Sheklesh (Sa-k(a)-ru-su), mentioned both in the Merneptah and Ramesses III lists as invaders, were also mercenaries on the side of Ramesses III in his battle against the Sea People invaders. The Sheklesh already had been mercenaries for the Egyptians in the time of Ramesses II in the thirteenth century B.C. Waldbaum states that these rectangular chamber tombs "lend strong support to the theory that the Philistines had more than casual connections with Mycenaean civilizations" (1966, 332).

The second series of tombs is in cemetery 500 and dates to the second half of the twelfth and into the eleventh century. Philistine grave goods are plentiful in these tombs, which also contain anthropoid coffins. The Aegean origin of those buried in the tombs is clear based on the tomb architecture and the artifacts (T. Dothan 1985, 171). Therefore, Waldbaum's study of the Tell el-Far`ah cemeteries also brings the Philistine origins into the Aegean orbit.