People of the Sea: The Search for the Philistines

by Trude Dothan

Hardcover, 1992

Status

2022

Call number

DS90 .D63

Publication

Scribner (1992), Edition: First American Edition, 256 pages

Description

"The Philistines are among the most maligned peoples of ancient history. The Bible characterized them as cunning pagan warmongers, the ancient Egyptians as pirates and marauders. In today's language, a "philistine" is an uncouth, uncultured person." "Thanks to the work of Trude Dothan and Moshe Dothan, three thousand years of bad press are at last giving way to a wholly different picture of the Philistines. Through their excavations and other studies, these two eminent archaeologists have unearthed startling answers to some of the great mysteries of biblical history, revealing the Philistines as a highly civilized people. They were advanced artisans and craftsmen, sophisticated architects and ecologically minded town planners." "One of the Aegean Sea Peoples who settled on the southern coast of Canaan at the end of the twelfth century B.C., the Philistines entered history as the main adversaries of the Israelites, stigmatized by the wicked Delilah and the arrogant Goliath. While the nature of their written language is still a mystery, the nature of their civilization is not. The remains of monumental buildings, a flourishing olive-oil industry, cast bronze, iron, and ivory artifacts, weaving looms, wine presses, and a wide range of artistically distinctive pottery urge us to make a historical reassessment." "In People of the Sea, the world's preeminent authorities on Philistine history and culture provide the first popular account of their ground-breaking work. Handsomely illustrated with line drawings, photographs, and maps, the book interweaves a fascinating history of the rise and fall of the Philistines with the first-person experiences of archaeologists at work. The result is a work that not only dramatically changes our understanding of an important and legendary era but also serves to illuminate an ancient civilization long lost to history."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved… (more)

User reviews

LibraryThing member wickenden
This book tells the story of the migrations of peoples, called "The Sea Peoples" in historical Egyptian texts. They invaded the regions of Ancient Egypt and were defeated by Ramses III. He settled them in Palestine. We know them by their biblical name, "Philistines", from whence we get the name
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Palestine.

Some epochal event caused a mass migration of people from the islands and costal regions around the Mediterranean around 1200 BC. The Egyptian record describes many, many peoples, most of whom have not been identified. The Egyptian staelae show not the invasion of soldiers, but the mass-migration of people with carts, oxen, wives, children -- something was pushing them.

Around the same time the old world of Mycenea was being turned upside down. It's all very curious.
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Language

Original language

English

Physical description

256 p.; 7.75 inches

ISBN

0025322613 / 9780025322615

Barcode

34662001038691
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