[174] The Keft people, represented in an Egyptian tomb, were Phœnicians, according to the bilingual “Decree of Canopus,” and not Cretans. Their art is identical with that of Phœnicians, clearly of Semitic race in another painting. They were connected with islanders who were probably the inhabitants of Cyprus. The Pûrstau of a picture of the time of Rameses III. (about 1200 B. C.) have no connection with the Philistines, who came from Cappadocia, according to the LXX. The frescoes and tablets of the palace of Knossos in Crete are probably not older than about 500 (not 1500) B. C., and the “geometrical” pottery appears to be Phœnician. The evidence of the Amarna tablets, and of the Bible alike, shows that the Philistines were a Semitic race akin to the Babylonians. It is to be preferred to the fancies of Tacitus, who thought that the Jews must have come from Crete (“Hist.,” v. ii.), because the words Idæi (people of Mount Ida) and Ioudaioi (Jews) were similar. The Ionians are not noticed in any of the Amarna tablets.
[175] See Josephus (“Ant.,” XI. viii. 5). The high-priest’s name in 332 B. C. was Jaddua (Neh. xii. 22; “Ant.,” XI. vii. 2). The later rabbis incorrectly suppose him to have been Simon the Just (Tal. Bab., Yoma, 69, a; Megillah Taanith, ch. ix.).
[176] Josephus, “Ant.,” XII. i. 1. Ptolemy I. reigned from 323 to 285 B. C.
[177] “Ant.,” XII. ii. 1–15. Ptolemy II., 285–47 B. C.
[178] “Ant.,” XII. iii. 3, 4.
[179] Ibid., XII. iv. 1.
[180] 1 Macc. i. 14.
[181] “Ant.,” XII. iv. 6, 11. Seleucus IV., 187–75 B. C.
[182] For full details and photographic views, with one of the Aramaic inscription, see my report in “Mem. East Pal. Survey,” 1889, pp. 65–87.
[183] “Ant.,” XII. v. 3, 4.