Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from a photograph by Insinger.
Two things belonging to their past history they still retained—a clear remembrance of their far-off origin, and that warlike temperament which had enabled them to fight their way through many obstacles from the shores of the Ægean to the frontiers of Egypt. They could recall their island of Caphtor,* and their neighbours in their new home were accustomed to bestow upon them the designation of Cretans, of which they themselves were not a little proud.**
* Jer. xlvii. 4 calls them “the remnant of the isle of
Caphtor;” Amos (ix. 7) knew that the Lord had brought “the
Philistines from Caphtor;” and in Dent. ii. 23 it is related
how “the Caphtorim which came forth out of Caphtor destroyed
the Avvim, which dwelt in villages as far as Gaza, and dwelt
in their stead.” Classical tradition falls in with the sacred
record, and ascribes a Cretan origin to the Philistines; it
is suggested, therefore, that in Gen. x. 14 the names
Casluhim and Caphtorim should be transposed, to bring the
verse into harmony with history and other parts of
Scripture.
** In an episode in the life of David (1 Sam. xxx. 14),
there is mention of the “south of the Cherethites,” which
some have made to mean Cretans—that is to say, the region
to the south of the Philistines, alongside the territory of
Judah, and to the “south of Caleb.” Ezelc. xx. 16 also
mentions in juxtaposition with the Philistines the
Cherethites, and “the remnant of the sea-coast,” as objects
of God’s vengeance for the many evils they had inflicted on
Israel. By the Cherethims here, and the Cherethites in Zoph.
ii. 5, the Cretans are by some thought to be meant, which
would account for their association with the Philistines.
Gaza enjoyed among them a kind of hegemony, alike on account of its strategic position and its favourable situation for commerce, but this supremacy was of very precarious character, and brought with it no right whatever to meddle in the internal affairs of other members of the confederacy. Each of the latter had a chief of its own, a Seren,* and the office of this chief was hereditary in one case at least—Gath, for instance, where there existed a larger Canaanite element than elsewhere, and was there identified with that of “melek,” ** or king.
* The sarnê plishtîm figure in the narrative of the last
Philistine campaign against Saul (1 Sam. xxix. 2-4, 7, 9).
Their number, five, is expressly mentioned in 1 Sam. vi. 4,
16-18, as well as the names of the towns over which they
ruled.
** Achish was King of Gath (1 Sam. xxi. 10, 12, xxvii. 2),
and probably Maoch before him.
The five Sarnîm assembled in council to deliberate upon common interests, and to offer sacrifices in the name of the Pentapolis. These chiefs were respectively free to make alliances, or to take the field on their own account, but in matters of common importance they acted together, and took their places each at the head of his own contingent.* Their armies were made up of regiments of skilled archers and of pikemen, to whom were added a body of charioteers made up of the princes and the nobles of the nation. The armour for all alike was the coat of scale mail and the helmet of brass; their weapons consisted of the two-edged battle-axe, the bow, the lance, and a large and heavy sword of bronze or iron.**
* Achish, for example, King of Gath, makes war alone against
the pillaging tribes, owing to the intervention of David and
his men, without being called to account by the other
princes (1 Sam. xxvii. 2-12, xxviii. 1, 2), but as soon as
an affair of moment is in contemplation—such as the war
against Saul—they demand the dismissal of David, and Achish
is obliged to submit to his colleagues acting together (1
Sam. xxix.).
** Philistine archers are mentioned in the battle of Gilboa
(1 Sam. xxxi. 3) as well as chariots (2 Sam. i. 6). The
horsemen mentioned in the same connexion are regarded by
some critics as an interpolation, because they cannot bring
themselves to think that the Philistines had cavalry corps
in the Xth century B.C. The Philistine arms are described at
length in the duel between David and Goliath (1 Sam. xvii. 5
-7, 38, 39). They are in some respects like those of the
Homeric heroes.
Their war tactics were probably similar to those of the Egyptians, who were unrivalled in military operations at this period throughout the whole East. Under able leadership, and in positions favourable for the operations of their chariots, the Philistines had nothing to fear from the forces which any of their foes could bring up against them. As to their maritime history, it is certain that in the earliest period, at least, of their sojourn in Syria, as well as in that before their capture by Ramses III., they were successful in sea-fights, but the memory of only one of their expeditions has come down to us: a squadron of theirs having sailed forth from Ascalon somewhere towards the end of the XIIth dynasty,* succeeded in destroying the Sidonian fleet, and pillaging Sidon itself.
* Justinus, xviii. 3, § 5. The memory of this has been
preserved, owing to the disputes about precedence which
raged in the Greek period between the Phoenician towns. The
destruction of Sidon must have allowed Tyre to develop and
take the first place.