The Philistines were a people who figure prominently in the Old Testament as enemies of the Hebrews. They were one of the “Sea Peoples,” probably of Mycanaean Greek origin, who around 1150 B.C. settled in southwestern Canaan – the region we now call the Gaza Strip, but in ancient times known as “Philistia” (from which comes the name “Palestine” for the whole of Canaan).
That much is as well known as anything from Bronze Age history can be known. But – what happened to them? When did they cease to exist as a culture? Was it before or after the Babylonians conquered Judea?
They are probably lineal biological descendants of the Philistines (and the Canaanites, and the Hebrews, and the Arabs, all mixed together), but I am asking when and how the Philistine culture died out.
From memory, I’ll try to double check later:
No, the Philistines are not the Palestinians… any more than the ancient Romans are the modern Italians. There may be some ancestry, but there’s no cultural, ethnic, or historic connection other than occupying the same land.
The Philistines were NOT wiped out after King David, they continued to harrass the Israelites for a couple centuries after that. Presumably, they vanished when the Babylonians conquered the whole area (6th Century BC) – the same fate befell most tribes when they were conquered.
Do we even know what language the Philistines spoke? (Probably some form of Greek, but are there any alternate theories? And I never heard of the Greeks worshipping a god named “Dagon.”)
Most defintely a West Semitic language. Think of them as “southern Phonecians”.
Note that it is conjectured that some archaic Greeks conquered the proto-Philistines and left a little remnant Greek. Sort of like the Normans adding some French to English. (Actually more like the Norsemen in Russia.) But the core language remained Semitic. Very hard to prove given the tiny amount of pre-Alexander writings in the area.
Perhaps their descendants settled around here. I often hear “Daggone” as a minced oath, expressing dismay or surprise. Sometimes it is clipped down to “Dag.”
