The Philistines after the Bronze Age Collapse

In this live presentation, Wanax TV surveys the history of the Philistines, the Peleset of Egyptian records, from their appearance among the Sea Peoples in the early 12th century BC through their settlement in southern Canaan, their wars with the Israelites, and their subjugation by Egypt, the Neo-Assyrian Empire, and Babylon.

Cyprus enters the account during the discussion of the Late Bronze Age collapse and the origins of the Philistine settlers. Drawing on sources from Ugarit, Carchemish, and Alashiya, the presenter describes how the kingdom of Alashiya on Cyprus was destroyed alongside Hatti and Ugarit in the 12th century BC. He states that the island was immediately settled by Greek migrants from the Aegean, giving rise to the Cypriot city-kingdoms of Salamis, Paphos, Kition, and Marion, with Salamis chief in the east and Paphos in the west. In response to a viewer's comment, he notes that Phoenicians also settled at Kition, where Greeks and Phoenicians lived side by side.

The presenter links the early material culture of the five Philistine city-states (Ashkelon, Ashdod, Ekron, Gaza, and Gath) to Cyprus and the Aegean. Locally produced Philistine pottery of c. 1150 to 1050 BC is described as nearly identical to Submycenaean wares in the Aegean and the Greek city-states on Cyprus. Discussing early Philistine writing between the 12th and 10th centuries BC, he compares their linear script with the transition on Cyprus from Cypro-Minoan to the Cypriot syllabary (which he calls Linear C), used to write Greek alongside the Greek alphabet. In the segment on rebellions against Sargon II in 713 BC, he adds that the rebel ruler Yamani of Ashdod bore a name related to Yauna, the Assyrian term for Ionians, Greeks, and Cypriots.