Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Tory Thorpe <torythrp AT yahoo.com>]

Identifying the biblical people called Philistim with Peleset might be sound 
linguistically, but their alleged orgin in the Aegean is not and the idea is 
coming under criticism. There is really no evidence at all that the Peleset 
mentioned in the Medinet-Habu texts of Ramesses III originated in the Aegean. 
The connection was an inference based on Aegean pottery forms, but it is now 
known that no monochrome pottery exists in any 20th dynasty context until the 
last days of Ramesses VI or later (Finkelstein, 1998). Myceneaen IIIC:1b 
pottery, the so-called hallmark of the Philistines, appeared significantly 
after the reign of Ramesses III, not before as was once thought (Killebrew, 
2000). Hence the distinctive material culture which was thought to announce 
the arrival of the Peleset from the Aegean does not appear in the Levant 
until 40 or more years after they were beaten by Ramesses III (Aharoni, 
1978). As far as we know, the Peleset were living in the
 southern Levant long before they clashed with Ramesses III. 

Tory Thorpe