Mysteries of the Bible: Archenemy — The Philistines.
I think the best way to to introduce this topic on the Sea People will be to show you a documentary that gives you a real and authoritative account of the Philistines,why the philistines, that will become apparent when you watch the documentary.
Although it has a strong biblical leaning it is none the less one of the best documentaries so far in that it sheds solid Archaeological light as to the origins of the Sea People, those we would later become so familiar with in the Israelites writings as the Philistines.
A major contributor to the programme is the renowned Archaeologist Trude Dothan who’s work on Philistine settlements and sites alike all over Israel has shed incomparable light on the subject, Here is part two.
You might also want to read Trude & Moshe Dothan’s book “People of the Sea- The Sea search for the Philistines” Published by Macmillan Publishing Company,1992, which I highly recommend as a must read publication to follow on from the documentary and as an in depth study. There is also another earlier book by Trude Dothan called “The Philistines and their Material Culture” 1967, which I also highly recommend but has more of an archaeological leaning to it.
It throws the reader into a fascinating world and explains eloquently, for anyone not familiar with the subject matter, the story of the Philistines and shows them to be an incredibly civilised and technologically advanced people, whose military prowess was only matched by their high cultural achievements. Filled with illustrations and photos it manages to convey and shed new meaning on the subject of the Philistines which is both refreshing, accessible and gripping and cannot be praised enough, Here is part three.
In my point of view it dismisses a lot of the hokum that’s been floating around on the internet as to the origins of this warrior race. It weaves biblical narrative with hard archaeological findings in a way that enthrals, whilst at the same time reveals some startling information about the real-life people who were settled after their defeat by Ramesses III in the region later to be known as Philistia, Here is part four.
It shows what I strongly believe — who we really need to be listening to, and what real archaeological slog and passionate minds can accomplish over many years of dedicated research and excavations.
I for one found the conclusions in the book about the philistines’ true origins and the very plausible identities of certain famous characters from the bible and their connection to the Bronze Age world of the Aegean to be a real eye opener, Here is part 5.
