The Philistines and their Aegean connexions: The traditional evidence and the bearing on the question in Greek literary records as well as in Josephus' and Manetho's writings; The non-conventional evidence from the Biblical narratives

This thesis is divided into four major parts. The first furnishes an account of the Mycenaean and Minoan cultures, the two predominant Aegean Late Bronze Age cultures, that is. The second chapter deals with the historical evolution of the Philistines in Palestine starting with their original settlement there. The third chapter sets out the traditional evidence on the 'Philistines and their Aegean connexions as well as the main theories on their origin and provenance. The final chapter furnishes so-far-unattested evidence from such literary records as Later Greek historians' writings and Josephus and Manethos' works. It also provides new evidence from, non -scrutinized (with:' respect to the Philistines) biblical quotes. All this evidence regards the Aegean connexions of the Philistines. The overall survey is by far a literary one and it covers Greek, Jewish, Egyptian, Ugaritic, Hittite and Latin (the latter in a- very minor, only supplementary scale) literary records, the archaeological evidence only furnishing the hitherto traditional knowledge of the Aegean-1ooking Philistine culture. This study discloses, for the first time, any aspect in Greek historians as well as Manethos; and Josephus' writings, pointing to a possible connexion of the Aegean Late Bronze Age cultures with the Philistines end there is, also for the first time, a suggestion that a possible Dorian connexion is to be detected in that biblical tribe. The method of comparative investigation is employed through various juxtapositions, whenever possible. This treatise argues for the Philistines having come from the Aegean area end for a strong tribal connexion between them and Aegean Late Bronze Age cultures. It also argues that they may well have come from Crete but not necessarily originated there. It proposes an Aegean route of the Philistines to the Levant, suggesting an island-hopping course, and finally a possible setting up of a league of the Aegean-borne contingent with another following an inland southward course, through Near-eastern states, having started off from Anatolia