Posted on 10/03/2018 2:50:52 AM PDT by SunkenCiv
While uncovering an impressive destruction level dating to the second half of the ninth century B.C.E., when Gath was the largest of the five cities of the Philistines and perhaps the largest city in the Land of Israel during the Iron Age, excavators found an exceptionally well preserved horned altar reminiscent of the Israelite horned altars described in the Bible (Exodus 27:12; 1 Kings 1:50)...
But why does this altar have only two horns, when we know from the Bible and excavated examples that the altars of both the Israelites and, later, the Philistines, typically had four horns?
The fact that the Tell es-Safi/Gath horned altar has only two horns may have to do with the cultural origins of the Philistines. As Louise Hitchcock, senior staff member of the Tell es-Safi/Gath excavations, has suggested, the very motif of the horned altar in the Levant may have been influenced by earlier Minoan horns of consecration, symbolic representations of the horns of the sacred bull in Minoan culture. In fact, there is an altar from the Late Bronze Age site of Myrtous Pigadhes in Cyprus that also has only two horns. The unique horned altar from Tell es-Safi/Gath, the earliest stone altar ever found from the land of the Philistines, may be another indication of the Aegean influences on early Philistine culture and quite possibly a hint to their origins.
(Excerpt) Read more at biblicalarchaeology.org ...
Seems that there is no agreement on exactly what Caphtor corresponds to.
wiki:
“Traditional sources placed Caphtor in the region of Pelusium, though modern sources tend to associate it with localities such as Cilicia, Cyprus, or Crete.”
“From the 18th century onwards commentators attempted several identifications of Caphtor which increasingly disregarded the traditional identification as an Egyptian coastal locality in the vicinity of Pelusium. These included identification with Coptus, Colchis, Cyprus, Cappadocia in Asia Minor, Cilicia, and Crete.”
I've always assumed that my Scottish ancestors had to lam. :^)
CaphtorIf Caphtor is not Cyprus, then the Old Testament completely omits reference to this large island close to the Syrian coast. The phonetics of the name also point to Cyprus. Separately I show that Tarshish was the name of Crete.
by Immanuel Velikovsky
(similar idea expressed in Ages In Chaos on p 201 in footnote)
Not sure that Immanuel Velikovsky is regarded as an authoritative source. But he is entertaining and I think Catastrophism has merit.
I don't look for names when it comes to appeals to authority, I look at the ideas. Been doing that for nearly 50 years when it comes to Dr. V. If you've got some criticism of what he wrote there, bring it, I'd love to see it, but otherwise it's the only sensible conclusion ever made about where Capthor was. The Egyptians called them the Keftiu, and an Egyptian image of the Keftiu show them carrying the oxhide ingots characteristic of Cyprus' copper trade. All the other "may be here, may be there" arguments are and have been simple speculation.
AFAIK Kittim is the OT Hebrew word for Cyprus.
Nope, it referred to, among other things, a city on the north coast of Cyprus (for a while), the Greeks, the Seleucids, the Ptolemies, and the Romans, more generally to Gentiles.
Aye. Accept that you are not only wrong. You are so wrong that you don't even know how wrong you are.
No, they were Minoans who fled when Thera blew up. Blew up real good.
IOW, no again, because nowhere does the OT claim that the Philstines came from Thera or Crete. And the Bible is literally the only reason anyone ever heard of the bastards.
In addition, there was no supereruption of Thera in historical times; but even if one claims that there was, the chronology doesn't fit either the downfall of the Minoans, or the sudden appearance of the Philistines. IOW, no again.
You think they were survivors?
I thought the idea that the Philistines were possibly from Crete was an old one.
It is, but it is based on the fallacious idea that Caphtor is Crete. Caphtor is Cyprus. Tarshish is Crete.
Photo source
https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium-why-are-palestinians-called-palestinians-1.5414906
Sorry; couldn't make an anchor work.
Thanks!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.