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Posted on 05/17/2026 11:20:49 AM PDT by nickcarraway
Historically, several different nations lived in Ancient Palestine. The most famous of these are undoubtedly the Israelites, due to their rich history as described in the Bible. However, they are not the only nation that lived in the region in ancient times.
Where was Ancient Palestine?
Modern-day Palestine does not have the same boundaries as Ancient Palestine. Historically, starting with the Greeks, the term “Palestine” has been applied to the entire region that is now modern-day Israel and the State of Palestine. The ancient use of the word even applied to some of the lands east of the Jordan River rather than just the territory to the west of it.
To the north of Ancient Palestine was Phoenicia, the land of the sea-faring Phoenicians. To the southwest was Egypt. Directly south of that was the land of the Edomites. To the east and southeast were the Arabian tribes. Historians usually refer to the land of Ancient Palestine as “Canaan” when discussing the Bronze Age.
The Israelites
The nation most famously associated with Ancient Palestine are the Israelites. Their descendants, modern-day Israelis, continue to reside there to this day. The Ancient Israelites dominated the region from the Late Bronze Age through to the early Roman Empire. There were famously twelve tribes of Israel, including the priestly tribe of Levites.
The Israelites were distinct from most other nations of the ancient world in that they practiced monotheism. Rather than worshipping a whole pantheon of deities, they worshipped only one God whom they referred to as “Yahweh” (commonly rendered “Jehovah” in English).
Grecian Delight supports Greece The Israelites appeared in the region by at least the 15th century BC, going by the apparent reference to them on the Berlin Pedestal. Indeed, the Bible places their arrival in Ancient Palestine in that very century. At that time, it went by the name of “Canaan.”
Initially, the Israelites were a nomadic people. By the eleventh century BC, there is evidence that a monarchy had formed. This monarchy soon split into two separate kingdoms. Eventually, both kingdoms were destroyed by the Assyrians and the Babylonians. However, the Israelites continued to live in Ancient Palestine under foreign domination, first under the Persians, then the Greeks, and finally the Romans.
The Canaanites
The Bronze Age name of the region, “Canaan,” reveals that the Israelites were not the first to live in Ancient Palestine. Prior to them, the people of that region were the Canaanites. They spoke a Semitic language, very similar to that spoken by the Israelites.
Unlike the Israelites, there was never a single kingdom ruling over all of the Canaanites. Rather, Ancient Palestine at that time was quite similar to Greece. It was divided into numerous city-states. One of the most powerful during the Late Bronze Age was Hazor. However, there were many others.
The Canaanites filled Ancient Palestine with the worship of various Semitic gods, but their main god was Baal. In fact, Baal was not a single god. This was a title which several different gods used. One of the main Baals was Hadad. Another prominent Baal was Melqart, the son of Hadad.
In the Late Bronze Age, the Israelites gradually conquered Ancient Palestine, taking over from the Canaanites. The Canaanites were thereafter restricted to the north to the territory known to the Greeks as Phoenicia. This was essentially equivalent to modern-day Lebanon.
Philistines
Another prominent nation that lived in Ancient Palestine were the Philistines. Palestine got its name from them. The Philistines lived on the Mediterranean coast from the border of Egypt to partway along the length of Canaan and were divided into four or five main city-states.
Unlike the Israelites and Canaanites, they did not originally speak a Semitic language. Evidence from Philistine words found in the Bible, as well as personal names in the Bible and on ancient inscriptions, indicate that they originally spoke an Indo-European language. In particular, they likely spoke a language related to Greek.
In line with that linguistic evidence, there is considerable evidence that the Philistines migrated to Ancient Palestine from the Aegean. There was a wave of arrivals in the twelfth century BC during the Sea Peoples‘ invasion of Egypt. Even prior to that, however, there is evidence that some Philistines already resided in Ancient Palestine.
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The Greeks acted like a cross between Vikings and Pirates
I nearly stopped reading right here:
“Historically, starting with the Greeks, the term “Palestine” has been applied to the entire region that is now modern-day Israel and the State of Palestine.”
There is no “state” of Palestine!!!!
If the point of the article is to try minimize any rights of the Israelis by highlighting the different populations that at one time or another inhabited Palestine, there is a modern set of factual circumstances that gives legitimacy to the Israelis.
The crowd chanting “from the river to the sea”, which means the extermination of Israel, seeks to claim that all the “Arabs” of Palestine are the only ones with any “national” rights there, that the Jews are ONLY colonists, as if none of the Arabs are. But factually that is not true. During the British Mandate of Palestine the population grew by colonists - from Jordan, Egypt, Lebanon and elsewhere, and by Jewish settlers too. I expect only a minority of “Palestinians” today can trace their ancestry to “Palestine” prior to the British Mandate of Palestine. But no matter, to the Arabs, the Jews do not belong there.
What is now known as the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra started as the Palestine Symphony Orchestra. It's only more recently that "Palestine" was considered exclusively Arab/Muslim.
Palestine used to be used interchangeably with Israel.
Then the Left used “Palestine” to the exclusion of “Israel”
The left is very good at using language to control. And “conservatives” usually fall for it hook, line, and sinker.
The once named Palestine Symphony Orchestra was:
Founded in 1936 by Polish violinist Bronisław Huberman, as the Palestine Symphony Orchestra and was to provide a safe haven for displaced Jewish musicians fleeing Nazi persecution in Europe.
I seriously doubt any Arab “Palestinians” were part of it. Playing European classical music did not fit their culture.
And most of the time when the term Palestine was used it included lands in the area that cover more than merely what is now Israel.
Palestine was for a very long time an area and not a state itself.
Uh, yeah. Show us where it was.
Palestine then was under British rule, and that’s what it was called.
That’s my point. Today people use Palestine to mean exclusively alleged Arabs, and exclusively Muslims. But that is a recent innovation.
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I thought Hadrian coined the term ‘Palestine’ from the ancient enemy of Israel, the Philistines...............
The 1917 Balfour Declaration establishing Israel pledged
British support for a “national home for the Jewish people”.
It stipulated this should occur
<><>without prejudice
<><>a. to the civil/religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine, or ........
<><>b. the rights of Jews in other countries.
The Romans named it Palestinia. It was to humiliate the Jewish people.
I thought it originated from Egyptian.
No, I believe the entire proper chant goes, “From the River Euphrates to the sea, Solomon’s Kingdom again will be.” I think we learned it that way in Vacation Bible School.
Modern-day Palestine does not have the same boundaries as Ancient Palestine? There is no modern day Palestine. Hadrian named the country of Israel as “Syriana Palestina”, and that is where the name came from. Now the Greeks controlled the area called the Levant, in the lands conquered by Alexander the Great, but the Israelites reclaimed the land in 160 Bce during the Maccabean Revolt. It was not referred to as the area of ‘Palestine’ until Hadrian called it part of the Roman Syrian Province in 132 AD.
And no sources from the ancient world clearly defined the boundaries.
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