PHILISTINES

"One of the surest signs of the Philistine is his reverence for the superior tastes of those who put him down."

 ~(Pauline Kael)~ 

The Philistines were a people described in the Hebrew Bible, said to have ruled the five city-states (the "Philistine Pentapolis") of Gaza, Ashkelon, Ashdod, Ekronand Gath, from Wadi Gaza in the south to the Yarqon River in the north, but with no fixed border to the east. The Bible portrays them as among the Kingdom of Israel's most dangerous enemies.

Since 1822, scholars have connected the Biblical Philistines with the Egyptian "Peleset" inscriptions, and since 1873, they have both been connected with the Aegean "Pelasgians". Whilst the evidence for these connections is etymological and has been disputed, this identification is held by the majority of egyptologists and biblical archaeologists.

Biblical archaeology has focused since inception on identifying archaeological evidence for the Philistines. According to Israel Finkelstein, archaeological research to date has been unable to corroborate a mass settlement of Philistines during the Ramesses III era.

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phil·is·tine

  

[fil-uh-steen]

noun

1.

( sometimes initial capital letter ) a person who is lacking in or hostile or smugly indifferent to cultural values, intellectual pursuits, aesthetic refinement, etc., or is contentedly 

commonplace in ideas and tastes.

2.

( initial capital letter ) a native or inhabitant of ancient Philistia.

adjective

3.

( sometimes initial capital letter ) lacking in or hostile to culture.

4.

smugly commonplace or conventional.

5.

( initial capital letter ) of or belonging to the ancient Philistines.