Page "Philistines" Paragraph 1

The Philistines (,,, or ;, Plištim ), Pleshet or Peleset, were a people who as part of the Sea peoples appeared in the southern coastal area of Canaan at the beginning of the Iron Age ( circa 1175 BC ), most probably from the Aegean region.

According to the Bible, they ruled the five city-states ( the " Philistine Pentapolis ") of Gaza, Askelon, Ashdod, Ekron and Gath, from the Wadi Gaza in the south to the Yarqon River in the north, but with no fixed border to the east.

The Bible paints them as the Kingdom of Israel's most dangerous enemy.

Originating somewhere in the Aegean, their population was around 25, 000 in the 12th century BC, rising to a peak of 30, 000 in the 11th century BC, of which the Aegean element was not more than half the total, and perhaps much less.