This article presents a list of notable historical references to the name Palestine as a place name for the region of Palestine throughout history. This includes uses of the localized inflections in various languages, such as Arabic Filasṭīn and Latin Palaestina.
A possible predecessor term, Peleset , is found in five inscriptions referring to a neighboring people, starting from c. 1150 BCE during the Twentieth Dynasty of Egypt. The word was transliterated from hieroglyphs as P-r-s-t.
The first known mention of Peleset is at the temple of Ramesses in Medinet Habu, which refers to the Peleset among those who fought against Egypt during Ramesses III's reign, [2] and the last known is 300 years later on Padiiset's Statue. The Assyrians called the same region "Palashtu/Palastu" or "Pilistu," beginning with Adad-nirari III in the Nimrud Slab in c. 800 BCE through to an Esarhaddon treaty more than a century later. [3] [4] Neither the Egyptian nor the Assyrian sources provided clear regional boundaries for the term. [5] Whilst these inscriptions are often identified with the Biblical Pəlīštīm, i.e. Philistines, [6] the word means different things in different parts of the Bible. [7] [8] The 10 uses in the Torah have undefined boundaries and no meaningful description, and the usage in two later books describing coastal cities in conflict with the Israelites – where the Septuagint instead uses the term "allophuloi" (Αλλόφυλοι, "other nations") – has been interpreted to mean "non-Israelites of the Promised Land". [9] [10]
The term Palestine first appeared in the 5th century BCE when the ancient Greek historian Herodotus wrote of a "district of Syria, called Palaistinê" between Phoenicia and Egypt in The Histories . [11] Herodotus provides the first historical reference clearly denoting a wider region than biblical Philistia, as he applied the term to both the coastal and the inland regions such as the Judean Mountains and the Jordan Rift Valley. [12] [13] [14] [15] Later Greek writers such as Aristotle, Polemon and Pausanias also used the word, which was followed by Roman writers such as Ovid, Tibullus, Pomponius Mela, Pliny the Elder, Dio Chrysostom, Statius, Plutarch as well as Roman Judean writers Philo of Alexandria and Josephus. [16] There is no evidence of the name on any Hellenistic coin or inscription. [17]
In the early 2nd century CE, the Roman province called Judaea was renamed Syria Palaestina [a] (literally, "Palestinian Syria"), and also incorporated some other, smaller, territories. [18] [19] This may have occurred either before or after the suppression of the Bar Kokhba revolt in 135. [20] [21] [22] [23]
Around the year 390, during the Byzantine period, the imperial province of Syria Palaestina was reorganized into Palaestina Prima, Palaestina Secunda [24] and Palaestina Salutaris. [24] Following the Muslim conquest, place names that were in use by the Byzantine administration generally continued to be used in Arabic, [3] [25] and the Jund Filastin became one of the military districts within the Umayyad and Abbasid province of Bilad al-Sham. [26]
The use of the name "Palestine" became common in Early Modern English, [27] and was used in English and Arabic during the Mutasarrifate of Jerusalem. The term is recorded widely in print as a self-identification by Palestinians from the start of the 20th century onwards, [28] coinciding with the period when the printing press first came into use by Palestinians. [29] In the 20th century the name was used by the British to refer to "Mandatory Palestine," a territory from the former Ottoman Empire which had been divided in the Sykes–Picot Agreement and secured by Britain via the Mandate for Palestine obtained from the League of Nations. [30] Starting from 2013, the term was officially used in the eponymous "State of Palestine." [31] Both incorporated geographic regions from the land commonly known as Palestine, into a new state whose territory was named Palestine.
The English term "Palestine" itself is borrowed from Latin Palaestīna, [32] which is, in turn, borrowed from Ancient Greek Παλαιστῑ́νη, Palaistī́nē, used by Herodotus in the 5th century BCE. [11] [33] Per Martin Noth, while the term in Greek likely originated from an Aramaic loanword, its Greek form showed clear derivation from παλαιστής, palaistês, the Greek noun meaning "wrestler/rival/adversary". [34] David Jacobson noted the significance of wrestlers in Greek culture, and further speculated that Palaistinê was meant as both a transliteration of the Greek word for "Philistia" and a direct translation of the Hebrew name "Israel" – as the traditional etymology of which also relates to wrestling, and in line with the Greek penchant for punning transliterations of foreign place names. [35] [36]
Whilst the term was used in Egyptian and Assyrian times, prior to the time period in which the Bible is thought to have been written, scholars generally conclude that the term is cognate with the Biblical Hebrew פְּלִשְׁתִּיםPəlīštīm. [37] [38] [39] The further etymology is uncertain; it is unknown whether the term was an endonym or exonym, no word for Philistia has been found in the sparse attestations of the Philistine language, and it is unknown whether the Hebrew, Egyptian, and Assyrian terms derived from a common source, or if they simply borrowed the name from one another and changed it to match their own phonological customs.
In English versions of the Bible, Pəlīštīm is translated as "Philistines"; however, it is thought that the word means different things in different parts of the Bible. The word and its derivates are used more than 250 times in Masoretic-derived versions of the Hebrew Bible, [40] [41] of which 10 uses are in the Torah (the first use being in Genesis 10, in the Generations of Noah), [42] with undefined boundaries and no meaningful description, and almost 200 of the remaining references are in the later Book of Judges and the Books of Samuel that contain the well known biblical story of a coastal state in conflict with the Israelites. [3] [16] [43]
By the time the Septuagint (LXX) was translated, the term Palaistínē (Παλαιστίνη), first popularized in written form by Herodotus, had already entered the Greek vocabulary. However, the term was not used in the LXX to describe Philistia. Instead, the term Land of the Phylistieim (Γη των Φυλιστιειμ) is used from the books of Genesis through Joshua. [8] [44] The Septuagint later uses the alternate term "allophiloi" (Αλλόφυλοι, "other nations") from the Books of Judges onward, [7] [9] such that post-Judges invocation of "Philistines" in Septuagint-based translations have been interpreted to mean "non-Israelites of the Promised Land" when used in the context of Samson, Saul and David. [10] Rabbinic sources explain that these peoples were different from the Philistines of the Book of Genesis. [7]
Writers during this period also used the term Palestine to refer to the entire region between Syria and Egypt, with numerous references to the Jewish areas within Palestine. [76] [77] It has been contended that some first century authors associated the term with the southern coastal region. [78] [79]
⟨1650⟩
⟨1750⟩
⟨1850⟩
⟨1900⟩
The five books of the Pentateuch / Torah include a total of 10 references, including: [426] [41]
The Historical books (see Deuteronomistic history) include over 250 references, almost 200 of which are in the Book of Judges and the Books of Samuel, including: [426] [41]
Wisdom books include only 6 references, all in the Psalms, including: [426] [41]
Books of the Major prophets and Minor prophets include around 20 references, including: [426] [41]
a. †Coele-Syria
Nomenclatures of Syria given by Strabo [429] | ||
---|---|---|
Primary | Cœlê-Syria & Seleucis-Syria & Phœnicia &c. &c. | Cœlê-Syria ≠ Cœlo-Syrians |
Alternate | Cœlo-Syrians & Syrians & Phœnicians | Similar to nomenclature given by Herodotus |
b. †Syria Palaestina
c. †Achaemenid Empire
Darius, Behistun (521 BCE) | Herodotus, Histories 3.90-94 (Tribute list) | Darius, Naqš-i Rustam (492 BCE?) | Herodotus, Histories 7.61-96 (Army list) (480/481 BCE) | Xerxes, XPh (daiva inscription) | Arrian, Anabasis (on history of the 4th century BCE) |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Cappadocia | district III/c: Syrians, Phrygians | Cappadocia | Syrians (= Cappadocians) | Cappadocia | Cappadocia |
district IV: Cilicians | Cilicia | Cilicia | |||
Beyond the river | district V: Phoenicia; Palestina; Cyprus | Phoenicia; Palestina; Cyprus | Syria; Palestina | ||
Egypt | district VI/a: Egypt | Egypt | Egypt | Egypt | Egypt |
Palestinians are an Arab ethnonational group native to the region of Palestine.
Palestine, officially the State of Palestine, is a country in West Asia.
Syria Palaestina was the renamed Roman province formerly known as Judaea, following the Roman suppression of the Bar Kokhba revolt, in what then became known as the Palestine region between the early 2nd and late 4th centuries AD. The provincial capital was Caesarea Maritima. It forms part of timeline of the period in the region referred to as Roman Palestine.
Bilad al-Sham, often referred to as Islamic Syria or simply Syria in English-language sources, was a province of the Rashidun, Umayyad, Abbasid, and Fatimid caliphates. It roughly corresponded with the Byzantine Diocese of the East, conquered by the Muslims in 634–647. Under the Umayyads (661–750), Bilad al-Sham was the metropolitan province of the Caliphate and different localities throughout the province served as the seats of the Umayyad caliphs and princes.
Over recorded history, there have been many names of the Levant, a large area in the Near East, or its constituent parts. These names have applied to a part or the whole of the Levant. On occasion, two or more of these names have been used at the same time by different cultures or sects. As a natural result, some of the names of the Levant are highly politically charged. Perhaps the least politicized name is Levant itself, which simply means "where the sun rises" or "where the land rises out of the sea", a meaning attributed to the region's easterly location on the shore of the Mediterranean Sea.
The population of the region of Palestine, which approximately corresponds to modern Israel and the Palestinian territories, has varied in both size and ethnic composition throughout the history of Palestine.
The region of Palestine, also known as historic Palestine, is a geographical area in West Asia. It includes modern-day Israel and Palestine, as well as parts of northwestern Jordan in some definitions. Other names for the region include Canaan, the Promised Land, the Land of Israel, or the Holy Land.
Judaea was a Roman province from 6 to 132 CE, which at its height incorporated the Levantine regions of Judea, Idumea, Samaria, and Galilee, and parts of the costal plain including Philistia, extending over the territories of the Hasmonean and Herodian kingdoms. The name Judaea was derived from the Iron Age Kingdom of Judah, that was centered predominantly in Judea.
Coele-Syria was a region of Syria in classical antiquity. The term originally referred to the "hollow" Beqaa Valley between the Lebanon and the Anti-Lebanon mountain ranges, but sometimes it was applied to a broader area of the region of Syria. The area is now part of modern-day Syria and Lebanon.
Palestinian Jews or Jewish Palestinians were the Jews who inhabited Palestine prior to the Declaration of the Establishment of the State of Israel on 14 May 1948.
Bayt Jibrin or Beit Jibrin was an Arab village in the Hebron Subdistrict of British Mandatory Palestine, in what is today the State of Israel, which was depopulated during the 1948 Arab–Israeli War. It was preceded by the Iron Age Judahite city of Maresha, the later Hellenistic Marissa, located slightly south of Beit Jibrin's built-up area; and the Roman and Byzantine city of Beth Gabra, known from the Talmud as Beit Guvrin, renamed Eleutheropolis after 200 CE. After the 7th-century Arab conquest of the Levant, the Arabic name of Beit Jibrin was used for the first time, followed by the Crusaders' Bethgibelin, given to a Frankish colony established around a Hospitaller castle. After the Muslim reconquest the Arab village of Beit Jibrin was reestablished.
Ga'aton is a kibbutz in northern Israel. Located in the western Galilee, it falls under the jurisdiction of Mateh Asher Regional Council. In 2022 it had a population of 725.
Situated between three continents, the region of Palestine has a tumultuous history as a crossroads for religion, culture, commerce, and politics. The region was among the earliest to see human habitation, agricultural communities and civilization. In the Bronze Age, the Canaanites established city-states influenced by surrounding civilizations, among them Egypt, which ruled the area in the Late Bronze Age. During the Iron Age, two related Israelite kingdoms, Israel and Judah, controlled much of Palestine, while the Philistines occupied its southern coast. The Assyrians conquered the region in the 8th century BCE, then the Babylonians in c. 601 BCE, followed by the Persians who conquered the Babylonian Empire in 539 BCE. Alexander the Great conquered the Persian Empire in the late 330s BCE, beginning Hellenization.
Judea or Judaea is a mountainous region of the Levant. Traditionally dominated by the city of Jerusalem, it is now part of Palestine and Israel. The name's usage is historic, having been used in antiquity and still into the present day; it originates from Yehudah, a Hebrew name. Yehudah was a son of Jacob, who was later given the name "Israel" and whose sons collectively headed the Twelve Tribes of Israel. Yehudah's progeny among the Israelites formed the Tribe of Judah, with whom the Kingdom of Judah is associated. Related nomenclature continued to be used under the rule of the Babylonians, the Persians, the Greeks, and the Romans. Under the Hasmoneans, the Herodians, and the Romans, the term was applied to an area larger than Judea of earlier periods. In 132 CE, the Roman province of Judaea was merged with Galilee to form the enlarged province of Syria Palaestina.
Benjamin of Tiberias was a man of immense wealth, who enlisted and armed many soldiers during the Jewish revolt against Heraclius in the 7th century Palaestina province of the Byzantine Empire. The Persian force was joined by Benjamin of Tiberias, who enlisted and armed Jewish soldiers from Tiberias, Nazareth and the mountain cities of Galilee. Together they marched on Jerusalem. Later, they were joined by the Jews of the southern parts of the country; and supported by a band of Arabs, the united forces took Jerusalem in 614 CE. Benjamin was one of the leaders of the revolt, actively participating in the Persian siege and capture of Jerusalem in 614. It is thought that the second leader Nehemiah ben Hushiel was appointed as ruler of Jerusalem.
Syria, also known as Greater Syria or Syria-Palestine, is a historical region located east of the Mediterranean Sea in West Asia, broadly synonymous with the Levant. The region boundaries have changed throughout history. However, in modern times, the term "Syria" alone is used to refer to the Syrian Arab Republic.
The following is a timeline of the history of Jaffa.
Travelogues of Palestine are the written descriptions of the region of Palestine by travellers, particularly prior to the 20th century. The works are important sources in the study of the history of Palestine and of Israel. Surveys of the geographical literature on Palestine were published by Edward Robinson in 1841, Titus Tobler in 1867 and subsequently by Reinhold Röhricht in 1890. Röhricht catalogued 177 works between 333 and 1300 CE, 19 works in the 14th century, 279 works in the 15th century, 333 works in the 16th century, 390 works in the 17th century, 318 works in the 18th century and 1,915 works in the 19th century.
Catholic dioceses in the Holy Land and Cyprus is a multi-rite, international episcopate in Israel and Cyprus.
This article presents a timeline of the name Judea through an incomplete list of notable historical references to the name through the various time periods of the region.
Rabbinic sources insist that the Philistines of Judges and Samuel were different people altogether from the Philistines of Genesis. (Midrash Tehillim on Psalm 60 (Braude: vol. 1, 513); the issue here is precisely whether Israel should have been obliged, later, to keep the Genesis treaty.) This parallels a shift in the Septuagint's translation of Hebrew pelistim. Before Judges, it uses the neutral transliteration phulistiim, but beginning with Judges it switches to the pejorative allophuloi. [To be precise, Codex Alexandrinus starts using the new translation at the beginning of Judges and uses it invariably thereafter, Vaticanus likewise switches at the beginning of Judges, but reverts to phulistiim on six occasions later in Judges, the last of which is 14:2.]
Nevertheless, it is important to note that despite its appearance in various literary texts of and pertaining to the Hellenistic period, the term "Palestine" is not found on any extant Hellenistic coin or inscription. In other words, there is no attestation for its use in an official context in the Hellenistic period. Even in the early Roman period its use was not especially widespread. For example, Philo and Josephus generally used "Judaea" rather than "Palestine" to refer to the area.48 Furthermore, "Palestine" is nowhere attested in the New Testament. "Palestine" did not come into official use until the early second century a.d., when the emperor Hadrian decided to rename the province of Judaea; for its new name he chose "Syria Palaestina."49 The new name took hold. It is found thereafter in inscriptions, on coins, and in numerous literary texts.50 Thus Arrian (7.9.8, Indica 43.1) and Appian (Syr. 50), who lived in the second century a.d., and Cassius Dio (e.g., 38.38.4, 39.56.6), who lived in the third, referred to the region as "Palestine." And in the rabbinic literature "Palestine" was used as the name of the Roman province adjacent to Phoenicia and Arabia (e.g., Bereshith Rabbah 90.6)
After the Bar Kokhba war, in the reign of Hadrian, the Roman province of Judaea was re-named Syria-Palaestina. Thus an appellation referring to an ethnic element associated with Jews was replaced by the purely geographic one: Syria-Palaestina.
In the aftermath of the Bar Cochba Revolt, the Romans excluded Jews from a large area around Aelia Capitolina, which Gentiles only inhabited. The province now hosted two legions and many auxiliary units, two colonies, and--to complete the disassociation with Judaea--a new name, Syria Palaestina.
It should be remembered that Syria is always regarded by Herodotus as synonymous with Assyria. What the Greeks called Palestine the Arabs call Falastin, which is the Philistines of Scripture.(tr. from Greek, with notes)
The name Palestine has its origin in the Hebrew Peleshet, first mentioned in the Bible (Exodus 15:14) in reference to the land of the Pelishtim, or Philistines, one group of the Sea Peoples that invaded the region during the early biblical period.
Book 1, Ch.105: From there they marched against Egypt: and when they were in the part of Syria called Palestine, Psammetichus king of Egypt met them and persuaded them with gifts and prayers to come no further. So they turned back, and when they came on their way to the city of Ascalon in Syria, most of the Scythians passed by and did no harm, but a few remained behind and plundered the temple of Heavenly Aphrodite.
Book 3, Ch.5: Now the only apparent way of entry into Egypt is this. The road runs from Phoenicia as far as the borders of the city of Cadytis, which belongs to the so-called Syrians of Palestine. From Cadytis (which, as I judge, is a city not much smaller than Sardis) to the city of Ienysus the seaports belong to the Arabians; then they are Syrian again from Ienysus as far as the Serbonian marsh, beside which the Casian promontory stretches seawards;from this Serbonian marsh, where Typho is supposed to have been hidden, the country is Egypt. Now between Ienysus and the Casian mountain and the Serbonian marsh there lies a wide territory for as much as three days journey, terribly arid.
Book 7, Ch.89: The number of the triremes was twelve hundred and seven, and they were furnished by the following: the Phoenicians with the Syrians of Palestine furnished three hundred; for their equipment, they had on their heads helmets very close to the Greek in style; they wore linen breastplates, and carried shields without rims, and javelins.These Phoenicians formerly dwelt, as they themselves say, by the Red Sea; they crossed from there and now inhabit the seacoast of Syria. This part of Syria as far as Egypt is all called Palestine.
Polemon, &c.] He seems to have lived in the Time of Ptolemy Epiphanes ; concerning which, see that very useful Book of the famous Gerrard Vossius , of the Greek Historians. Africanus says, the Greek Histories were wrote by him; which is the same Book Athenæus calls, ???. His Words are these: "In the Reign of Apis the Son of Phoroneus, Part of the Egyptian Army went out of Egypt, and dwelt in Syria called Palestine, not far from Arabia." As Africanus preserved the Place of Polemon , so Eusebius in his Chronology preserved that of Africanus.
The mariner passing by this country of palms, arrives at an island near to a promontory of the continent, which is called the Island of Sea-calves, from the great multitudes of those creatures that frequent this place. The sea here so abounds with them that it is to the admiration of the beholders. The promontory that shoots out towards this island lies over against Petra in Arabia and Palestine. It is said that the Gerrheans and Mineans bring out of the higher Arabia frankincense and other oderiferous gums into this island (Tiran Island).
Next is the island of Phocae (Seals), (Sheduan. The "Saspirene insula" of Ptolemy) which has its name from those animals, which abound there. Near it is a promontory which extends towards Petra, of the Arabians called Nabataei, and to the country of Palestine, (The meaning of Strabo seems to be, that this cape is in a direction due south of Petra and Palestine) to this [island] the Minaei, Gerrhaei, and all the neighbouring nations repair with loads of aromatics.
Josephus frequently uses the name Judaea. This name sometimes has a political significance in his writings, referring to Provincia Iudaea, created and named by the Roman administration. At other times Judaea signifies those areas of Palestine whose inhabitants are Jews, and it may also signify the area which was the biblical inheritance of Judah. Yet it seems that Josephus also uses the term to signify "the land of the Jews," indicating the territorial area of the country which, according to Josephus' ideology, belongs to the Jewish state. This sometimes conforms with the biblical utopian vision en compassing all the territory allocated to the Jews-Eretz Israel-and sometimes refers only to a part. I shall use "Judaea" to refer to this last option, unless otherwise stated. "Palestine" will be used to signify the whole region connected with the land of Israel in Josephus' time, including the coastal region, although at that time the term was restricted to the southern part of the coastal region.
Jewish writers, notably Philo and Josephus, with few exceptions refer to the land as Judaea, reserving the name Palestine for the coastal area occupied by the Philistines... Josephus also (Antiquities 1.136) refers to Palestine, but this, too, is in connection with the land of the Philistines, the immediate context being his statement that Phylistinus is the only one of the sons of Mersaeus (i.e., Mizraim) whose country has preserved the name of its founder, that is, Palaistine.
When then [Moses] he received the supreme authority, with the good will of all his subjects, God himself being the regulator and approver of all his actions, he conducted his people as a colony into Phoenicia, and into the hollow Syria (Coele-syria), and Palestine, which was at that time called the land of the Canaanites, the borders of which country were three days' journey distant from Egypt.
62. Syria holds a broad expanse of the littoral, as well as lands that extend rather broadly into the interior, and it is designated by different names in different places. For example, it is called Coele, Mesopotamia, Judaea, Commagene, and Sophene. 63. It is Palestine at the point where Syria abuts the Arabs, then Phoenicia, and then—where it reaches Cilicia—Antiochia. [...] 64. In Palestine, however, is Gaza, a mighty and well fortified city.
Syria late litora tenet, terrasque etiam latius introrsus, aliis aliisque nuncupata nominibus: nam et Coele dicitur et Mesopotamia et Damascene et Adiabene et Babylonia et Iudaea et Commagene et Sophene. Hic Palaestine est qua tangit Arabas, tum Phoenice; et ubi se Ciliciae committit Antiochia, olim ac diu potens, sed cum eam regno Semiramis tenuit longe potentissima. Operibus certe eius insignia multa sunt; duo maxime excellunt; constituta urbs mirae magnitudinis Babylon, ac siccis olim regionibus Euphrates et Tigris immissi.
Isis, ...gently with thine own hand lead the peerless youth, on whom the Latian prince hath bestowed the standards of the East and the bridling of the cohorts of Palestine, (i.e., a command on the Syrian front) through festal gate and sacred haven and the cities of thy land.
Unique and noteworthy is also the discussion in Pausanias, who mentions four: (1) the Libyan Sibyl, (2) the Herophile of Marpessos or Erythrae, i.e. from Asia Minor, who also prophesied in Delphi, (3) the Demo in Cumae and (4) the Sabbe of the Hebrews in Palestine, who was also called the Babylonian or Egyptian, i.e. the Oriental. It seems that Pausanias has noted that the traditions relating to the Sibyls suggest four different categories of prophecy, and that he has simply assigned a geographical location to each.
Pausanias (X 12.9) mentions the tradition of a Hebrew Sibyl in Palestine called Sabbe, daughter of Berossus and Erymanthe.
By the second century CE Pausanias could make specific reference to a Sibyl of the Hebrews in Palestine alongside the Erythraean, Libyan, and Cumaean Sibyls.
Pausanias concludes his list of sibyls with reference to a prophetess who was: "brought up in Palestine named Sabbe, whose father was Berosus and her mother Erymanthe. Some say she was a Babylonian, while others call her an Egyptian Sibyl.
(5) This was the course of events at that time in Palestine; for this is the name that has been given from of old to the whole country extending from Phoenicia to Egypt along the inner sea. They have also another name that they have acquired: the country has been named Judaea, and the people themselves Jews. [17] (1) I do not know how this title came to be given to them, but it applies also to all the rest of mankind, although of alien race, who affect their customs. This class exists even among the Romans, and though often repressed has increased to a very great extent and has won its way to the right of freedom in its observances.
Vespasian ruled ten years. [...] Volgeses, King of Parthia, was compelled to peace. 13. The Syria for which Palestina is the name, [143] and Cilicia, and Trachia and Commagene, which today we call Augustophratensis, were added to the provinces. Judaea, too, was added.
XIX. ...Vespasian, who had been chosen emperor in Palestine, a prince indeed of obscure birth, but worthy to be compared with the best emperors.
Sub hoc Judæa Romano accessit Imperio, & Hierosolyma, quæ fuit urbs clarissima Palestinæ. (Under him Judæa was added to the Roman Empire; and Jerusalem, which was a very famous city of Palestine.)
11. The last province of the Syrias is Palestine, a district of great extent, abounding in well-cultivated and beautiful land, and having several magnificent cities, all of equal importance, and rivalling one another as it were in parallel lines. For instance, Caesarea, which Herod built in honour of the Prince Octavianus, and Eleutheropolis, and Neapolis, and also Ascalon, and Gaza, cities built in bygone ages.
Origen produced a full-length exposition of the book of Job, as did his student, Avagrius. Fragments of Origen's commentary survive in Migne's Patrologia Graeca, under the titles, "Selecta of Job" and "Enarrationes in Job." Another Job commentary attributed to Origen and extant in a Latin translation in three books is not genuine. Early twentieth-century scholars conclusively have attributed the work, Commenttarium on Iob, to Maximinus, a fourth century Arian writer.
Steinhauser asserts that the author is Auxentius of Durostorum
Vide namque quantum sit discrimen. Illud corporalem mortem prohibebat, hoc iram sedavit, quae adversum universum terrarum orbem serebatur: illud ab AEgypto vindicavit, hoc ab idololatria liberavit: illud Pharaonem, hoc diabolum suffocavit: post illud Palastina, post hoc caelum.
In 409 we hear for the first time of the three provinces of Palestine: Palaestina Prima, Secunda and Tertia (the former Salutaris. The earliest evidence for this tripartite division is found in the Codex Theodosianus of 409)
7. Commenturii in Ezechielem, in fourteen books, written at intervals during the years A.D. 411-414, the task having been begun immediately after the commentaries upon Isaiah, but repeatedly broken off. See Prolegg. and Ep. 126 ad Marcellin. et Anapsych. (Ed. Bened. vol. iii. p. 698.)
iuda et terra israel ipsi institores tui in frumento primo; balsamum et mel et oleum et resinam proposuerunt in nundinis tuis. (lxx: iudas et filii israel isti negotiatores tui in frumenti commercio et unguentis; primum mel et oleum et resinam dederunt in nundinis tuis). uerbum hebraicum 'phanag' aquila, symmachus et theodotio ita ut apud hebraeos positum est transtulerunt, pro quo septuaginta 'unguenta', nos 'balsamum' uertimus. dicitur autem quibus terra iudaea, quae nunc appellatur palaestina, abundet copiis frumento, balsamo, melle et oleo et resina, quae a iuda et israel ad tyri nundinas deferuntur.
Quod si objeceris terram repromissionis dici, quae in Numerorum volumine continetur (Cap. 34), a meridie maris Salinarum per Sina et Cades-Barne, usque ad torrentem Aegypti, qui juxta Rhinocoruram mari magno influit; et ab occidente ipsum mare, quod Palaestinae, Phoenici, Syriae Coeles, Ciliciaeque pertenditur; ab aquilone Taurum montem et Zephyrium usque Emath, quae appellatur Epiphania Syriae; ad orientem vero per Antiochiam et lacum Cenereth, quae nunc Tiberias appellatur, et Jordanem, qui mari influit Salinarum, quod nunc Mortuum dicitur;
INTERPR. PSALMI CXXXII. Vers. 3. Sicut rus Hermonis. qui descendit in montem Sion. Rurus ad aliam similitudinem transit, concordiae utilitatem docens: et hane dixit similem es e rori, qui ab Hermon in Sionem defertur. Tantus autem hic est, ut tegulae stillas emittant. Hermon autem mons est Palaestinae, e terra: Israelis tantum non contiguus. Quoniam illic mandavit Dominus benedictionem et vitam usque in saeculum. Non in Hermone, sed in Sione. In qua vitalis ros sancti Spiritus in sacros apostolos missus fuit, per quem fideles omnes sempiternam gratiam percipiunt. ΕΡΜΗΝ. ΤΟΥ ΡΛΒʹ ΨΑΛΜΟΥ. γʹ. Ὡς δρόσος Ἀερμὼν ἡ καταβαίνουσα ἐπὶ τὰ ὄρη Σιών. Πάλιν εἰς ἑτέραν εἰκόνα μετέβη, τῆς συμφωνίας διδάσκων τὸ χρήσιμον· καὶ ταύτην ἔφη σεν ἐοικέναι τῇ δρόσῳ, τῇ ἀπὸ τοῦ Ἀερμὼν τῇ Σιὼν ἐπιφερομένῃ. Τοσαύτη δὲ αὕτη, ὡς καὶ στα γόνας τοὺς κεράμους ἐκπέμπειν. Τὸ δὲ Ἀερμὼν· ὄρος ἐστὶ, καὶ αὐτὸ τῆς Παλαιστίνης, τῇ γῇ διαφέ ρων τοῦ Ἰσραήλ. Ὅτι ἐκεῖ ἐνετείλατο Κύριος τὴν εὐλογίαν, ζωὴν ἕως τοῦ αἰῶνος. Οὐκ ἐν Ἀερμὼν, ἀλλ' ἐν τῇ Σιὼν, ἐν ᾗ καὶ τοῦ παναγίου Πνεύματος ἐπὶ τοὺς ἱεροὺς ἀποστόλους ἡ ζωοποιὸς κατεπέμφθη δρόσος, δι' ἧς ἅπαντες οἱ πιστεύοντες τὴν αἰώνιον εὐλογίαν καρποῦνται.
PSALMS. CXXXIII. A Song of the Ascents, by David. v.1 Lo, how good and how pleasant The dwelling of brethren —even together! v.2 As the good oil on the head, Coming down on the beard, the beard of Aaron, That cometh down on the skirt of his robes, v.3 As dew of Hermon —That cometh down on hills of Zion, For there Jehovah commanded the blessing —Life unto the age!
note 2. Geography is one area where Theodoret feels he has some competence. as we have seen. Perhaps he could have adverted to passages like Deut 4.48 that put Mount Hermon on Israel's northern border. An observation on geography is felt pertinent by him —but nothing of a general nature on the value of harmony in the Christian community from the psalm, which has much to offer on the theme.
Palestinian monk Antiochus Strategos of Mar Saba. in his Capture of Jerusalem, the Georgian text of which fills 66 large octavo pages of 33 lines each. Strategos devoted particular attention to the massacre perpetrated by the Jews in "the reservoir of Mamel" (Abrahamson et al., p. 55, The Persian conquest of Jerusalem in 614 compared with Islamic conquest of 638)
the emperor Heraclius, on his way to Jerusalem, promised his protection to the Jews of Palestine. (Abu Salih the Armenian, Abu al-Makarim, ed. Evetts 1895, p. 39, Part 7 of Anecdota Oxoniensia: Semitic series Anecdota oxoniensia. Semitic series--pt. VII) (Abu Salih the Armenian was just the Book's owner, the author is actually Abu al-Makarim.)
Since Muhammad was a helpless orphan, he thought it good to go to a rich woman named Khadija ...to manage her camels and conduct her business in Egypt and Palestine... When he [Muhammad] went to Palestine he lived with both Jews and Christians, and hunted for certain writings among them.
(Pocoke, Annals) from this (Migne 1863, Patrlogie, Series Graeca iii.)
CHAPTER II: ADVERSITIES OF THE CHURCH.: 1 Persecutions of the Christians.: ...The Christians suffered less in this than in the preceding centuries. ...In the East especially in Syria and Palestine the Jews sometimes rose upon the Christians with great violence (Eutyrhius, Annales tom ii., p. 236, &c. Jo. Henr. Hottinger, Historia Orientalis, lib. i., c. id., p. 129, &c.) yet so unsuccessfully as to suffer severely for their temerity. (Mosheim 1847, p. 426)
At the beginning of the caliphate [of Umar] George was appointed patriarch of Alexandria. He remained four years in possession of the see. Then when he heard that the Muslims had conquered the Romans, and had vanquished Palestine, and were advancing upon Egypt, he took ship and fled from Alexandria to Constantinople; and after his time the see of Alexandria remained without a Melkite patriarch for-ninety seven years. (Abu al-Makarim 1895, p. 73)
He spent that and the following year betwixt London and Waltham employing some engravers to adorn his copious prospect or view of the Holy Land as from Mount Pisgah therefore called his Pisgah sight of Palestine and the confines thereof with the history of the Old and New Testament acted thereon which he published in 1650 It is a handsome folio embellished with a frontispiece and many other copper plates and divided into five books.
XI. Palestina lacus tres sunt, è quibus duo posteriores natissimi sum historia sacra (11. Palestine has three lakes, the later two of these I relate to Biblical history)
Acre est une ville de Palestine située au bord de la mer, elle s'appelloit anciennement Acco.
Hitherto of Places, now follows an account of the Persons concerned in the Church-History of Palestine. (Milner 1688, p. 19)
Jerusalem, Hierosolyma, the Capital City of Palestine, and for a long time of the whole Earth; taken notice of by Pliny, Strabo, and many of the Ancients. (Bohun 1688, p. 353 )
This Country ...is term'd by the Italians and Spaniards, Palestina; by the French, Palestine; by the Germans Palestinen, or das Gelobte Land; by the English, Palestine, or the Holy Land. (Gordon 1704, p. 290)
Geography Anatomiz d or the Geographical Grammar by Patrick Gordon MA FRS ...In some old catalogues of books in our possession we observe that editions of it were issued in 1693 and in 1722
p:169 On a déja eu occasion de parler des divers noms, que portoit autrefois la Terre d Israël, ,,,Ici nous désignerons sous le nom de Palestine qui est le plus commun. (We previously spoke of the various names for the Land of Israel, ...Now we will refer to the Land of Israel by the name of Palestine which is the most common)
That the Philistines who were of Mizraim's family, were the first planters of Crete. ...I observe that in the Scripture language the Philistines are call'd Cerethites, Sam. xxx. 14, 16. Ezek. xxv. 16. Zeph. ii. 5. And in the two last of these places the Septuagint translates that word Cretes. The name signifies archers, men that in war were noted for skill in using bows and arrows. ...[I] believe that both the people and the religion, (which commonly go together) settled in Crete, came from these Philistines who are originally of Ægyptian race.
Jerusalem, Palestine, Asia – Latitude 32 44 N – Longitude 35 15 E
I shall henceforwards, without Regard to geographical Niceties and Criticisms, consider myself as in the Holy Land, Palestine or Judea; which Names I find used indifferently, though perhaps with some Impropriety, to signify the same Country.
p.389 The Jews of Jerusalem are divided into three sects, the Karaites, who adhere to the letter of the Scripture, without admitting any comments, or glosses; the Rabbinists, who receive for indubitable truths, all the comments and traditions so well known in the world, and are hence much more superstitious than the former; the third are the Askenites, who come from Germany, and are known among their brethren by the name of new converts; not being descended from the twelve tribes. [...] p.390 Besides these three sects, there is in the country of Palestine a fourth sort of Jews, but sworn enemies to the others, I mean the Samaritans; these have frequently endeavoured by the arts of bribery to obtain the privilege of living in Jerusalem, and in order to accomplish this design, have lavished away above five hundred purses.
225 A.C. Judæis in Palæstina degere permissum.
How Judæa came to be called also Phœnice, or Phœnicia, we have already shewn in the history of that nation. At present, the name of Palestine is that which has most prevailed among the Christian doctors, Mahommedan and other writers. (See Reland Palestin. illustrat.)
The Philistines, indeed, are frequently noticed in sacred history, as men very skilful in the use of the bow. And to this ancient people, who appear to have been a very warlike nation, the invention of the bow and arrow has been ascribed. Universal Hist. (anc. part) vol. 2. p. 220.
Females of distinction in Palestine, and even in Mesopotamia, are not only beautiful and well-shaped, but, in consequence of being always kept from the rays of the sun, are very fair.
†Berghaus, Map = Heinrich Berghaus, Karte von Syrien, den Manen Jacotin's und Burckhardt's gewidmet (Berghaus' Atlas von Asien, 5), Gotha: Justus Perthes, 1835. — ‡Berghaus, Memoir = Heinrich Berghaus, Geographisches Memoir zur Erklärung und Erläuterung der Karte von Syrien (No. 5. von Berghaus' Atlas von Asia), Gotha: Justus Perthes, 1835.
But ever since 1832, when Mehemet Ali took possession of Syria, there has been a remarkable flocking of the Jews to Palestine. The precise number of them at present in the Holy Land is estimated to amount to about 40,000.
Sous le nom de Palestine, nous comprenons le petit pays habité autrefois par les Israélites, et qui aujourd'hui fait partie des pachalics d'Acre et de Damas. Il s'étendait entre le 31 et 33° degré latitude N. et entre le 32 et 35° degré longitude E., sur une superficie d'environ 1300 lieues carrées. Quelques écrivains jaloux de donner au pays des Hébreux une certaine importance politique, ont exagéré l'étendue de la Palestine; mais nous avons pour nous une autorité que l'on ne saurait récuser. Saint Jérôme, qui avait longtemps voyagé dans cette contrée, dit dans sa lettre à Dardanus (ep. 129) que de la limite du nord jusqu'à celle du midi il n'y avait qu'une distance de 160 milles romains, ce qui fait environ 55 lieues. Il rend cet hommage à la vérité bien qu'il craigne, comme il le dit lui-même de livrer par la terre promise aux sarcasmes païens. (Pudet dicere latitudinem terrae repromissionis, ne ethnicis occasionem blasphemandi dedisse uideamur)
MODERN DIVISIONS. 8. Palestine is now divided into pashalicks, the most important of which are Akka and Damascus. The country is under the dominion of the Turks, and is governed by Mehemet Pasha, who has been recently appointed the governor-general of Palestine.
CHAPTER II. REVIEW OF THE AUTHORITIES ON THE GEOGRAPHY OF PALESTINE. ...the lists of authorities given by Reland, Pococke, Meusel, Bellermann, Rosenmüller, Berghaus, Hammer-Purgstall, and more especially by von Raumer and Robinson. ...Others which we have from the English and the French ...John Kitto, Munk.
David Kay published articles on various subjects and was one of the sub-editors on the eighth edition of Encyclopædia Britannica.
[Palestine] ...was finally subdued in 1517 by Selim I., the sultan of the Turks, under whom it has continued for more than 300 years. ...until the memorable invasion of Egypt by the French army in 1798. Bonaparte being apprised that preparations were making in the pashalic of Acre for attacking him in Egypt, resolved, according to his usual tactics, to anticipate the movements of his enemies. He accordingly marched across the desert which divides Egypt from Palestine, and invaded the country at the head of 10,000 troops. After taking several towns, and among the rest Jaffa, where he stained his character by the atrocious massacre of 4000 prisoners. (Traill 1859, p. 198, 'Palestine', The Encyclopædia Britannica, 17)
J.L.P. —Porter, Rev. J. L., Author of the "Handbook to Syria and Palestine".
The modern inhabitants of Syria and Palestine are a mixed race, made up of the descendants of the ancient Syrians who occupied the country in the early days of Christianity and of the Arabians who came in with the armies of the khalifs and settled in the cities and villages. The number of the latter being comparatively small, the mixture of blood did not visibly change the type of the ancient people. This may be seen by comparing the Christians with the Muslems. The former are undoubtedly of pure Syrian descent, while the latter are more or less mixed, and yet there is no visible distinction between the two save what dress makes. (1860, p. 907, 'Syria', The Encyclopædia Britannica, 20)
(36th U.S. Congress 1860, p. 11)
From Samaria to Nablûs is two hours' easy riding; first south, over the shoulder of the mountain, and then east ward, up the lovely vale of Nablûs. Nothing in Palestine surpasses it in fertility and natural beauty, and this is mainly due to the fine mill-stream which flows through it. The whole country is thickly studded with villages; the plains clothed with grass or grain; and the rounded hills with orchards of olive, fig, pomegranate, and other trees.
Map: Canaan or Palestine
Bibliotheca Geographica Palestine. Chronologisches Verzeichniss der auf die Geographic des heiligen Landes beziiglichen Literatur von 333 bis 1878 und Versuch einer Cartographic. Herausgegeben von Reinhold Rohricht. (Berlin: H. Reuther's Verlagsbuchhandlung, 1890.) The title indicates clearly enough the general character of this book. It professes to give a list of all the books relating to the geography of Palestine from the year A.D. 333 to A.D. 1878 and also a chronological list of maps relating to Palestine. (The Church Quarterly Review 1891, p. 259)
p. 130: Bibliography: Only a small selection can be mentioned from among the books on Palestine. Bibliotheca Geographica Palestinae, (Berlin, 1890), enumerates 3515 books, issued between 333 A.D. and 1878 A.D.
Long before Biblical Judaism was known, the people of Palestine shared in the universal rituals of the primeval cults of sun and moon, Nature and symbol; and the successive waves of conquest, physical and mystical, have only transformed the primordial hallucination.
Population.—The actual population of Syria is over 3,000,000, spread over a superficial area of about 600,000 sq. m., i.e. about 5½ persons to the square mile. But this poor average is largely accounted for by the inclusion of the almost uninhabited northern steppe-land; and those parts of Syria, which are settled, show a much higher rate. Phoenicia and the Lebanon have the densest population, over 70 to the square mile, while Palestine, the north part of the western plateau east of Jordan, the oases of Damascus and Aleppo, the Orontes valley, and parts of Commagene, are well peopled.