There has been much debate about the identity and origin of these peoples and whether their movement should be called a ‘migration’ or a ‘raid’. An earlier generation of scholars tended to view them as an entire people on the move, with wife and children in tow. It is more common now to view them as raiders and to downplay the amount of devastation they caused.

The Biblical scholar, Yezekel Kaufmann, notes the absence of the Philistines in the book of Joshua. Nor do they appear in a significant way in the book of Judges until about half-way through the book, after Deborah and Barak defeated the forces of Sisera and Jabin, king of Hazor, at the battle of Megiddo. This was the last major battle between the Canaanites and the Israelites. After their victory at Megiddo, the Israelites probably controlled the city for a short period of time but they were soon confronted by a new people who would become a major power in the region, the Philistines.

When we place this information gleaned from the Bible next to the information gathered from the wall relief at Medinet Habu, it does indeed appear as though the Philistines were more than raiders, but settlers who occupied cities on the border of Egypt that would become known as the Pentapolis. These are: Gaza, Ashkelon, Ashdod, Gath and Ekron.

One of the interesting discoveries from these sites is a particular anthropoid coffin that sometimes displays a plumed headdress very similar to the kind depicted on the reliefs at Medinet Habu.

There has been much debate about the identity and origin of these peoples and whether their movement should be called a ‘migration’ or a ‘raid’. An earlier generation of scholars tended to view them as an entire people on the move, with wife and children in tow. It is more common now to view them as raiders and to downplay the amount of devastation they caused.

The Biblical scholar, Yezekel Kaufmann, notes the absence of the Philistines in the book of Joshua. Nor do they appear in a significant way in the book of Judges until about half-way through the book, after Deborah and Barak defeated the forces of Sisera and Jabin, king of Hazor, at the battle of Megiddo. This was the last major battle between the Canaanites and the Israelites. After their victory at Megiddo, the Israelites probably controlled the city for a short period of time but they were soon confronted by a new people who would become a major power in the region, the Philistines.

When we place this information gleaned from the Bible next to the information gathered from the wall relief at Medinet Habu, it does indeed appear as though the Philistines were more than raiders, but settlers who occupied cities on the border of Egypt that would become known as the Pentapolis. These are: Gaza, Ashkelon, Ashdod, Gath and Ekron.

One of the interesting discoveries from these sites is a particular anthropoid coffin that sometimes displays a plumed headdress very similar to the kind depicted on the reliefs at Medinet Habu.