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Philistines
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Philistines was Maxim Gorky's first play although he had written many other kinds of work. Gorky was his pen name and it means "bitter". When the play, then called Scenes in the House of Bessemenov and directed by Stanislavsky, opened in St Petersburg in 1902, there were riots in the theatre. People sensed that Gorky was writing about a society that was ripe for the Russian revolution that was to come. In 1905 he was arrested and after this, he lived in exile in America and Italy for several years before coming home and being feted by Stalin as a hero of the revolution. There are many similarities between his plays and those of his contemporary, Anton Chekhov.
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The Philistines were people who lived in Canaan along the Mediterranean coast in Palestine at the time the Israelites sought to occupy the land. They were centered in five cities: Ashkelon, Ashdod, Ekron, Gath, and Gaza. The judge Samson lived near the Philistines, and even fell in love with a Philistine woman, though he ... engaged in battle with the Philistines. In the time of Samuel, the Philistines captured the Ark of the Covenant for a time. King Saul won a number of victories against the Philistines but later died in battle with them. As a boy, David slew Goliath, the Philistine, and as an adult he succeeded in bringing their territory under Israelite control.
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It may be said in general that the theories about the origins of the Philistines have not fundamentally changed in the course of time. The idea that the Philistines settled themselves during the mass migration of the 13th and 12th centuries B.C. and that they belonged to the 'Sea Peoples', as the invaders were named in Egyptian texts, is both found in recent and older literature.2 Recent excavations and views on literary sources have only completed and further underpinned the picture as far as the subject of this article is concerned.
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Industry?The Philistines had an elaborate olive pressing industry. At Ekron alone, about 200 installations produced olive oil ?perhaps more than 1,000 tons (which is more than the amount produced today)! They were ... famous for their iron-making skills.
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There is some limited evidence in favor of the assumption that the Philistines did originally speak some Indo-European language. A number of Philistine-related words found in the Bible are not Semitic, and can in some cases, with reservations, be traced back to Proto-Indo-European roots. For example, the Philistine word for captain, seren, may be related to the Greek word tyrannos (which... has not been traced to a PIE root). Some of the Philistine names, such as Goliath, Achish, and Phicol, appear to be of non-Semitic origin, and Indo-European etymologies have been suggested. Recently, an inscription dating to the late 10th/early 9th centuries BC with two names, very similar to one of the suggested etymologies of the popular Philistine name Goliath (Lydian Alyattes/Wylattes) was found in the excavations at Tell es-Safi/Gath. The appearance of additional non-Semitic names in Philistine inscriptions from later stages of the Iron Age is an additional indication of the non-Semitic origins of this group.
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Imagine, if you can, the smug sense of security the Philistines must feel as they are safely hidden away at Michmash. In order for the puny Israelite army to get to them, they have to pass through the Michmash pass, and a mere 20 men can easily hold off such a force. The Philistines find their security in a narrow pass, at the high point of the mountains, protected by massive rock, which is all well and good until an earthquake occurs. Now this former place of safety becomes the most dangerous place in the world. Saul and his watchmen look on as the Philistine army surges in one direction and then another, probably in synchronous motion with the ground which is rolling about like sea billows in a storm. All of the things which once seemed to assure them of having the edge over the Israelites turn into liabilities.
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Philistines