by SKI-preo » Fri Apr 08, 2011 2:52 am
You want to go back further still aparently Cypriots share origins with the Jews arch enemy the Philistines:
Cyprus is named as the homeland of the Philistines especially in recent literature. J. Strange points out that both Cyprus and the Philistines were familiar with metallurgy at a high level and that pottery from Cyprus strongly resembles pottery from Philistea (Mycenaean III C:1b). It is furthermore known from literary references that Cyprus, like Crete, was inhabited in the 13th and 12th centuries B.C. by a variety of
peoples.9 However, the many different names given to the island in the various cultures of that time make it very difficult to identify Cyprus as Caphtor.10
V. Karageorghis adds to the arguments in favour of Cyprus the evidence from excavations on the island (near Pyla and Maa): a mixed population (from Crete, Greece and Anatolia) appears to have lived here in fortified villages during 25 years. The inhabitants were wealthy, but clearly preferred a defendable place over a location that favoured trade and agriculture. After these 25 years both places were abandoned or burnt down. Maa was rebuilt by the conquerors who also manufactured type Myc. III C:1b pottery.11 Karageorghis moreover refers to Cypriotic myths about Greek heroes who founded cities on the island.12 Finally, Raban and Stieglitz showed that the architecture on the island was comparable with that of Philistea as far as the use of ashlars (large building blocks) was concerned.
Another argument in favour of Cyprus is a definite resemblance between Philistine and Cypriotic - Minoic writings from that period.13
The presence, though perhaps temporary, of Philistines in Cyprus or Crete is given wider perspective if the contemporary events in this part of the Mediterranean are also taken into consideration. Literary references and excavations from the Late Bronze period only demonstrate the great importance of such a widened perspective.
The Sea Peoples
It will be clear from the foregoing that a number of non-native peoples lived in Cyprus around 1200 B.C. and that the inhabitants of the eastern Mediterranean apparently were exposed to danger. The reasons for this unstable situation, which lasted from c. 1300 to c. 1170 B.C., are still uncertain. Egyptian relief texts speak about 'Sea Peoples' invading the coasts of Canaan and Egypt from the North and destroying whole kingdoms. Possible reasons for the mass migrations of those days could be, e.g., famine in Greece and Anatolia, invasions of tribes from the Balkans, and earthquakes.14
Anyway, the collapse of the Hittite empire (shortly after 1200 B.C.), the fall of Troy (1185 B.C.), and the invasions into Egypt (c. 1207 and 1175 B.C.) were all part of a major catastrophe that pushed peoples from the North to the South and caused large devastations among Late Bronze (c. 1550-1200 B.C.) cultures. When the mass migrations came to a halt, Greece was left impoverished, while prosperous and highly developed cultures seemed to have moved to the South.15 The Philistines arrived in the south-west of Canaan in the 12th century B.C., and this marked the end of Egypt's domination over the region. Here too Myc. III C: 1b pottery is found after their arrival.
Egyptian reliefs in Medinet Habu tell us that the Peleset (Philistines) were involved in the second raid on Egypt, during the eighth year of Ramesses III (c. 1175 B.C.). It was apparently after these raids that the Philistines settled down in the south-west of Canaan.
Odysseus And Goliath
Homer's epic poems are now increasingly being taken to be serious historiography. As a result of this, more connections are found between the Greek heroes who after the fall of Troy wandered round the eastern Mediterranean, and the Philistines. The Greek heroes wandered about and ended up in Crete, Cyprus, Libya, and Egypt. The fight between these wandering troupes and the Egyptians is described in Odyssee XVII, 420-460, and XIV, 250-290, where the pirates - who came in from Crete - destroyed Egyptian farmland, killed men and carried off women and children. Foot-soldiers and war-chariots soon intervened how-ever, and took vengeance.
Stager points to similarities between Greek heroes like Achilles and Odysseus on the one hand and leading characters from the late Judges period, viz. Goliath, Jephtah and Samson, on the other. The same could perhaps be said of Shamgar, who put an end to an early invasion of Sea Peoples/Philistines by means of an ox goad (Jdg. 3:31). Prominent features are an enormous strength (Goliath, Samson), loneliness (Samson) and the typically Greek suit of armour (Goliath).16 The 'disastrous' decisions of Jephtah could perhaps be added here. Regardless of the way this relationship is interpreted, it can at least be concluded that the stories from the Greek heroic age and the Biblical history describing the period directly thereafter, viz. 1150-1000 B.C., show remarkable similarities.
