--- In
AncientBibleHistory@yahoogroups.com, "John <jdcroft@...>"
<jdcroft@...> wrote:
lookwhoscross-eyednow@... wrote:
> "Archaeologists have found little or nothing in Crete which
clearly
relates to the Sea Peoples, and in particular to the Philistines."
Others dispute this. Crete is one of the homes of Late Helladic
IIIB
pottery, from which Philistine Late Helladic IIIC pottery
developed.
Furthermore, there is evidence that shows Cretian sites were largely
evacuated and abandonned in the period of the Late Bronze Age. This
too is confirmed by classical writers who show how just before the
arrival of the Dorians (who took over in Crete), Crete was
abandonned
largely as a result of a famine that ravage the island after the
Trojan War.
> "There are various references to a land called Kaptara in ancient
Assyrian writings....Those Assyrian writings offer little help about
the location of Kaptara, however. One of those texts mentions that
Kaptara was reached by ship, as the island of Crete must be, but in
ancient days the sea was also the best and fastest way from one
place
to another on the mainland coast, so that the reference to ships
does
not require that Kaptara be an island."
This is correct. In fact Kaptara is mentioned first in Akkadian
writings from the period of Sargon of Akkad. These writings do not
specifically mention that Kaptara is an island, but that it was
accessed only by Ship. There is no mention anywhere of accessing it
by land so the possibility that it was Cappadocia or Syria that was
referred to, would seem to be in error. Both of these locations
were
accessible from Assyria by land, not by water.
> "In the tomb of an Egyptian official, Menkheperre-Seneb, a line of
foreigners is shown, bearing gifts to Egypt....In this tomb, the
gift
bearers include one man who is labeled "the Chief of
Keftiu."...Where
is the homeland of this visitor?..he does not resemble illustrations
of people of Crete. He seems closer to Egyptian illustrations of
certain Syrians."
In the tomb of Rekhmire, "men of Keftiu" are clearly shown. Their
crews include Nubians as well as Syrians but the bulk seem to be
Aegeans, either
> "In the tomb of Amenemhab, a line of gift bearers is shown. They
are referred to in the text as "from Keftiu, Mannas, all lands
united." In appearance these men are Syrians. Mannas is believed
to
be in northern Syria."
The gifts show "oxhide" ingots of Copper which are found in Crete,
in
Linear B, in Cyprus associated with Minoan and Mycenaean deposits
and
throughout the Eastern Mediterranean. They all come originally from
Cyprus, where moulds of these ingots have been found. Syrians
participated in this trade, although it seems Cretian, and later
Mycenaeans monopolised the trade, as tomb paintings from the tombs
of
Useramon, Rekhmire, and Meryra, clearly shows. The latest of these
representations, a relief of the reign of Ramesses III (1192-1160
B.C.) at Medinet Habu, is probably simply a copy of a representation
in the Ramesseum of Ramesses II (13th century B.C.) at Thebes. In
other words, no Egyptian representations portraying such objects
still in use date after ca. 1200 B.C. Such ingots have been found
from Sardinia and Sicily in the west to wrecks off the coasts of
Anatolia. Vassos Karageorghis, the director of the Cypriot
Antiquities Service, feels that the copper industry on Late Bronze
Age Cyprus was entirely contolled by the Cypriots, and there have
been suggestions that Kaptara/Keftiu referred to that island. If so
it would be in cotradiction to the evidence that the name of Cyrpus
in the Bronze Age was Alayshia. Whatever the case it is clear that
the Peoples of the Sea seem to have used Crete, Rhodes and Cyprus as
stopping points in their route to Syria and Canaan.
Memories of this survived down to the end of the divided monarchy.
Jeremiah clearly states "Because of the day that cometh to spoil all
the Philistines, and to cut off from Tyre and Sidon every helper
that
remaineth: for Yahweh will spoil the Philistines, the remnant of the
country of Caphtor."
Regards
John
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