From this time the notices of the Philistines are largely involved in the movements of the great powers surrounding Palestine. Isaiah'- declarations (xiv, 29- 32) throw fight upon these subsequent events: from
them we leam that tin' Assyrian-, whom Ahaz sum- moned to hi- aid. proved themselves to lie tic "COCk-
latrice that should come out ol the scrpeiu's (Judah's)
PHILISTINE
107
PHILISTINE
root," by ravaging the Philistine plain. A few years later the Philistines, in conjunction with the Syrians and Assyrians (" the adversaries of Kezin"), and per- haps as the subject-allies of the latter, carried on a se- ries of attacks on the kingdom of Israel (Isa. ix, 11, 12). Hezekiah's reign inaugurated a new policy, in which the Philistines were deeply interested: that monarch formed an alliance with the Egyptians, as a counter- poise to the Assyrians, and the possession of Philistia became henceforth the turning-point of the struggle between the two great empires of the East. Hezekiah, in the early part of his reign, re-established his author- ity over the whole of it, "even unto Gaza" (2 Kings xviii, 8). This movement was evidently connected with his rebellion against the king of Assyria, and was undertaken in conjunction with the Egyptians; for we rind the latter people shortly after in possession of the live Philistine cities, to which alone are we able to refer the prediction in Isa. xix, 18, when coupled with the fact that both Gaza and Ashkelon are termed Egyptian chies in the annals of Sargon (Bunsen, Egypt, iv, 603). The Assyrians under Tartan, the general of Sargon, made an expedition against Egypt, and took Ashdod, as the key of that country (Isa. xx, 1, 4, 5). Under Sennacherib Philistia was again the scene of important operations: in his lirst campaign against Egypt Ash- kelon was taken and its dependencies were plundered ; Ashdod, Ekron, and Gaza submitted, and received as a reward a portion of Hezekiah's territory (Rawlinson, Herod, i, 477) : in his second campaign (on the view that the two were different) other towns on the verge of the plain, such as Libnah and Lachish, were also taken (2 Kings xviii, 14; xix, 8). The Assyrian su- premacy, though shaken by the failure of this latter expedition, was restored by Esar-haddon, who claims to have conquered Egypt (Rawlinson, i, 481) ; and it seems probable that the Assyrians retained their hold on Ash- dod until its capture, after a long siege, by the Egyptian monarch Psammetichus (Herod, ii, 157), the effect of which was to reduce the population of that important place to a mere " remnant" ( Jer. xxv, 20). It was about this time, and possibly while Psammetichus was en- gaged in the siege of Ashdod, that Philistia was trav- ersed by a vast Scythian horde on their way to Egypt : they were, however, diverted from their purpose by the king, and retraced their steps, plundering on their re- treat the rich temple of Venus at Ashkelon (Herod, i, 105). The description of Zephaniah (ii, 4-7), who was contemporary with this event, may well apply to this terrible scourge, though more generally referred to a Chaldsean invasion. The Egyptian ascendency was not as yet re-established, for we find the next king, Necho, compelled to besiege Gaza (if the Cadytis of Herodotus, ii, 159) on his return from the battle of Megiddo. After the death of Necho, the contest was renewed between the Egyptians and the Chakheans under Nebuchadnez- zar, and the result was specially disastrous to the Phi- listines : Gaza was again taken by the former, and the population of the whole plain was reduced to a mere "remnant" by the invading armies (Jer. xlvii). The " old hatred" that the Philistines bore to the Jews was exhibited in acts of hostility at the time of the Baby- lonian captivity (Ezek. xxv, 15-17); but on the return this was somewhat abated, for some of the Jews married Philistine women, to the great scandal of their rulers (Neh. xiii, 23, 24).
3. Post-exilian History.— Erom this time the history of Philistia is absorbed in the struggles of the neighbor- ing kingdoms. In B.C. 332, Alexander the Great trav- ersed it on his way to Egypt, and captured Gaza, then held by the Persians under Betis, after a two month's siege. In 312 the armies of Demetrius Poliorcetes and Ptolemy fought in the neighborhood of Gaza. In 198 Antiochus the Great, in his war against Ptolemy Epiph- anes, invaded Philistia and took Gaza. In 1GG the Philistines joined the Syrian army under Gorgias in its attack on Judaja (1 Mace, iii, 41). In 148 the adherents
of the rival kings Demetrius II and Alexander Balas, under Apollonius and Jonathan respectively, contended in the Philistine plain : Jonathan took Ashdod, tri- umphantly entered Ashkelon, and received Ekron as his reward (1 Mace, x, 09-89). A few years later Jon- athan again descended into the plain in the interests of Antiochus VI, and captured Gaza (1 Mace, xi, 60-G2). No further notice of the country occurs until the capture . of Gaza in 97 by the Jewish king Alexander Jannseus, in his contest with Lathyrus (Joseph. A nt. xiii, 13, 3 ; War, i, 4, 2). In 63 Pompey annexed Philistia to the province of Syria {Ant. xiv, 4, 4), with the exception of Gaza, which was assigned to Herod (xv, 7, 3), to- gether with Jamnia, Ashdod, and Ashkelon, as appears from xvii, 11, 5. The last three fell to Salome after Herod's death, but Gaza was re-annexed to Syria (xvii, 11,4, 5). The latest notices of the Philistines as a na- tion, under their title of a\\6(}>v\oi, occur in 1 Mace, iii-v. The extension of the name from the district oc- cupied by them to the whole country, under the familiar form of Palestine, has already been noticed under that head.