Philistine Iconography: A Wealth of Style and Symbolism

The Philistines were immigrants from the Aegean region and Cyprus who arrived at the southern coast of Palestine/Israel during the 12th century BCE. They created a distinct material culture in this region during the Iron Age (ca. 1,200-600 BCE). This book presents and discusses the corpus of iconographic representations attested within the Philistine culture. The assemblage studied includes objects in various media: decoration on pottery, figurative pottery, figurines, ivory carving, glyptics and other items. The figurative style and symbolism represented in the Philistine material culture reflects both the bonds of the Philistines with their Aegean homeland and the ongoing process of interaction with the local host cultures in the southern Levant. Iconography provides an important set of evidence for understanding social, ethnic, religious and ideological aspects of the Philistine society in relation to its Eastern Mediterranean and Levantine neighbors