Sponsored by: Archaeological Institute of America
The search for the Philistines, best known as one of ancient Israel’s most storied enemies, has long intrigued both scholars and the public. Recent archaeological and textual evidence, examined in its broader eastern Mediterranean context, reveals that the Philistines, together with other related groups of “Sea Peoples” best known from Egyptian New Kingdom texts, played a transformative role in the development of new ethnic groups and polities that emerged from the ruins of the Late Bronze Age empires. This lecture reassesses the origins, identity, material culture, and the impact of the Philistines and other “Sea Peoples” on the Iron Age cultures and peoples of the eastern Mediterranean.
Short bibliography and/or website on lecture topic:
Killebrew, A.E. and G. Lehmann (eds.). 2013. The Philistines and Other “Sea Peoples” in Text and Archaeology. Archaeology and Biblical Studies 15. Atlanta: Society of Biblical Literature.
Killebrew, A.E. 2016. The World of the Philistines and Other “Sea Peoples”, pp. 30–39 in: Assyria and Iberia: Art and Culture in the Iron Age (edited by J. Aruz and M. Seymour. The Metropolitan Museum of Art Symposia. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Kershaw Lecture
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