This article presents a list of notable historical references to the name ''Palestine'' as a
place name
Place may refer to:
Geography
* Place (United States Census Bureau), defined as any concentration of population
** Census-designated place, a populated area lacking its own municipal government
* "Place", a type of street or road name
** Often ...
in the
Middle East
The Middle East ( ar, الشرق الأوسط, ISO 233: ) is a geopolitical region commonly encompassing Arabia (including the Arabian Peninsula and Bahrain), Asia Minor (Asian part of Turkey except Hatay Province), East Thrace (Europ ...
throughout the history of the region, including its counterparts in other languages, such as Arabic ''Filasṭīn'' and Latin ''Palaestina''.
The term "
Peleset
The Peleset ( Egyptian: ''pwrꜣsꜣtj'') or Pulasati were one of the several ethnic groups the Sea Peoples were said to be composed of, appearing in fragmentary historical and iconographic records in ancient Egyptian from the Eastern Mediterra ...
" (
transliterated
Transliteration is a type of conversion of a text from one script to another that involves swapping letters (thus ''trans-'' + '' liter-'') in predictable ways, such as Greek → , Cyrillic → , Greek → the digraph , Armenian → or L ...
from
hieroglyphs
A hieroglyph (Greek for "sacred carvings") was a character of the ancient Egyptian writing system. Logographic scripts that are pictographic in form in a way reminiscent of ancient Egyptian are also sometimes called "hieroglyphs". In Neoplatonis ...
as ''P-r-s-t'') is found in five inscriptions referring to a neighboring people, who are generally identified with the
Philistines
The Philistines ( he, פְּלִשְׁתִּים, Pəlīštīm; Koine Greek (LXX): Φυλιστιείμ, romanized: ''Phulistieím'') were an ancient people who lived on the south coast of Canaan from the 12th century BC until 604 BC, whe ...
, or their land
Philistia
Philistia (; Koine Greek (LXX): Γῆ τῶν Φυλιστιείμ, romanized: ''gê tôn Phulistieìm''), also known as the Philistine Pentapolis, was a confederation of cities in the Southwest Levant, which included the cities of Ashdod, Ashk ...
, starting from circa 1150 BCE during the
Twentieth Dynasty of Egypt
The Twentieth Dynasty of Egypt (notated Dynasty XX, alternatively 20th Dynasty or Dynasty 20) is the third and last dynasty of the Ancient Egyptian New Kingdom period, lasting from 1189 BC to 1077 BC. The 19th and 20th Dynasties furthermore toget ...
. The first known mention is at the Medinet Habu temple which refers to the Peleset among those who fought against
Egypt
Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Medit ...
during
Ramesses III
Usermaatre Meryamun Ramesses III (also written Ramses and Rameses) was the second Pharaoh of the Twentieth Dynasty in Ancient Egypt. He is thought to have reigned from 26 March 1186 to 15 April 1155 BC and is considered to be the last great monar ...
's reign, and the last known is 300 years later on Padiiset's Statue. The
Assyria
Assyria ( Neo-Assyrian cuneiform: , romanized: ''māt Aššur''; syc, ܐܬܘܪ, ʾāthor) was a major ancient Mesopotamian civilization which existed as a city-state at times controlling regional territories in the indigenous lands of the ...
ns called the same region "Palashtu/Palastu" or "Pilistu," beginning with
Adad-nirari III
Adad-nirari III (also Adad-narari) was a King of Assyria from 811 to 783 BC. Note that this assumes that the longer version of the Assyrian Eponym List, which has an additional eponym for Adad-nirari III, is the correct one. For the shorter eponym ...
in the
Nimrud Slab
The Nimrud Slab, also known as the Calah Orthostat Slab, is the top half of a "summary inscription" of the reign of Adad-nirari III (811 to 783 BC) discovered in 1854 in by William Loftus in his excavations at Nimrud on behalf of the ''Assyrian E ...
in c. 800 BCE through to an Esarhaddon treaty more than a century later.Sharon, 1988, p. 4.Carl S. Ehrlich "Philistines" ''The Oxford Guide to People and Places of the Bible''. Ed. Bruce M. Metzger and Michael D. Coogan. Oxford University Press, 2001. Neither the Egyptian nor the Assyrian sources provided clear regional boundaries for the term.
The term "Palestine" first appeared in the 5th century BCE when the
ancient Greek
Ancient Greek includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Dark Ages (), the Archaic p ...
historian
Herodotus
Herodotus ( ; grc, , }; BC) was an ancient Greek historian and geographer
A geographer is a physical scientist, social scientist or humanist whose area of study is geography, the study of Earth's natural environment and human society ...
wrote of a "district of Syria, called ''Palaistinê''" between
Phoenicia
Phoenicia () was an ancient thalassocratic civilization originating in the Levant region of the eastern Mediterranean, primarily located in modern Lebanon. The territory of the Phoenician city-states extended and shrank throughout their histor ...
and
Egypt
Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Medit ...
Herodotus provides the first historical reference clearly denoting a wider region than biblical Philistia, as he applied the term to both the coastal and the inland regions such as the
Judean Mountains
The Judaean Mountains, or Judaean Hills ( he, הרי יהודה, translit=Harei Yehuda) or the Hebron Mountains ( ar, تلال الخليل, translit=Tilal al-Khalīl, links=, lit=Hebron Mountains), is a mountain range in Palestine and Israel wh ...
and the
Jordan Rift Valley
The Jordan Rift Valley, also Jordan Valley ''Bīrʿāt haYardēn'', ar, الغور Al-Ghor or Al-Ghawr),, date=November 2022 also called the Syro-African Depression, is an elongated depression located in modern-day Israel, and Jordan. This g ...
. Later Greek writers such as
Aristotle
Aristotle (; grc-gre, Ἀριστοτέλης ''Aristotélēs'', ; 384–322 BC) was a Greek philosopher and polymath during the Classical period in Ancient Greece. Taught by Plato, he was the founder of the Peripatetic school of ph ...
Pausanias Pausanias ( el, Παυσανίας) may refer to:
*Pausanias of Athens, lover of the poet Agathon and a character in Plato's ''Symposium''
*Pausanias the Regent, Spartan general and regent of the 5th century BC
* Pausanias of Sicily, physician of t ...
also used the word, which was followed by Roman writers such as
Ovid
Pūblius Ovidius Nāsō (; 20 March 43 BC – 17/18 AD), known in English as Ovid ( ), was a Roman poet who lived during the reign of Augustus. He was a contemporary of the older Virgil and Horace, with whom he is often ranked as one of the th ...
,
Tibullus
Albius Tibullus ( BC19 BC) was a Latin poet and writer of elegies. His first and second books of poetry are extant; many other texts attributed to him are of questionable origins.
Little is known about the life of Tibullus. There are only a f ...
,
Pomponius Mela
Pomponius Mela, who wrote around AD 43, was the earliest Roman geographer. He was born in Tingentera (now Algeciras) and died AD 45.
His short work (''De situ orbis libri III.'') remained in use nearly to the year 1500. It occupies less ...
,
Pliny the Elder
Gaius Plinius Secundus (AD 23/2479), called Pliny the Elder (), was a Roman author, naturalist and natural philosopher, and naval and army commander of the early Roman Empire, and a friend of the emperor Vespasian. He wrote the encyclopedic ' ...
,
Dio Chrysostom
Dio Chrysostom (; el, Δίων Χρυσόστομος ''Dion Chrysostomos''), Dion of Prusa or Cocceianus Dio (c. 40 – c. 115 AD), was a Greek orator, writer, philosopher and historian of the Roman Empire in the 1st century AD. Eighty of his ...
,
Statius
Publius Papinius Statius ( Greek: Πόπλιος Παπίνιος Στάτιος; ; ) was a Greco-Roman poet of the 1st century CE. His surviving Latin poetry includes an epic in twelve books, the ''Thebaid''; a collection of occasional poetry, ...
,
Plutarch
Plutarch (; grc-gre, Πλούταρχος, ''Ploútarchos''; ; – after AD 119) was a Greek Middle Platonist philosopher, historian, biographer, essayist, and priest at the Temple of Apollo in Delphi. He is known primarily for hi ...
as well as Roman Judean writers
Philo of Alexandria
Philo of Alexandria (; grc, Φίλων, Phílōn; he, יְדִידְיָה, Yəḏīḏyāh (Jedediah); ), also called Philo Judaeus, was a Hellenistic Jewish philosopher who lived in Alexandria, in the Roman province of Egypt.
Philo's de ...
and
Josephus
Flavius Josephus (; grc-gre, Ἰώσηπος, ; 37 – 100) was a first-century Romano-Jewish historian and military leader, best known for '' The Jewish War'', who was born in Jerusalem—then part of Roman Judea—to a father of priestly ...
. There is not currently evidence of the name on any
Hellenistic
In Classical antiquity, the Hellenistic period covers the time in Mediterranean history after Classical Greece, between the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC and the emergence of the Roman Empire, as signified by the Battle of Actium in ...
coin or inscription.
In the early 2nd century CE, the term " Syria Palaestina" (literally, "Palestinian Syria"Trevor Bryce, 2009, ''The Routledge Handbook of the Peoples and Places of Ancient Western Asia''Roland de Vaux, 1978, ''The Early History of Israel'', Page 2: "After the revolt of Bar Cochba in 135, the Roman province of Judaea was renamed Palestinian Syria.") was given to the
Roman province
The Roman provinces (Latin: ''provincia'', pl. ''provinciae'') were the administrative regions of Ancient Rome outside Roman Italy that were controlled by the Romans under the Roman Republic and later the Roman Empire. Each province was rule ...
of
Judaea
Judea or Judaea ( or ; from he, יהודה, Standard ''Yəhūda'', Tiberian ''Yehūḏā''; el, Ἰουδαία, ; la, Iūdaea) is an ancient, historic, Biblical Hebrew, contemporaneous Latin, and the modern-day name of the mountainous so ...
either before or after the suppression of the Bar Kokhba revolt in 135.Roland de Vaux, 1978, ''The Early History of Israel'', Page 2: "After the revolt of Bar Cochba in 135 CE, the Roman province of Judaea was renamed Palestinian Syria."Moše Šārôn / Moshe Sharon, 1988, ''Pillars of Smoke and Fire: The Holy Land in History and Thought'' In around the year 390, during the
Byzantine period
The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...
, the imperial province of Syria Palaestina was then reorganized into
Palaestina Prima
Palaestina Prima or Palaestina I was a Byzantine province that existed from the late 4th century until the Muslim conquest of the Levant in the 630s, in the region of Palestine. It was temporarily lost to the Sassanid Empire (Persian Empire) in ...
,
Palaestina Secunda
Palæstina Secunda or Palaestina II was a Byzantine province from 390, until its conquest by the Muslim armies in 634–636. Palaestina Secunda, a part of the Diocese of the East, roughly comprised the Galilee, Yizrael Valley, Bet Shean Valley a ...
and
Palaestina Salutaris
Palaestina Salutaris or Palaestina Tertia was a Byzantine (Eastern Roman) province, which covered the area of the Negev, Sinai (except the north western coast) and south-west of Transjordan, south of the Dead Sea. The province, a part of the Dio ...
.Kaegi, 1995, p. 41. Following the
Muslim conquest
The early Muslim conquests or early Islamic conquests ( ar, الْفُتُوحَاتُ الإسْلَامِيَّة, ), also referred to as the Arab conquests, were initiated in the 7th century by Muhammad, the main Islamic prophet. He esta ...
,
place names
Toponymy, toponymics, or toponomastics is the study of ''toponyms'' (proper names of places, also known as place names and geographic names), including their origins, meanings, usage and types. Toponym is the general term for a proper name of ...
that were in use by the Byzantine administration generally continued to be used in Arabic,Marshall Cavendish, 2007, p. 559. and the
Jund Filastin
Jund Filasṭīn ( ar, جُنْد فِلَسْطِيْن, "the military district of Palestine") was one of the military districts of the Umayyad and Abbasid province of Bilad al-Sham (Levant), organized soon after the Muslim conquest of the Lev ...
became one of the military districts within the
Umayyad
The Umayyad Caliphate (661–750 CE; , ; ar, ٱلْخِلَافَة ٱلْأُمَوِيَّة, al-Khilāfah al-ʾUmawīyah) was the second of the four major caliphates established after the death of Muhammad. The caliphate was ruled by the ...
and
Abbasid
The Abbasid Caliphate ( or ; ar, الْخِلَافَةُ الْعَبَّاسِيَّة, ') was the third caliphate to succeed the Islamic prophet Muhammad. It was founded by a dynasty descended from Muhammad's uncle, Abbas ibn Abdul-Muttalib ...
province of Bilad al-Sham.
The use of the name "Palestine" became common in
Early Modern English
Early Modern English or Early New English (sometimes abbreviated EModE, EMnE, or ENE) is the stage of the English language from the beginning of the Tudor period to the English Interregnum and Restoration, or from the transition from Middle E ...
, was used in English and Arabic during the
Mutasarrifate of Jerusalem
The Mutasarrifate of Jerusalem ( ota, مُتَصَرِّف قدسی مُتَصَرِّفلغ, ; ar, متصرفية القدس الشريف, ), also known as the Sanjak of Jerusalem, was an Ottoman district with special administrative status ...
. The term was used widely as a
self-identification
In the psychology of self, one's self-concept (also called self-construction, self-identity, self-perspective or self-structure) is a collection of beliefs about oneself. Generally, self-concept embodies the answer to the question ''"Who am I? ...
by Palestinians from the start of the 20th century onwards. In the 20th century the name was used by the British to refer to "
Mandatory Palestine
Mandatory Palestine ( ar, فلسطين الانتدابية '; he, פָּלֶשְׂתִּינָה (א״י) ', where "E.Y." indicates ''’Eretz Yiśrā’ēl'', the Land of Israel) was a geopolitical entity established between 1920 and 1948 ...
," a territory from the former
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman Empire, * ; is an archaic version. The definite article forms and were synonymous * and el, Оθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία, Othōmanikē Avtokratoria, label=none * info page on book at Martin Luther University) ...
League of Nations
The League of Nations (french: link=no, Société des Nations ) was the first worldwide intergovernmental organisation whose principal mission was to maintain world peace. It was founded on 10 January 1920 by the Paris Peace Conference that ...
. Starting from 2013, the term was officially used in the eponymous " State of Palestine." Both incorporated geographic regions from the land commonly known as Palestine, into a new state whose territory was named Palestine.
Etymological considerations
The English term "Palestine" itself derives from the
Latin
Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...
''Palaestīna'',: "While it is true that there is no evidence as to precisely who changed the name of Judaea to Palestine and precisely when this was done, circumstantial evidence would seem to point to Hadrian himself, since he is, it would seem, responsible for a number of decrees that sought to crush the national and religious spirit of the Jews, whether these decrees were responsible for the uprising or were the result of it. In the first place, he refounded Jerusalem as a Graeco-Roman city under the name of Aelia Capitolina. He also erected on the site of the Temple another temple to Zeus." which, in turn, derives from the
Koine Greek
Koine Greek (; Koine el, ἡ κοινὴ διάλεκτος, hē koinè diálektos, the common dialect; ), also known as Hellenistic Greek, common Attic, the Alexandrian dialect, Biblical Greek or New Testament Greek, was the common supra-reg ...
Παλαιστῑ́νη, ''Palaistī́nē'', used by the world's first known historian, Herodotus, in the 5th century BCE. Per
Martin Noth
Martin Noth (3 August 1902 – 30 May 1968) was a German scholar of the Hebrew Bible who specialized in the pre-Exilic history of the Hebrews and promoted the hypothesis that the Israelite tribes in the immediate period after the settlement in Can ...
, the name likely comes from a proto-Semitic word, albeit there is a strong similarity between ''Palaistī́nē'' and ''palaistês'', the Greek word for "wrestler/rival/adversary", which has the same etymological meaning as the Hebrew word "Israel." This was expanded by David Jacobson to theorize the name being a
portmanteau
A portmanteau word, or portmanteau (, ) is a blend of wordsGreek
Greek may refer to:
Greece
Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe:
*Greeks, an ethnic group.
*Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family.
**Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...
(in concordance with the Greek penchant for punning on place names.)
Whilst the term was used in Egyptian and Assyrian times, prior to the time period in which the Bible is thought to have been written, scholars generally conclude that the term is cognate with the Biblical Hebrew ''Pəlīštīm''. The further etymology is uncertain; it is unknown whether the term was an endonym or exonym, no word for Philistia has been found in the sparse attestations of the Philistine language, and it is unknown whether the Hebrew, Egyptian, and Assyrian terms derived from a common source, or if they simply borrowed the name from one another and changed it to match their own phonological customs.
In English versions of the Bible, ''Pəlīštīm'' is translated as " Philistines"; however, it is thought that the word means different things in different parts of the Bible. The word and its derivates are used more than 250 times in
Masoretic
The Masoretic Text (MT or 𝕸; he, נֻסָּח הַמָּסוֹרָה, Nūssāḥ Hammāsōrā, lit. 'Text of the Tradition') is the authoritative Hebrew and Aramaic text of the 24 books of the Hebrew Bible (Tanakh) in Rabbinic Judaism. ...
-derived versions of the
Hebrew Bible
The Hebrew Bible or Tanakh (;"Tanach" '' of which 10 uses are in the
Torah
The Torah (; hbo, ''Tōrā'', "Instruction", "Teaching" or "Law") is the compilation of the first five books of the Hebrew Bible, namely the books of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. In that sense, Torah means the ...
(the first use being in Genesis 10, in the
Generations of Noah
The Generations of Noah, also called the Table of Nations or Origines Gentium, is a genealogy of the sons of Noah, according to the Hebrew Bible (Genesis ), and their dispersion into many lands after the Flood, focusing on the major known socie ...
),Smith, 1863, p. 1546. with undefined boundaries and no meaningful description, and almost 200 of the remaining references are in the later
Book of Judges
The Book of Judges (, ') is the seventh book of the Hebrew Bible and the Christian Old Testament. In the narrative of the Hebrew Bible, it covers the time between the conquest described in the Book of Joshua and the establishment of a kingdom ...
and the
Books of Samuel
The Book of Samuel (, ''Sefer Shmuel'') is a book in the Hebrew Bible, found as two books (1–2 Samuel) in the Old Testament. The book is part of the narrative history of Ancient Israel called the Deuteronomistic history, a series of books (Josh ...
that contain the well known story of a coastal state in biblical conflict with the Israelites.Robinson, Edward, ''Physical geography of the Holy Land'', Crocker & Brewster, Boston, 1865, p.15. Robinson, writing in 1865 when travel by Europeans to the Ottoman Empire became common asserts that, "Palestine, or Palestina, now the most common name for the Holy Land, occurs three times in the English version of the Old Testament; and is there put for the
Hebrew
Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...
name פלשת, elsewhere rendered Philistia. As thus used, it refers strictly and only to the country of the
Philistines
The Philistines ( he, פְּלִשְׁתִּים, Pəlīštīm; Koine Greek (LXX): Φυλιστιείμ, romanized: ''Phulistieím'') were an ancient people who lived on the south coast of Canaan from the 12th century BC until 604 BC, whe ...
, in the southwest corner of the land. So, too, in the Greek form, Παλαςτίνη), it is used by
Josephus
Flavius Josephus (; grc-gre, Ἰώσηπος, ; 37 – 100) was a first-century Romano-Jewish historian and military leader, best known for '' The Jewish War'', who was born in Jerusalem—then part of Roman Judea—to a father of priestly ...
. But both Josephus and
Philo
Philo of Alexandria (; grc, Φίλων, Phílōn; he, יְדִידְיָה, Yəḏīḏyāh (Jedediah); ), also called Philo Judaeus, was a Hellenistic Jewish philosopher who lived in Alexandria, in the Roman province of Egypt.
Philo's de ...
apply the name to the whole land of the Hebrews ; and Greek and Roman writers employed it in the like extent." By the time the
Septuagint
The Greek Old Testament, or Septuagint (, ; from the la, septuaginta, lit=seventy; often abbreviated ''70''; in Roman numerals, LXX), is the earliest extant Greek translation of books from the Hebrew Bible. It includes several books beyond ...
was translated the term ''Palaistínē'' (Παλαιστίνη), first used by Herodotus, had already entered the Greek vocabulary. However, it was not used in the LXX – instead the term ''Land of Phylistieim'' (''Γη των Φυλιστιειμ'') is used. The Septuagint instead used the term "allophuloi" (Αλλόφυλοι, "other nations") throughout the Books of Judges and Samuel,: "Our names ‘Philistia’ and ‘Philistines’ are unfortunate obfuscations, first introduced by the translators of the LXX and made definitive by Jerome’s Vg. When turning a Hebrew text into Greek, the translators of the LXX might simply—as Josephus was later to do—have Hellenized the Hebrew פְּלִשְׁתִּים as Παλαιστίνοι, and the toponym פְּלִשְׁתִּ as Παλαιστίνη. Instead, they avoided the toponym altogether, turning it into an ethnonym. As for the ethnonym, they chose sometimes to transliterate it (incorrectly aspirating the initial letter, perhaps to compensate for their inability to aspirate the sigma) as φυλιστιιμ, a word that looked exotic rather than familiar, and more often to translate it as άλλόφυλοι. Jerome followed the LXX’s lead in eradicating the names, ‘Palestine’ and ‘Palestinians’, from his Old Testament, a practice adopted in most modern translations of the Bible." such that the term "Philistines" has been interpreted to mean "non-Israelites of the Promised Land" when used in the context of Samson, Saul and David,: "The LXX’s regular translation of פְּלִשְׁתִּים into άλλόφυλοι is significant here. Not a proper name at all, allophyloi is a generic term, meaning something like ‘people of other stock’. If we assume, as I think we must, that with their word allophyloi the translators of the LXX tried to convey in Greek what p'lištîm had conveyed in Hebrew, we must conclude that for the worshippers of Yahweh p'lištîm and b'nê yiśrā'ēl were mutually exclusive terms, p'lištîm (or allophyloi) being tantamount to ‘non-Judaeans of the Promised Land’ when used in a context of the third century BCE, and to ‘non-Israelites of the Promised Land’ when used in a context of Samson, Saul and David. Unlike an ethnonym, the noun פְּלִשְׁתִּים normally appeared without a definite article." and Rabbinic sources explain that these peoples were different from the Philistines of the
Book of Genesis
The Book of Genesis (from Greek ; Hebrew: בְּרֵאשִׁית ''Bəreʾšīt'', "In hebeginning") is the first book of the Hebrew Bible and the Christian Old Testament. Its Hebrew name is the same as its first word, ( "In the beginning" ...
.
Historical references
Ancient period
Egyptian period
* c. 1150 BCE: Medinet Habu: records a people called the ''P-r-s-t'' (conventionally ''Peleset'') among those who fought against
Egypt
Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Medit ...
in
Ramesses III
Usermaatre Meryamun Ramesses III (also written Ramses and Rameses) was the second Pharaoh of the Twentieth Dynasty in Ancient Egypt. He is thought to have reigned from 26 March 1186 to 15 April 1155 BC and is considered to be the last great monar ...
's reign.
* c. 1150 BCE:
Papyrus Harris I
Papyrus Harris I is also known as the Great Harris Papyrus and (less accurately) simply the Harris Papyrus (though there are a number of other papyri in the Harris collection). Its technical designation is ''Papyrus British Museum EA 9999''. At 41 ...
: "I extended all the boundaries of Egypt; I overthrew those who invaded them from their lands. I slew the
Denyen
The Denyen ( Egyptian: ''dꜣjnjnjw'') is purported to be one of the groups constituting the Sea Peoples.
Origin
They are mentioned in the Amarna letters from the 14th century BC as possibly being related to the "Land of the Danuna" near Ugarit. ...
in their isles, the Thekel and the Peleset (Pw-r-s-ty) were made ashes."
* c. 1150 BCE: Rhetorical Stela to
Ramesses III
Usermaatre Meryamun Ramesses III (also written Ramses and Rameses) was the second Pharaoh of the Twentieth Dynasty in Ancient Egypt. He is thought to have reigned from 26 March 1186 to 15 April 1155 BC and is considered to be the last great monar ...
Onomasticon of Amenope
The Onomasticon of Amenope is an ancient Egyptian papyrus from the late 20th Dynasty to 22nd Dynasty. It is a compilation belonging to a tradition that began in the Middle Kingdom, and which includes the ''Ramesseum Onomasticon'' dating from the ...
Adad-nirari III
Adad-nirari III (also Adad-narari) was a King of Assyria from 811 to 783 BC. Note that this assumes that the longer version of the Assyrian Eponym List, which has an additional eponym for Adad-nirari III, is the correct one. For the shorter eponym ...
,
Nimrud Slab
The Nimrud Slab, also known as the Calah Orthostat Slab, is the top half of a "summary inscription" of the reign of Adad-nirari III (811 to 783 BC) discovered in 1854 in by William Loftus in his excavations at Nimrud on behalf of the ''Assyrian E ...
.
* c. 800 BCE:
Adad-nirari III
Adad-nirari III (also Adad-narari) was a King of Assyria from 811 to 783 BC. Note that this assumes that the longer version of the Assyrian Eponym List, which has an additional eponym for Adad-nirari III, is the correct one. For the shorter eponym ...
, Saba'a Stele: "In the fifth year (of my official rule) I sat down solemnly on my royal throne and called up the country (for war). I ordered the numerous army of Assyria to march against Philistia (''Pa-la-áš-tu'')... I received all the tributes which they brought to Assyria. I (then) ordered o marchagainst the country Damascus (''Ša-imērišu'')."
* c. 735 BCE: Qurdi-Ashur-lamur to
Tiglath-Pileser III
Tiglath-Pileser III ( Neo-Assyrian cuneiform: , meaning "my trust belongs to the son of Ešarra"), was the king of the Neo-Assyrian Empire from 745 BC to his death in 727. One of the most prominent and historically significant Assyrian kings, T ...
, Nimrud Letter ND 2715: "Bring down lumber, do your work on it, (but) do not deliver it to the Egyptians (''mu-sur-a-a'') or Philistines (''pa-la-as-ta-a-a''), or I shall not let you go up to the mountains."
* c. 717 BCE:
Sargon II's Prism A
Sargon II's Prisms are two Assyrian tablet inscriptions describing Sargon II's (722 to 705 BC) campaigns, discovered in Nineveh in the Library of Ashurbanipal. The Prisms today are in the British Museum
The British Museum is a public ...
: records the region as ''Palashtu'' or ''Pilistu.''
* c. 700 BCE: Azekah Inscription records the region as ''Pi-lis-ta-a-a.''
* c. 694 BCE:
Sennacherib
Sennacherib ( Neo-Assyrian cuneiform: or , meaning " Sîn has replaced the brothers") was the king of the Neo-Assyrian Empire from the death of his father Sargon II in 705BC to his own death in 681BC. The second king of the Sargonid dynas ...
"Palace Without a Rival: A Very Full Record of Improvements in and about the Capital (E1)": (the people of) Kue and Hilakku, Pilisti and Surri ("Ku-e u Hi-lak-ku Pi-lis-tu u Sur-ri").
* c. 675 BCE:
Esarhaddon's Treaty with Ba'al of Tyre
Esarhaddon's Treaty with Ba'al is an Assyrian clay tablet inscription describing a treaty between Esarhaddon (reigned 681 to 669 BC) and Ba'al of Tyre. It was found in the Library of Ashurbanipal.
The first fragment published, K 3500, was pub ...
: Refers to the entire district of Pilistu (''KURpi-lis-te'').
Classical antiquity
Persian (Achaemenid) Empire period
* c. 450 BCE:
Herodotus
Herodotus ( ; grc, , }; BC) was an ancient Greek historian and geographer
A geographer is a physical scientist, social scientist or humanist whose area of study is geography, the study of Earth's natural environment and human society ...
, '' The Histories'', First historical reference clearly denoting a wider region than biblical
Philistia
Philistia (; Koine Greek (LXX): Γῆ τῶν Φυλιστιείμ, romanized: ''gê tôn Phulistieìm''), also known as the Philistine Pentapolis, was a confederation of cities in the Southwest Levant, which included the cities of Ashdod, Ashk ...
, referring to a "district of Syria, called ''Palaistinê''" (Book 3): "The country reaching from the city of Posideium to the borders of Egypt... paid a tribute of three hundred and fifty talents. All Phoenicia, Palestine Syria, and
Cyprus
Cyprus ; tr, Kıbrıs (), officially the Republic of Cyprus,, , lit: Republic of Cyprus is an island country located south of the Anatolian Peninsula in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Its continental position is disputed; while it is ge ...
, were herein contained. This was the fifth satrapy."; (Book 4): "the region I am describing skirts our sea, stretching from Phoenicia along the coast of Palestine-Syria till it comes to Egypt, where it terminates"; (Book 7): " he Phoenicians and the Syrians of Palestine according to their own account, dwelt anciently upon the Erythraean Sea, but crossing thence, fixed themselves on the seacoast of Syria, where they still inhabit. This part of Syria, and all the region extending from hence to Egypt, is known by the name of Palestine." One important reference refers to the practice of
male circumcision
Circumcision is a procedure that removes the foreskin from the human penis. In the most common form of the operation, the foreskin is extended with forceps, then a circumcision device may be placed, after which the foreskin is excised. Top ...
associated with the Hebrew people: "the Colchians, the Egyptians, and the
Ethiopians
Ethiopians are the native inhabitants of Ethiopia, as well as the global diaspora of Ethiopia. Ethiopians constitute several component ethnic groups, many of which are closely related to ethnic groups in neighboring Eritrea and other parts o ...
, are the only nations who have practised circumcision from the earliest times. The
Phoenicians
Phoenicia () was an ancient thalassocratic civilization originating in the Levant region of the eastern Mediterranean, primarily located in modern Lebanon. The territory of the Phoenician city-states extended and shrank throughout their histor ...
and the Syrians of Palestine themselves confess that they learnt the custom of the Egyptians.... Now these are the only nations who use circumcision."
* c. 340 BCE:
Aristotle
Aristotle (; grc-gre, Ἀριστοτέλης ''Aristotélēs'', ; 384–322 BC) was a Greek philosopher and polymath during the Classical period in Ancient Greece. Taught by Plato, he was the founder of the Peripatetic school of ph ...
, ''
Meteorology
Meteorology is a branch of the atmospheric sciences (which include atmospheric chemistry and physics) with a major focus on weather forecasting. The study of meteorology dates back millennia, though significant progress in meteorology did no ...
'', "Again if, as is fabled, there is a lake in Palestine, such that if you bind a man or beast and throw it in it floats and does not sink, this would bear out what we have said. They say that this lake is so bitter and salt that no fish live in it and that if you soak clothes in it and shake them it cleans them." This is understood by scholars to be a reference to the Dead Sea.
Hellenic kingdoms (Ptolemaic/Seleucid/Hasmonean) period
* c. 150 BCE:
Polemon of Athens
Polemon of Athens ( grc-gre, Πολέμων ὁ Ἀθηναῖος, fl. 2nd century BC) was an ancient Greek Stoic philosopher and geographer. Of Athenian citizenship, he was most widely known as Polemon of Athens, but he was born either in Ilium, ...
, ''Greek Histories, quoted by Eusebius of Caesarea in Praeparatio Evangelica'': "In the time eignof Apis son of Phoroneus a part of the Egyptian army was expelled from Egypt, who took up their abode not far from Arabia in the part of Syria called Palestine."
* c. 130 BCE:
Agatharchides
Agatharchides or Agatharchus ( grc-gre, Ἀγαθαρχίδης or , ''Agatharchos'') of Cnidus was a Greek historian and geographer (flourished 2nd century BC).
Life
Agatharchides is believed to have been born at Cnidus, hence his appellation. A ...
Photios
Photios I ( el, Φώτιος, ''Phōtios''; c. 810/820 – 6 February 893), also spelled PhotiusFr. Justin Taylor, essay "Canon Law in the Age of the Fathers" (published in Jordan Hite, T.O.R., & Daniel J. Ward, O.S.B., "Readings, Cases, Materia ...
Writers during this period also used the term Palestine to refer to the entire region between Syria and Egypt, with numerous references to the Jewish areas within Palestine. It has been contended that some first century authors associated the term with the southern coastal region.
* c. 30 BCE:
Tibullus
Albius Tibullus ( BC19 BC) was a Latin poet and writer of elegies. His first and second books of poetry are extant; many other texts attributed to him are of questionable origins.
Little is known about the life of Tibullus. There are only a f ...
, ''Tibullus and Sulpicia: The Poems'': "Why tell how the white dove sacred to the Syrians flies unharmed through the crowded cities of Palestine?"
* c. 2 CE:
Ovid
Pūblius Ovidius Nāsō (; 20 March 43 BC – 17/18 AD), known in English as Ovid ( ), was a Roman poet who lived during the reign of Augustus. He was a contemporary of the older Virgil and Horace, with whom he is often ranked as one of the th ...
, ''
Ars Amatoria
The ''Ars amatoria'' ( en, The Art of Love) is an instructional elegy series in three books by the ancient Roman poet Ovid. It was written in 2 AD.
Background
Book one of ''Ars amatoria'' was written to show a man how to find a woman. In book tw ...
'': "the seventh-day feast that the Syrian of Palestine observes."
* c. 8 CE:
Ovid
Pūblius Ovidius Nāsō (; 20 March 43 BC – 17/18 AD), known in English as Ovid ( ), was a Roman poet who lived during the reign of Augustus. He was a contemporary of the older Virgil and Horace, with whom he is often ranked as one of the th ...
, ''
Metamorphoses
The ''Metamorphoses'' ( la, Metamorphōsēs, from grc, μεταμορφώσεις: "Transformations") is a Latin narrative poem from 8 CE by the Roman poet Ovid. It is considered his ''magnum opus''. The poem chronicles the history of the ...
'': (1) "...Dercetis of Babylon, who, as the Palestinians believe, changed to a fish, all covered with scales, and swims in a pool" and (2) "There fell also Mendesian Celadon; Astreus, too, whose mother was a Palestinian, and his father unknown."
* c. 17 CE:
Ovid
Pūblius Ovidius Nāsō (; 20 March 43 BC – 17/18 AD), known in English as Ovid ( ), was a Roman poet who lived during the reign of Augustus. He was a contemporary of the older Virgil and Horace, with whom he is often ranked as one of the th ...
, '' Fasti (poem)'': "When Jupiter took up arms to defend the heavens, came to
Euphrates
The Euphrates () is the longest and one of the most historically important rivers of Western Asia. Together with the Tigris, it is one of the two defining rivers of Mesopotamia ( ''the land between the rivers''). Originating in Turkey, the Eup ...
with the little Cupid, and sat by the brink of the waters of Palestine."
* c. 40 CE:
Philo of Alexandria
Philo of Alexandria (; grc, Φίλων, Phílōn; he, יְדִידְיָה, Yəḏīḏyāh (Jedediah); ), also called Philo Judaeus, was a Hellenistic Jewish philosopher who lived in Alexandria, in the Roman province of Egypt.
Philo's de ...
, (1) ''Every Good Man is Free'': "Moreover Palestine and Syria too are not barren of exemplary wisdom and virtue, which countries no slight portion of that most populous nation of the Jews inhabits. There is a portion of those people called Essenes."; (2) ''On the Life of Moses'': " osesconducted his people as a colony into Phoenicia, and into the
Coele-Syria
Coele-Syria (, also spelt Coele Syria, Coelesyria, Celesyria) alternatively Coelo-Syria or Coelosyria (; grc-gre, Κοίλη Συρία, ''Koílē Syría'', 'Hollow Syria'; lat, Cœlē Syria or ), was a region of Syria in classical antiquit ...
, and Palestine, which was at that time called the land of the Canaanites, the borders of which country were three days' journey distant from Egypt."; (3) ''On Abraham'': "The country of the Sodomites was a district of the land of Canaan, which the Syrians afterwards called Palestine."
* c. 43 CE:
Pomponius Mela
Pomponius Mela, who wrote around AD 43, was the earliest Roman geographer. He was born in Tingentera (now Algeciras) and died AD 45.
His short work (''De situ orbis libri III.'') remained in use nearly to the year 1500. It occupies less ...
, ''De situ orbis'' (Description of the World): "Syria holds a broad expanse of the littoral, as well as lands that extend rather broadly into the interior, and it is designated by different names in different places. For example, it is called Coele, Mesopotamia, Judaea, Commagene, and Sophene. It is Palestine at the point where Syria abuts the Arabs, then Phoenicia, and then—where it reaches Cilicia—Antiochia. ..In Palestine, however, is Gaza, a mighty and well fortified city."
* c. 78:
Pliny the Elder
Gaius Plinius Secundus (AD 23/2479), called Pliny the Elder (), was a Roman author, naturalist and natural philosopher, and naval and army commander of the early Roman Empire, and a friend of the emperor Vespasian. He wrote the encyclopedic ' ...
, '' Natural History, Volume 1, Book V'': Chapter 13: "Next to these countries Syria occupies the coast, once the greatest of lands, and distinguished by many names; for the part which joins up to Arabia was formerly called Palaestina, Judaea, Coele, and Phoenice. The country in the interior was called Damascena, and that further on and more to the south, Babylonia."; Chapter 14: "After this, at the point where the Serbonian Bog becomes visible,
Idumea
Edom (; Edomite: ; he, אֱדוֹם , lit.: "red"; Akkadian: , ; Ancient Egyptian: ) was an ancient kingdom in Transjordan, located between Moab to the northeast, the Arabah to the west, and the Arabian Desert to the south and east ...
and Palaestina begin. This lake, which some writers have made to be 150 miles in circumference, Herodotus has placed at the foot of Mount Casius; it is now an inconsiderable fen. The towns are
Rhinocorura
Rhinocorura ( grc-gre, Ῥινοκόρουρα, ''Rhinokóroura'', or , ''Rhinokoúroura'') or Rhinocolura (, ''Rhinokóloura'') was the name of a region and associated town (or towns) and rivers lying between Ancient Egypt and the Land of Israe ...
and, in the interior,
Rafah
Rafah ( ar, رفح, Rafaḥ) is a Palestinian city in the southern Gaza Strip. It is the district capital of the Rafah Governorate, located south of Gaza City. Rafah's population of 152,950 (2014) is overwhelmingly made up of former Palestini ...
, Gaza, and, still more inland, Anthedon: there is also Mount Argaris"; Book XII, Chapter 40: "For these branches of commerce, they have opened the city of Carræ, which serves as an entrepot, and from which place they were formerly in the habit of proceeding to Gabba, at a distance of twenty days' journey, and thence to Palæstina, in Syria."
* c. 80:
Marcus Valerius Probus
Marcus Valerius Probus, also known as M. Valerius Probus Berytius or Probus the Berytian (c. 20/30 – 105 AD), was a Roman grammarian and critic, who flourished during Nero's reign.
He was a student rather than a teacher, and devoted himself to ...
, ''Commentary on
Georgics
The ''Georgics'' ( ; ) is a poem by Latin poet Virgil, likely published in 29 BCE. As the name suggests (from the Greek word , ''geōrgika'', i.e. "agricultural (things)") the subject of the poem is agriculture; but far from being an example ...
'': "Edomite palms from Idumea, that is Judea, which is in the region of Syria Palestine."
* c. 85: Silius Italicus, ''
Punica
''Punica'' is a small genus of fruit-bearing deciduous shrubs or small trees in the flowering plant family Lythraceae. The better known species is the pomegranate (''Punica granatum''). The other species, the Socotra pomegranate (''Punica ...
'': "While yet a youth, he Titus">/nowiki>Titus.html" ;"title="Titus.html" ;"title="/nowiki>Titus">/nowiki>Titus">Titus.html" ;"title="/nowiki>Titus">/nowiki>Titus/nowiki> shall put an end to war with the fierce people of Palestine."
* c. 90:
Dio Chrysostom
Dio Chrysostom (; el, Δίων Χρυσόστομος ''Dion Chrysostomos''), Dion of Prusa or Cocceianus Dio (c. 40 – c. 115 AD), was a Greek orator, writer, philosopher and historian of the Roman Empire in the 1st century AD. Eighty of his ...
, quoted by Synesius, refers to the Dead Sea as being in the interior of Palestine, in the very vicinity of "Sodom and Gomorrah, Sodoma."
* c. 94:
Josephus
Flavius Josephus (; grc-gre, Ἰώσηπος, ; 37 – 100) was a first-century Romano-Jewish historian and military leader, best known for '' The Jewish War'', who was born in Jerusalem—then part of Roman Judea—to a father of priestly ...
, '' Antiquities of the Jews'': "...these Antiquities contain what hath been delivered down to us from the original creation of man, until the twelfth year of the reign of Nero, as to what hath befallen us Jews, as well is Egypt as in Syria, and in Palestine."
* c. 94:
Josephus
Flavius Josephus (; grc-gre, Ἰώσηπος, ; 37 – 100) was a first-century Romano-Jewish historian and military leader, best known for '' The Jewish War'', who was born in Jerusalem—then part of Roman Judea—to a father of priestly ...
, '' Antiquities of the Jews'': "...the children of Mesraim, being eight in number, possessed the country from Gaza to Egypt, though it retained the name of one only, the Philistim; for the Greeks call part of that country Palestine."
* c. 94:
Josephus
Flavius Josephus (; grc-gre, Ἰώσηπος, ; 37 – 100) was a first-century Romano-Jewish historian and military leader, best known for '' The Jewish War'', who was born in Jerusalem—then part of Roman Judea—to a father of priestly ...
, '' Antiquities of the Jews'': "... Aram had the Aramites, which the Greeks called Syrians; as Laud founded the Laudites, which are now called Lydians. Of the four sons of Aram, Uz founded
Trachonitis
The Lajat (/ALA-LC: ''al-Lajāʾ''), also spelled ''Lejat'', ''Lajah'', ''el-Leja'' or ''Laja'', is the largest lava field in southern Syria, spanning some 900 square kilometers. Located about southeast of Damascus, the Lajat borders the Hauran ...
and Damascus: this country lies between Palestine and Coelesyria."
* c. 97:
Josephus
Flavius Josephus (; grc-gre, Ἰώσηπος, ; 37 – 100) was a first-century Romano-Jewish historian and military leader, best known for '' The Jewish War'', who was born in Jerusalem—then part of Roman Judea—to a father of priestly ...
, ''
Against Apion
''Against Apion'' ( el, Φλαΐου Ἰωσήπου περὶ ἀρχαιότητος Ἰουδαίων λόγος α and ; Latin ''Contra Apionem'' or ''In Apionem'') is a polemical work written by Flavius Josephus as a defense of Judaism as a ...
'': "Nor, indeed, was Herodotus of Halicarnassus unacquainted with our nation, but mentions it after a way of his own... This, therefore, is what Herodotus says, that "the Syrians that are in Palestine are circumcised." But there are no inhabitants of Palestine that are circumcised excepting the Jews; and, therefore, it must be his knowledge of them that enabled him to speak so much concerning them."
* c. 100:
Statius
Publius Papinius Statius ( Greek: Πόπλιος Παπίνιος Στάτιος; ; ) was a Greco-Roman poet of the 1st century CE. His surviving Latin poetry includes an epic in twelve books, the ''Thebaid''; a collection of occasional poetry, ...
, ''
Silvae
The is a collection of Latin occasional poetry in hexameters, hendecasyllables, and lyric meters by Publius Papinius Statius (c. 45 – c. 96 CE). There are 32 poems in the collection, divided into five books. Each book contains a prose prefa ...
'', refers to "liquores Palestini" and "Isis, ...gently with thine own hand lead the peerless youth, on whom the Latian prince hath bestowed the standards of the East and the bridling of the cohorts of Palestine, (i.e., a command on the Syrian front) through festal gate and sacred haven and the cities of thy land."
* c. 100:
Plutarch
Plutarch (; grc-gre, Πλούταρχος, ''Ploútarchos''; ; – after AD 119) was a Greek Middle Platonist philosopher, historian, biographer, essayist, and priest at the Temple of Apollo in Delphi. He is known primarily for hi ...
Tigranes
Tigranes (, grc, Τιγράνης) is the Greek transliteration of the Old Iranian name ''*Tigrāna''. This was the name of a number of historical figures, primarily kings of Armenia.
The name of Tigranes, which was theophoric in nature, was u ...
reigns, king of kings, and holds in his hands a power that has enabled him to keep the Parthians in narrow bounds, to remove Greek cities bodily into
Media
Media may refer to:
Communication
* Media (communication), tools used to deliver information or data
** Advertising media, various media, content, buying and placement for advertising
** Broadcast media, communications delivered over mass e ...
, to conquer Syria and Palestine, to put to death the kings of the royal line of Seleucus, and carry away their wives and daughters by violence." and "The triumph f Pompeywas so great, that though it was divided into two days, the time was far from being sufficient for displaying what was prepared to be carried in procession; there remained still enough to adorn another triumph. At the head of the show appeared the titles of the conquered nations; Pontus Armenia, Cappadocia, Paphlagonia, Media, Colchis, the Iberians, the Albanians, Syria, Cilicia, Mesopotamia, Phoenicia, Palestine, Judea, Arabia, the pirates subdued both by sea and land."
* c. 100:
Achilles Tatius
Achilles Tatius ( Greek: Ἀχιλλεὺς Τάτιος, ''Achilleus Tatios'') of Alexandria was a Roman-era Greek writer of the 2nd century AD whose fame is attached to his only surviving work, the ancient Greek novel, or ''romance'', '' The Adv ...
, '' Leucippe and Cleitophon and other love stories in eight books'': "Your father did not return from his absence in Palestine until two days later; and he then found a letter had arrived from Leucippe's father—it had come the very day after our flight—betrothing his daughter to you."
Roman province
The Roman provinces (Latin: ''provincia'', pl. ''provinciae'') were the administrative regions of Ancient Rome outside Roman Italy that were controlled by the Romans under the Roman Republic and later the Roman Empire. Each province was rule ...
between 135 and about 390. It was established by the merger of Roman Syria and Roman Judaea, shortly before or after the Bar Kokhba Revolt. There is only circumstantial evidence linking Hadrian with the name change and the precise date is not certain. The common view that the name change was intended to "sever the connection of the Jews to their historical homeland" is disputed. Zachary Foster in his doctoral dissertation wrote that "Most scholars believe the Roman Emperor Hadrian changed the provincial administrative name of Judaea to Palestine to erase the Jewish presence in the land," opining that "it’s equally likely the name change had little to do with Jew hatred and more to do with Hadrian’s romance with ancient Greece." He adds, there is a “paucity of direct evidence around who made the change, when and under what circumstances”, and that it may be that Hadrian did not “rename” the country but simply “called the place what it was called”.
Louis Feldman
Louis Harry Feldman (October 29, 1926 – March 25, 2017) was an American professor of classics and literature. He was the Abraham Wouk Family Professor of Classics and Literature at Yeshiva University, the institution at which he taught s ...
argues prior to change of province name the term was used to refer to the coastal region associated with the Philistines and that first century authors differentiated Judea from Palestine.
* 139: A
Roman military diploma
A Roman military diploma was a document inscribed in bronze certifying that the holder was honourably discharged from the Roman armed forces and/or had received the grant of Roman citizenship from the emperor as reward for service.
The diploma ...
''Description of Greece'': (1) "Hard by is a sanctuary of the Heavenly Aphrodite; the first men to establish her cult were the Assyrians, after the Assyrians the Paphians of Cyprus and the Phoenicians who live at Ascalon in Palestine; the Phoenicians taught her worship to the people of Cythera."; (2) "In front of the sanctuary grow palm-trees, the fruit of which, though not wholly edible like the dates of Palestine, yet are riper than those of Ionia."; and (3) " _Hebrew_Sibyl.html" ;"title="Sibyl.html" ;"title=" Hebrew Sibyl"> Hebrew Sibyl">Sibyl.html" ;"title=" Hebrew Sibyl"> Hebrew Sibylbrought up in Palestine named Sabbe, whose father was Berosus and her mother Erymanthe. Some say she was a Babylonian, while others call her an Egyptian Sibyl."
* c. 150: Aelius Aristides, ''To Plato: In Defense of the Four'': (671) These men alone should be classed neither among flatterers nor free men. For they deceive like flatterers, but they are insolent as if they were of higher rank, since they are involved in the two most extreme and opposite evils, baseness and willfulness, behaving like those impious men of Palestine. For the proof of the impiety of those people is that they do not believe in the higher powers. And these men in a certain fashion have defected from the Greek race, or rather from all that is higher.
* c. 150:
Appian
Appian of Alexandria (; grc-gre, Ἀππιανὸς Ἀλεξανδρεύς ''Appianòs Alexandreús''; la, Appianus Alexandrinus; ) was a Greek historian with Roman citizenship who flourished during the reigns of Emperors of Rome Trajan, Ha ...
, ''Roman History'': "Intending to write the history of the Romans, I have deemed it necessary to begin with the boundaries of the nations under their sway.... Here turning our course and passing round, we take in Palestine-Syria, and beyond it a part of Arabia. The Phoenicians hold the country next to Palestine on the sea, and beyond the Phoenician territory are Coele-Syria, and the parts stretching from the sea as far inland as the river Euphrates, namely
Palmyra
Palmyra (; Palmyrene: () ''Tadmor''; ar, تَدْمُر ''Tadmur'') is an ancient city in present-day Homs Governorate, Syria. Archaeological finds date back to the Neolithic period, and documents first mention the city in the early secon ...
and the sandy country round about, extending even to the Euphrates itself."
* c. 150: Lucian of Samosata, ''
Passing of Peregrinus
''The Passing of Peregrinus'' or ''The Death of Peregrinus'' ( el, Περὶ τῆς Περεγρίνου Τελευτῆς; la, De Morte Peregrini) is a satire by the Syrian Greek writer Lucian in which the lead character, the Cynic philosopher ...
'': 11. "It was then that he learned the wondrous lore of the Christians, by associating with their priests and scribes in Palestine. And—how else could it be?—in a trice he made them all look like children, for he was prophet, cult-leader, head of the synagogue, and everything, all by himself. He interpreted and explained some of their books and even composed many, and they revered him as a god, made use of him as a lawgiver, and set him down as a protector, next after that other, to be sure, whom they still worship, the man who was crucified in Palestine because he introduced this new cult into the world.
* c. 150: Arrian, '' Anabasis Alexandri'': " Tyre then was captured, in the archonship at Athens of Anicetus in the month I lecatombacun...Alexander now determined to make his expedition to Egypt. The rest of Syrian Palestine (as it is called) had already come over to him, but a certain
eunuch
A eunuch ( ) is a male who has been castrated. Throughout history, castration often served a specific social function.
The earliest records for intentional castration to produce eunuchs are from the Sumerian city of Lagash in the 2nd millenni ...
, Batis, who was master of Gaza, did not join Alexander."''
* c. 150:
Ptolemy
Claudius Ptolemy (; grc-gre, Πτολεμαῖος, ; la, Claudius Ptolemaeus; AD) was a mathematician, astronomer, astrologer, geographer, and music theorist, who wrote about a dozen scientific treatises, three of which were of importance ...
, ''
Geography (Ptolemy)
The ''Geography'' ( grc-gre, Γεωγραφικὴ Ὑφήγησις, ''Geōgraphikḕ Hyphḗgēsis'', "Geographical Guidance"), also known by its Latin names as the ' and the ', is a gazetteer, an atlas, and a treatise on cartography, co ...
'', including map.
* 155:
First Apology of Justin Martyr
The ''First Apology'' was an early work of Christian apologetics addressed by Justin Martyr to the Roman Emperor Antoninus Pius. In addition to arguing against the persecution of individuals solely for being Christian, Justin also provides the ...
, refers to "
Flavia Neapolis
Nablus ( ; ar, نابلس, Nābulus ; he, שכם, Šəḵem, ISO 259-3: ; Samaritan Hebrew: , romanized: ; el, Νεάπολις, Νeápolis) is a Palestinian city in the West Bank, located approximately north of Jerusalem, with a populatio ...
in Palestine" in the introductory paragraph.
* 159: Coins from the Neapolis mint from the time of
Antoninus Pius
Antoninus Pius ( Latin: ''Titus Aelius Hadrianus Antoninus Pius''; 19 September 86 – 7 March 161) was Roman emperor from 138 to 161. He was the fourth of the Five Good Emperors from the Nerva–Antonine dynasty.
Born into a senatori ...
: Flavia Neapolis (?), in Syria, in Palestine, year 88 (in Greek).
* c. 200:
Ulpian
Ulpian (; la, Gnaeus Domitius Annius Ulpianus; c. 170223? 228?) was a Roman jurist born in Tyre. He was considered one of the great legal authorities of his time and was one of the five jurists upon whom decisions were to be based according to ...
, ''On Taxes'': Book I. It should be remembered that there are certain coloniae subject to the Italian Law. ...The colony of Ptolemais, which is situated between Phoenicia and Palestine, has nothing but the name of a colony. ...In Palestine there are two colonies, those of Caesarea and
Aelia Capitolina
Aelia Capitolina (Traditional English Pronunciation: ; Latin in full: ) was a Roman colony founded during Emperor Hadrian's trip to Judah in 129/130, centered around Jerusalem, which had been almost totally razed after the siege of 70 CE. The f ...
; but neither of these enjoy Italian privileges.
* c. 200:
Tertullian
Tertullian (; la, Quintus Septimius Florens Tertullianus; 155 AD – 220 AD) was a prolific early Christian author from Carthage in the Roman province of Africa. He was the first Christian author to produce an extensive corpus of L ...
, ''The Works of Tertullian'': Palestine had not yet received from Egypt its Jewish swarm (of emigrants), nor had the race from which Christians sprung yet settled down there, when its neighbors Sodom and Gomorrah were consumed by fire from heaven.
* c. 200:
Sextus Julius Africanus
Sextus Julius Africanus (c. 160 – c. 240; Greek: Σέξτος Ἰούλιος ὁ Ἀφρικανός or ὁ Λίβυς) was a Christian traveler and historian of the late second and early third centuries. He is important chiefly because o ...
, ''Epistle to Aristides'': Some
Idumean
Edom (; Edomite: ; he, אֱדוֹם , lit.: "red"; Akkadian: , ; Ancient Egyptian: ) was an ancient kingdom in Transjordan, located between Moab to the northeast, the Arabah to the west, and the Arabian Desert to the south and east. ...
robbers attacking Ascalon, a city of Palestine, besides other spoils which they took from a temple of Apollo, which was built near the walls, carried off captive one Antipater, son of a certain Herod, a servant of the temple. And as the priest was not able to pay the ransom for his son, Antipater was brought up in the customs of the Idumeans, and afterwards enjoyed the friendship of Hyrcanus, the high priest of Judea. And being sent on an embassy to Pompey on behalf of Hyrcanus, and having restored to him the kingdom which was being wasted by Aristobulus his brother, he was so fortunate as to obtain the title of procurator of Palestine.
* c. 225:
Cassius Dio
Lucius Cassius Dio (), also known as Dio Cassius ( ), was a Roman historian and senator of maternal Greek origin. He published 80 volumes of the history on ancient Rome, beginning with the arrival of Aeneas in Italy. The volumes documented the ...
, ''
Historia Romana
Lucius Cassius Dio (), also known as Dio Cassius ( ), was a Roman historian and senator of maternal Greek origin. He published 80 volumes of the history on ancient Rome, beginning with the arrival of Aeneas in Italy. The volumes documented the ...
'': The Eastern Wars c. 70 BCE —"This was the course of events at that time in Palestine; for this is the name that has been given from of old to the whole country extending from Phoenicia to Egypt along the inner sea. They have also another name that they have acquired: the country has been named Judaea, and the people themselves Jews." ..The Destruction of Jerusalem by
Titus
Titus Caesar Vespasianus ( ; 30 December 39 – 13 September 81 AD) was Roman emperor from 79 to 81. A member of the Flavian dynasty, Titus succeeded his father Vespasian upon his death.
Before becoming emperor, Titus gained renown as a mili ...
in 70 CE —"Such was the course of these events; and following them Vespasian was declared emperor by the senate also, and Titus and
Domitian
Domitian (; la, Domitianus; 24 October 51 – 18 September 96) was a Roman emperor who reigned from 81 to 96. The son of Vespasian and the younger brother of Titus, his two predecessors on the throne, he was the last member of the Fl ...
were given the title of Caesars. The consular office was assumed by
Vespasian
Vespasian (; la, Vespasianus ; 17 November AD 9 – 23/24 June 79) was a Roman emperor who reigned from AD 69 to 79. The fourth and last emperor who reigned in the Year of the Four Emperors, he founded the Flavian dynasty that ruled the Empi ...
and Titus while the former was in Egypt and the latter in Palestine."
* c. 300: Flavius Vopiscus, '' Augustan History'': On the lives of Firmus, Saturninus, Proculus and Bonosus: "So then, holding such an opinion about the Egyptians Aurelian forbade Saturninus to visit Egypt, showing a wisdom that was truly divine. For as soon as the Egyptians saw that one of high rank had arrived among them, they straightway shouted aloud, "Saturninus Augustus, may the gods keep you!" But he, like a prudent man, as one cannot deny, fled at once from the city of Alexandria and returned to Palestine." On the Life of
Septimius Severus
Lucius Septimius Severus (; 11 April 145 – 4 February 211) was Roman emperor from 193 to 211. He was born in Leptis Magna (present-day Al-Khums, Libya) in the Roman province of Africa. As a young man he advanced through the customary suc ...
: "And not long afterwards he
everus
Everus (Li Nian) is a car marque of Guangqi Honda, a joint venture between Honda and Guangzhou Automobile Group (GAC Group). Honda became the first foreign automaker to develop vehicles under a brand owned by its local joint venture automaker in ...
met with Niger near Cyzicus, slew him, and paraded his head on a pike. ...The citizens of Neapolis in Palestine, because they had long been in arms on Niger's side, he deprived of all their civic rights, and to many individuals, other than members of the senatorial order, who had followed Niger he meted out cruel punishments." On the life of Aurelian: "Aurelian, now ruler over the entire world, having subdued both the East and the Gauls, and victor in all lands, turned his march toward Rome, that he might present to the gaze of the Romans a triumph. ...There were three royal chariots, ...twenty elephants, and two hundred tamed beasts of diverse kinds from Libya and Palestine."
* c. 300: Antonine Itinerary.
* 311: Bishop Eusebius of Caesarea, ''History of the Martyrs in Palestine''. As the "Father of Church History," Eusebius' use of the name Palestine influenced later generations of Christian writers.
Late Antiquity period
Late Roman Empire (Byzantine) period
* c. 362: Julian, '' Against the Galilaeans'': "Why were you so ungrateful to our gods as to desert them for the Jews?" Was it because the gods granted the sovereign power to Rome, permitting the Jews to be free for a short time only, and then forever to be enslaved and aliens? Look at Abraham: was he not an alien in a strange land? And Jacob: was he not a slave, first in Syria, then after that in Palestine, and in his old age in Egypt? Does not Moses say that he led them forth from the house of bondage out of Egypt "with a stretched out arm"? And after their sojourn in Palestine did they not change their fortunes more frequently than observers say the chameleon changes its colour, now subject to the judges, now enslaved to foreign races?
* c. 365:
Aurelius Victor
Sextus Aurelius Victor (c. 320 – c. 390) was a historian and politician of the Roman Empire. Victor was the author of a short history of imperial Rome, entitled ''De Caesaribus'' and covering the period from Augustus to Constantius II. The work ...
, '' Epitome de Caesaribus'': Vespasian ruled ten years. ..Volgeses, King of Parthia, was compelled to peace. The Syria for which Palestina is the name, and Cilicia, and Trachia and Commagene, which today we call Augustophratensis, were added to the provinces. Judaea, too, was added.
* c. 370: Eutropius, '' Breviarium historiae Romanae'': "Vespasian, who had been chosen emperor in Palestine, a prince indeed of obscure birth, but worthy to be compared with the best emperors." and "Under him Judæa was added to the Roman Empire; and Jerusalem, which was a very famous city of Palestine."
* c. 380:
Ammianus Marcellinus
Ammianus Marcellinus (occasionally anglicised as Ammian) (born , died 400) was a Roman soldier and historian who wrote the penultimate major historical account surviving from antiquity (preceding Procopius). His work, known as the ''Res Gestae ...
, "Book XIV," ''The Roman History of Ammianus Marcellinus'': Book XIV, 8, 11. "The last province of the Syrias is Palestine, a district of great extent, abounding in well-cultivated and beautiful land, and having several magnificent cities, all of equal importance, and rivalling one another as it were, in parallel lines. For instance, Caesarea, which Herod built in honour of the Prince Octavianus, and
Eleutheropolis
Eleutheropolis (Greek, Ἐλευθερόπολις, "Free City"; ar, إليوثيروبوليس; in Hebrew, בית גוברין, Beit Gubrin) was a Roman and Byzantine city in Syria Palaestina, some 53 km southwest of Jerusalem. After the Mu ...
, and Neapolis, and also Ascalon, and Gaza, cities built in bygone ages."
* c. 384: Saint
Jerome
Jerome (; la, Eusebius Sophronius Hieronymus; grc-gre, Εὐσέβιος Σωφρόνιος Ἱερώνυμος; – 30 September 420), also known as Jerome of Stridon, was a Christian priest, confessor, theologian, and historian; he is co ...
, ''Epistle 33'': "He (
Origen
Origen of Alexandria, ''Ōrigénēs''; Origen's Greek name ''Ōrigénēs'' () probably means "child of Horus" (from , "Horus", and , "born"). ( 185 – 253), also known as Origen Adamantius, was an early Christian scholar, ascetic, and theo ...
) stands condemned by his bishop,
Demetrius
Demetrius is the Latinized form of the Ancient Greek male given name ''Dēmḗtrios'' (), meaning “Demetris” - "devoted to goddess Demeter".
Alternate forms include Demetrios, Dimitrios, Dimitris, Dmytro, Dimitri, Dimitrie, Dimitar, Dumi ...
, only the bishops of Palestine, Arabia, Phenicia, and Achaia dissenting."
* c. 385: Egeria, ''Itinerary'': "The greatest part of Palestine, the land of promise, was in sight, together with the whole land of Jordan, as far as it could be seen with our eyes."
* 390:
Auxentius of Durostorum
Auxentius of Durostorum also probably known as Mercurinus was a deacon in Alexandria and later bishop of Durostorum. An Arian, he was prominent in conflict with St Ambrose.
Identity
Auxentius was the foster-son of Wulfila, the "apostle to the ...
(else Maximinus the Arian), ''Commenttarium on Iob'': "In regione Arabiae et Palaestinorum asini, qui veloces sunt similiter ut equi."
* c. 390:
John Chrysostom
John Chrysostom (; gr, Ἰωάννης ὁ Χρυσόστομος; 14 September 407) was an important Early Church Father who served as archbishop of Constantinople. He is known for his preaching and public speaking, his denunciation of ...
, ''On Wealth and Poverty'': "“What about Abraham?” someone says. Who has suffered as many misfortunes as he? Was he not exiled from his country? Was he not separated from all his household? Did he not endure hunger in a foreign land? Did he not, like a wanderer, move continually, from Babylon to Mesopotamia, from there to Palestine, and from there to Egypt?" and ''
Adversus Judaeos
''Adversus Judaeos'' ( grc, Κατὰ Ἰουδαίων ''Kata Ioudaiōn'', "against the Jews") are a series of fourth century homilies by Saint John Chrysostom directed to members of the church of Antioch of his time, who continued to observe Je ...
'': "VI... Do you not see that their Passover is the type, while our Pasch is the truth? Look at the tremendous difference between them. The Passover prevented bodily death: whereas the Pasch quelled God's anger against the whole world; the Passover of old freed the Jews from Egypt, while the Pasch has set us free from idolatry; the Passover drowned the Pharaoh, but the Pasch drowned the devil; after the Passover came Palestine, but after the Pasch will come heaven."
* c. 390: Palaestina was organised into three administrative units: ''Palaestina Prima'', ''Secunda'', and ''Tertia'' (First, Second, and Third Palestine), part of the
Diocese of the East
The Diocese of the East ( la, Dioecesis Orientis; el, ) was a diocese of the later Roman Empire, incorporating the provinces of the western Middle East, between the Mediterranean Sea and Mesopotamia. During late Antiquity, it was one of the majo ...
. ''Palaestina Prima'' consisted of Judea,
Samaria
Samaria (; he, שֹׁמְרוֹן, translit=Šōmrōn, ar, السامرة, translit=as-Sāmirah) is the historic and biblical name used for the central region of Palestine, bordered by Judea to the south and Galilee to the north. The first ...
Peraea
Peraia, and Peraea or Peræa (from grc, ἡ περαία, ''hē peraia'', "land across") in Classical Antiquity referred to "a community's territory lying 'opposite', predominantly (but not exclusively) a mainland possession of an island state" a ...
with the governor residing in Caesarea. ''Palaestina Secunda'' consisted of the Galilee, the lower
Jezreel Valley
The Jezreel Valley (from the he, עמק יזרעאל, translit. ''ʿĒmeq Yīzrəʿēʿl''), or Marj Ibn Amir ( ar, مرج ابن عامر), also known as the Valley of Megiddo, is a large fertile plain and inland valley in the Northern Distr ...
, the regions east of Galilee, and the western part of the former
Decapolis
The Decapolis (Greek: grc, Δεκάπολις, Dekápolis, Ten Cities, label=none) was a group of ten Hellenistic cities on the eastern frontier of the Roman Empire in the Southern Levant in the first centuries BCE and CE. They formed a group ...
with the seat of government at Scythopolis. ''Palaestina Tertia'' included the Negev, southern Jordan—once part of Arabia—and most of
Sinai
Sinai commonly refers to:
* Sinai Peninsula, Egypt
* Mount Sinai, a mountain in the Sinai Peninsula, Egypt
* Biblical Mount Sinai, the site in the Bible where Moses received the Law of God
Sinai may also refer to:
* Sinai, South Dakota, a place ...
with Petra as the usual residence of the governor. Palestina Tertia was also known as Palaestina Salutaris. Recorded in the:
** '' Codex Theodosianus'', published in 438, and containing previous laws, including a first mention in 409.
** '' Synecdemus'' of Hierocles (c. 530)
** ''Descriptio Orbis Romani'' of
George of Cyprus
George of Cyprus ( el, Γεώργιος Κύπριος; Latinized as ''Georgius Cyprius'') was a Byzantine geographer of the early seventh century.
Nothing is known of his life save that he was born at Lapithos in the island of Cyprus. He is kno ...
(c. 600)
* 392:
Epiphanius of Salamis
Epiphanius of Salamis ( grc-gre, Ἐπιφάνιος; c. 310–320 – 403) was the bishop of Salamis, Cyprus, at the end of the 4th century. He is considered a saint and a Church Father by both the Eastern Orthodox and Catholic Churches. He g ...
, ''
On Weights and Measures
''On Weights and Measures'' is a historical, lexical, metrological, and geographical treatise compiled in 392 AD in Constantia by Epiphanius of Salamis (c. 315–403). The greater part of the work is devoted to a discussion on Greek and Roma ...
'': "So
adrian
Adrian is a form of the Latin given name Adrianus or Hadrianus. Its ultimate origin is most likely via the former river Adria from the Venetic and Illyrian word ''adur'', meaning "sea" or "water".
The Adria was until the 8th century BC the mai ...
passed through the city of Antioch and passed through oele-Syriaand Phoenicia and came to Palestine — which is also called Judea — forty-seven years after the destruction of Jerusalem."
* c. 400:
Genesis Rabba
Genesis Rabbah (Hebrew: , ''B'reshith Rabba'') is a religious text from Judaism's classical period, probably written between 300 and 500 CE with some later additions. It is a midrash comprising a collection of ancient rabbinical homiletical inter ...
'', proposes that the word "land" in Genesis 41:54 refers to three lands in the region – Phoenicia, Arabia and Palestine.(ויהי רעב בכל הארצות: בשלש ארצות בפנקיא ובערביא ובפלסטיני)
* c. 400:
Lamentations Rabbah
The Midrash on Lamentations or Eichah Rabbah (Hebrew: איכה רבה) is a midrashic commentary to the Book of Lamentations ("Eichah").
It is one of the oldest works of midrash, along with Bereshit Rabbah and the Pesiḳta ascribed to Rab Ka ...
dukes
Duke is a male title either of a monarch ruling over a duchy, or of a member of royalty, or nobility. As rulers, dukes are ranked below emperors, kings, grand princes, grand dukes, and sovereign princes. As royalty or nobility, they are ranke ...
of Arabia, Africa, Alexandria, and Palestine, had joined forces with Roman Emperor
Vespasian
Vespasian (; la, Vespasianus ; 17 November AD 9 – 23/24 June 79) was a Roman emperor who reigned from AD 69 to 79. The fourth and last emperor who reigned in the Year of the Four Emperors, he founded the Flavian dynasty that ruled the Empi ...
. (שלש שנים ומחצה הקיף אספסיאנוס את ירושלם והיו עמו ארבעה דוכסין, דוכס דערביא, דוכס דאפריקא, דוכוס דאלכסנדריא, דוכוס דפלסטיני)
* c. 400:
Leviticus Rabbah
Leviticus Rabbah, Vayikrah Rabbah, or Wayiqra Rabbah is a homiletic midrash to the Biblical book of Leviticus (''Vayikrah'' in Hebrew). It is referred to by Nathan ben Jehiel (c. 1035–1106) in his ''Arukh'' as well as by Rashi (1040–1105) ...
(parasha 5, verse 3) proposes Gath of the Philistines is the same as the "(hills or forts) of Palestine" (תלוליא דפלסטיני).
* c. 400:
Cursus publicus
The ''cursus publicus'' (Latin: "the public way"; grc, δημόσιος δρόμος, ''dēmósios drómos'') was the state mandated and supervised courier and transportation service of the Roman Empire, later inherited by the Eastern Roma ...
, ''
Tabula Peutingeriana
' (Latin for "The Peutinger Map"), also referred to as Peutinger's Tabula or Peutinger Table, is an illustrated ' (ancient Roman road map) showing the layout of the '' cursus publicus'', the road network of the Roman Empire.
The map is a 13th-ce ...
Jerome
Jerome (; la, Eusebius Sophronius Hieronymus; grc-gre, Εὐσέβιος Σωφρόνιος Ἱερώνυμος; – 30 September 420), also known as Jerome of Stridon, was a Christian priest, confessor, theologian, and historian; he is co ...
, ''Hieronymus on Ezekiel'': "iuda et terra Israel ipsi institores tui in frumento primo; balsamum et mel et oleum et resinam proposuerunt in nundinis tuis. (lxx: iudas et filii Israel isti negotiatores tui in frumenti commercio et unguentis; primum mel et oleum et resinam dederunt in nundinis tuis). uerbum hebraicum 'phanag' aquila, symmachus et theodotio ita ut apud hebraeos positum est transtulerunt, pro quo septuaginta 'unguenta,' nos 'balsamum' uertimus. dicitur autem quibus terra iudaea, quae nunc appellatur palaestina, abundet copiis frumento, balsamo, melle et oleo et resina, quae an iuda et Israel ad tyri nundinas deferuntur."
* c. 414:
Jerome
Jerome (; la, Eusebius Sophronius Hieronymus; grc-gre, Εὐσέβιος Σωφρόνιος Ἱερώνυμος; – 30 September 420), also known as Jerome of Stridon, was a Christian priest, confessor, theologian, and historian; he is co ...
, ''Letter 129: Ad Dardanum de Terra promissionis'': "You may delineate the
Promised Land
The Promised Land ( he, הארץ המובטחת, translit.: ''ha'aretz hamuvtakhat''; ar, أرض الميعاد, translit.: ''ard al-mi'ad; also known as "The Land of Milk and Honey"'') is the land which, according to the Tanakh (the Hebrew ...
Book of Numbers
The book of Numbers (from Greek Ἀριθμοί, ''Arithmoi''; he, בְּמִדְבַּר, ''Bəmīḏbar'', "In the desert f) is the fourth book of the Hebrew Bible, and the fourth of five books of the Jewish Torah. The book has a long and c ...
(ch. 34): as bounded on the south by the desert tract called Sina, between the Dead Sea and the city of
Kadesh-barnea
Kadesh or Qadesh or Cades (in classical Hebrew he, קָדֵשׁ, from the root "holy") is a place-name that occurs several times in the Hebrew Bible, describing a site or sites located south of, or at the southern border of, Canaan and the Kin ...
, hich_is_located_with_the_ hich_is_located_with_the_Arabah_to_the_east">Arabah.html"_;"title="hich_is_located_with_the_Arabah">hich_is_located_with_the_Arabah_to_the_eastand_continues_to_the_west,_as_far_as_the_river_of_Egypt,_that_discharges_into_the_open_sea_near_the_city_of_Arish.html" ;"title="Arabah_to_the_east.html" ;"title="Arabah.html" ;"title="hich is located with the Arabah">hich is located with the Arabah to the east">Arabah.html" ;"title="hich is located with the Arabah">hich is located with the Arabah to the eastand continues to the west, as far as the river of Egypt, that discharges into the open sea near the city of Arish">Rhinocolara; as bounded on the west by the sea along the coasts of Palestine, Phoenicia, Coele‑Syria, and Cilicia; as bounded on the north by the circle formed by the Taurus Mountains and Zephyrium and extending to Hamath, called Epiphany‑Syria; as bounded on the east by the city of Hippos, Israel, Antioch Hippos and Lake Kinneret, now called Sea of Galilee, Tiberias, and then the Jordan River which discharges into the salt sea, now called the Dead Sea."
* c. 430:
Theodoret
Theodoret of Cyrus or Cyrrhus ( grc-gre, Θεοδώρητος Κύρρου; AD 393 – 458/466) was an influential theologian of the School of Antioch, biblical commentator, and Christian bishop of Cyrrhus (423–457). He played a pi ...
, ''Interpretatio in Psalmos (Theodoretus in notāre ad Psalmos)'': "PSALMS. CXXXIII. A Song of the Ascents, by David. Lo, how good and how pleasant The dwelling of brethren —even together! As the good oil on the head, Coming down on the beard, the beard of Aaron, That cometh down on the skirt of his robes, As dew of Hermon —That cometh down on hills of Zion, For there Jehovah commanded the blessing —Life unto the age!" er_ er_Psalm_133_(Psalms#Numbering">132),_Theodoretus_Cyrrhi_Episcopus_wrote_the_following_commentary;.html" ;"title="Psalm_133_( er_Psalm_133_(Psalms#Numbering">132),_Theodoretus_Cyrrhi_Episcopus_wrote_the_following_commentary;">Psalm_133_(Psalms#Numbering.html"_;"title="Psalm_133.html"_;"title="er_Psalm_133">er_Psalm_133_(Psalms#Numbering">132),_Theodoretus_Cyrrhi_Episcopus_wrote_the_following_commentary;''Like_dew_of_Hermon_falling_on_Mount_Sion''_(v._3)._Again_he_changed_to_another_image,_teaching_the_advantage_of_harmony;_he_said_it_is_like_the_Mount_Hermon#Epigraphy,_archaeology_and_references_in_religious_texts.html" ;"title="Psalms#Numbering.html" ;"title="Psalm_133.html" ;"title="er Psalm 133">er Psalm 133 (Psalms#Numbering">132), Theodoretus Cyrrhi Episcopus wrote the following commentary;">Psalm_133_(Psalms#Numbering.html" ;"title="Psalm_133.html" ;"title="er Psalm 133">er Psalm 133 (Psalms#Numbering">132), Theodoretus Cyrrhi Episcopus wrote the following commentary;''Like dew of Hermon falling on Mount Sion'' (v. 3). Again he changed to another image, teaching the advantage of harmony; he said it is like the Mount Hermon#Epigraphy, archaeology and references in religious texts">dew carried down from Hermon to Sion. There is so much of it that the jars release drops. Hermon is a mountain —in Palestine, in fact— and some distance from the land of Israel.
* c. 450:
Theodoret
Theodoret of Cyrus or Cyrrhus ( grc-gre, Θεοδώρητος Κύρρου; AD 393 – 458/466) was an influential theologian of the School of Antioch, biblical commentator, and Christian bishop of Cyrrhus (423–457). He played a pi ...
, ''Ecclesiastical History'': "The see of Caesarea, the capital of Palestine, was now held by Acacius, who had succeeded Eusebius."
* c. 450: Proclus of Constantinople: "Iosuae Palaestinae exploratori cohibendi solis lunaeque cursum potestatem adtribuit."
* c. 500:
Tabula Peutingeriana
' (Latin for "The Peutinger Map"), also referred to as Peutinger's Tabula or Peutinger Table, is an illustrated ' (ancient Roman road map) showing the layout of the '' cursus publicus'', the road network of the Roman Empire.
The map is a 13th-ce ...
(map)
* c. 500:
Zosimus Zosimus, Zosimos, Zosima or Zosimas may refer to:
People
*
* Rufus and Zosimus (died 107), Christian saints
* Zosimus (martyr) (died 110), Christian martyr who was executed in Umbria, Italy
* Zosimos of Panopolis, also known as ''Zosimus Alchem ...
Palmyrene army
Palmyra (; Palmyrene: () ''Tadmor''; ar, تَدْمُر ''Tadmur'') is an ancient city in present-day Homs Governorate, Syria. Archaeological finds date back to the Neolithic period, and documents first mention the city in the early second ...
drawn up before Emisa, amounting to seventy thousand men, consisting of Palmyrenes and their allies, mperor_Aurelian.html" ;"title="Aurelian.html" ;"title="mperor Aurelian">mperor Aurelian">Aurelian.html" ;"title="mperor Aurelian">mperor Aurelianopposed to them the Dalmatian cavalry, the Moesians and Pannonians, and the Celtic legions of Noricum and Rhaetia, and besides these the choicest of the imperial regiment selected man by man, the Mauritanian horse, the Tyaneans, the Mesopotamians, the Syrians, the Phoenicians, and the Palestinians, all men of acknowledged valour; the Palestinians besides other arms wielding clubs and staves."
* c. 550: Madaba map, "οροι Αιγυπτου και Παλαιστινης" (the "border of Egypt and Palestine)
* c. 550: '' Christian Topography.''
* 555:
Cyril of Scythopolis
Cyril of Scythopolis ( gr, Κύριλλος ὁ Σκυθοπολίτης, Kyrillos ho Skythopolitēs; – ), also known as Cyrillus Scythopolitanus, was a Christian monk, priest and Greek-language hagiographer or historian of monastic life in Pa ...
, ''The Life of St. Saba.''
* c. 555:
Procopius
Procopius of Caesarea ( grc-gre, Προκόπιος ὁ Καισαρεύς ''Prokópios ho Kaisareús''; la, Procopius Caesariensis; – after 565) was a prominent late antique Greek scholar from Caesarea Maritima. Accompanying the Roman gen ...
, ''Of the Buildings of Justinian'': "In Palestine there is a city named Neapolis, above which rises a high mountain, called Garizin. This mountain the Samaritans originally held; and they had been wont to go up to the summit of the mountain to pray on all occasions, not because they had ever built any temple there, but because they worshipped the summit itself with the greatest reverence."
* c. 560:
Procopius
Procopius of Caesarea ( grc-gre, Προκόπιος ὁ Καισαρεύς ''Prokópios ho Kaisareús''; la, Procopius Caesariensis; – after 565) was a prominent late antique Greek scholar from Caesarea Maritima. Accompanying the Roman gen ...
, ''The Wars of Justinian'': "The boundaries of Palestine extend toward the east to the sea which is called the Red Sea." Procopius also wrote that " Chosroes, king of Persia, had a great desire to make himself master of Palestine, on account of its extraordinary fertility, its opulence, and the great number of its inhabitants."
Middle Ages
Rashidun, Umayyad and Abbasid Caliphates period
* 629: Heraclius, In 629 Heraclius restored the True Cross to Jerusalem in a majestic ceremony: I.e. the so-called Fast of Heraclius, which immediately preceding Lent, forms the first week of the Great Fast. The origin of this fast is said to be as follows: that the emperor Heraclius, on his way to Jerusalem, promised his protection to the Jews of Palestine, but that on his arrival in the holy city, the schismatical patriarch and the Christians generally prayed him to put all the Jews to the sword, because they had joined the Persians shortly before in their sack of the city and cruelties towards the Christians. (Abu Salih the Armenian,
Abu al-Makarim Abu l-Makārim Saʿdullāh ibn Jirjis ibn Masʿūd ( ar, ابو المكارم سعد الله بن جرجس بن مسعود) (d.1208) was a priest of the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria in the thirteenth century. Abu al-Makarim is best known ...
, ed. Evetts 1895 p. 39 Part 7 of Anecdota Oxoniensia: Semitic series Anecdota oxoniensia. Semitic series—pt. VII], at Google Books)
* c. 670: Adomnán, '' De Locis Sanctis, or the Travels of
Arculf
Arculf (later 7th century) was a Frankish bishop who toured the Levant in around 680. Bede claimed he was a bishop (). According to Bede's history of the Church in England (V, 15), Arculf was shipwrecked on the shore of Iona, Scotland on his return ...
'': "Que utique Hebron, ut fertur, ante omnes, non solum Palestíne, civitates condita fuerat, sed etiam universas Egyptiacas urbes in sua precessit conditione, que nunc misere monstratur destructa." translated: "This Hebron, it is said, was founded before all the cities, not only of Palestine, but also preceded in its foundation all the cities of Egypt, although it has now been so miserably destroyed."
* c. 700:
Ravenna Cosmography
The ''Ravenna Cosmography'' ( la, Ravennatis Anonymi Cosmographia, "The Cosmography of the Unknown Ravennese") is a list of place-names covering the world from India to Ireland, compiled by an anonymous cleric in Ravenna around 700 AD. Textu ...
hadith
Ḥadīth ( or ; ar, حديث, , , , , , , literally "talk" or "discourse") or Athar ( ar, أثر, , literally "remnant"/"effect") refers to what the majority of Muslims believe to be a record of the words, actions, and the silent approva ...
'', as quoted in
Abu Bakr Muhammad ibn Ahmad al-Wasiti
Abu Bakr Muhammad ibn Ahmad al-Wasiti was the preacher (''khatib'') of al-Aqsa Mosque in 1019–1020 ( AH 410), the year he wrote a treatise entitled ''Concerning the (religious) status of Jerusalem'', better known as ''Fada'il Bayt al-Muqaddas'' ...
's ''Fada'il Bayt al-Muqaddas'' (c. 1019): "The most holy spot l-qudson earth is Syria; the most holy spot in Syria is Palestine; the most holy spot in Palestine is Jerusalem ayt al-maqdis the most holy spot in Jerusalem is the Mountain; the most holy spot in Jerusalem is the place of worship l-masjid and the most holy spot in the place of worship is the Dome."
* c. 770:
Hygeburg
Hygeburg (''floruit'' 760–780), also Hugeburc, Hugeberc, Huneberc or Huneburc, was an Anglo-Saxon
The Anglo-Saxons were a cultural group who inhabited England in the Early Middle Ages. They traced their origins to settlers who came to Brita ...
, ''The Life of
Willibald
Willibald (; c. 700 – c.787) was an 8th-century bishop of Eichstätt in Bavaria.
Information about his life is largely drawn from the Hodoeporicon (itinerary) of Willibald, a text written in the 8th century by Huneberc, an Anglo-Saxon nun fr ...
'': "Then, having visited the church of St. George at Diospolise passedthrough Joppe, a coast town of Palestine, where Peter raised to life the widow Dorcas, and went along the shore of the Adriatic Sea, and adored the footsteps of our Lord at Tyre and Sidon. And then, crossing Mount Libanus, and passing through the coast town of Tripoli, he visited Damascus again, and came to
Emmaus
Emmaus (; Greek: Ἐμμαούς, ''Emmaous''; la, Emmaus; , ''Emmaom''; ar, عمواس, ''ʻImwas'') is a town mentioned in the Gospel of Luke of the New Testament. Luke reports that Jesus appeared, after his death and resurrection, before tw ...
, a village of Palestine, which the Romans after the destruction of Jerusalem called, after the event of the victory, Nicopolis."
* 810–815:
Theophanes the Confessor
Theophanes the Confessor ( el, Θεοφάνης Ὁμολογητής; c. 758/760 – 12 March 817/818) was a member of the Byzantine aristocracy who became a monk and chronicler. He served in the court of Emperor Leo IV the Khazar before taking ...
, ''Chronicles'': Since Muhammad was a helpless orphan, he thought it good to go to a rich woman named Khadija ...to manage her camels and conduct her business in Egypt and Palestine... When he uhammadwent to Palestine he lived with both Jews and Christians, and hunted for certain writings among them.
* c. 870:
Ibn Khordadbeh
Abu'l-Qasim Ubaydallah ibn Abdallah ibn Khordadbeh ( ar, ابوالقاسم عبیدالله ابن خرداذبه; 820/825–913), commonly known as Ibn Khordadbeh (also spelled Ibn Khurradadhbih; ), was a high-ranking Persian bureaucrat and ...
al-Baladhuri
ʾAḥmad ibn Yaḥyā ibn Jābir al-Balādhurī ( ar, أحمد بن يحيى بن جابر البلاذري) was a 9th-century Muslim historian. One of the eminent Middle Eastern historians of his age, he spent most of his life in Baghdad and e ...
Yibna
Yibna ( ar, يبنى; ''Jabneh'' or ''Jabneel'' in Biblical times; ''Jamnia'' in Roman times; '' Ibelin'' to the Crusaders), or Tel Yavne is an archaeological site and depopulated Palestinian town. The ruins are located immediately southeast of ...
,
Imwas
Imwas or Emmaus ( ar, عِمواس), known in classical times as Nicopolis ( gr, Νικόπολις, lit=City of Victory), was a Palestinian Arab village located southeast of the city of Ramla and from Jerusalem in the Latrun salient of the W ...
Rafah
Rafah ( ar, رفح, Rafaḥ) is a Palestinian city in the southern Gaza Strip. It is the district capital of the Rafah Governorate, located south of Gaza City. Rafah's population of 152,950 (2014) is overwhelmingly made up of former Palestini ...
, and
Bayt Jibrin
Bayt Jibrin or Beit Jibrin ( ar, بيت جبرين; he, בית גוברין, translit=Beit Gubrin) was a Palestinian village located northwest of the city of Hebron. The village had a total land area of 56,185 dunams or , of which wer ...
.
* 874: Musa ibn Sahl al-Ramli, ''Man nazala Filastin min al-sahaba [On the Prophetic Companions who settled in Palestine]'', the first known Islamic history of Syria in whole or part.
* c. 880: Qudamah ibn Ja'far, ''Kitab Al Kharaj (The Book of the Land Tax)'': Filastin Province, 195,000 dinars (c. 820)
* 891: Ya'qubi, ''Al-Yaqubi, Book of Lands'': "Of the
Jund Filastin
Jund Filasṭīn ( ar, جُنْد فِلَسْطِيْن, "the military district of Palestine") was one of the military districts of the Umayyad and Abbasid province of Bilad al-Sham (Levant), organized soon after the Muslim conquest of the Lev ...
, the ancient capital was Lod, Lydda. The Caliph Sulayman ibn Abd al-Malik, Sulayman subsequently founded the city of Ramla, which he made the capital.... The population of Palestine consists of Arabs of the tribes of Banu Lakhm, Lakhm, Judham, Banu Amilah, Amilah, Kinda (tribe), Kindah, Qays, Kais and Kinana, Kinanah"
* c. 900: ''Limits of the Five Patriarchates'': "The first episcopal see, See and the first patriarchate is of Jerusalem, James the Just, James, the brother of God and apostle and eyewitness, and minister of the word and secrets of secrets and hidden mysteries, contains the whole Palestine a country until Arabia." (Πρῶτος θρόνος καὶ πρώτη πατριαρχία Ἱεροσολύμων, Ἱακώβου τοῦ ἀδελφοθέου καὶ ἀποστόλου, αὐτόπτου καί ὑπηρέτου τοῦ λόγου γενομένου καὶ μύστου τῶν ἀπορρήτων καὶ ἀθεάτων αὐτοῦ μυστηρίων θεαμάτων, περιέχων πᾶσαν τὴν Παλαιστίνων χώραν ἄχρι Ἀραβίας)
* 903: Ibn al-Faqih, ''Ibn al-Faqih al-Hamadhani, Concise Book of Lands''
* c. 913: Ibn Abd Rabbih
* c. 930: Patriarch Eutychius of Alexandria, ''Eutychii Annales'': CHAPTER II: ADVERSITIES OF THE CHURCH.: 1 Persecutions of the Christians.: ...The Christians suffered less in this than in the preceding centuries. ...In the East especially in Syria and Palestine the Jews sometimes rose upon the Christians with great violence (Eutyrhius, Annales tom ii., p. 236, &c. Jo. Henr. Hottinger, Historia Orientalis, lib. i., c. id., p. 129, &c.) yet so unsuccessfully as to suffer severely for their temerity. Mosheim 1847, p. 426 at Google Books)
* before 942: Saadia Gaon (892-942), the great Jewish rabbi and exegete, makes the classic Jewish Arabic translation of the Torah, translating the Hebrew פלשת ''Pleshet''
Philistia
Philistia (; Koine Greek (LXX): Γῆ τῶν Φυλιστιείμ, romanized: ''gê tôn Phulistieìm''), also known as the Philistine Pentapolis, was a confederation of cities in the Southwest Levant, which included the cities of Ashdod, Ashk ...
as פלסטין (using Judeo-Arabic) ''Filasṭīn'', e.g. Exodus 15:14 סכאן פלסטין ''the inhabitants of Palestine''
* 943: Al-Masudi, ''The Meadows of Gold''
* c. 950: Alchabitius, ''Introduction to the Art of Judgments of the Stars''
Fatimid Caliphate period
* 951–978: Estakhri, ''Traditions of Countries'' and Ibn Hawqal, ''The Face of the Earth'': "The provinces of Syria are Jund Filstin, and Jund al Urdunn, Jund Dimaskh, Jund Hims, and Jund Kinnasrin.... Filastin is the westernmost of the provinces of Syria... its greatest length from
Rafah
Rafah ( ar, رفح, Rafaḥ) is a Palestinian city in the southern Gaza Strip. It is the district capital of the Rafah Governorate, located south of Gaza City. Rafah's population of 152,950 (2014) is overwhelmingly made up of former Palestini ...
to the boundary of Lajjun... its breadth from Jaffa to Jericho.... Filastin is the most fertile of the Syrian provinces.... Its trees and its ploughed lands do not need artificial irrigation... In the province of Filastin, despite its small extent, there are about 20 mosques.... Its capital and largest town in Ramla, but the Holy City (of Jerusalem) comes very near this last in size"
* 985: Al-Muqaddasi, ''Description of Syria, Including Palestine'': "And further, know that within the province of Palestine may be found gathered together 36 products that are not found thus united in any other land.... From Palestine comes olives, dried figs, raisins, the carob-fruit, stuffs of mixed silk and cotton, soap and kercheifs"
* c. 1000: Suda encyclopedic lexicon: "Παλαιστίνη: ὄνομα χώρας. καὶ Παλαιστι̂νος, ὁ ἀπὸ Παλαιστίνης." / "Palestine: Name of a territory. Also [sc. attested is] Palestinian, a man from Palestine.
* 1029: Rabbi Solomon ben Judah of Jerusalem, a letter in the Cairo Geniza, refers to the province of Filastin
* 1047: Nasir Khusraw, ''Safarnama'' / ''Diary of a Journey through Syria and Palestine'': "This city of Ramle, Ramlah, throughout Syria and the West, is known under the name of Filastin."
* c. 1050: Beatus of Liébana, Beatus map, Illustrates the primitive Diaspora of the Apostles and is one of the most significant cartographic works of the European High Middle Ages.
* 1051: Ibn Butlan
Crusaders period
* 1101: Nathan ben Jehiel, ''Arukh'': The Lexico Aruch is a talmudical lexicon authored by Rabbi Nathan ben Jehiel, of Rome. The occurrence of פלסטיני Παλαιστίνη [Palestine] in the Genesis Rabbah is noted.
* 1100–27: Fulcher of Chartres, ''Historia Hierosolymitana (1095–1127)'': "For we who were Occidentals have now become Orientals. He who was a Roman or a Frank has in this land been made into a Galilean or a Palestinian."
* c. 1130, Fetellus, "The city of Jerusalem is situated in the hill-country of Judea, in the province of Palestine"
* 1154: Muhammad al-Idrisi, ''Tabula Rogeriana'' or ''The Book of Pleasant Journeys into Faraway Lands''
* 1173: Ali ibn abi bakr al-Harawi, Ali of Herat, ''Book of Indications to Make Known the Places of Visitations''
* 1177: John Phocas, ''A Brief Description of the Castles and Cities, from the City of Antioch even unto Jerusalem; also of Syria and Phoenicia, and of the Holy Places in Palestine''
* c. 1180: William of Tyre, ''Historia Hierosolymitana''
* 1185: Ibn Jubayr, ''The Travels of Ibn Jubayr''
Ayyubid and Mamluk periods
* 1220: Jacques de Vitry, ''History of Jerusalem'': "And there are three Palestines, which are parts of Greater Syria. The first is that whose capital is Jerusalem, and this part is specially named Judaea. The second is that whose capital is Caesarea Philippi, which includes all the country of the Philistines. The third is that whose capital is Scythopolis, which at this day is called Bethshan. Moreover, both the Arabias are parts of Syria: the first is that whose capital is Bostrum; the second is that whose capital is Petra in the Wilderness."
* 1225: Yaqut al-Hamawi, ''Mu'jam Al-Buldan, Dictionary of Geographies'' "Filastin is the last of the provinces of Syria towards Egypt. Its capital is Jerusalem. Of the principal towns are Ashkelon, Ramle, Gaza, Arsuf, Caesarea, Nablus, Jericho, Amman, Jaffa and Beit Jibrin"
* c.1250 Bar Hebraeus: "[The Syriac language] is divided into three dialects, one of the most elegant is Aramaea, the language of Edessa, Harran, and outer Syria; next adjoining to it is Palestinian, which is used in Damascus, the mountain of Lebanon, and inner Syria; and the vulgar Chaldean Nabataean, which is a dialect of Assyrian mountains and the districts of Iraq.": la, [Lingua Syriaca] distinguitur in tres dialectos, quarum elegantissima est Aramæa, quæ est lingua incolarum Rohæ, et Harran, et Syria exterioris; proxima illi est Palastina, quæ est ea qua utuntur Damasci, et montis Libani, et reliquæ Syria interioris incolæ; at omnium impurisima Chaldaica Nabatæa, qua est dialectus populi montium Assyria, et pagorum Eraci. and ar, تنقسم إلي ثلث لغات انصحها ;الارمايية وي لغة اهل الرها وحران والشام الخارجة وبعدها الفلسطينية وي لغة أهل دمشق وجبل لبنان وباقي الشام الداخلة واسهجها الكلدانية النبطية وي لغة اهل جبال اثور وسواد العراق
* c. 1266
Abu al-Makarim Abu l-Makārim Saʿdullāh ibn Jirjis ibn Masʿūd ( ar, ابو المكارم سعد الله بن جرجس بن مسعود) (d.1208) was a priest of the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria in the thirteenth century. Abu al-Makarim is best known ...
, ''"The Churches and Monasteries of Egypt," Part 7 of Anecdota Oxoniensia: Semitic series Anecdota oxoniensia: At the beginning of the caliphate [of Umar] George was appointed patriarch of Alexandria. He remained four years in possession of the see. Then when he heard that the Muslims had conquered the Romans, and had vanquished Palestine, and were advancing upon Egypt, he took ship and fled from Alexandria to Constantinople; and after his time the see of Alexandria remained without a Melkite patriarch for ninety seven years. Abu al-Makarim c. 1895, p. 73 at Google Books)''
* 1320: Marino Sanuto the Elder, ''Liber Secretorum Fidelium Crucis'': "Also, the three [parts] of Palestine are called the Syrias, of which Syria Quinta is that Palestine which is properly called Philistym. Its chief city is Caesarea, beginning from Château Pèlerin, Castrum Peregrinorum and extending south along the shore of the Mediterranean as far as Gaza in the south. Syria Sexta is the second Palestine whose chief city is Jerusalem including the hill country as far as the Dead Sea and the desert of Kadesh (biblical), Cadesbarne. Strictly this country is called Judaea, the name of a part being given to the whole. Syria Septima is the third Palestine whose chief city is Beit She'an, Bethsan located under Mount Gelboe near the Jordan and which [contains] Galilee and the great Jezreel Valley, plain of Esdrelon"
* 1321: Abu'l-Fida, ''A Sketch of the Countries'': "The Nahr Abi Futrus is the river that runs near Ramla in Filastin"
* 1322: Ishtori Haparchi, ''Sefer Kaftor Vaferach'', mentions twice that Ramla is also known as Filastin
* 1327: Shams al-Din al-Ansari al-Dimashqi, Al-Dimashqi
* 1338 Robert Mannyng ''The Chronicle''
* c. 1350: ''Guidebook to Palestine'' (a manuscript primarily based on the 1285–1291 account of Christian pilgrim Philippus Brusserius Savonensis): "It [Jerusalem] is built on a high mountain, with hills on every side, in that part of Syria which is called Judaea and Palestine, flowing with milk and honey, abounding in corn, wine, and oil, and all temporal goods"
* 1351: Jamal ad Din Ahmad, ''Muthir al Ghiram (The Exciter of Desire) for Visitation of the Holy City and Syria'': "Syria is divided into five districts, namely: i. Filastin, whose capital is Aelia Capitolina, Aelia (Jerusalem), eighteen miles from Ramla, which is the Holy City, the metropolis of David and Solomon. Of its towns are Ashkelon, Hebron, Sebastia, and Nablus."
* 1355: Ibn Battuta, ''Rihla'' Ibn Battuta wrote that Ramla was also known as Filastin
* 1355: :it:Jacopo da Verona, Jacopo da Verona: ''Liber Peregrinationis'': "Primo igitur sciendum est. quod in tota Asyria et Palestina et Egipto et Terra Sancta sunt multi cristiani sub potentia soldani subjugati solventes annuale tributum soldano multa et multa milia."
* 1377: Ibn Khaldun, ''Muqaddimah'': "Filastin Province taxes – 310,000 dinars plus 300,000 ratls of olive oil"
* c. 1421: John Poloner "The land which we call the Holy Land came to be divided by lot among the twelve tribes of Israel, and with regard to one part was called the kingdom of Judaea ... with regard to the other part it was called the kingdom of Samaria... Both these kingdoms, together with the land of Philistim, were called Palestine, which was but a part thereof, even as Saxony and Lorraine are parts of Germany, and Lombardy and Tuscany are parts of Italy. And note that there are three Palestines. In the first, the capital city is Jerusalem, with all its hill country even to the Dead Sea and the wilderness of Kadesh Barnea. The second, whose capital city is Caesarea by the sea, with all the land of Philistim' beginning at Petra Incisa, and reaching as far as Gaza, was the Holy Land toward the south. The third is the capital city of Bethsan, at the foot of Mount Gilboa. This was once called Scythopolis, and is the place where the corpses of Saul's soldiers were hung up. This Palestine is properly called Galilee"
* 1430: Abu-l Fida Ishak, ''Muthir al Ghiram (The Exciter of Desire)''
* 1459: Fra Mauro map
* 1470: Al-Suyuti: "Syria is divided into five provinces, or sections:— First, Palestine, so called because first inhabited by Philistin son of Kusin, son of Muti, son of Yūmán, son of Yasith, son of Noah. Its first frontier town is on the Egyptian road Rafah, or Al Arish: next to this is Gaza, then Ramula, or Ramlat Phalistin. Of great cities in Palestine are, Elía, which is the Baitu-l-Mukaddas, eighteen miles from Ramlah (this holy city was the residence of David and Solomon), and Ascalon, and the city of Abraham, and Sebaste, and Neapolis. The whole extent of Palestine is, in length, two days’ journey to one who rides at the rate of a slow-moving beast; and in width, from Japha to Jericho, about as much."
* 1480: Felix Fabri "Joppa is the oldest port, and the most ancient city of the province of Palestine"
* 1482: Francesco Berlinghieri, Francesco di Niccolò Berlinghieri, ''Geographia'', a treatise based upon Ptolemy's Geographica: map: :File:Present-Day Palestine and the Holy Land - 1400s.png, Present-Day Palestine and the Holy Land
* 1492: Martin Behaim's "Erdapfel" globe
* 1496: Mujir al-Din al-'Ulaymi, ''The Glorious History of Jerusalem and Hebron'': According to Haim Gerber: "Among other things Mujir al-Din’s book is notable for its extensive use of the term "Palestine." The simple fact is that Mujir al-Din calls the country he lives in Palestine (Filastin), a term he repeats 22 times. One other name he uses for the country is the Holy Land, used as frequently as Palestine. No other names, such as Southern Syria, are ever mentioned... What area did he have in mind when speaking about Palestine? It stretched from Anaj, a point near al-Arish, to Lajjun, south of the Esdraelon valley. It was thus clearly equivalent to the Jund Filastin of classical Islam."
Early modern period
Early Ottoman period
* 1536: Jacob Ziegler, ''Terrae sanctae, quam palestinam nominant, Syriae, Arabiae, Aegypti & Schondiae doctissima descriptio''
* 1540 Guillaume Postel: ''Syriae Descriptio''
* 1553: Pierre Belon, ''Observations (Pierre Belon), Observations'', "De Plusieurs Arbes, Oiseaux, et autres choses singulieres, produictes en la terre de Palestine"
* 1560: Geneva Bible, the first mass-produced English-language Bible, translates the Hebrew פלשת ''Pleshet'' as "Palestina" (e.g. Ex. 15:14; Isa. 14:29, 31) and "Palestina"
* c. 1560: Ebussuud Efendi: Ebu Suud is asked in a fatwa, "What is the meaning of the term the Holy Land, arazi-i mukaddese?" His answer is that various definitions of the term exist, among them the whole of Syria, to Aleppo and Ariha in the north. Others equate it with the area of Jerusalem (al-Quds); still others equate it with the term "Palestine."
* c. 1561: Anthony Jenkinson, published by Richard Hakluyt, ''The Principall Navigations, Voiages, and Discoveries of the English Nation'': "I William Harborne, her Majesties Ambassadour, Ligier with the Grand Signior, for the affaires of the Levant Company in her Majesties name confirme and appoint Richard Forster (physician), Richard Forster Gentleman, my Deputie and Consull in the parts of Alepo, Damasco, Aman, Tripolis, Jerusalem, and all other ports whatsoever in the provinces of Syria, Syria Palaestina, Palestina, and Jurie, to execute the office of Consull over all our Nation her Majesties subjects"
* 1563: :de:Josse van Lom, Josse van Lom, physician of Philip II of Spain: ''A treatise of continual fevers'': "Therefore the Scottish people, Scots, English people, English, Livonians, Danes, Poles, Dutch people, Dutch and Germans, ought to take less blood away in winter than in summer; on the contrary, the Portuguese people, Portuguese, Moors, Egyptians, Palestinians, Arabians, and Persian people, Persians, more in the winter than in summer"
* 1563: John Foxe, ''Foxe's Book of Martyrs'': "Romanus of Caesarea, Romanus, a native of Palestine, was deacon of the church of Caesarea Palaestina, Casearea at the time of the commencement of Diocletian's persecution."
* c. 1565: :de:Tilemann Stella, Tilemann Stella, map: The Holy Land, the land of promise, which is a part of Syria, the parts that are called Palestina ' at ''The Library of Congress''
* 1565: Ignazio Danti, map: :File:Egnazio Danti - Anatolian peninsula with ancient toponyms and Middle East - Google Art Project.jpg, Anatolian peninsula and Middle East in the Palazzo Vecchio (Florence town hall)
* 1570: Abraham Ortelius, ''Theatrum Orbis Terrarum (Theatre of the World)'', map: :File:Atlas Ortelius KB PPN369376781-089av-089br-1.jpg, Palestinæ
* 1570: Theatrum Orbis Terrarum, folio 51
* 1577: Holinshed's Chronicles: "The principal and chief cause I suppose and think to be, because that whereas the patriarch of Jerusalem named Patriarch Heraclius of Jerusalem, Heraclius came in an ambassage unto him, in the name and behalf of all the whole land of Palestine called the Holy Land, requesting that he would take upon him to be their help, and defending the same against the Saladin then king of Egypt and of Damascus"
* 1583: Leonhard Rauwolf, '':File:FLAMINUS(1681) p204 Nr.7 - PALESTINA VEI TERRA SANCTA.jpg, Leonis Flaminii Itinerarium per Palaestinam Das ist, Eine mit vielen schönen Curiositaeten angefüllte Reiß-Beschreibung''
* 1591: Johannes Leunclavius: ''Historiae Musulmanae Turcorum'' Latin: "Cuzzimu barec ea ciuitas est Palæstinæ, quam veteres Hierosolyma dixerunt, Hebræi Ierusalem. Nomen hodiernum significa locum benedictum vel inclytum," translates as "Al-Quds, Quds Barış is the city of the Palestinians, also known as Hierosolyma, in Hebrew, Jerusalem. The name means the holy one or the glorious one"
* 1591: Giovanni Botero
* 1594: Uri ben Shimon and Jakob Christmann (ed.): ''Calendarium Palaestinorum Et Universorum Iudaeorum''... "Auctore Rabbi Ori filio Simeonis, Iudeo Palaestino" [Author Rabbi Uri son of Simeon, Palestinian Jew]"
* 1596: Giovanni Antonio Magini, ''Geographia, Cosmographia, or Universal Geography: An atlas of Claudius Ptolemy's world of the 2nd century, with maps by Giovanni Antonio Magini of Padua'', map: Palaestina, vel Terra Sancta ', at Google Books
* c. 1600: Shakespeare: ''The Life and Death of King John'': Scene II.1 "Richard, that robb'd the lion of his heart, and fought the holy wars in Palestine" / ''Othello'' Scene IV.3: "I know a lady in Venice would have walked barefoot to Palestine for a touch of his [Lodovico's] nether lip."
* 1607: Hans Jacob Breuning von Buchenbach, ''Enchiridion Orientalischer Reiß Hanns Jacob Breunings, von vnnd zu Buchenbach, so er in Türckey, benandtlichen in Griechenlandt, Egypten, Arabien, Palestinam, vnd in Syrien, vor dieser zeit verrichtet (etc.)''
* 1610: Douay–Rheims Bible, uses the name Palestine (e.g. Jer 47:1; Ez 16:"1 And the word of the Lord came to me, saying: 2 Son of man, make known to Jerusalem her abominations. 3 And thou shalt say: Thus saith the Lord God to Jerusalem:...56 as it is at this time, making thee a reproach of the daughters of Syria, and of all the daughters of Palestine round about thee, that encompass thee on all sides.")
* 1611: King James Version, translates the Hebrew פלשת ''Pleshet'' as "Palestina" (e.g. Ex. 15:14; Isa. 14:29, 31) and "Palestine" (e.g. Jl 3:4)
* 1613: Salomon Schweigger, ''Ein newe Reyßbeschreibung auß Teutschland nach Constantinopel und Jerusalem''
* 1616: Pietro Della Valle: ''Viaggi di Pietro della Valle il Pellegrino''
* 1624: Francis Bacon, ''New Atlantis'', "The Phoenicians, and especially the Tyrians, had great fleets; so had the Carthaginians their colony, which is yet farther west. Toward the east the shipping of Egypt, and of Palestine, was likewise great."
* 1625: Samuel Purchas, ''Hakluytus Posthumus'', "And lastly, in the more Eastward, and South parts, as in that part of Cilicia, that is beyond the Ceyhan River, River Piramus, in Syria, Palestine, Ægypt and , the Arabian Tongue hath abolished it"
* 1637: Philipp Clüver, Philipp Cluverius, ''Introductionis in universam Geographiam'' (Introduction to World Geography), map: ''Palaestina et Phienice cum parte Coele Syria''
* 1639: Thomas Fuller, ''The Historie of the Holy Warre'' also ''A Pisgah sight of Palestine''
* 1642: Vincenzo Berdini, ''Historia dell'antica, e moderna Palestina, descritta in tre parti.''
* 1647: Sadiq Isfahani, ''The Geographical Works of Sadik Isfahani'': "Filistin, a region of Syria, Damascus, and Egypt, comprising Ramla, Ashkelon, Beit al Mukuddes (Jerusalem), Kanaan, Bilka, Masisah, and other cities; and from this province is denominated the "Biaban-i Filistin" (or Desert of Palestine), which is also called the "Tiah Beni-Israil""
* 1648–57: Kâtip Çelebi, ''Tuhfat al Kibar fi Asfar al Bihar'' (printed by Ibrahim Muteferrika in 1729); the first detailed Ottoman mapping of its Syria (region), Syrian provinces. Describes Palestine as the "noblest of the administrative divisions of Syria," comprising the two sanjaqs of Gaza and Jerusalem: "In the southwest the border goes from the Mediterranean and al Arish to the Wilderness of the Israelites [Sinai]. In the southeast it is the Dead Sea [Bahar Lut] and the Jordan River. In the north it goes from the Jordan River to the borders of Urdun as far as Caesarea."
* c. 1649: Evliya Çelebi, ''Travels in Palestine'': "All chronicles call this country the Land of Palestine"
* 1649: Johann Heinrich Alsted, ''Scientiarum Omnium Encyclopaedia'': XI. Palestina lacus tres sunt, è quibus duo posteriores natissimi sum historia sacra (11. Palestine has three lakes, the later two of these I relate to Biblical history) Alsted 1649, p. 560 at Google Books)
* 1655: Christoph Heidmann, ''Palaestina'': CAPUT V. - De Urbibus Maritimis Philistaeorum, et aliis ad limitem usq AEgypti. Palaestina propriè dicta est ea terrae sanctae pars, quae ad mare Mediterraneum sita urbes aliquot illustres, & reges potentes olim habuit: quod antè etiam indicatum. Populus Philistini sive Philistaei, aut Philistiim appellati, corruptè Palaestini, Graecis, ut & Sulpicio Severo, ???, id est peregrini Ita gentes vocabant à religione & ritibus Iudaeorum aver fas. 2. Hieronymus Philistiim prius Chasloím appellatos ait, posteros Cham, quos nos inquit, corrupté Palaestinos dicimus 3. Fines ejus â Castro peregrinorum seu Dor, aut Caesarea Palaestinae, vel turre Stratonis, usque Gazam, aut torrentem AEgypti, extendir Adrichomius, aitque Enakim inter cos, id est gigantes fuisse robustissimos.
* 1664: Jean de Thévenot, ''Relation d'un voyage fait au Levan'': Acre est une ville de Palestine située au bord de la mer, elle s'appelloit anciennement Acco.
* c. 1670: Khayr al-Din al-Ramli, ''al-Fatawa al-Khayriyah'': According to Haim Gerber "on several occasions Khayr al-Din al-Ramli calls the country he was living in Palestine, and unquestionably assumes that his readers do likewise. What is even more remarkable is his use of the term "the country" and even "our country" (biladuna), possibly meaning that he had in mind some sort of a loose community focused around that term." Gerber describes this as "embryonic territorial awareness, though the reference is to social awareness rather than to a political one."
* c. 1670: Salih b. Ahmad al-Timurtashi, ''The Complete Knowledge of the Limits of the Holy Land and Palestine and Syria (Sham).''
* 1677: Olfert Dapper, ''Precise Description of whole Syria, and Palestine or Holy Land'', 'Naukeurige Beschrijving van Gantsch Syrie en Palestijn of Heilige Lant'
* 1681: Olfert Dapper, ''Asia, oder genaue und gründliche Beschreibung des ganzen Syrien und Palestins, oder Gelobten Landes'' (Asia, or accurate and thorough description of all Syria and Palestine, or the promised land. (German text; Amsterdam 1681 & Nürnberg 1688)): Gewisse und Gründliche Beschreibung des Gelobten Landes / sonsten Palestina geheissen (Certain and thorough description of the Promised Land / otherwise called Palestine)
* c. 1682: ''Zucker Holy Land Travel Manuscript'': Antiochia die vornehmste und hauptstadt des ganzen Syrien (und auch Palestinia) [Antioch the capital and chief of the whole Syria (and Palestine)]. (p. 67 Calesyria)
* 1683: Alain Manesson Mallet, ''Description De l'Univers'': map Syrie Moderne at Archive.org.
* 1688: John Milner, ''A Collection of the Church-history of Palestine'': Hitherto of Places, now follows an account of the Persons concerned in the Church-History of Palestine. Milner 1688, p. 19 at Google Books)
*1688: Edmund Bohun, ''A Geographical Dictionary, Representing the Present and Ancient Names of All the Countries'': Jerusalem, Hierosolyma, the Capital City of Palestine, and for a long time of the whole Earth; taken notice of by ''Pliny, Strabo,'' and many of the Ancients. Bohun 1688, p. 353 at Google Books)
* 1693: Patrick Gordon (Ma FRS), ''Geography Anatomiz'd'': Palestine, or Judea, Name.] This Country ...is term'd by the Italians and Spaniards, Palestina; by the French, Palestine; by the Germans Palestinen, or das Gelobte Land; by the English, Palestine, or the Holy Land. Gordon 1704, p. 290 at Google Books)
* 1696: Matthaeus Hiller, ''Philistaeus exul, s. de origine, diis et terra Palaestinorum diss.''
* 1703: Henry Maundrell, ''A journey from Aleppo to Jerusalem at Easter, A.D. 1697'': For the husbanding of these mountains, their manner was to gather up the stones, and place them in several lines, along the sides of the hills, in form of a wall. By such borders, they supported the mould from tumbling, or being washed down; and formed many beds of excellent soil, rising gradually one above another, from the bottom to the top of the mountains. Of this form of culture you see evident footsteps, wherever you go in all the mountains of Palestine. Thus the very rocks were made fruitful And perhaps there is no spot of ground in this whole land, that was not formerly improved, to the production of something or other, ministering to the sustenance of human life.
* 1704: Martin Baumgarten, ''Travels through Egypt, Arabia, Palestine, and Syria'', 'A Collection of Voyages and Travels: Some Now First Printed from Original Manuscripts': ''Gaza'', or ''Gazera'', was once a great and strong City, and one of the five principal ones in ''Palestine'', and was call'd so by the ''Persians''.
* 1709: Matthäus Seutter, map: Deserta Aegypti, Thebaidis, Arabiae, Syriae etc. ubi accurata notata sunt loca inhabitata per Sanctos Patres Anachoretas ' at ''The Library of Congress''
* 1714: Johann Ludwig Hannemann, ''Nebo Chemicus Ceu Viatorium Ostendens Viam In Palestinam Auriferam''
* 1714: Adriaan Reland, ''Hadriani Relandi Palaestina ex monumentis veteribus illustrata'': CAPUT VII. DE NOMINE PALAESTINAE. [i.]Regio omnis quam Judaei incoluerunt nomen Palaestinae habuit. [ii.]Hebraeorum scriptores, Philo, Josephus, & alii hoc nomine usi. [iii.] פלסטיני in antiquissimis Judaeorum scriptis. (Chapter 7. Palestine. [i.]The country that the Jews inhabited was called Palestine. [ii.]The Hebrew Scriptures, Philo, Josephus, List of Latin phrases (E), et al. who have used this name. [iii.] פלסטיני [Palestinian] in ancient Jewish writings.) ..Chapter 8. Syria-Palaestina, Syria, and Coelesyria. Herodotus described Syria-Palaestina. The Palestinian southern boundary is lake Serbonian. Jenysus & Jerusalem are cities of Palestine, as is Ashdod and Ashkelon. Palestine is different from Phoenice. map Palaestina prima
* 1717: Laurent d'Arvieux, ''Voyage dans la Palestine''
* 1718: Isaac de Beausobre, David Lenfant, ''Le Nouveau Testament de notre seigneur Jesus-Christ'': On a déja eu occasion de parler des divers noms, que portoit autrefois la Terre d Israël, Ici nous désignerons sous le nom de Palestine qui est le plus commun. (We previously spoke of the various names for the Land of Israel, ...Now we will refer to the Land of Israel by the name of Palestine which is the most common)
* 1718: John Toland, ''Nazarenus: or Jewish, Gentile and Mahometan Christianity'': NOW if you'll suppose with me (till my proofs appear) this pre-eminence and immortality of the Mosaic Republic in its original purity, it will follow; that, as the Jews known at this day, and who are dispers'd over Europe, Asia, and Africa, with some few in America, are found by good calculation to be more numerous than either the Spaniards (for example) or the French: so if they ever happen to be resettl'd in Palestine upon their original foundation, which is not at all impossible; they will then, by reason of their excellent constitution, be much more populous, rich, and powerful than any other nation now in the world. I Wou'd have you consider, whether it be not both the interest and duty of Christians to assist them in regaining their country. But more of this when we meet. I am with as much respect as friendship (dear Sir) ever yours, [signed] J.T. [at] Hague 1719 Toland 1718, p. 8 at Google Books).
* 1720: Richard Cumberland (priest), Richard Cumberland, ''Sanchoniatho's Phoenician History'': That the ''Philistines'' who were of ''Mizraim's'' family, were the first planters of Crete. ...I observe that in the Scripture language the ''Philistines'' are call'd ''Cerethites'', ''Sam.'' xxx. 14, 16. ''Ezek.'' xxv. 16. ''Zeph.'' ii. 5. And in the two last of these places the ''Septuagint'' translates that word ''Cretes''. The name signifies archers, men that in war were noted for skill in using bows and arrows. ...[I] believe that both the people and the religion, (which commonly go together) settled in ''Crete'', came from these ''Philistines'' who are originally of ''Ægyptian'' race.
* 1730: :hr:Joshua Ottens, Joshua Ottens, map: '':File:1730 Ottens Map of Persia (Iran, Iraq, Turkey) - Geographicus - RegnumPersicum-ottens-1730.jpg, Persia (Iran, Iraq, Turkey)''
* 1736: Herman Moll, map: '':File:Moll, Herman. Turkey in Asia; or Asia Minor &c. 1736.jpg, Turkey in Asia''
* 1737: Isaac Newton, ''Interpretation of Daniel's Prophecies''
* 1738: D. Midwinter, ''A New Geographical Dictionary ... to which is now added the latitude and longitude of the most considerable cities and towns,&c., of the world'': Jerusalem, Palestine, Asia – [Latitude 32 44 N] – [Longitude 35 15 E]
* 1741: William Cave, ''Scriptorum eccleriasticorum historia literaria''
* 1741: Jonas Korten, ''Jonas Kortens Reise nach dem weiland Gelobten nun aber seit 1700 Jahren unter dem Fluche ligenden Lande, wie auch nach Egypten, dem Berg Libanon, Syrien und Mesopotamien''.
* 1743: Richard Pococke: ''Description of the East''
* 1744: Charles Thompson (fict. name.), ''The travels of the late Charles Thompson esq.'': I shall henceforwards, without Regard to geographical Niceties and Criticisms, consider myself as in the ''Holy Land'', ''Palestine'' or ''Judea''; which Names I find used indifferently, though perhaps with some Impropriety, to signify the same Country.
* 1744: w:de:Johann Christoph Harenberg, Johann Christoph Harenberg, ''La Palestine ou la Terre Sainte'': Map: Palaestina seu Terra olim tum duodecim tribubus distributa, tum a Davide et Salomone, et Terra Gosen ' at th * 1746: ''Modern History Or the Present State of All Nations'': "Palestine, or the Holy Land, sometimes also called Judea, is bound by Mount Libanus on the north; by Arabia Deserta on the east; by Arabia Petrea on the south; and by the Mediterranean Sea on the west"
* 1747: ''The modern Gazetteer'': "Palestine, a part of Asiatic Turkey, is situated between 36 and 38 degrees of E longitude and between 31 and 34 degrees of N latitude, bounded by the Mount Lebanon, Mount Libanus, which divides it from Syria, on the North, by Mount Hermon, which separates it from Arabia Deserta, on the East, by the mountains of Seir, and the deserts of Arabia Petraea, on the South, and by the Mediterranean Sea on the West, so that it seems to have been extremely well secured against foreign invasions."
* 1750: Vincenzo Ludovico Gotti, ''Veritas religionis christianae contra atheos, polytheos, idololatras, mahometanos, [et] judaeos ...''
* 1751: ''The London Magazine''
* 1759: Johannes Aegidius van Egmont, John Heyman (of Leydon), ''Travels Through Part of Europe, Asia Minor, the Islands of the Archipelago, Syria, Palestine, Egypt, Mount Sinai, &c. &c.'': The Jews of Jerusalem are divided into three sects, the Karaite Judaism, Karaites, who adhere to the letter of the Scripture, without admitting any comments, or glosses; the Rabbinic Judaism, Rabbinists, who receive for indubitable truths, all the comments and traditions so well known in the world, and are hence much more superstitious than the former; the third are the Ashkenaz, Askenites, who come from Germany, and are known among their brethren by the name of new converts; not being descended from the twelve tribes. ..Besides these three sects, there is in the country of Palestine a fourth sort of Jews, but sworn enemies to the others, I mean the Samaritans; these have frequently endeavoured by the arts of bribery to obtain the privilege of living in Jerusalem, and in order to accomplish this design, have lavished away above five hundred purses. (Aegidius and Heyman 1759 p. 389
p. 390 at Google Books)
* 1763: Voltaire, ''The Works of M. de Voltaire: Additions to the essay on general history'': The same may be said of the prohibition of eating pork, blood, or the flesh of beasts dying of any disease; these are precepts of health. The flesh of swine in particular is a very unwholesome food in those hot countries, as well as in the Palestine, that lies in their neighbourhood. When the Mahometan religion spread itself into colder climates, this abstinence ceased to be reasonable; but nevertheless did not cease to be in force. (Voltaire, ed. Smollett and Francklin 1763 p. 42 at Google Books)
* 1765: w:de:Christoph Schrader, Christoph Schrader, w:de:Gebhardt Theodor Meier, Gebhardt Theodor Meier, ''Tabulae chronologicae a prima rerum origine et inde ad nostra tempora'': 225 CE. Jews were allowed to live in Palestine.
* 1778: Denis Diderot, ''Encyclopédie'', "Palestine."
* 1779: George Sale, ''Universal History (Sale et al.), Ancient Part of Universal History'': "How Judæa came to be called also Phœnice, or Phœnicia, we have already shewn in the history of that nation. At present, the name of Palestine is that which has most prevailed among the Christian doctors, Mahommedan and other writers. (See Reland Palestin. illustrat.)"
* 1782: Johann Georg Meusel, ''Bibliotheca historica'':
:Sectio I. Scriptores de Palaestina
::I. Scriptores universales
:::A. Itineraria et Topographiae a testibus oculatis conditae. 70
:::B. Geographi Palaestinae recentiores, qui non ipsi terram istam perlustrarunt, sed ex itinerariis modo recensitis aliisque fontibus sua depromserunt. 94
::II. Scriptores de Palaestina Speciales
:::A. Scriptores de aere folo et fetilitate Palaestinae. 110
:::[...]
:::E. Scriptores de variis argumentis aliis hue pertinentibus. 117
* 1788: Constantin François de Chassebœuf, comte de Volney, Constantine de Volney, ''Travels through Syria and Egypt, in the years 1783, 1784, and 1785'': Palestine abounds in sesamum from which oil is procured and doura as good as that of Egypt. ...Indigo grows without cultivating on the banks of the Jordan, in the country of Bisan. ...As for trees, the olive-tree of Provence grows at Antioch and Ramla, to the height of the beech. ...there were in the gardens of Yaffa, two plants of the Indian cotton-tree which grow rapidly, nor has this town lost its lemons, its enormous citrons, or its water melons. ...Gaza produces dates like Mecca, and pomegranates like Algiers.
* 1791: :it:Giovanni Mariti, Giovanni Mariti, ''Travels Through Cyprus, Syria, and Palestine; with a General History of the Levant. Translated from the Italian'': OF THE HEBREWS. TWO kinds of Jews are found in Syria and Palestine; one of which are originally from these countries, and the other foreigners. A diversity of religious systems divides them, as well as all the other nations on the earth, who give too much importance to the spirit of theological dispute. They are distinguished into Talmudists, and Caraites, or enemies of the Talmud: and such is the inveterate hatred of the latter against the rest of their brethren, that they will not suffer them to be interred in the same burying-grounds, where all mankind in the like manner must moulder in-to dust.
* 1794: Jean Baptiste Bourguignon d'Anville, map: '':File:1794 d'Anville Map of Turkey, Iraq and Palestine - Geographicus - TurkeyinAsia-anville-1794.jpg, A New Map of Turkey in Asia''
* 1799: Pierre Jacotin, Napoleon's director of surveyancing, begins work on the ''"Jacotin Map"'': The region is labelled "Palestine" in French and فلسطين أو أرض قدس ("Palestine or Holy Land") in Arabic
* 1801: Thomas Roberts (toxophilite), ''The English Bowman, Or Tracts on Archery'': "The Philistines, indeed, are frequently noticed in sacred history, as men very skilful in the use of the bow. And to this ancient people, who appear to have been a very warlike nation, the ''invention'' of the bow and arrow has been ascribed. ''Universal Hist.'' (anc. part) vol. 2. p. 220."
* 1803: Cedid Atlas, showing the term ارض فلاستان ("Land of Palestine")
Modern period
Late Ottoman period
*1805: Palestine Association founded
*1806: Lant Carpenter, ''An Introduction to the Geography of the New Testament'': He brought out in 1806 a popular manual of New Testament geography. ()
* 1809: Reginald Heber, ''Palestine: a Poem''
* 1811: François-René de Chateaubriand, ''Itinéraire de Paris à Jérusalem (Travels in Greece, Palestine, Egypt, and Barbary, during the years 1806 and 1807 [trans. 1812])'': As to travellers of very recent date such as Muller, Vanzow, Korte, Bescheider, Mariti, Volney, Niebuhr, and Brown, they are almost totally silent respecting the holy places. The narrative of Deshayes (1621), who was sent to Palestine by Louis XIII, appears therefore to me the fittest to be followed.
* 1812: William Crotch, ''Palestine'' (an oratorio)
* 1819: George Paxton (minister), George Paxton, Illustrations of the Holy Scriptures: in three Parts.1. From the Geography of the East.2. From the Natural History of the East.3. From the Customs of Ancient and Modern Nations.
:Females of distinction in Palestine, and even in Mesopotamia, are not only beautiful and well-shaped, but, in consequence of being always kept from the rays of the sun, are very fair.
* 1819: Abraham Rees, ''Palestine & Syria'', The Cyclopædia: Or, Universal Dictionary of Arts, Sciences, and Literature: Palestine, says Volney, is a district independent of every Pachalic. Sometimes it has governors of its own, who reside at Gaza under the title of Pachas; but it is usually, as at present, divided into three appanages, or ''Melkana'', ''viz.'' Yafa, Loudd, and Gaza. The former belongs to the ''Walda'' or sultana mother. The captain Pacha has received the two others as a recompence for his services, and a reward for the head of Daher. He farms them to an aga, who resides at Ramla, and pays him two hundred and fifteen purses for them, ''viz.'' one hundred and eighty for Gaza and Ramla, and thirty-five for Loudd. ..The ground is tilled by asses or cows, rarely by oxen. In districts like Palestine, exposed to the Arabs, the countryman must sow with a musket in his hand. The corn before it changes colour, is reaped, but concealed in caverns. The whole industry of the peasant is limited to a supply of his immediate wants; and to procure a little bread, a few onions, a wretched blue shirt, and a bit of woollen, much labour is not necessary.
* 1822: Conrad Malte-Brun, ''Universal Geography, Or, a Description of All the Parts of the World, on a New Plan'': BOOK XXVII. TURKEY IN ASIA. PART II. ''Including Armenia Mesopotamia and Irac Arabi.'' The eastern provinces of the Turkish empire in Asia form three natural divisions: the region of Orontes and Libanus, or Syria and Palestine; that of the sources of the Euphrates and of the Tigris, or Armenia with Koordistan; finally, the region of Lower Euphrates, or Al-Djesira with Irac-Arabi, otherwise Mesopotamia, and Babylonia. We shall here connect the two divisions on the Euphrates, without confounding them. Syria will be described in a separate book. ..Population. It would be vain to expect a near approximation to the truth in any conjectures which we might indulge respecting the population of a state in which registers and a regular census are unknown. Some writers estimate that of European Turkey at twenty-two, while others have reduced it to eight millions (Bruns. Magas. Géograph. I. cah. 1. p. 68–74. compared with Ludeck's Authentic Account of the Ottoman Empire. Etton's View and de Tott's Memoirs.), and both assign equally plausible grounds for their opinions. Respecting Asiatic Turkey, the uncertainty, if not still greater, is at least more generally acknowledged. Supposing the houses to be as thinly scattered as in the less populous parts of Spain, the population of all Turkey, in Europe, Asia, and Africa, may amount to 25 or 30 millions, of which one half belongs to Asia. Under the want of any thing like positive evidence, we shall not deviate far from probability in allowing to Anatolia, five millions; to Armenia, two; to Koordistan, one; to the pashâlics of Bagdat, Mosul, and Diarbekir, one and a half; and to Syria 1,800,000, or at most two millions.
* 1822: James Silk Buckingham, ''Travels in Palestine, through the countries of Bashan and Gilead, east of the river Jordan: incl. a visit to the cities of Geraza and Gamala, in the Decapolis'': St. Jerome conceived it [Ramla] to be the Arimathea of the Scriptures; and Adrichomius, who entertained a similar opinion, traces its various names through all their changes, from Ramathaim and Ramah, as it is called in the Old Testament, to Ramatha or Armatha the seat of Samuel, as Josephus has it, and to the Arimathea of the New Testament, and the Ramla of the present day. The oriental geographers speak of this as the metropolis of Palestine, and every appearance of its ruins even now confirm the opinion of its having been once a considerable city. Its situation, as lying immediately in the high road from Jaffa to Jerusalem, made it necessarily a place of great resort; and from the fruitfulness of the country around it, it must have been equally important as a military station or a depôt for supplies, and as a magazine for the collection of such articles of commerce as were exported from the coast. (Buckingham 1822 p. 261 at Google Books)
* 1822: Robert Richardson (travel writer), Robert Richardson, ''Travels Along the Mediterranean and Parts Adjacent: In Company with the Earl of Belmore, During the Years 1816-17-18'': The white Veil covering the head and face, and falling over the shoulders, is worn by all the females in Syria and Palestine, except the Jewesses. ..I never saw any of them with veils; and was informed that it is the general practice of the Jewesses in Jerusalem to go with their faces uncovered; they are the only females there who do so. Generally speaking, I think they are disposed to be rather of a wiktionary:plethoric, plethoric habit; and the admirers of size and softness in the fair sex, will find as regularly well-built fatties, with double mouldings in the neck and chin, among the fair daughters of Jerusalem, as among the fairer daughters of England.
* 1823: Charles Leonard Irby, James Mangles (Royal Navy officer), James Mangles, ''Travels in Egypt and Nubia, Syria, and Asia Minor; During the Years 1817 and 1818'': Our attention was the more attracted by this [Necropolis of Petra] monument, as it presents, perhaps, the only existing example of pyramids so applied, though we read of them as placed in a similar manner on the summit of the tomb of the Maccabees, and of the Queen of Adiabaene, both in the neighbouring province of Palestine.
* 1823: Ernst Friedrich Karl Rosenmüller, "Geographie von Palästina." ''Handbuch der biblischen Altertumskunde: Biblische Geographie''
* 1824: Robert Watt (bibliographer), Robert Watt, Syria, ''Bibliotheca Britannica; Or, A General Index to British and Foreign Literature'': SYRIA (S.), a province of Turkey, in Asia. ——HISTORY.
::--DESCRIPTIONS. —1677. S. and Palestine. 284 z. —1783. The History of the Revolt of Ali Bey against the Ottoman Porte, including an Account of the Form of Government of Egypt; together with a Description of Grand Cairo, and of several celebrated places in Egypt, Palestine, and S. 623 v.
::--GEOGRAPHY. —1532. S.æ, Palestinæ, Arabiæ, Ægypti, Schondiæ, Tabulæ Geographicæ. 992 x.
::--TRAVELS. —1594. Peregrinatio in Egyptum, Arabiam, Palestinam, et S.m. 312 i. —1653. De Locis Antiochiam inter et Hierosolymam, necnon S.æ., et Phœniciæ, et Palestinæ, Gr. Lat. inter Leouis Allatii ???. 755 j. —1693. Journey through S., Mesopotamia, Palestine, and Egypt; in German. 792 e. —1704. Travels through Egypt, Arabia, Palestine, and S. 815 l. —1791. Travels through Cyprus, S., and Palestine. 644 g.
* 1827: Brockhaus Enzyklopädie, ''Allgemeine deutsche Real-Encyklopädie für die gebildeten Stände'': Palästina (Falesthin), wegen der, den Nachkommen Abraham's gegebenen Verheißung, das gelobte Land genannt, nimmt die syrische Küste am mittel länd, Meere vom Libanon südwärts bis an die Grenzen Ägyptens. (Palestine (DIN 31635: Falasṭīn), called the "Promised Land" from the promise given to the descendants of Abraham, extends from the midlands to the coast, from Syria and Lebanon southward to the borders of Egypt.)
* 1827: Philippe Vandermaelen, ''Atlas universel de geographie physique'': map Syrie et Palestine at Princeton gisserver
* 1830: Josiah Conder (editor and author), Josiah Conder, "Palestine." ''The Modern Traveller''
* 1833: :de:Heinrich Friedrich Pfannkuche, Heinrich Friedrich Pfannkuche: "In the writings of the Greeks and Romans, we need not look for indications of a very familiar acquaintance with the history and language of the Palestinian Jews, since they did not even vouchsafe their attention to the language and national writings of the more civilized nations of antiquity, such as the Carthaginians,
Phoenicians
Phoenicia () was an ancient thalassocratic civilization originating in the Levant region of the eastern Mediterranean, primarily located in modern Lebanon. The territory of the Phoenician city-states extended and shrank throughout their histor ...
, and Strabo, from whom we have quoted above the passages bearing upon our subject, is perhaps the only one who imparts this general information of the Syrians, (to whom the Palestinians also belonged,) that they and their neighbours spoke a cognate language, but he enters on no farther explanation as to the difference between their dialects"
* c. 1834: Neophytos, monk of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre: "The conquest of Acre, Israel, Ptolemais was celebrated in Jerusalem with illuminations, dancing and music, in every street and place in the city… The Moslems alone could not hide their sorrow and sullenness (although they danced with the rest), because they had a presentment that Egypt would use its power against them. They felt they could not continue to act as they wished, and that hereafter Jerusalem and all of Palestine would be reformed."
* 1835: Karl Georg von Raumer, ''Palästina''
* 1835: Heinrich Berghaus, ''Asia, Sammlung von Denkschriften in Beziehung auf die Geo- und Hydrographie dieses Erdtheils; zur Erklärung und Erläuterung seines Karten-Atlas zusammengetragen'': Map of Syria (No. 5 of Berghaus' Atlas of Asia): Karte von Syrien, den Manen Jacotin's und Burckhardt's gewidmet ' at th * 1837: Alexander Lindsay, 25th Earl of Crawford, Lord Lindsay, ''Letters on Egypt, Edom and the Holy Land'': "...we bade adieu to Jerusalem... It was our intention, after exploring Palestine (properly so called), to cross the Jordan, and visit Jerash"
* 1838: Humphry Davy, ''The collected works of Sir Humphry Davy'': Palestine, a name supposed to be derived from the ancient Philistine coast, has been applied, from the earliest of modern ages, to the territory anciently assigned as the portion of the twelve tribes. The dimensions of this country do not correspond to its fame: it may be 150 miles in length north and south, and nearly as much in extreme breadth. It is bounded on the west by the Mediterranean; on the north it ranges along the southern skirts of Libanus; while on the east and south it passes into the Arabian desert, amid long ranges of rocky hills. Judea is a high country, rising by successive terraces from a shore that is, in many places bold and lofty. Its principal eminences, Carmel, Bashan, Tabor, do not ascend into bleak and rugged heights: they are covered with villages, rich pastures, and luxuriant woods; on their slopes are copious vineyards, and in the clefts of the rocks numerous bees, feeding on their aromatic plants, deposit their honey. Traces are even found of a cultivation, by artificial terraces, equal to that which prevails in the most improved parts of the East.
* 1838: Charles G. Addison, ''Damascus and Palmyra: a journey to the East'': In the commencement of 1834, insurrections broke out in the mountains of Nablous, on Djebel Khalil, and in various parts of Palestine. Some of them, it is admitted, were promoted by the lawless and the disaffected to all settled government; others were fostered by the Sheikhs, who were discontented at their exactions from Christian pilgrims being put an end to, and many by the Bedouin Arabs and the mountaineers of Lebanon, who were discontented that the contributions they had been in the habit of imposing upon villages had been stopped.
* 1840: Ferdinand de Géramb, ''A pilgrimage to Palestine, Egypt and Syria'': And, once more, that which most contributes to render Palestine a desert is the despotic government under which it groans, and the motto of which is ''destruction''. It cannot be too often repeated —the Porte daily puts up this wretched country to auction : the pacha who offers most becomes its tyrant. Master of the life of the Arab as well as of his camel, of his horse as well as of his tent, he marks his passage by exactions alone. At sight of his satellites coming to levy the tribute, the population of whole villages abandon their ruined dwellings; and the poor oppressed inhabitants choose rather to die of want, in caverns of the rocks, than to expire under the Foot whipping, bastinado of the soldier, who on his part, enraged at seeing his prey escape, revenges himself by cutting down the olive-tree of the fugitive whom he could not overtake.
* 1840: George Long (scholar), George Long, ''Palestine & Syria'', The Penny Cyclopaedia of the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge: The modern history of Palestine is more conveniently included under SYRIA. The only portions of it which demand a separate notice have been treated of under Crusades. At present the country forms a part of Syria being included under the pashaliks of Damascus Akka and Tripoli and forming part of the viceroyalty of the pasha of Egypt. ..In the most usual application of the word, Syria was the district bounded by the range of Amanus on the north, by the Mediterranean on the west, by the Euphrates and the Arabian Desert on the east and south, and by the 'river of Egypt' probably the river (El-Arish) on the south-west. In a still narrower sense it sometimes denoted the same district, with the exception of Phoenicia and Palestine, (Ptol., v. 16.) Herodotus, in speaking of Palestine, includes it in Syria, as a subordinate division: he calls it 'the Palestine Syria' (???, ii. 106).
* 1840: John Kitto, ''The Pictorial History of Palestine and The Holy Land including a Complete History Of The Jews,''
::Vol. I. Biblical History.
::Vol. II. Biblical History, Continued. Natural History And Geography.
* 1841: John Kitto, ''Palestine: the Physical Geography and Natural History of the Holy Land, Illustrated with Woodcuts''.
* 1841: Edward Robinson (scholar), Edward Robinson, ''Biblical Researches in Palestine, mount Sinai and Arabia Petrea'': The great body of Christians in Palestine are of the Greek church ; but they are all native Arabs, and employ only the Arabic language in their worship.
* 1841: Charles Henry Churchill in correspondence with Sir Moses Montefiore: "Were the resources which you all possess steadily directed towards the regeneration of Syria and Palestine, there cannot be a doubt but that, under the blessing of the Most High, [the European Powers] would amply repay the undertaking, and that you would end by obtaining the sovereignty of at least Palestine."
* 1842: Adriano Balbi, ''System of universal geography, founded on the works of Malte-Burn and Balbi'': Cities, Towns, &c., in Syria and Palestine. ''Santa Saba'', 8 or 9 miles S.E. of Jerusalem, a monastery remarkable for its situation on a height, which rises precipitously several hundred feet from the deep valley of the brook Kedron. Beside it are numerous grottoes, which are said to have been inhabited by more than 10,000 monks at the epoch when St. Saba introduced the monastic life into Palestine. In continual danger from the wild Arabs, the convent appears like a fortress, with immensely strong and lofty towers.
* 1843: Alexander Keith (minister), Alexander Keith, ''The Land of Israel, According to the Covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob'': Palestine abounding in cultivated and flourishing regions, has several great cities which rival each other in their excellence, viz. Caesarea, Eleutheropolis, Neapolis, Askelon, and Gaza. The region beyond the Jordan, donominated Arabia, is rich in the variety of the merchandise of which it is full; it has besides other large towns the cities of Bostra, Gerasa, and Philadelphia, which the solidity of their walls renders most secure (Ammianus Marcellinus, lib. xiv. cap. viii.). ..In Palestine, sesamum abounds, from which they procure oil, and dourra (a kind of pulse) as good as that of Egypt. Maize thrives in the light soil of Baalbec; and even rice is cultivated with success on the borders of the marshy countries of Havula. They have lately begun to cultivate sugar-canes in the gardens of Saide and of Beyrout, equal to those of the Delta. Indigo grows without cultivation on the banks of the Jordan, in the country of Bisan, and needs but care to improve the quality. Tobacco is now cultivated throughout all the mountains. As for trees, the olive of Provence grows at Antioch, and at Ramla, to the height of the beech. In the white mulberry-tree consists the wealth of the whole country of the Druses, by the beautiful silk which it produces; while the vine, supported by poles, or winding about the oaks, supplies grapes, which afford red and white wines equal to those of Bourdeaux. The water-melons of Jaffa are preferred before the very fine water melons of Broulas. Gaza produces dates like Mecca, and pomegranates like Algiers. Tripoli affords oranges like Malta. Beyrout, figs like Marseilles, and bananas like St Domingo. Aleppo has the (not) exclusive advantage of producing pistachios. And Damascus justly boasts of possessing all the fruits known in the provinces: its stony soil suits equally the apples of Normandy, the plums of Touraine, and the peaches of Paris. Twenty sorts of apricots aro enumerated there, the stone of one of which contains a kernel highly valued throughout Turkey. The cochineal plant, which grows on all that coast contains, perhaps, that precious insect in as high perfection as it is found in Mexico and St Domingo; and if we consider that the mountains of Yemen, which produce such excellent coffee are only a continuation of those of Syria, and that their soil and climate are almost the same, we shall be induced to believe that in Judea particularly, might be easily cultivated this valuable production of Arabia. "With these advantages of climate and soil, it is not surprising that Syria should always have been reckoned a most delicious country and that the Greeks and Romans esteemed it among the most beautiful of their provinces and equal even to Egypt" (Volney's Trav. vol. i. pp. 316–321. English translation).
* 1843: Origen Bacheler, ''Restoration and Conversion of the Jews'': But ever since 1832, when Mehemet Ali took possession of Syria, there has been a remarkable flocking of the Jews to Palestine. The precise number of them at present in the Holy Land is estimated to amount to about 40,000.
* 1843: Stephen Olin, ''Travels in Egypt, Arabia Petræa, and the Holy land'': European merchants could not live in the East, except under the protection of their own consuls. They never become subjects to the native rulers. If some civilized, Christian power would rescue Palestine, by treaty or force, from Mohammedan rule, and establish an enlightened, equitable, and stable government, then might it become a desirable residence for civilized men; but on no other condition could a residence there be endured by any but barbarians, content to be poor and tolerant from long habit of oppression and injustice. It fills me with surprise to see some of the best men of England labouring to promote the colonization of Jews in Palestine, and that under existing governments. The Jews are precisely the last people on earth fitted for such an enterprise, as they are a nation of traffickers, and know nothing of agriculture. Besides, the Jews of Europe and America are civilized and wealthy, and would not relish oppression and robbery, even in Palestine.
* 1843: Johann Friedrich Röhr, ''Röhr's Historico-geographical account of Palestine: Researches in Palestine'': Napoleon Bonaparte, in 1799, gave new importance to Palestine. It was connected with his conquest of Egypt, and was undertaken nominally to repulse the Turkish army under Jezzar Pasha, Djezzar (Or the Butcher, so called by his subjects from his incredible cruelties. He died in 1808, apparently with a quiet conscience), the Pacha of St Jean d'Acre, by which he was threatened, and prevent it obstructing his intentions as to Egypt, but actually to get possession of the vast wealth of this Pacha, treasured up in Acre, and make this the foundation of other extensive projects as to the east.
* 1844: J. T. Bannister, ''A Survey of the Holy Land...'': "Tacitus compares both the climate and the soil to those of Italy, and particularly specifies the palm and Balm of Gilead, balsam-trees as productions which gave the country an advantage over his own. Justin confirms the account of Tacitus, respecting the exuberant produce of Palestine, its beautiful climate, its palm and fragrant balsam-trees."
* 1845: ''Encyclopædia Metropolitana'', "Syria."
* 1845: Salomon Munk, ''Palestine, Description Géographique, Historique et Archéologique," in "L'Univers Pittoresque'': Under the name ''Palestine'', we comprehend the small country formerly inhabited by the Israelites, and which is today part of Acre and Damascus pachalics. It stretched between 31 and 33° N. latitude and between 32 and 35° degrees E. longitude, an area of about 1300 . Some zealous writers, to give the land of the Hebrews some political importance, have exaggerated the extent of Palestine; but we have an authority for us that one can not reject. St. Jerome, who had long traveled in this country, said in his letter to Dardanus (ep. 129) that the northern boundary to that of the southern, was a distance of 160 Roman miles, which is about 55 . He paid homage to the truth despite his fears, as he said himself, of availing the ''Promised Land'' to pagan mockery, "."
* 1847: Walter McLeod (geographer), Walter McLeod, ''The geography of Palestine'': MODERN DIVISIONS. 8. Palestine is now divided into pashalicks, the most important of which are Akka and Damascus. The country is under the dominion of the Turks, and is governed by Mehemet Pasha, who has been recently appointed the governor-general of Palestine.
* 1848: Thomas Wright (biographer), ''Early travels in Palestine: comprising the narratives of Arculf, Willibald, [and others]'':
Arculf
Arculf (later 7th century) was a Frankish bishop who toured the Levant in around 680. Bede claimed he was a bishop (). According to Bede's history of the Church in England (V, 15), Arculf was shipwrecked on the shore of Iona, Scotland on his return ...
,
Willibald
Willibald (; c. 700 – c.787) was an 8th-century bishop of Eichstätt in Bavaria.
Information about his life is largely drawn from the Hodoeporicon (itinerary) of Willibald, a text written in the 8th century by Huneberc, an Anglo-Saxon nun fr ...
, Bernard the Pilgrim, Bernard, Sæwulf, Sigurd the Crusader, Sigurd, Benjamin of Tudela, John Mandeville, Sir John Mandeville, Bertrandon de la Broquière, De la Brocquiere, and Henry Maundrell, Maundrell.
* 1848: Carl Ritter, ''The Comparative Geography of Palestine and the Sinaitic Peninsula'': CHAPTER II. REVIEW OF THE AUTHORITIES ON THE GEOGRAPHY OF PALESTINE. ...the lists of authorities given by Adriaan Reland, Reland, Richard Pococke, Pococke, Johann Georg Meusel, Meusel, Johann Joachim Bellermann, Bellermann, Ernst Friedrich Karl Rosenmüller, Rosenmüller, Heinrich Berghaus, Berghaus, Joseph von Hammer-Purgstall, Hammer-Purgstall, and more especially by Karl Georg von Raumer, von Raumer and Edward Robinson (scholar), Robinson. ...Others which we have from the English and the French ...John Kitto, Salomon Munk, Munk.
* 1848–49: Ottoman Archives: Ottoman map of Palestine, showing the term "filastin ülkesi" ("the land of Palestine") for the region between Ramle and Jaffa south of the Yarkon River
* 1849: William F. Lynch, ''Narrative of the United States' Expedition to the River Jordan and the Dead Sea'': To the east of Bethlehem is the hill where the shepherds heard the annunciation of the birth of the Messiah; and in the plain below, the field where Ruth gleaned after the reapers. The country around was luxuriant with vegetation, and the yellow grain, even as we looked, was falling beneath the sickle. Variegated flint, chalk and limestone, without fossils, cropped out occasionally on the hill sides; but along the lower slopes, and in the bottom of the valley, were continuous groves, with a verdant carpet beneath them. It was the most rural and the loveliest spot we had seen in Palestine. From among many flowers we gathered a beautiful white one, free from all earthly taint, fit emblem of the purity of the infant Godhead.
* 1850: Yehoseph Schwarz, ''A Descriptive Geography and Brief Historical Sketch of Palestine'': In the year 5592 (1832), Mahmud Ali, pacha of Alexandria in Egypt, declared himself independent of the Sultan of Constantinople. His son, Abraim Pacha, moved suddenly with a large force towards Palestine, and took without almost any resistance on the part of the adherents of the Sultan, Jaffa, Jerusalem, Nablus, and Chaifa, and placed Egyptian soldiers as garrisons in the same, and appeared next before Akko, which was occupied by Abd Alla Pacha, and besieged it a long time, and took it finally by storm, carrying away the Pacha as prisoner to Egypt. He gradually now occupied all Palestine, Syria, Arabia, and Nubia.
* 1856: James Redhouse, ''An English and Turkish dictionary'': Regarded as the original and authoritative Ottoman-English dictionary, translates ''Holy Land'' as ''dari-filastin (House of Palestine)''
* 1858: Josias Leslie Porter, ''A handbook for travellers in Syria and Palestine'': The modern ''inhabitants'' of Southern Palestine may be divided into two classes—the ''Bedawin'', or wandering tribes who dwell in tents, and the ''Fellahin'', who reside in villages...The plain of Akka is one of the richest in Palestine —producing alike the most luxuriant crops and the rankest weeds in the country. It is more moist than any of the other plains; and large sections of it become marshy during winter.
* 1859: Samuel Augustus Mitchell, map: '':File:1849 Mitchell Map of Turkey ( Iraq, Syria, Palestine ) - Geographicus - TurkeyAsia-m-1849.jpg, Turkey in Asia'' and :File:1850 Mitchell Map of Persia, Arabia and Afghanistan - Geographicus - Arabia-m-50.jpg, Geographicus – Arabia
* 1859: David Kay (FRGS), ed. Thomas Stewart Traill, ''Palestine'', Encyclopædia Britannica: [Palestine] ...was finally subdued in 1517 by Selim I., the sultan of the Turks, under whom it has continued for more than 300 years. ...until the memorable invasion of Egypt by the French army in 1798. Bonaparte being apprised that preparations were making in the pashalic of Acre for attacking him in Egypt, resolved, according to his usual tactics, to anticipate the movements of his enemies. He accordingly marched across the desert which divides Egypt from Palestine, and invaded the country at the head of 10,000 troops. After taking several towns, and among the rest Jaffa, where he stained his character by the atrocious massacre of 4000 prisoners. (Kay 1859 p. 198, XVII at Google Books)
* 1859: Henry Stafford Osborn, ''Palestine, past and present: with biblical, literary, and scientific notices'': The medals stamped with the impress of grapes, as we have shown upon the coin of Herod, (page 486,) the figure of the palm-tree so frequently seen on other medals stamped by Vespasian and Titus, and the medal of young Agrippa holding fruits, all indicate the excellence of the country. Notwithstanding all this, Mr. Gibbon remarks, speaking of Phoenicia and Palestine (Chap. i. p. 21), "The former of these was a narrow and rocky coast; the latter was a territory scarcely superior to Wales either in fertility or extent. ...M. Guizot supposes he based his remark upon a passage in Strabo (Bk. xvi. 1104), who speaks only of the country around Jerusalem which he says was unfruitful and arid for sixty stadia (probably five or six miles;) in other places giving excellent testimony to the fertility of Palestine. He says, "About Jericho is a forest of palm-trees, and the country for a hundred stadia is full of springs and well peopled."
* 1860: Josias Leslie Porter, ed. Thomas Stewart Traill, ''Syria'', Encyclopædia Britannica: The modern inhabitants of Syria and Palestine are a mixed race, made up of the descendants of the ancient Syrians who occupied the country in the early days of Christianity and of the Arabians who came in with the armies of the khalifs and settled in the cities and villages. The number of the latter being comparatively small, the mixture of blood did not visibly change the type of the ancient people. This may be seen by comparing the Christians with the Muslems. The former are undoubtedly of pure Syrian descent, while the latter are more or less mixed, and yet there is no visible distinction between the two save what dress makes. (Porter 1860 p. 907, XX at Google Books)
* 1860: 36th United States Congress, ''The Massacres in Syria: a Faithful Account of the Cruelties and Outrages Suffered by the Christians of Mount Lebanon, During the Late Persecutions in Syria: With a Succinct History of Mahometanism and the Rise of the Maronites, Druses ... and Other Oriental Sects ...'': EARLY CHRISTIANITY IN SYRIA. I.—Hermits and Pilgrims. ..II.—Origin of Monks. The hermits and anchorets, as they were called, were held in high esteem, and thousands of pilgrims, from all parts, sought their cells to obtain the benefit of their prayers. In the fourth century, the ancient lands of Syria and Palestine were full of such "holy men," and soon after they began to form societies and live together, as brethren, under oaths and regulations. This was the origin of religious houses or convents of monks; and the beginning of that monastic system which afterward extended throughout all Christendom. (36th U.S. Congress 1860 p. 11 at Google Books)
* 1865: William 'Corky' Norton, ''How I Got My Cork Legs'', The St. James's Magazine: I was then at Malta, serving on board the [HMS] HMS Powerful (1826), ''Powerful'', 80-gun ship, Captain Charles Napier; ...This was in 1840 ...England, inspired by Lord Palmerston, had determined, in defiance of France, to put down the Pacha of Egypt, Mohammed Ali, and his equally miscreant son. ...I was consequently present at the bombardment of Beirût —Queen City of Palestine— at the landing, witnessed the panic-flight of the much-boasted Egyptians at the bare sight of our fellows, and was present at the fall of Acre. I never estimated very highly the glory of that Syrian campaign. What real resistance could a multitude of Egyptian soldiers offer to a well-organized British force? It signifies little to the wolves how numerous the sheep may be.
* 1865: William McClure Thomson, ''The land of promise: travels in modern Palestine [from The land and the Book].'': From Samaria to Nablûs is two hours' easy riding; first south, over the shoulder of the mountain, and then east ward, up the lovely vale of Nablûs. Nothing in Palestine surpasses it in fertility and natural beauty, and this is mainly due to the fine mill-stream which flows through it. The whole country is thickly studded with villages; the plains clothed with grass or grain; and the rounded hills with orchards of olive, fig, pomegranate, and other trees.
* 1867: Titus Tobler, ''Bibliographica Geographica Palaestinae''.
* 1871: John Tillotson, ''Palestine Its Holy Sites and Sacred Story''
* 1872–1917: The
Mutasarrifate of Jerusalem
The Mutasarrifate of Jerusalem ( ota, مُتَصَرِّف قدسی مُتَصَرِّفلغ, ; ar, متصرفية القدس الشريف, ), also known as the Sanjak of Jerusalem, was an Ottoman district with special administrative status ...
was commonly referred to at the time as "Palestine."Hamidian Palestine: Politics and Society in the District of Jerusalem 1872–1908, By Johann Büssow p5 In the 1880s the Ottoman government briefly considered to officially rename it.
* 1873: William Smith (lexicographer), William Smith, ''Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography: 2: Iabadius-Zymethus'': PALAESTINA (Παλαιστίνη : ''Eth.'' (Παλαιστίνόs), the most commonly received and classical name for the country, otherwise called the Land of Canaan, Judaea, the Holy Land, &c. This name has the authority of the prophet lsaiah, among the sacred writers: and was received by the earliest secular historians. Herodotus calls the Hebrews Syrians of Palestine; and states that the sea-border of Syria, inhabited, according to him by Phoenicians from the Red Sea, was called Palaestina as far as Egypt (vii. 89). He elsewhere places Syria Palaestina between Phoenice and Egypt; Tyre and Sidon in Phoenice: Ascalon, Cadytis Ienysus in Palaestina Syriae; elsewhere he places Cadytis and Azotus simply in Syria (iv. 39, iii. 5, ii. 116, 157, i. 105, iii. 5). ..The most valuable contributions to the ancient geography of Palestine are those of Eusebius and his commentator S. Jerome in the Onomasticon, composed by the former, and translated, with important additions and corrections, by the latter who has also interspersed in his commentaries and letters numerous geographical notices of extreme value. They are not, however, of such a character as to be available under this general article, but are fully cited under the names of the towns, &c. (See Reland, ''Palaest.'' lib. ii. cap. 12, pp. 479, &c.)
* 1875: Karl Baedeker, ''Palaestina und Syrien: Handbuch für Reisende'': VI. Die Araber nennen Syrien, worunter sie auch Palästina (Filistin) begreifen, "''esch-Schäm''." Dieser Name bezeichnet eigentlich das 'links' gelegene Land, im Gegensatz zu el-Yemen, das 'rechts' gelegene Land, (Südarabien). Bei den Türken hört man den Namen ''Süristän''. Die Türken theilten Syrien in fünf Gouvernements (Paschaliks): Aleppo, Tripolis, Damascus, Saida (später Akka) und Palästina. Diese Eintheilung hat aber im Laufe der Jahrhunderte viele Veränderungen erlitten. Bis vor Kurzem war Syrien nur in zwei Grossgouvernements (wiläyet) mit den Hauptstädten Damascus und Aleppo getheilt. In neuester Zeit ist Jerusalem ebenfalls Sitz eines von der Pforte direct abhängigen Centrai-Gouverneurs (wäli) geworden und zwar in Folge des Versuches, die turbulenten Stämme jenseit des Jordan auf die Dauer zu pacificiren.
* 1875: Isabel Burton, ''The Inner Life of Syria, Palestine, and the Holy Land: From My Private Journal'': We rode to Dayr el Kamar, a large village in the territory of El Manásíf. Then we went to B'teddin, now the palace of Franco Pasha, Governor of the Lebanon. ...he meets every case with liberality and civilization; he was a religious man, and Allah and the Sultan were his only thoughts. Everything he did for the natives' good, he told them that it came from his Master and theirs, so that "May Allah prolong the days of our Sultan" was ever in the people's mouth. It would have been happy if a few more Franco Pashas were distributed about Syria and Palestine.
* 1876: Thomas Cook, ''Cook's Tourists' Handbook for Palestine and Syria'': Sir Moses Montefiore's mission has been to assist the Jews, not by indiscriminate charity, but by giving them means and scope for labour. In January 1875, being in the 91st year of his age, he resigned his position as President of the Board of Deputies of British Jews, and a testimonial to him having been resolved upon, he requested it might take the form of a scheme for improving the condition of the Jews in Palestine generally, and Jerusalem particularly. About £11,000 only has been as yet contributed to the fund, although the amount anticipated was £200,000. The reason of the smallness of the contributions was that a rumour went abroad that the scheme was only to continue idle Jews in idleness.
* 1879: Nu'man ibn 'Abdu al-Qasatli: ''al-Rawda al-Numaniyya in the travelogue to Palestine and some Syrian Towns''
* 1880s: The Ottoman government issues a number of decrees to foreign governments, intended to limit Zionist immigration, land purchases and settlement. The decrees refer to "Palestine," but the term is not defined.
* 1889: Albrecht Socin (University of Tubingen), "Palestine." ''The Encyclopædia Britannica'': "Lists based on information collected by the Turkish Government ...for the sanjak of Jerusalem (with the districts Jerusalem, Yáfá, Hebron), 276 places with about 24,000 houses (families); for the sanjak Belká (with the districts of Nábulus Jennin Ajlun and Es-Salt), 317 places and 18,984 houses; for the sanjak Akka (Acre) (with the districts Akka, Haifa, and Safed), 160 places with 11,023 houses, —making a total of 753 places with 54,237 houses. Reckoning five persons per house, this gives a population of 271,185, exclusive of the small number of Bedouins. Detailed statistics there are none as regards the relative strength of the Bedouin element and the peasantry, the numerical representation of the different religions, or any matter of this sort."
*1890: Reinhold Röhricht, ''Bibliotheca Geographica Palestine, from the year A.D. 333 to A.D. 1878'': among the books on Palestine. ''Bibliotheca Geographica Palestinae'', (Berlin, 1890). Bibliotheca Geographica Palestine. Chronologisches Verzeichniss der auf die Geographic des heiligen Landes beziiglichen Literatur von 333 bis 1878 und Versuch einer Cartographic. Herausgegeben von Reinhold Rohricht. (Berlin: H. Reuther's Verlagsbuchhandlung, 1890.) The book professes to give a list of all the books relating to the geography of Palestine from the year 333 to 1878 and also a chronological list of maps relating to Palestine. The Church Quarterly Review 1891, p.259 at Google Books) Bibliotheca Geographica Palestinae, (Berlin, 1890) at openlibrary.org)
* 1897: First Zionist Congress: the Basel program sets out the goals of the Zionist movement: "Zionism aims at establishing for the Jewish people a publicly and legally assured home in Palestine"
* 1898: Khalil Beidas, his preface to his translation of :ru:Олесницкий, Аким Алексеевич, Akim Olesnitsky's '':File:Olesnitsky A. The Holy Land. Vol. 1 (Russian).djvu, A Description of the Holy Land'': "the people of Palestine were in need of a geography book about their country... the Palestinian peasant waits impatiently for winter to come, for the season’s rain to moisten his fossilized fields." It has been proposed that this represents the first instance in modern history where the term ‘Palestinian’ or ‘Filastini’ appears in Arabic.
* c. 1900–10: Mutasarrifate of Jerusalem#Post-separation from Damascus, Ottoman Governors: According to Haim Gerber "The remnants of the correspondence of the Ottoman governors with their superiors in the first decade of the twentieth century quite often relate to the Zionist question and the resistance to it among local inhabitants. The country is referred to throughout as Palestine."
* 1900: J. M. Robertson, ''Christianity and Mythology'': Long before Biblical Judaism was known, the people of Palestine shared in the universal rituals of the primeval cults of sun and moon, Nature and symbol; and the successive waves of conquest, physical and mystical, have only transformed the primordial hallucination.
* 1902: Qubain Family, Salim Qub‘ayn and Najib Nassar, "A Palestinian describes Palestinian towns."
* 1902: The Anglo-Palestine bank: A subsidiary of the Bank Leumi, the financial instrument of the Zionist Organization
* 1911: Falastin (newspaper), Falastin newspaper was founded in Jaffa by Palestinian Christians.
* 1911: David George Hogarth, "Syria." ''Encyclopædia Britannica'': "Population.—The actual population of Syria is over 3,000,000 spread over a superficial area of about 600,000 sq. m., ''i.e.'' about 5 persons to the square mile. But this poor average is largely accounted for by the inclusion of the almost uninhabited northern steppe land and those parts of Syria, which are settled show a much higher rate. Phoenicia and the Lebanon have the densest population, over 70 to the square mile, while Palestine, the north part of the western plateau east of Jordan, the oases of Damascus and Aleppo, the Orontes valley, and parts of Commagene, are well peopled."
* 1913: Al-Karmil (newspaper): "We hoped that they [the Ottoman Party for Administrative Decentralization] would rid us of Zionist threats and dangers. We comprised a group of people who had hoped the best for their leaders. This team possessed tremendous power; not to ignore that Palestine, their country, was part of the Ottoman Empire."
* c. 1913: Ruhi Khalidi, ''Zionism or the Zionist Question'', according to Haim Gerber "It is noteworthy that whenever the name of the country appears, it is always Palestine, never southern Syria or anything else."
* 1914: Four days after Britain's declaration of war on the
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman Empire, * ; is an archaic version. The definite article forms and were synonymous * and el, Оθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία, Othōmanikē Avtokratoria, label=none * info page on book at Martin Luther University) ...
at a Cabinet of the United Kingdom, British Cabinet meeting on 9 November 1914, David Lloyd George, Chancellor of the Exchequer, "referred to the ultimate destiny of Palestine."Grooves Of Change: A Book Of Memoirs Herbert Samuel
* 1915: VIII Corps (Ottoman Empire), ''Filastin Risalesi'' ("Palestine Document"), an Ottoman army country survey which formally identified Palestine as including the sanjaqs of Akka (the Galilee), the Sanjaq of Nablus, and the Sanjaq of Jerusalem (Kudus Sherif).
Formation of the British Mandate
' and he, פָּלֶשְׂתִּינָה (א"י) '
, image1 = British Mandate Palestinian passport.jpg
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, image2 = Mill (British Mandate for Palestine currency, 1927).jpg
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, image3 = Palestine Mandate Stamp 92.jpg
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* 1918: House of Commons of the United Kingdom: ''Minutes'': "Edward Turnour, 6th Earl Winterton, Major Earl Winterton asked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs what facilities have been given to the Palestinian and Syrian political leaders now in Egypt to visit Palestine?" An early use of the word Palestinian in British politics, which was used often in following years in the British government
* 1919: Zionist Organization, ''Statement on Palestine at the Paris Peace Conference, 1919, Paris Peace Conference'': "The boundaries of Palestine shall follow the general lines set out below: Starting on the North at a point on the Mediterranean Sea in the vicinity south of Sidon and following the watersheds of the foothills of the Lebanon as far as Jisr El-Karaon thence to El-Bire, following the dividing line between the two basins of the Wadi El-Korn and the Wadi Et-Teim, thence in a southerly direction following the dividing line between the Eastern and Western slopes of the Mount Hermon, Hermon, to the vicinity west of Beit Jenn, then eastward following the northern watersheds of the Nahr Mughaniye close to and west of the Hedjaz Railway. In the east a line close to and west of the Hedjaz Railway terminating in the Gulf of Akaba. In the south a frontier to be agreed upon with the Egyptian Government. In the west the Mediterranean Sea."
* 1919: Syrian National Congress: "We ask that there be no separation of the southern part of Syria, known as Palestine, nor of the littoral western zone, which includes Lebanon, from the Syrian country."
* 1920: Franco-British boundary agreement (1920), Franco-British boundary agreement – the framework agreement in which the borders of the Mandate for Palestine, Mandate of Palestine were established, being finally approved on 7 March 1923
* 1920: Herbert Samuel during an Advisory Council meeting: "After some further discussion on the part of several members, [Samuel] said that when he had to decide the wording for the stamps, he was aware that there was no other name in the Hebrew language for this land except 'Eretz-Israel'. At the same time he thought that if 'Eretz-Israel' only were used, it might not be regarded by the outside world as a correct rendering of the word 'Palestine,' and in the case of passports or certificates of nationality, it might perhaps give rise to difficulties, so it was decided to print 'Palestine' in Hebrew letters and to add after it the letters 'Aleph' 'Yod,' which constitute a recognised abbreviation of the Hebrew name. [Samuel] still thought that this was a good compromise. Dr. Salem wanted to omit 'Aleph' 'Yod' and Mr. Yellin wanted to omit 'Palestine'. The right solution would be to retain both."
* 1921: Syrian-Palestinian Congress
* 1923: Mandate for Palestine, British Mandate for Palestine is ratified
* 1926: Permanent Mandates Commission: "M. Palacios [Spanish representative], returning to the concrete questions of a general character of which the Arabs complained, recalled those concerning the national title, the national hymn and the flag.... As regards the first point, the Arabs claimed that it was not in conformity with Article 22 of the Mandate to print the initials and even the words "Eretz Israel" after the name "Palestine" while refusing the Arabs the title "Surial Janonbiah" ("Southern Syria"). The British Government had not accepted the use of this Arab title, but gave the place of honour to the Hebrew word used for 2,000 years and decided that the official name in Hebrew was "Palestina" followed by the initials signifying "Aleph Jod," the regular Hebrew name. Was the question still under discussion and could the accredited representative give the Commission any further information? Stewart Symes, Colonel Symes explained that the country was described as "Palestine" by Europeans and as "Falestin" by the Arabs. The Hebrew name for the country was the designation "Land of Israel," and the Government, to meet Jewish wishes, had agreed that the word "Palestine" in Hebrew characters should be followed in all official documents by the initials which stood for that designation. As a set-off to this, certain of the Arab politicians suggested that the country should be called "Southern Syria" in order to emphasise its close relation with another Arab State."
* 1936: Peel Commission Report: "[Jewish nationalism] claims, for example, that, though Palestine is not an Arab word and might therefore fairly serve for Jews as well as Arabs, Eretz Israel (Land of Israel) should be also accepted as the official translation of "Palestine," and protests that the printing of the Hebrew initials "E. I." after "Palestine" on every stamp and coin is not enough."
Biblical references
The five books of the Pentateuch /
Torah
The Torah (; hbo, ''Tōrā'', "Instruction", "Teaching" or "Law") is the compilation of the first five books of the Hebrew Bible, namely the books of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. In that sense, Torah means the ...
include a total of 10 references, including:
* : (first reference) "And Pathrusim, and Casluhim, (out of whom came Philistim,) and Caphtorim."
* : "Thus they made a covenant at Beersheba: then Abimelech rose up, and Phichol the chief captain of his host, and they returned into the land of the Philistines. And Abraham planted a grove in Beersheba, and called there on the name of the LORD, the everlasting God. And Abraham sojourned in the Philistines' land many days."
* : "And it came to pass, when Pharaoh had let the people go, that God led them not through the way of the land of the Philistines, although that was near; for God said, Lest peradventure the people repent when they see war, and they return to Egypt"
* : "And I will set thy bounds from the Red sea even unto the sea of the Philistines, and from the desert unto the river: for I will deliver the inhabitants of the land into your hand; and thou shalt drive them out before thee."
The Books of the Bible, Historical books (see Deuteronomistic history) include over 250 references, almost 200 of which are in the
Book of Judges
The Book of Judges (, ') is the seventh book of the Hebrew Bible and the Christian Old Testament. In the narrative of the Hebrew Bible, it covers the time between the conquest described in the Book of Joshua and the establishment of a kingdom ...
and the
Books of Samuel
The Book of Samuel (, ''Sefer Shmuel'') is a book in the Hebrew Bible, found as two books (1–2 Samuel) in the Old Testament. The book is part of the narrative history of Ancient Israel called the Deuteronomistic history, a series of books (Josh ...
, including:
* : "Now Joshua was old and stricken in years; and the LORD said unto him, Thou art old and stricken in years, and there remaineth yet very much land to be possessed. This is the land that yet remaineth: all the borders of the Philistines, and all Geshuri, from Sihor, which is before Egypt, even unto the borders of Ekron northward, which is counted to the Canaanite: five lords of the Philistines; the Gazathites, and the Ashdothites, the Eshkalonites, the Gittites, and the Ekronites; also the Avites"
* : "And Solomon reigned over all kingdoms from the river unto the land of the Philistines, and unto the border of Egypt: they brought presents, and served Solomon all the days of his life."
Books of the Bible, Wisdom books include only 6 references, all in the Psalms, including:
* : "I will make mention of Rahab and Babylon to them that know me: behold Philistia, and Tyre, with Ethiopia; this man was born there."
Books of the Major prophets and Minor prophets include around 20 references, including:
* : "Woe unto the inhabitants of the sea coast, the nation of the Cherethites! the word of the LORD is against you; O Canaan, the land of the Philistines, I will even destroy thee, that there shall be no inhabitant."
* : "Are ye not as children of the Ethiopians unto me, O children of Israel? saith the LORD. Have not I brought up Israel out of the land of Egypt? and the Philistines from Caphtor, and the Syrians from Kir?"
See also
* Cartography of Palestine
* Travelogues of Palestine
* Names of Jerusalem
* Place names of Palestine
* Roman Empire
* Judea (Roman province)
* Geography and cartography in medieval Islam
Notes
a. †Coele-Syria
:During the Roman period "Palestine" was not the only geographical term for the region. For example, Strabo, in his description of Jerusalem and Judea, uses the term "
Coele-Syria
Coele-Syria (, also spelt Coele Syria, Coelesyria, Celesyria) alternatively Coelo-Syria or Coelosyria (; grc-gre, Κοίλη Συρία, ''Koílē Syría'', 'Hollow Syria'; lat, Cœlē Syria or ), was a region of Syria in classical antiquit ...
" ("all Syria"), and Pliny the Elder, Pliny (as above) uses both terms. Pliny (Naturalis Historia 5.74, 77) and Strabo (16.2.16.754) do draw a distinction between the Decapolis and Coele-Syria. Josephus (Antiquities 13.355-356, 392; 14.79, 16.275; and War 1.103-104, 155), Philo and Ptolemy tend to use ''Coele-Syria'' for the Decapolis.The Hellenistic settlements in Syria, the Red Sea Basin, and North Africa 2006, Getzel M. Cohen, p36-37, "... it is important to note that despite its appearance in various literary texts of and pertaining to the Hellenistic period, the term “Palestine” is not found on any extant Hellenistic coin or inscription. In other words, there is no attestation for its use in an official context in the Hellenistic period."
:
:Greek writers of classical antiquity used the term Palestine to refer to the region of
Coele-Syria
Coele-Syria (, also spelt Coele Syria, Coelesyria, Celesyria) alternatively Coelo-Syria or Coelosyria (; grc-gre, Κοίλη Συρία, ''Koílē Syría'', 'Hollow Syria'; lat, Cœlē Syria or ), was a region of Syria in classical antiquit ...
, such as
Polemon of Athens
Polemon of Athens ( grc-gre, Πολέμων ὁ Ἀθηναῖος, fl. 2nd century BC) was an ancient Greek Stoic philosopher and geographer. Of Athenian citizenship, he was most widely known as Polemon of Athens, but he was born either in Ilium, ...
and
Pausanias Pausanias ( el, Παυσανίας) may refer to:
*Pausanias of Athens, lover of the poet Agathon and a character in Plato's ''Symposium''
*Pausanias the Regent, Spartan general and regent of the 5th century BC
* Pausanias of Sicily, physician of t ...
.
b. †Syria Palaestina
:Coinciding with either the precursors (129–130) or the end (135–136) of the Bar Kochba revolt, the name Syria Palestina was used officially for the entire region that had formerly included Iudaea Province. The precise date is not certain.The Hellenistic settlements in Syria, the Red Sea Basin, and North Africa 2006, Getzel M. Cohen, p36-37, " "Palestine" did not come into official use until the early second century AD, when the emperor Hadrian decided to rename the province of Judaea; for its new name he chose “Syria Palaestina.”49
49. On the date of the name change — before rather than after the Bar-Kochva revolt — see− R. Syme, JRS 52 (1962) 90; and A. Kindler, INJ 14 (2000–2002) 176–79...". Syme is at The assertion of some scholars that the name change was intended "to suppress Jewish national feelings," "to complete the dissociation with Judaea," or "may also reflect Hadrian's decided opinions about Jews,"Sharon, 1998, p. 4. According to Moshe Sharon: "Eager to obliterate the name of the rebellious Iudaea Province, Judaea", the Roman authorities (General Hadrian) renamed it ''Palaestina'' or ''Syria Palaestina''. is disputed.
c. †Achaemenid Empire
:Catalogues of Satrapies of the Achaemenid empire.
:*Darius' Behistun inscription
:*Histories of the Greek researcher Herodotus
:::the tribute list
:::the list of Persian armed forces
:*the inscription on Darius' tomb at Naqš-i Rustam
:*the Daiva inscription of Xerxes.
:There are many satrapies mentioned in a book about Alexander the Great, the Anabasis by Arrian of Nicomedia.
:
Early Church History 101 – The First Century *
{{Palestinian nationalism
Country name etymology, Palestine, Timeline of the name
Place name etymologies, Palestine, Timeline of the name
Names of places in Asia, Palestine, Timeline of the name
Regional timelines
Palestinian history timelines, name