Scripture: Judges 13–16; 1 Samuel 17; Amos 9:7
The Philistines, Israel's great rivals, come from 'Caphtor' and rule five coastal cities.
Excavations at Ashkelon, Ashdod, Ekron and Gath show a new culture arriving in the early 12th century BCE with Aegean-style pottery and pork-heavy diets. A 2019 DNA study of Ashkelon burials found European-related ancestry in the earliest Philistines. A 1996 inscription from Ekron names its king Achish (Ikausu), a name the Bible also gives a Philistine king.
Ashkelon, IsraelView on OpenStreetMap
