Editing Philistines (section)

==="Walistina/Falistina" and "Palistin" in Syria===
====Pro====
A ''Walistina'' is mentioned in [[Luwian language|Luwian]] texts already variantly spelled ''Palistina''.<ref name="Rieken2008">{{cite journal|last=Rieken|first=Elisabeth|title=Das Zeichen &lt;sà> im Hieroglyphen-luwischen|journal=Acts of the VIIth International Congress of Hittitology, Çorum, August 25–31, 2008|location=Ankara|publisher=Anıt Matbaa|volume=2|pages=651–60|editor=A. Süel}}</ref><ref name="RiekYak2010">{{cite journal |last1= Rieken |first1= Elisabeth |last2= Yakubovich |first2= Ilya |title= The new values of Luwian signs L 319 and L 172 |pages= 199–219 [215–216] |journal= Ipamati Kistamati Pari Tumatimis: Luwian and Hittite Studies Presented to J. David Hawkins on the Occasion of His 70th Birthday |publisher= Tel-Aviv: Institute of Archaeology |year= 2010}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last= Hawkins |first= J. David |title= The inscriptions of the Aleppo Temple |year= 2011 |journal= Anatolian Studies |volume= 61 |pages= 35–54 |doi= 10.1017/s0066154600008772|s2cid= 162387945 }}</ref> This implies [[dialectic]]al variation, a [[phoneme]] ("f"?) inadequately described in the script,<ref>{{cite journal | title=Phoenician and Luwian in Early Iron Age Cilicia| author=Ilya Yakubovich | year=2015 |journal=Anatolian Studies |volume=65 |pages=35–53 | doi=10.1017/s0066154615000010| s2cid=162771440 }}, 38</ref> or both. Falistina was a kingdom somewhere on the Amuq plain, where the [[Amurru kingdom]] had held sway before it.<ref>Inscription TELL TAYINAT 1: {{cite book |last= Hawkins |first= J. David |title= Corpus of Hieroglyphic Luwian Inscriptions 1. Inscriptions of the Iron Age |location= Berlin |publisher= de Gruyter |year= 2000 |page= 2.366}}</ref>

In 2003, a statue of a king named [[Taita I|Taita]] bearing inscriptions in [[Luwian language|Luwian]] was discovered during excavations conducted by German archaeologist Kay Kohlmeyer in the [[Citadel of Aleppo]].<ref>{{cite book |last= Bunnens |first= Guy |title= A New Luwian Stele and the Cult of the Storm-god at Til Barsib-Masuwari |page= 130 |publisher= Peeters Publishers |location= Leuven |series= Tell Ahmar, Volume 2 |year= 2006 |isbn= 978-90-429-1817-7 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=YMxY_hfXkCQC&pg=PA130 |access-date=9 December 2020}}</ref> The new readings of [[Anatolian hieroglyphs]] proposed by the Hittitologists Elisabeth Rieken and Ilya Yakubovich were conducive to the conclusion that the country ruled by Taita was called [[Palistin]].<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Rieken|first1=Elisabeth|last2=Yakubovich|first2=Ilya|year=2010|editor-last=Singer|editor-first=I.|title=The New Values of Luwian Signs L 319 and L 172|url=https://www.academia.edu/617478|journal=Ipamati Kistamati Pari Tumatimis: Luwian and Hittite Studies Presented to J. David Hawkins on the Occasion of His 70th Birthday|publisher=Institute of Archaeology|location=Tel-Aviv}}</ref> This country extended in the 11th-10th centuries BC from the [[Amik Valley|Amouq Valley]] in the west to [[Aleppo]] in the east down to [[Mhardeh|Mehardeh]] and [[Shaizar]] in the south.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=q8Z7AgAAQBAJ&pg=PA111|title= Ancient Syria: A Three Thousand Year History|author=Trevor Bryce|page= 111|isbn= 978-0-19-100292-2|date= 2014-03-06|publisher= OUP Oxford}}</ref>

Due to the similarity between Palistin and Philistines, [[Hittitologist]] John David Hawkins (who translated the Aleppo inscriptions) hypothesizes a connection between the [[Syro-Hittite states|Syro-Hittite]] Palistin and the Philistines, as do archaeologists Benjamin Sass and Kay Kohlmeyer.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gBCl2IQfNioC&pg=PA662|title= The Philistines and Other "Sea Peoples" in Text and Archaeology|author= Ann E. Killebrew|page= 662|isbn= 978-1-58983-721-8|date= 2013-04-21|publisher= Society of Biblical Lit}}</ref> [[Gershon Galil]] suggests that King David halted the Arameans' expansion into the Land of Israel on account of his alliance with the southern Philistine kings, as well as with Toi, king of Ḥamath, who is identified with Tai(ta) II, king of Palistin (the northern Sea Peoples).<ref name="Salner">{{cite web|last=Salner|first=Omri|title=The History of King David in Light of New Epigraphic and Archeological Data|date=17 December 2014|publisher=[[Haifa University]]|url=https://www.haifa.ac.il/index.php/en/2012-12-16-11-30-12/new-media/900-the-history-of-king-david-in-light-of-new-epigraphic-and-archeological-data|access-date=1 October 2018|archive-date=1 October 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181001070407/https://www.haifa.ac.il/index.php/en/2012-12-16-11-30-12/new-media/900-the-history-of-king-david-in-light-of-new-epigraphic-and-archeological-data}}</ref>

====Contra====
However, the relation between Palistin and the Philistines is much debated. Israeli professor [[Itamar Singer]] notes that there is nothing (besides the name) in the recently discovered archaeology that indicates an [[Aegean Sea|Aegean]] origin to Palistin; most of the discoveries at the Palistin capital [[Tell Tayinat]] indicate a [[Syro-Hittite states|Neo-Hittite]] state, including the names of the kings of Palistin. Singer proposes (based on archaeological finds) that a branch of the Philistines settled in Tell Tayinat and were replaced or assimilated by a new Luwian population who took the Palistin name.<ref>See Before and After the Storm, Crisis Years in Anatolia and Syria between the Fall of the Hittite Empire and the Beginning of a New Era (c. 1220 – 1000&nbsp;BCE), A Symposium in Memory of Itamar Singer, University of Pavia [http://www.academia.edu/5403302/The_Philistines_in_the_North_and_the_Kingdom_of_Taita_unpublished_paper_by_Itamar_Singer_zl_ p. 7+8]{{dead link|date=November 2023|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}</ref>