Philistines, the Danann and Sea Faring Peoples

by Cinaet Scotach and Iain MacAnTsaoir

When we speak of the heroic age of Greece we are speaking of the time of The Illiad and the Odyssey. The time of the Labors of Heracles and Jason's quest on the Argo. It is a time of heroes from the great cities of the Aegean such as Mycanae and Tiryns. These people were called the Achean or Danaan. They conquered the Pelasgians and made the Minoan Sea Kingdom their own as well. The Heroic age is not the time of Socrates or Plato. To them the age of the Illiad was a distant past not fully understood. They did write about them in the classical age and that is where we get much of our understanding along with the information supplied by archaeologists of today and the last century. Just who were the Danaan who occupied Greece during the second millenium BC? Most scholars agree that the Danaan/Acheans were an Indo-European people that came to the Pelasgian Peninsula around 2000 BC. from either the area just west of the Black Sea or from the north of the Black Sea by way of Anatolia. They were mostly unheard of until around 1650 BC when they started to make their presence felt around the Aegean Sea. The island of Thera was destroyed by a huge volcanic explosion around 1400 BC and this devastated the Minoan Sea Empire. The Danaan took advantage of the Minoan weakness and took control of the island kingdom.

The Minoans up until this time virtually controlled the Aegean Sea, extracting tribute from Mycanae and Athens every year in the form of young men and women for sacrifice in their religious rituals. The story of Theseus and the Minotaur comes from this extraction of tribute from the city of Athens. Theseus was fathered by the King of Athens but kept in a distant city with his mother. When Theseus reached an age that allowed him to travel he set off straight on his way to Athens to join his father (sound familiar?). On his way, Theseus is forced to fight to the death with the King of Elusis. He kills the king with his bare hands. (It is worth adding here that Theseus is said to have been the inventor of technical wrestling; before his time wrestling was just brawn, no skill.) And as such was the custom of the people, he was the new king, until next year when a new traveler would do battle and kill him just as he did. Theseus, due to his great charisma, forces the Elusian to change their way of One dead King a year and remains the king while still fulfilling his quest to join his father. When he gets to Athens the tribute is due. As the son of the King he is immune from being selected but volunteers himself to go. We know the rest from the famous tale; He travels to Minos, saves a princess and kills the Minotaur.

Many of these old Greek legends tell us just how violent the times were. One city pitted against another was a common tale. The Acheans did not have one large kingdom but, like the Celts, they were a group of smaller kingdoms that were constantly warring with one another, just like their more northern cousins a thousand years later. Also like the Celts, they were a warrior aristocracy in which battle was all-important and honor ruled all.

They were the first in their area to employ the longsword and the chariot. The swords of the Minoans were very long, unwieldy, and weak. The Acheans developed a shorter, more stout version of the Minoan longsword and conquered the region with it. Their wars were not large masses on a field moved by skilled generals, as they were during the classical period, but were a mass of single combats taking place at once. They held the warrior in the highest regard. Bravery in combat was very important. A man must face his foe head on with sword or spear in hand. The bow was considered the weapon of cowards. After they had defeated a foe they would strip him of his armor and weapons, a very economically smart trophy of their victory. The Illiad is full of this type of activity. In it, the Acheans lay siege to the Anatolian, and possibly Hittite, city of Troy, which is known as Illios to the Acheans. In a nutshell, the story of the Illiad is as follows: The Achean King of Sparta, Menalaus' wife was either abducted or taken with consent by the Trojan Prince named Paris and taken via Egypt to Troy. Menalaus pleaded for help from his brother Agamemnon, the King of Mycanae, the most powerful Kingdom in Greece. These two were the sons of Atreus and sometime I will get to the story of the curse on their father. Some scholars think that the war was most likely an economic one over trade routes and dominance in the Aegean, but the story written by the bard Homer reflects the abduction of Helen, wife of Menalaus as the cause. The Acheans laid siege to Troy for ten years, neither gaining or losing ground. The tenth year is when the story of the Illiad begins. The tale related in the Illiad is basically the story about the rage of Achilles, the great warrior from Thessaly. With him lies the key to victory for the Acheans but due to the greedy nature of Agamemnon, Achilles chooses to remain a non-combatant in the war at Troy. It is only after his great friend Patroclus is killed by the Trojan champion Hector that he is compelled to go into battle, killing Hector with a spear thrust to the neck.

There is good reason why CuChullain is known as the Irish Achilles. Their stories are very similar. Both had one divine parent. In the case of the Hound it was Lugh, and in the case of Achilles he had an immortal mother, the neried Theta. They were both given the choice of a long life or a short one filled with fame and glory. They both chose the short life and still survive today because of it. Both were the heroes of their people; such great warriors were they, that no mortal man could defeat them. CuChullain and Achilles both shone bright like the sun in the ancient texts holding their spears in hand ready to defeat any foe who dared cross their paths. It was only thru divine intervention that they met their downfall - CuChullain by breaking his geis and Achilles was shot in his vulnerable ankle with the coward's weapon by the god Apollo.

It is known that the Danaans traveled throughout the continent of Europe and throughout the Middle East. They traveled to the British Isles in search of tin for the manufacture of bronze. The Hittite records, just recently translated, state that there were troublesome pirates operating on the western coast of Anatolia. The Hittites called the Acheans the Ahiyyawah. Unable to stop the Danaan pirates, the King of the Hittites was forced to pay them off, a practice often used to pacify the Celts of a later age.

There are other places whereof the Dananns are spoken. These places come from the unlikely records of ancient Egypt. Because of the nature of the subject there is a need to unravel the history of peoples known varyingly as "the Sea People" and alternately the "Philistines". Let us start with the Philistines.

When thinking about the Philistines, what comes to mind is David slaying the giant Goliath with a mere sling. Another instance from Biblical accounts is where Samson brings down the pillars of the Philistine temple of Dagon. The Bible is filled with many more references to the Philistines. The hotly contended land that is known to this day as Palestine derives it's name from the Hebrew designation for the "Land of the Philistines" or "Paleshet". That word evolved through the Greek "Palaistine", to the Latin "Palaestina", to the Arabic "Filastin". Not only has the land itself retained its ancient nomenclature, but even the sites of the three Philistine capitals have retained their ancient names of Ashdod, Ashkelon and Gaza. There has been interest in who these people were for a several centuries.

Amongst the first to really get anywhere was a French linguist and Biblical authority named Dom Calmet. This person undertook answering the question of the origins of the Philistines. He started with the two ascribed to them. The first is found in the "Table of Nations" in the book of Genesis. There, they are listed as sons of Egypt, not through direct descent but through an obscure group called the Caphtorium. In another biblical book (Deuteronomy) the Caphtorium are said to have lived in the part of the coastal area of southern Canaan that was eventually to come to be the "Land of the Philistines." Calmet ran into the problem of trying to locate the land of Caphtor, the homeland of the Caphtorium. The second origin given in the Bible was quite a puzzle to Calmet. That second account comes from Ezekial, where the Philistines are linked to another obscure tribe called the Cherithites. However, a very clear passage at Zephania 2:5 states, "Woe unto you inhabitants of the sea coast, you nation of Cherithites". Our beleagured researcher turned to a Greek translation of the Septuagint (Old Testament) compiled in 200 BCE. There he gained enough information to establish that Caphtor was Cappadocia, in Asia Minor; and that "the nation of the Cheritites" was the "nation of the Cretans". This would appear to be a simple resolution to the topic. Yet, the Isle of Crete and Asia Minor are not the same. Therefore, the astute Calmet turned to the non-biblical Ethnika, which is a collection of Greek and Roman place names, compiled in the sixth century CE. In this book, he found that the Philistine city of Gaza was also called Minoa. This because Minos and his brothers had gone there, and given his name to the city. Calmet therefore deduced that the Philistines were those who had migrated to Canaan from Crete. The next contribution of note came from another French linguist named Fourmant. He pointed out a passage in the apocryphal Second Book of Maccabees (5:9), where Arias the king of Sparta states that the Jews and the people of Sparta were both related to Abraham. Fourmant traced the Spartan family back to one king Lelex, who was of unclear origin. He then established the theory that Lelex was a Hebrew leader who had abandoned homeland and ancestral religion in search of better lands for his people. In short, according to this theory, when they arrived in Greece, they started calling themselves by the name "Pelasgians", which he furthered was derived from the Hebrew word for "wanderers", and which has the same root word as Philistine. He went on to point out the mention of the Pelasgians in the _Illiad_, and that they were allies of the Trojans. His bottom line contention was that they returned to Canaan after the fall of Troy.

In 1798, Napolean Bonaparte invaded Egypt when he landed on the beaches near Alexandria. With him was a scientific expedition. These investigators catalogued nearly everything they could find. Amongst the most impressive of the finds that they catalogued was the Temple of Medinet Habu. The person in charge of that particular find was a man by the name of Denon. From the moment he first entered the gates of that colossal ediface, he recognized that the scenes carved into the stone depicted battles. These were established to have occurred during the reign of Ramses II.

The battles were between people who were distinguishably Egyptian and those not. Amongst the features of the non-Egyptians were their short kilt-like garments and "feathered" headdresses held on by a chin strap. In some scenes the warriors wore tight-fitting corselets. Some scenes showed women, and these have long hair and dresses. The women, with their children, are shown in heavy oxcarts. Those who were not obviously Egyptian were portrayed as either foes in battle or captives. The clothing, and a great many other things revealed in the carvings, would seem to point at the typical Grecian or, rather, Spartan dress. Classical writers had described in other writings that the sea farers around what is now Greece used such a headdress.

Several other elements could fall amongst any other early Indo-European culture. However, these people are named in the engravings. They are called Philistines. The date of the battle was established at 1191 BCE. In a second scene, those called Philistines are joined by other invading peoples who were allied with them. The headdress of these people are rounded helmets with attached horns. (This form of headdress should sound very familiar to Celtiphiles.). Who these allies of the Philistines were was an enigma until a Scotsman named John Baker ended up on the site of the Temple. He was to uncover 25 more lines of hieroglyphic text which directly answered the question. In those twenty-five lines, the invading forces were enumerated as "the Philistines, Trekker, Sheklesh, Denyen, and Weshesh, lands united".

Following a hypothesis that there was an Aegean effort to take Egypt, some academians established, by using linguistics, that the names of the confederates in the invasion were known tribes. One example is the Trekker who were considered to be the Teucrians, and, more importantly for this topic, the Denyen who were established by these folks as the Danaans of Argolis. The Aegean origin for the peoples in the invasion was finally established in academia by Maspero, as he built on the work of such people as DeRouge and Chabas. The one sticky point in this theory was that the hinge pin of it was Troy, and this was as yet considered to be only a part of myth. Yet, with Schlieman's discovery of the site of Troy and research at that site, even this now helped to confirm the Aegean connection to the invasions of the Sea People. Now it is rather accepted that the Sea Peoples were a people from the Aegean who, after the fall of Troy, searched for other homelands. This would have begun in the early 12th Century BCE. The culture they carried with them into the Middle East was Mycenaean. This has long been recognized from both the archaeological evidence, including the "Cupbearer Fresco" (which shows a slim kilted figure carrying an offering), and the social structures of the Philistines themselves. An interesting note here is that the fall of Troy, as established by Schlieman, occurred only about 10 years before the date of the battle depicted on the scenes in the Egyptian temple (that date coming from interpretations of hieroglyphs).

Having established that concurrent with the fall of Troy sometime around 12th century BCE, people called Dananns (and variations on the name) were moving all about the known world, we can now start to look closer to home. In the isles, the archaeological record is repleat with examples of new cultures arising and falling. Some of the cultures which date from that era contain in their surviving materials evidence of Mediterranean connection. This could be because of trade, or because of migration, and there is no way to say with a priori certainty which applies when. Thus we turn to lore to extract whatever evidence may exist. Looking for mention of Troy, we quickly refer to Monmouth's _The History of the Kings of Britain_. Some of the threads found in Monmouths work are also to be found in the work of Nennius called Historia Brittonum. Within these works is a story of how survivors of Troy eventually made their way to, and populated, Britain. According to legend, the leader of the expatriated Trojans was named Brutus. According to the story, while in transit to what was to become Britain, the people under Brutus encountered another large group of Trojan surviors under the leadership of Corineus. The two groups joined together and eventually made their way to Britain under Brutus. Though, Cornwall is said to be named after Corineus. Other than that survivors of Troy are the carriers of civilization into Britain, there are two other things of note. The first is that their encountering Corineus shows just how far around the Mediterranean those survivors had been flung. Secondly, is the time that the tale assigns to their coming into and dividing the land, tilling of the soil, and the building of the city of Troia Nova. This time was synchronized in the text to be concurrent with when Eli judged Isreal and the Ark of the Covenent was hauled off by the Philistines. This would be as found in I Samuel, which the Halley's Bible Handbook and the Scofield Reference Bible places between 1100-1200 BC. These dates are certainly plausible in accounting for only a couple of generations, as such are counted in this tale, not to mention margins of error in all dates given.

Interestingly enough we find the tale told by the British Monmouth corroborated in the Goidelic Lebar Gebala Erenn. The geneology of Brutus/Britus harkens back to Aeneas in both texts. In Part 1 -Section 1.95.N the records say:

"As for Ibath, one of the two sons of Magog, his son was Alainius. He had three sons. Airmen, Negua, Isicon. Airmen had five sons, Gotus, Uiligotus, Cebitus, Burgandus, Longbardus. Negue had four sons, Vandalus, Saxus, Bogardus, Longbardus. Isicon, the third son of Alainus had four sons, Francus, Romanus, Albanus, a quo Albania in Asia Minor, and Albanactus s. Britan s. Silvanus s. Ascanius s. Aeneas s. Anchise, a quo weatern Alba, and Britus, from whom are called the Islands of Britain."

According to the same section of the Lebar Gebala Erenn, the geneaologies of the Tuatha De Danann are diferent from that of the Britains. This even though they, as we shall see, entered the islands at roughly the same time. In Part 1- Section 1.95.P, the geneaologies show that the Gaileoin, the Fir Bolg and the Fir Domnann, all of which together are called Fir Bolg, as well as the Tuatha De Danann are descended from Nemed s. Agnomain s. Paim s. Tat s. Sera s. Sru. On one hand, this supports the notion that the Tuath De Danann were at one time a part of a larger tribal body called variously Danann, Denyen, etc. It also lends support to the idea that the Denyen/Danann were simply, as specified in other sources, allies of the Trojans and as part of the Sea Peoples (as lands allied against Egypt in that conflict).

Just as with the work of Monmouth, Nennius and even Gildas , there are synchronisms that allow us to assign a date to the when the Tuatha De Danann came to Ireland. Unfortunately, as pointed out by R.A.S. MacAlistair, Part 4 allows for two distinct dates, these being A.A. 583 and A.A. 1496. These dates being recorded in a time frame established by Eusebius (reckoning time from the "Era of Abraham"), the later equates to roughly 1300 BC or a little later. This seems to have confused at least one scribe as attested to by the 913 year difference. No heed should be given to the 583 date or the 913 year difference it creates. This because, as shown by MacAlistair, the date is established by the errant insertion of a certain ruler well before he actually showed up in any accurate records. The 1496 date however does bring us much closer to the 12th century date. If one works with the dates given Eusebius relative to modern chronology one can deduce that A.A. 1496 falls even closer to the 12th century.

As pointed out by MacAlister, the dates related to the Tuatha de Danann are thoroughly a mess. However, it is interesting that working with several different formulas takes the dates to around 1200-1300 BC. It is simply interesting, and a source of speculation about when the TDD arrived in Ireland. What makes it interesting is the common date that we have seen throughout this excercise (1300-1200 BC). In recent years scientists have been pushing back the date of the arrival of Celtic culture into Ireland. Some now state that they believe that the event may have occured as early as 900 BC. Another approach to trying to ascertain when the Tuatha De Danann may have arrived is to add the number of years they held Ireland (arround 220 years), to the 900 BC date of the earliest possible arrival of Celtic peoples. This is possible because it is generally accepted that the Milesians, who unseated the TDD in supremacy, were the bringers of Celtic culture. Hence 900 plus the 220 years, or an estimated time of 1120 BC, which again pushes that 1200 mark.

However, it may in fact be that the Danann of Ireland arrived within a century or so of the fall of Troy. There is a reference in verse 376 which attests that the Tuatha de Danann had been in Ireland for quite a while before Troy fell. The LGE states:

".... Panyas thereafter, the twenty-fourth king of Assyria, forty-two years had he. Oengus demersus est in marc. The Gaedil journeyed to Spain, to wit Brath s. Death, whose son was Breogan; Uici, Oici, Mantan and Caicher. Death of Dagda. Delbaeth took the kingship of Ireland. Hercules and Iason came into the land of the Colchians in quest of the golden fleece in the time of Panyas. Death of Delbaeth thereafter, and Fiacha son of Delbaeth took the kingship. Sosarmus thereafter, the twenty-fifth king of Assyria. Twenty-nine years had he. Death of Fiachna s. Delbaeth in his time. The progeny of Cermat took the kingship in his time. The capture of Troy by Laomedon at that time."

In conclusion, it is no sacrilege to try and find the facts. The facts demostrate that the Tuatha De Danann were very real flesh and blood people, at one time. Possibly they were in Ireland before their kindred were forced to flee Troy. Perhaps, they were displaced with other Aegean tribes, with some of their number headed south and west, joining an alliance to try and take Egypt; and others of them going north. One can easily see those who headed north, departing mainland Europe in the northern reaches and descending down into Ireland, where, upon landing, they burned their boats behind them. Does seeing the Tuatha De Danann in this light remove from them their place in the theology of the ancient Gael, and by extension the modern Gael? It should not, because the ancient Gaels themselves placed the Tuatha De Danann into their lofty position. Dr. Jean Markale shows in his book, _The Celts_, how Celtic peoples have traditionally used very real historical occurances as the carriers of their mythos. Hence the very real Tuatha De Danann, the bringers of civilization, arts and skills to Ireland, earned their place as the Sky Gods of the Gaelic peoples, avatars of the Gods who they superceded. Such was the merit of living honorably, even if it was as an honorable and worthy adversary.

Sources:

The Celts, J. Markale

People of the Sea - The Search For The Philistines, Trude and Moshe Dothan

The Naval Battle Pictured at Medinet Habu, L. Strager,

The Bible (Douay Version)

The Illiad trans by Lang, Leaf and Meyers

The Bull Of Minos by Leonard Cottrell

Lost World Of The Agean by Maitland A. Edey

The War at Troy by Quintus Smyrnus

The History of the Kings of Britain, Jeffrey Monmouth, trans. Proff. Lewis Thorpe

Lebar Gebala Erenn Parts 1, 3, 4, R.A.S. MacAlister

Halley's Bible Handbook, Dr. H.H. Halley

The Scofield Reference Bible

"And Dan, Why Did He Stay In The Ships?", Y. Yadin - [This book ties the Hebrew tribe of Dan to the Sea People of Danuna.]

prepared by Cinaet Scotach and Iain MacAnTsaoir

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