465 BIBLIOTHECA ORIENTALIS LXVIII N° 5-6, September-December 2011 466
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465 BIBLIOTHECA ORIENTALIS LXVIII N° 5-6, september-december 2011 466 ACTUEEL originated directly from the Luwian tarwanis, which is cer- tainly attested much before the 7th century BCE.2) According to an alternative (and a somewhat more likely) TITLES OF 7TH CENTURY BCE PHILISTINE explanation, the term trn/seren was in continuous usage by RULERS AND THEIR HISTORICAL-CULTURAL the Philistines since the time of their migration to southern BACKGROUND Canaan from the Aegean cultural realm in the 12th century BCE (as argued by Yasur-Landau 2010: 312). This scenario The starting point of this short study is a recently pub- is lent some (admittedly, indirect) support by the ample lished brief inscription from the Philistine city of Ashkelon archaeological evidence for the Aegean origins of the 12th (Cross 2008: 339, fig. 17.3). The partially preserved ink century BCE Philistine settlers (e.g., Dothan and Zukerman inscription, in Phoenician cursive script, appears on an 2004), as well as by epigraphic data for Indo-European ostracon found in the debris of the 604 BCE destruction names in Philistia from the 10th–early 9th century BCE attributed to Nebuchadnezzar II. According to Cross, the onwards (Maeir et al. 2008, with references).3) Finally, it inscription reads as follows: pstm trn bt m[. Cross restored should be mentioned that biblical writers incorporated ele- the somewhat damaged third letter of the second word as ments of genuine pre-7th century BCE realities into their nun, and translated the inscription as “flax [or linen]: the own narratives (e.g., Maeir 2004; Zorn 2010), and the term tyrant of Bet M[ ]”. seren might be one of them. Given this background, the The use of term trn in the inscription is of considerable understanding of trn/seren as an authentic early Philistine interest for the study of Philistine culture. This term, equiv- term is quite plausible. On the present state of our knowl- alent to Greek tyrannos (tyrant, meaning “ruler”/“lord”/ edge, it is impossible to say any more about the “pre-his- “governor”), is of Luwian origin and is related to tarwanis, tory” of the term trn/seren in Philistia. the common title of Neo-Hittite rulers. From the Luwian/ Many questions concerning cultural realia in Philistia Neo-Hittite cultural realm, this word, in the form of tyran- th before the Assyrian period (ca. 730–630 BCE) can only be nos, entered the Greek language in the 7 century BCE at answered provisionally, but the situation during the 7th cen- the latest (Pintore 1983; Uchitel 2007; Giusfredi 2009). tury BCE is only somewhat clearer. What follows is a discus- The word seren, the biblical title for the rulers of the five sion of an array of problems relating to the question raised major Philistine city-states (Gaza, Ashkelon, Ashdod, Ekron by many scholars with the publication of another 7th century and Gath, the so-called Pentapolis), clearly has the same BCE Philistine text, the monumental royal dedicatory inscrip- origin. The two forms (trn and seren) display the tet/samek tion from Ekron (Gitin, Dothan and Naveh 1997): why Akh- alteration (Cross 2008: 339, cf. Garbini 1991: 516), and the ayus, the ruler of Ekron, called himself sar (“ruler” or “gov- version in the Ashkelon inscription is, therefore, closer to ernor”) rather than melek or trn? the original Greek/Anatolian terms. The inscription, there- According to Gitin, Dothan and Naveh (1997: 11), Akh- fore, is clear proof that the form of the biblical term seren ayus did not use the term melek (king) for two possible rea- reflects a vocalization of the Philistine word by Hebrew- sons: 1) the ruler of Ekron, being an Assyrian vassal, speakers.1) th expressed his loyalty to his overlord by downgrading himself The ostracon is dated to the 7 century BCE, raising the to a more modest rank (from melek to sar); or 2) the two question if trn/seren is a traditional Philistine term, rooted in th terms have the same meaning, and are interchangeable. In my the Indo-European background of the 12 century BCE set- view, the first option is preferable. In the Kingdom of Judah, tlers, or a new word that was introduced to Philistia only sar was a local official/governor, as indicated by the biblical during the late Iron Age. One opinion is that the biblical 4 th usage of the term and by extrabiblical epigraphic evidence. ) seren is a 7 century phenomenon, resulting from cultural For example, the title sar ha‘îr (“city governor”) is attested contacts between Greece/Anatolia and Philistia much after both in the Bible and in two Hebrew seal impressions (Avigad the initial phase of the Philistine settlement (Finkelstein 1976; Avigad and Sass 1997: 171, cat. no. 402A-B).5) In 2002: 136-137). According to this view, the term in question was transferred to Philistia by Ionian and Carian mercenaries who served in the Egyptian army during the reign of Psam- 2) This would support the theory of the western Anatolian origin of the Philistines (Singer 1988). Due to the fact that the earliest Philistine material metichus I. Indeed, possible epigraphic evidence exists for culture does not include any clear features of indigenous Anatolian tradi- new immigrants from Anatolia, Greece, or Cyprus to Philis- tion, it can be hypothesized that some of the migrants could have come tia in the 7th century BCE (Kempinski 1987; but see Byrne from the southwestern regions of Anatolia and from the nearby islands. 2002: 10-11). This view also fits the above-mentioned fact During the 12th century BCE these areas were, for all intents and purposes, part of the Aegean cultural sphere (e.g., Mountjoy 1998: 52-63). that the Greek tyrannos is first attested precisely during that 3) It should be also noted that the ostracon from Ashkelon invalidates period. However, although tyranny as a social phenomenon Sasson’s (1997: 635) suggestion that Akhauys of Ekron did not use the title emerged in Greece only in the 7th century BCE, it is possible seren because it “ceased to be current after centuries of Philistine accul- that the title tyrannos, with a slightly different meaning, was turation on Canaanite soil”. 4) In Judg. 9, the verb yasar, which has the same root as sar, refers to used in earlier periods as well (note, though, that this word Abimelech who is indeed explicitly mentioned as a king (melek). However, is unattested in Linear B and Homeric texts). Moreover, it is there is no indication that yasar meant “reigned” rather than simply unclear why the term trn/seren had to reach Philistia through “ruled”. The use of yasar (instead of the regular malak) in relation to Greek mediation, as it is at least equally plausible that it Abimelech perhaps suggests that, according to the biblical writer, his rule was not a full-fledged reign of a true and legitimate king. 5) Although the comparative material examined here comes from Judah and not from Philistia, it can be assumed that during the Assyrian period 1) The question of how the original Philistine word was vocalized is the usage of the term sar in both regions was broadly similar. The Philis- outside the scope of this study, and it is left here in its transcribed version. tine city-states and Judah maintained close economic and cultural contacts, For additional loanwords of Philistine/Indo-European origin in the Bible, and all of them were vassals of the Assyrian empire. The monumental see Machinist 2000: 63-64. inscription from Ekron and the sar ha‘îr seal impressions from Judah had 995014_Bior_2011_5-6_01.indd5014_Bior_2011_5-6_01.indd 464464 116/02/126/02/12 112:412:41 467 ACTUEEL — TITLES OF 7TH CENTURY BCE PHILISTINE RULERS 468 Gen. (21:32; 26:26) and 1 Sam. (18:30; 29:3-4), the title sar tions is also exhibited by Hadad-Yith‘i in the 9th century is an appelation of high-ranking Philistine military command- BCE bilingual text on a statue from Tell Fekheriye in north- ers. As far as the biblical evidence for the relationship between ern Syria (Millard 1983: 105-106; Bunnens 2006: 98-99). seren and melek is concerned, Achish of Gath is the only In the Assyrian version, addressed to the representatives of named Philistine ruler who is described as a king (melek), the dominant political power, he denotes himself “gover- apparently in order to emphasize his leading political role nor” (saknu or sakin mati), while in the Aramaic version, among the other s¢ranîm (Rainey 1998: 243; Machinist 2000: intended for the local population, Hadad-Yith‘i calls himself 58). In the Ashkelon ostracon, the trn in question is described king (mlk). as a governor of a (perhaps minor) place called Bet M[ ]. It An interesting illustration of the political significance of seems, therefore, that in Philistia the meaning of trn was a the title sar is supplied by epigraphic evidence from the generic term for ruler/military leader, rather than the title Kingdom of Judah. The above-mentioned sar ha‘îr seal exclusively reserved for the governors of the Pentapolis cities impressions (on bullae) stand out in the entire corpus of West (as can be deduced from the biblical texts mentioning Semitic stamp seals in their unique Assyrianizing iconogra- s¢ranîm). In this respect, it is interesting to note that, although phy: an armed human figure, probably a king, faces another the Luwian title tarwanis had several meanings, some Neo- (smaller and unarmed) man, apparently a courtier, who Hittite governors who bore the title tarwanis were subordinate stands on the oval frame containing the inscription (Barkay to higher-ranking rulers (e.g., Uchitel 2007: 16-26), hinting 1977; Sass 1993: 237-238; Avigad and Sass 1997: 29).