Definitions of Palestine - Palestine and Philistia

Palestine and Philistia

Palestine originates from the Greek "Palaestina", a geographic definition of an area within Levant, which exact border are not precisely defined in historic writings. Though some writings in Greek mention the term before common era, there is a possibility that the term was inserted in early Middle Ages, upon rewriting early works of historians such as Herodotus (original writings didn't survive). The term in Greek is generally considered to originate from Canaanite Pentapolis of Philistia (including Gaza, Ashkelon, Gath, Ekron and Ashdod), which existed on the Mediterranean coastline of Southern Levant during the Late Bronze and early Iron Age.