Palestine pre-rome

1. Use of the geographical term ‘Palestine’ predates the Romans. In fact, ‘Palestine’ and ‘Judea’ both appear in historical record at around the same time. The term ‘Judea’ appears first in Achaemenid records in the 6th Century BC and ‘Palestine’ appears first in the writings of Herodotus in the 5th Century BC and it was used by Aristotle in the mid-4th Century BC as well. Aristotle said, "Again if, as is fabled, there is a lake in Palestine, such that if you bind a man or beast and throw it in it floats and does not sink, this would bear out what we have said. They say that this lake is so bitter and salt that no fish live in it and that if you soak clothes in it and shake them it cleans them." This is understood by scholars to be a clear reference to the Dead Sea.

 

It is worth noting that ‘Judea’ does not appear in Greek until 300 BC. ‘Palestine’ was consistently used by Roman, Greek and Jewish writers long before the provincial name change in the 2nd Century AD. The terms ‘Palestine’ and ‘Judea’ seem to have coexisted with each other. ‘Palestine’ had a more general connotation referring to the Southern part of Historical Syria while ‘Judea’ more specifically meant ‘Land of Jews/Land where Jews live’.

 

“The Greek name for the country Palaistine and the Latin name Palaestina were frequently and repeatedly cited in classical literature and by classical Greek and Roman historians and poets with reference to the country between Egypt and Phoenicia …. the early 1st century Roman poet Ovid, one of the canonical poets of Latin literature, repeatedly invoked the term Palaestina and adjective Palaestino (Palestinian) in Metamorphoses and his other epic poems. In Ars Amatoria (‘The Art of Love’) Ovid also mentioned ‘the seventh‐day feast that the Syrian of Palestine observes’, with reference to followers of Judaism in Palestine, who were in the 1st century AD one of the many religious groups in the country. Ovid and other Roman writers did not confine the term Palaestina and Palaestino to the coastal region known as Philitia, but included the interior of the country. In c. 90 AD another famous 1st century Greco‐Roman author, Dio Chrysostom, an orator, philosopher, historian of the Roman Empire, was quoted by Synesius – Greek bishop of Ptolemais, in modern Libya, in the early 4th century – referring to the Dead Sea as located ‘in the interior of Palestine’ ”

 

2. There’s actually no evidence that it was Hadrian who changed the name of the Roman province from ‘Judea’ to ‘Palestine’. There’s also no evidence in what exact year it was done. And there’s certainly no evidence that it was done to “punish Jewish people” (Jewish authors like Josephus and Philo persistently used the term ‘Palestine’). The common assumption that Hadrian was responsible for this name change is purely based on circumstantial evidence. It is important to note that the new Roman province of ‘Syria-Palestina’ formed in the 2nd Century AD was larger in borders. ‘Syria-Palestina’ consisted of Judea + Galilee + Gaza + parts of Idumea. Since ‘Judea’ had a more restricted meaning, it’s possible ‘Palestine’ was adopted because it had a more general meaning that could encompass a larger and more diverse province.

 

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