i, los; Judg. xvi:23; I Sam. v:1, sq.; Mace. x:83). This was a species of fish-worship, a remnant of which may still be found in the spe cial care taken of ccrtain holy fish in some parts of Syria (Niebuhr, Reise, ii. 167; Burckhardt, 278, 521). In Ekron Baal-zcbub had his chief seat. Priests and soothsayers were numerous 0 Sam. vi:2). Their magicians were in repute (Is. ii:6), and the oracle of Baal-zebub was consulted by foreigners (2 Kings i:2). They had the cus tom of carrying with them in war the images of their gods (2 Sam. v:21). Tradition makes the Philistines the inventors of the bow and arrow.
J. R. B.
(6) Present Condition. It is a remarkable fact that the principal towns of Philistia, Gaza, Ash kelon, Joppa, Ashdod, Lachish, and Gath have never once disappeared from history, but exist at the present day under the names of Gazzelt, Askaltim, Yafa, Esclud, Umm Lakis, and Brit librin—that is, Beth-geborim, "the house of the giants." Nlany other of the modern names also preserve the memory of the old Philistine history and worship. Low mounds at intervals show the sites of former cities. Four and a half miles frotn Gaza a colossal marble statue has recently been discovered (1879). The total height of the figure is 15 feet. The hair hangs in long ringlets down upon thc shoulders, and the beard is long, indicat ing a man of venerable age. The right arm is
broken in half, while the left arm is crossed over the breast to the right shoulder, the hand being hidden by thc drapery of a cloth covering the shoulders. There is no inscription on the figure or the pedestal, which is a huge block carved in one piece with the figure. The statue was found in a recumbent position, buried in the sand, on the top of a hill near thc sea. It had evidently been removed from its original site, which is unknown. Its estimated weight is 12,000 pounds. Licut. Conder thinks it is the statue of Manias (the Crctan Jupiter), the god of Gaza, which once stood in the principal temple of Gaza, but which had been buried, perhaps at the time of thc destruction of the temple, by Porphyrius (A. D. 4o6). (See Palestine Explora tion Fund's Quarterly Statement for January, 1880.) The inhabitants are a race distinct from the rest of the inhabitants of Palestine, and it has been suggested that the fella/11n, or peasantry, are of Canaanite origin. though no doubt a mixed race as now constituted. Schaff, Bib. Dict.
For the present condition of the land of the Philistines, see Ast1DOD; ASHKELON ; EKRON ;