Palistin

Not to be confused with Philistia or Palestine (disambiguation).

Palistin
Wadasatini / Padasatini
11th century BC–9th century BC
Capital		Kinalua
Languages		Luwian
Government		Absolute monarchy
Historical era		Iron Age
•	Established	11th century BC
•	Disestablished	9th century BC
Preceded by Succeeded by Hittite empire Pattin
Today part of		Syria Turkey

Palistin (or Walistin), was an early Syro-Hittite located in north western Syria and Hatay, Turkey. its existence was confirmed by the discovery of several inscriptions mentioning Taita king of Palistin.

Hadad temple, Taita statue is in the center (the right relief)

History

Palistin was one of the Syro-Hittite states that emerged in Syria after the Late Bronze Age collapse, it dates to at least the 11th century BC and is known primarily through the inscriptions of its king Taita and his wife. the kingdom wasn't established immediately after the collapse of the Hittite Empire, and it encompassed a relatively extensive area, stretching at least from the Amouq Valley in the west to Aleppo in the east down to Mhardeh and Shaizar in the south. Prof. Itamar Singer propose that it was the predecessor state that disintegrated and gave birth to the kingdoms of Hamath, Bit Agusi and Pattin (shortened form of Palistin).

Archaeological evidence

The excavations at Tell Tayinat in the Turkish Hatay province which might have been the capital of Palistin, revealed two settlements, the first is a Bronze Age Aegean farming community, and the second is an Iron Age Syro-Hittite city built on top of the Aegean farming settlement, Palistin is attested as Walistin in an inscription discovered in 1936 at the site.

Palistin is also attested in the Shaizar Stele which is a funerary monument dedicated to Queen Kupapiya the wife of Taita, another stele was discovered in Mhardeh and is either dedicated to Kupapiya calling her the queen of the land, or dedicated to a goddess (probably Kubaba), the name of Taita is mentioned on both steles. most importantly in 2003, a statue of King Taita bearing his inscription in Luwian was discovered during excavations conducted by German archeologist Kay Kohlmeyer in the Citadel of Aleppo.

Possible link to Philistines

While Hittitologist John David Hawkins initially gave two transcriptions of the Aleppo inscriptions – Wadasatini and Padasatini – a later reading suggests a third possible intrerpretation: Palistin. The similarity between Palistin and names for the Philistines, such as the Ancient Egyptian Peleset and the Hebrew פְּלִשְׁתִּים Plištim, have led archaeologists Benjamin Sass, and Kay Kohlmeyer to hypothesize a connection. It has even been suggested, for instance, that the area around Kunulua (Calno; Tell Tayinat) may even have been part of a Philistine urheimat.

The proposed Palistin-Philistines link remains controversial. According to Hittitologist Trevor Bryce, the connection between the biblical Philistines and the kingdom of Palistin remains a hypothesis and further excavations are needed to establish such a connection. The Shaizar and Mhardeh inscriptions apparently preserve the ethnonym Walistin and there is no clear explanation for the alternation between a character signifying Wa- in the Shaizar and Mhardeh inscriptions and one signifying Pa- in the Aleppo inscriptions.

If it was the case – as has been proposed by some theories concerning the Sea Peoples – that they originated in the Aegean area, there is no evidence from the Syro-Hittite artefacts at Tell Tayinat, either pictorial nor philological, to indicate a link to known Aegean civilizations. On the contrary, most of the discoveries at Tell Tayinat indicate a typical Luwian state. To cite two examples: firstly, the Syro-Hittite inhabitants used predominantly red slipped burnished ware, which is totally different from the Aegean-type pottery used by the early farming inhabitants. and, secondly, the names of the kings of Palistin and the kings of the successor state of Pattin are also Hittite, even though there is no evidence of a direct link between Taita and the old Hittite royal house. Singer proposed (based on archeological finds) that a branch of the Philistines did settle in Kinalua, and were subsequently replaced or assimilated by new Luwian population who assumed the Palistin name.