Notes from “Gaza a History” by Jean-Pierre Filiu
Part 1
Notes from “Gaza a History” by Jean-Pierre Filiu
Part 1
“Travellers who have visited Gaza over the centuries” Jean-Pierre Filiu tells us “have often remarked on the fecundity of its vegetation and the diversity of its agriculture, both of which are the products of its underground waters and the gentle nature of the prevailing climate. The Gaza Valley (Wadi Ghazza), which runs down into the sea to the south of the modern city, offers a welcome refuge to migrant birds and small animals; the coolness and the shade of this coastal oasis contrast with the dusty tracks nearby that lead toward the Negev. Gaza is the endpoint of the Levantine coastline, the last haven before the inhospitable desert. Mastery of Gaza has therefore been a key issue in the rivalry between the powers that have established themselves in the Nile Valley and the Middle East. Whereas it was impossible to conquer Egypt from the eastern Mediterranean without relying on Gaza, Gaza was also an indisputable bridgehead for any invasion of the Levant from Sinai. As a result, ownership of Gaza has often been transferred from one empire to another.”[1]
“The Hyksos established themselves in the Middle East in the eighteenth-century BC, where they created forts 8 kilometres to the south of Gaza around Tall al-Ajjul, including the fort in Sharuhan, sometimes known as ‘southern Tall al-Ajjuk’, the site of what is today the Israeli Negev. The Hyksos used these forts as a base for their conquest of Egypt.”[2]
“Thutmose III, the sixth pharaoh of the eighteenth dynasty and one of the great architects of Egypt’s territorial expansion, carried out a series of campaigns against Syria. In around 1457 BC he took personal command of his troops in the advance up the ‘Horus Road’, as the littoral route towards the north was known in the era of the pharaohs. Following the celebrations for the twenty-third anniversary of his accession to the throne in Gaza, an army of 20,000 men went into action in the territory of Canaan. It was at this time that Gaza, sited slightly inland from the shoreline and adjacent to a natural harbour that was perfectly suited to coastal navigation, began to develop as a city.”[3]
“In the twelfth century BC the so-called ‘Sea Peoples” irrupted into the Levant. Archaeologists are divided as to whether the latter were of Asiatic, Mediterranean or even European origins. Yet it was their arrival, and the ensuing turmoil it created, that sounded the death-knell for the Hittite Empire. In contrast, Pharaoh Ramses III was able to preserve the inviolability of Egypt as a result of his land and sea victories over the invaders, even though he was obliged to cede to them part of the so-called Horus Road. The Philistines, the most powerful of the Sea Peoples, were subsequently able to establish themselves on the threshold of Sinai and the Negev, where, through force and assimilation, they transformed this part of the south-west Canaan into ‘Philistia’, a name of unknown origin from which the name ‘Palestine’ is derived. Philistia was organized as a ‘pentapolis’: a federation of five city-states in which Gaza joined with Ascalon (modern Ashkelon), Isdud (which lay close to modern Ashdod), Ekron and Gath.”
“The Philistines gradually came into conflict with the Jewish tribes of the interior because they impeded the latter’s access to the sea. It was the persistence of this confrontation which gave rise to two of the most famous biblical stories: the legend of Samson, and the story of David and Goliath.”[4]
“…the pendulum of imperial domination oscillated between Assyria and Egypt. Hanun, the king of Gaza, tried to play one off against the other until the sacking of the city by the Assyrian invaders in 734 BC obliged him to concede his fealty to Nineveh…This situation lasted until the fall of Nineveh in 612 BC and the collapse of the Assyrian Empire in 609 BC, when Gaza again fell into the Egyptian sphere. But this was only to remain the case for less than a decade due to Egypt’s capitulation to the new Babylonian Empire of Nebuchadnezzar II, when Gaza became Babylon’s western front line: an advance post at the gateway of Egypt, Babylon’s vassal state.”
“Gaza retained this role as a front-line garrison when Babylon was subjugated by Cyrus the Great, the founder of the Persian Empire…In the ensuing two centuries of Persian rule, Gaza flourished as a commercial crossroads between Egypt and the Levant and as a maritime terminus for the caravans from ‘Arabia Felix’, as Yemen was known, the source of spices and precious stones. In return, Gaza spread Attic pottery around the region, as well as Athenian money, which was eventually struck in Gaza’s own mints. In around 450 BC Herodotus likened Gaza (which he called Cadytis) to the largest urban centres in Asia Minor, and described it as being under the control of the “Syrians of Palestine”. As a fortified and prosperous city, it was the natural base for the Persian attacks against Egypt in 343 BC, although the absence of exploitable forests nearby ultimately prevented Gaza from developing its own fleet and becoming a maritime rival to such Phoenician cities as Tyre, Sidon and Byblos.”[5]
[1] p.3 Gaza a History, Jean-Pierre Filiu
[2] Ibid
[3] p.4 Ibid
[4] p.5 Ibid
[5] Ibid pp.6-7
All this middle eastern history is quite fascinating to me as never taught anything about it apart from the creation of the state of Israel after WW2. I was unaware of the Nakba after this also.