August 21, 2005

Subject: History of the name 'Palestine':

Name: Dr. Gilda Haber

Message: While I totally concur with your views on 'Palestine,' I need to present it in a less emotional way to my class which is studying ancient literature. There are many Christians and Muslims in the class. The map in the book used, "The Norton Anthology of World Literature," marks Israel in 1000 BCE as Palestine. I want to impart straight facts as to how the Romans and British thus named it and how Jordan came into being without sounding emotional. Please provide me with actual powers and dates when this area was called Palestine, and when it was Israel and or the kingdoms of Israel. I need such documentation asap. Class begins Aug. 29. Also aquaint Norton as I shall, how misleading is their map Book A, p. 3.

Thanks,

Dr. G. Haber

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This is the article to which she was responding:

HTTP_REFERER: http://www.tzemach.org/fyi/docs/speak/nopal.htm

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Dear Dr. Haber,

Sorry I didn't get back to you sooner. I teach a history class here at Fellowship church, so your e-mail was forwarded to me.

The name "Palestine," as used in the 1000 B.C. map, is nothing but a geographical term, just as we might call the northeastern corner of the United States "New England," but there has never been a country called New England. The oldest known use of the term "Palestine" comes from the Romans. After he crushed the Bar Kochba rebellion in 135 A.D., the Roman emperor Hadrian wanted to destroy the Jewish people once and for all. To do that, he built a pagan city named Aelia Capitolina where Jerusalem had stood, with a temple to Jupiter where Solomon's Temple used to be, and he changed the name of Judea to "Syria Palestina," or Philistine Syria. The Philistines had been extinct since the sixth century B.C., so Hadrian was bringing back the name of Israel's ancient arch-enemy and using it here.

Before the time of the Romans, the whole eastern shore of the Mediterranean, what we now sometimes call the Levant, was usually referred to as "Syria," so if you wanted to tell an ancient Greek about Jerusalem and he didn't know where it was, you would have told him to look for it in southern Syria. I have read a translation of the Greek historian Herodotus that mentions Palestine when he is describing the satrapies or provinces of the Persian Empire, but I think that is an anachronism; it is more likely that Herodotus said southern Syria and the translator wrote "Palestine" so we would know he isn't talking about some place near Damascus. We do the same thing ourselves whenever we talk about history in a place where obsolete geographical terms were used. For example, every history book will tell you that Julius Caesar crossed the English Channel in 54 B.C. to invade Great Britain, but nobody in 54 B.C. called it the "English Channel"; to Caesar and his legions that body of water was named the Mare Britannicum. Our texts simply call it the English Channel to make sure modern readers know where Caesar was. And Captain Cook thought he was going to New Holland when he sailed in the South Pacific in the 18th century, but our history books tell us he was visiting Australia. I believe the author of the 1000 B.C. map was doing the same thing with "Palestine."

I hope that helps and God Bless.

Sincerely,

Scott Kimball

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August 26, 2005

Subject: Re: History of the name 'Palestine':

Name: Dr. Gilda Haber

Message: Dr. Kimball,

Many thanks for your erudite reply re origin of the name 'Palestine." It is galling to see it used throughout a book I am using to teach comparative literature, alluding to areas known as David's Kingdom, Judea, Samaria and Azar (Yuda, Shomron and Gaza- called Yesher instead of the West Bank- which were all Jewish. According to my readings, Israel once stretched as far as Damascus and Egypt and this was the area designated Israel by God.

It was the British who, for similar reasons I believe, to annoy the Israelis, called the area Palestine, and even gave away part of Israel to the Arabs and called it Jordan. Some say the present 'Palestinians' come from Jordan which refuses to have them.

If you should have the dates of the Roman occupation, it would be very helpful. I will eventually find it, but i have done much searching, and so far have not done so. I need the information asap as classes begin Monday, and my first class will be an examination of this map, and how to critique written material. I believe the British occupied the territory in 1921, not sure, and left in 1945? In both cases, Roman and British, Jewish insurrections probably annoyed them no end. How strange, to fight for one's own country!

I assume that the Romans called this area Palestine while they occupied it, but why it should have stuck is amazing and annoying, since it is such a misnomer.

I will eventually have all of these answers, but have three classes to prepare for at Montgomery College, I am not a historian, though deeply interested in it. I have studied this in the past, but forgotten more than I remember. I just know that the map presented int he book marking this area, "Palestine," although it does say, c 1000, gives the impression, besides using the name throughout the book of about 3,000 pages up to the Renaissance, that Palestine always was and still is the official name on the map. I need to critique this map coolly and calmly. The more facts I have, the better I can do this. I might add, that other instructors teaching this course appear to have no problem with this misnomer. I am lunching with two of them tomorrow. If, by any chance, you have more information to bolster my/our viewpoint before I leave, about 9.30 am, I would be forever grateful.

With many thanks for your help,

Dr. Gilda Haber

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Dear Dr. Haber,

Yes, I can help you with the Roman-era dates. The Romans first conquered Syria in 64 B.C., and Israel in 63 B.C., under the general Pompey. For a while they ruled indirectly, with the Herod family as kings, but then in 6 A.D. they got tired of Herod the Great's eldest son Archelaus, exiled him, and began ruling most of the land through a series of governors, known as procurators; Pontius Pilate is the most famous of these. There were two major revolts, the Jewish-Roman War of 66-73 and the Bar Kochba Rebellion of 132-135, but most of the time the Romans were in firm control, since that was their specialty. When the Empire split in two for the last time, in 395 A.D. the Holy Land went to the Eastern Roman (later Byzantine) Empire. They held it until the Arabs conquered it in 638.

As for why the British used the name Palestine, well, from time to time the British have fancied themselves as the real heirs of Roman civilization. Never mind that Britain was the most remote, least civilized province of the Roman Empire, and if a resident of Rome had been assigned to a job in Britain, he probably would have seen it as some kind of punishment, like sending somebody from New York City to Alaska. After the Empire fell, the Anglo-Saxons who moved in destroyed every trace of Roman civilization in England, so the kings who lived after 600 A.D. had to re-establish elements of Roman culture, starting with Christianity. Then in the 18th century, when the Neoclassical movement was going on in art and architecture, it seemed that the British couldn't get enough Roman stuff. The typical student was expected to go on a "Grand Tour" of Europe as part of his college education, which meant visiting France and Italy, regardless of what else he might see; as a result, he got to see quite a few Roman ruins.

Maybe the British felt they did a better job of following the Roman Republic's virtues (pietas, simplicitas, gravitas and all that) than the Italians, French, Germans or Spaniards did. Recently I read that in the mid-1800s, some British officers made a game of their classical knowledge, by combining Latin with modern geography through puns. For example, when Sir Charles Napier conquered the Sind province of India in 1843, he announced his success with a single Latin word: peccavi ("I have sinned"). In 1857, an aide to Sir Colin Campbell outdid this by announcing a British victory at the battle of Lucknow with "Nunc fortunatus sum," which means "I am in luck now." Thus, using a Latin name like Palestine may have come naturally to them. It doesn't even seem to have bothered Orde C. Wingate, the famous British officer who became a strong Zionist while stationed in the land from 1936 to 1939.

If you're looking for more information, I have it on my website, The Xenophile Historian. A good place to start would be the seventh paper I wrote on the history of the Middle East, covering the years 63 B.C. to 226 A.D.:

http://xenohistorian.faithweb.com/neareast/ne07.html

I hope this helps, and have a great trip!

Take Care,