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Telling Stories: The M ycenaean O rigins of the P hilistines
Author(s) -
Middleton Guy D.
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
oxford journal of archaeology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.382
H-Index - 31
eISSN - 1468-0092
pISSN - 0262-5253
DOI - 10.1111/ojoa.12048
Subject(s) - narrative , history , historiography , mythology , normative , period (music) , literature , archaeology , art , classics , aesthetics , law , political science
Summary The story of the P hilistines as M ycenaean or A egean migrants, refugees who fled the A egean after the collapse of the palace societies c .1200 BC , bringing an A egean culture and practices to the E astern M editerranean, is well known. Accepted as essentially true by some, yet rejected as little more than a modern myth by others, the migration narrative retains a central place in the archaeology and historiography of the E astern M editerranean in the Late Bronze Age/Early Iron Age ( LBA / EIA ). In recent years, and despite an increasingly shaky theoretical basis, the migration hypothesis has nevertheless seemed to drown out other interpretations and characterizations of the period, claiming a normative position that is undeserved. In this paper I explore the continuing power of this nineteenth century narrative and seek to show why it is less convincing than its prominent status would suggest.