CAPHTOR

CAPHTOR - The region whence the Philistines came to Palestine (Am.9.7, Jer.47.4). Hence in Dt.2.23 Caphtorim means Philistines (cf Gn.10.14). It is generally accepted that Caphtor signifies Crete (cf CHERETHITES), a view which is confirmed by the mention of Kptr in the cuneiform tablets from Ras Shamra (ancient Ugarit) as a place overseas, regarded, with Egypt, as the home of the arts, with which Ugaritic merchants had sea-borne intercourse. The Biblical tradition deriving the Philistines from Crete is correct only in so far as the Philistines were not natives of Crete, but, with kindred peoples from the N. and W., destroyed the local Minoan civilization (c 1400 BC) before settling on the Asiatic mainland in the early 12th cent. [Article: Dictionary of the Bible, J.Hastings, 2nd Ed., T&T.Clark, 1963. - J.F.McC. - J.Gr.]