**1. Introduction**

The evidence regarding Philistine cult and religion includes several biblical and extra-biblical references, but mainly archaeological evidence from excavation in sites of Iron Age Philistia (Figure 1). The Philistine material culture can be considered to be one of the most typical examples where a distinct material culture appears in a limited geographical and chronological context (Dothan 1982). This culture reflects the arrival of new population from the West to the southern coast of Israel as it includes components which are not found in the Late Bronze Age and early Iron Age local cultures of the southern Levant, showing links to the Aegean region and Cyprus; thus, probably indicating the arrival of immigrant population during the beginning of the 12th century BCE (e.g., Dothan 1982; Yasur-Landau 2010; Ben-Shlomo 2010, 2014). During the subsequent stages of the Iron Age, late Iron Age I, and Iron Age II, the material culture of Philistia changes and many of the elements attesting to links with the West disappear. Yet, Philistia maintains a degree of political and cultural independence and distinction (see, e.g., Ehrlich 1996; Shai 2006) and, thus, it seems justified to continue and treat the material culture of Philistia throughout the Iron Age as a well-defined cultural unit. This material culture also includes certain cultic and religious aspects (e.g., Mazar 2000; Yasur-Landau 2001; Maeir et al. 2013, pp. 15–22; Ben-Shlomo 2014) which will be the focus of this article.

**Figure 1.** Map of Philistia.

The textual evidence on Philistine cult and religion is limited. The cult of a Near-eastern male god by the Philistines is mentioned in the Hebrew Bible, either in regards to Dagon of Ashdod (1 Sam 5) or Gaza (Judg 16:23) or Ba'al*Zebub* of Ekron (2 Kgs 1:2–3). (Singer 1992) related the Philistine god Dagon to the Hebrew-*dag* (fish), yet it is more reasonable to associate this with the Semitic agricultural god of Dagon (related to '*dagan*' = grain). Another relevant story is the mentioning of the Philistines making five gold images of mice and '*Opalim*' (emerods) in the story of the capture of the arc (1 Sam 6:4–5, see Maeir 2007). This passage mentions the priests and the diviners of the Philistines, suggesting to construct these images, symbolizing the five Philistine cities of *Seren*s in order to make amends with the Hebrew god. Whether this reflects any actual religious practice carried out by the Philistines is of course doubtful. In any case, the few biblical passages related to the Philistine cult seem to comply with standard description of local Canaanite pagan cult. In addition, several inscriptions found in archaeological excavation may also contribute evidence towards the nature of Philistine religion. Several inscriptions from Philistine contexts mention the Canaanite generic god Ba'al (see below), while the royal inscription from Ekron (Tel Miqne Complex 650) mentions implicitly a goddess name with an Aegean background (see below); these will be discussed below.

Therefore, archaeological evidence can only shed more light of any specific characteristic attributes of Philistine religion and cultic practices. The material culture from the region of Philistia during the Iron Age related to cult will be inspected. The study of Philistine material culture including its cultic aspect has advanced substantially during the past years. This is mainly due to the increase of evidence from new archaeological excavation at the Philistine city sites of Ekron (Tel Miqne), Ashkelon, and Gath (Tell es-Safi). This adds up to the previous evidence from Ashdod and the peripheral site of Tell Qasile. Several studies describe various aspects of Philistine religion and cult both in Iron Age I (Mazar 2000; Yasur-Landau 2001; Dothan 2003) and Iron Age II (Gitin 2003; Ehrlich 1996; Maeir 2006, 2007, 2008; Maeir et al. 2013; Dagan et al. 2018). More data has emerged from excavations at peripheral sites of Philistia, as at an Iron Age IIA favissa pit near Yavneh (Kletter et al. 2006, 2010) and at a late Iron Age I temple at Nahal Patish (Nahshoni 2009; Nahshoni and Ziffer 2009). Specific aspects of Philistine material culture or finds from Philistia that can be related to cultic practices and religion were studied on various occasions (e.g., head cups, Maeir 2006; Meiberg 2013; phallus-objects, Maeir 2007; male figurine, Maeir 2008; pomegranates, Dothan and Ben-Shlomo 2007; zoomorphic vessels, Ben-Shlomo

2008; figurines, Schmitt 1999; Ben-Shlomo and Press 2009; altars, Gitin 1989, 1993, 2002, 2008, altars; household religion, Ben-Shlomo 2014).

While the boundaries between household or family religion and public, state, or official religion are not always straightforward, in relation to archaeological interpretation, this division should probably be maintained, as it is the most intuitive and achievable one. Generally, public and official religion is reflected in structures identified as temples or shrines, and the finds in them. These structures, which have an inherent and rather constant cultic function, can often be identified according to several objective parameters. These include a special ground plan, building techniques, separation of spaces, installations and type, quantity and location of specific finds (see Renfrew 1985, pp. 1–26).

Household religion is reflected by installations and artifacts found in domestic context, that can be considered cultic; on several occasions, areas within the household could be defined as 'cultic corners' or 'house shrines'. If household religion is defined as the cultic practices conducted in the household, one still has to define a household, and how to recognize traces of cultic activity within it. While, as we know, almost any artifact, or immovable, within the house could on a certain occasion be used in relation to cultic or religious activities or beliefs, this approach cannot be very useful in common archaeological research. If one desires to identify ritual activity, a search for objects or behaviors that have *apparent* symbolic character, and cannot be regularly employed in daily activities, is warranted. Therefore, objects such as figurines, figurative models, stands and libation vessels, altars and incense burners are natural candidates for reflecting ritual in household contexts in most cultures.

The following discussion will be thus divided into two 'types' of cult: 'official' or public cult and religion and household, family or 'popular' cult. Along these lines, the discussion of the archaeological evidence relating to Philistine cult may be separated according to the chronological division of Iron Age I (ca. 1200–1000 BCE) and Iron Age II (ca. 1000–600 BCE) periods. Although this division is somewhat artificial, it represents to a high degree two different stages in the evolution of the Philistine society. The characteristics of cultic activities and items recovered from Philistine households will be compared with those from temples from Philistia. In addition, an attempt to reconstruct the character of the Philistine religion and its evolution during the Iron Age according to the archaeological evidence will be made.
