Tel Beit Shemesh
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Tel Beit Shemesh is a small archaeological tell north west of the modern city of Beit Shemesh.
Tel Beit Shemesh from the air
Ain Shems (today known as Tel Beit Shemesh) in the PEF Survey of Palestine c.1880. The pink circles are contemporary villages, and the dotted clear circles are ruins.
The ancient tell of Bet Shemesh
Ancient ruins against backdrop of modern Beit Shemesh
Philistines
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The Philistines were an ancient people who lived along the southern coast of Canaan during the Iron Age. Their territory was organized into a confederation of city-states known collectively as Philist
Tel Beit Shemesh
…including a "patrician house" and an elaborate underground water reservoir. The "Province/District of Beit Shemesh" was bordered in the West by the Philistines, and the neighboring city of Ekron (Tel Miqne). The border followed the natural transition where the Sorek Valley widens into the coastal plain. Here…
Samson slays a thousand men with the jawbone of an ass (watercolor circa 1896–1902 by James Tissot).
Illustration depicting a Philistine victory over the Israelites (1896)
Peleset, captives of the Egyptians, from a graphic wall relief at Medinet Habu, in about 1185-52 BC, during the reign of Ramesses III
Peleset and Sherden prisoner being led by an Egyptian soldier under Ramesses III, Medinet Habu temple, around 1185–1152 BC