Science: Giving Goliath His Due

Archaeologists burnish the Philistines' image

History has not been kind to the Philistines. Exemplified by such figures as the hulking Goliath and the treacherous Delilah, they are depicted in the Bible as thieves and warmongering aliens. The ancient Egyptians branded them pirates and marauders. Since the 17th century, their name has been used as a synonym for uncultured, anti-intellectual boorishness.

But the Philistines' battered reputation is in the process of being repaired. The revisionist view is emerging from the dust of the ancient city of Ekron, 20 miles west of Jerusalem, where archaeologists are busy excavating what was probably the greatest of the five Philistine city-states....

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