The museum at the Oriental Institute was completely renovated over the last half-dozen(?) years and is now nearly finished. The museum is superb in terms of layout, lighting, and especially written explanations. These are an education in themselves (contrast, for example, the archaeology wing of the Israel Museum).
But there is a glaring error in the new Egypt wing:
This faience object depicts a Philistine, and the explanation to the right describes the individual as one of the foreign enemies of Egypt living in the eastern Mediterranean. It is dated to the time of Ramses III, which is the well-known date of the invasion of the Sea Peoples, which includes the Philistines. How then did this Philistine get labeled as a “Palestinian”?
A Palestinian, as the term is employed today, is an Arab who lives (or whose ancestors lived) in what is today the country of Israel (including the West Bank and Gaza Strip). In the first half of the 20th century, Palestinian meant *any* resident of that same piece of land, Arab or Jew. The earliest designation of the land of Israel as Palestine was in the 2nd century A.D., by the Roman emperor Hadrian, as part of his efforts to erase the memory of Jewish presence in the land (he also renamed Jerusalem and other places). But there was no “Palestine” or “Palestinians” in the 12th century B.C. Everyone would agree to that, even the Arabs who have created the myth that the Palestinians are descendants of the Philistines.
This museum error could be harmless, except for the radical ideas floating around that there really is some connection between the Philistines and the Palestinians, or between the Canaanites and the Palestinians. Let the Palestinians argue for their right to the land, even the whole of it, but please don’t base it on this nonsense.
It could well be that the museum made an honest mistake, but it is a university museum that specializes in the Orient. They must fix this immediately.
It just so happens that I am a grad student at the University of Chicago. A couple years ago I wrote a paper on this very piece. The label has always infuriated me. I have my opinions as to how that tendentious label ended up on that piece, but for obvious reasons I would rather not discuss them publicly.
I will point out, though, that the wing of the museum devoted to artifacts from the Holy Land does call that region Israel. This is especially important because scholars normally call that area “Palestine,” using the name in its older, nonpolitical sense. That obviously is dangerous outside of academia, and the fact that they went with “Israel” instead of trying to come up with a politically inert name like “Canaan” or “The Holy Land” speaks volumes.
But I must quibble with one of your arguments. You said:
The earliest designation of the land of Israel as Palestine was in the 2nd century AD, by the Roman emperor Hadrian, as part of his efforts to erase the memory of Jewish presence in the land (he also renamed Jerusalem and other places).
This claim is frequently repeated by supporters of Israel, but it is, alas, totally false. The name appears repeatedly as early as Herodotus’ Histories, which were published sometime ca. 425 BCE. Quite a bit earlier than Hadrian!
Furthermore, Jerome’s Latin translation of the Tanakh, written around 405 CE basically uses Philistthiim, Philistini, and Palestini interchangeably to refer to the Philistines. So Jerome at least might say that there were “Palestinians” in the 12th century BC, not that this implies that the Palestinians are in any way related to the Philistines, or changes the modern, political connotations of that name.
I am not trying to argue against Israel, nor do I relish taking apart the arguments of its supporters, but I do think that we should get our facts straight. I’d rather not stoop to the level of Arafat and others who make up history out of whole-cloth.
Justin – you are correct. Thanks for making that point. I was aware of Herodotus’ use of the term and thought I was choosing my words carefully, but upon further study, I see that my wording was not accurate. To add to your list, the term Palestine is also used by Polemo of Ilium, Statius, Philo, and Josephus. Hadrian is the first, I believe, to give the land this official designation.