Siege of Gaza, October 332 BC (2,355 years ago)

[Edim]

"Batis refused to surrender to Alexander. When Gaza was taken, the male population was put to the sword and the women and children were sold into slavery.

According to the Roman historian Quintus Curtius Rufus, Batis was killed by Alexander in imitation of Achilles' treatment of the fallen Hector: A rope was forced through Batis's ankles, probably between the ankle bone and the Achilles tendon, and Batis was dragged alive by chariot beneath the walls of the city until he died. Alexander, who admired courage in his enemies and might have been inclined to show mercy to the brave Persian general, was infuriated at Batis's refusal to kneel and by the enemy commander's haughty silence and contemptuous manner."
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siege_of_Gaza

[Lucinda]

1. ...

[hot2na]

2. And the beat goes on...

[tornado34jh]

3. Palestine is very old

There are written records referring to it dating back to the 20th dynasty of Egypt, around the 12th century BCE. At that time it was called "Pelesat". The ancient Greeks, Assyrians, and the Romans all had some version of the name Palestine. So even though the Gaza Strip is relatively recent, the area had been around for a very long time.

[Igel]

4. The land's been there for a while, sure.

How distinct it was, how much it was a "land," varies.

It really became a separate "land" when it was almost surely occupied by invaders. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philistia

Where the Sea People's came from is still an on-going question. One theory was Luwians (I prefer that one, but it's been 20 years and maybe that's thoroughly discredited; all of hypotheses as of then had problems that needed fixing, but where that information would come from was a mystery; I wonder if any attempts have been made to use genetic data, if any DNA from the "Sea People's" period is still around ... Oh, wait, that would be impossible in Gaza--they tunnel, but archeological digs go against the grain, they might find the wrong stuff).

"Aegean" seems safe--hard to imagine where else.

After that it was just a nice geographical term. Ruled by Egypt when it could, then Greeks and the divisions after Alexander's death; then Romans and those divisions. Then the Byzantines. Then various Arab invaders, colonizers, and imperializers, some ruling from Egypt and some not. Then Ottomans, when the Turks invaded, colonialized, and imperialized the area in true Western fashion (?).

The Gaza Strip is core Philistia, but set up because it was the armistice line and governed by Egypt, with scant interest in a free and independent Palestine (setting up with Jordan a puppet non-state apparatus that was symbolic for the sake of not ruling but propagandizing).

[yagotme]

6. Imagine the ancestral DNA profile of someone who's ancestors

have lived in that area for millenia. Who knows how many different ancestral traits it would have, from the ebb and flow of conquerors through the area.

[muriel_volestrangler]

5. Technically 2,354 years ago

1 AD was 2022 years ago; the year before, 1 BC, was 2023 years ago; 332 BC was 2,354 years ago.

[Edim]

7. Right.

As I was typing, I just quickly added 2023 and 332 in my head and for a split second I thought that it might be not exactly right, but I just didn't bother to check. Thanks for the correction. Anyway, this is the 2,355th October from that October in 332 BC. 🙂