Note 334 — Chapter XXV

The term Palestine is derived from Pĕlesheth, the name given in Hebrew to the coast district in the south-west of Palestine, the inhabitants of which were called Pĕlishtim, or Philistines. As this tract of country lay directly between Phoenicia and Egypt, it became known to the Greeks sooner than the rest of the Holy Land, and they called it Syria Palaestinē. The name was gradually extended until it became the usual one for all the Holy Land among Greek and Latin writers. An interesting account of Alexander’s visit to Jerusalem and his dealings with the Jews is found in Josephus (Antiquities, xi. 8).