Written by Konstantinos Konstantinidis Amphiktyon
Dagon was the greatest god of the Philistines, whom the Bible also mentions. As a seafaring people who were by their nature the Achaeans who migrated from Crete and Cyprus to the opposite coast of the Near East in prehistoric times, they painted Dagon as a “fish man”, like Derketo and the mermaid of Alexander the Great. According to the Phoenician scholar Sanchuniathon, Dagon was the son of Uranus and invented the wheat and the plow and therefore he was called Zeus Arotrios (9,000 -10,000 B.E.)
Dagon Zeus Arotrios From this testimony and others we conclude the Greek identity of the Philistines beyond their Greek name. Dagon was honored as a god and gave birth to Dimaron from the palakid of Uranus, as mentioned in the Theogony of the Phoenicians (Here we must note that the first Phoenicians in the Near East were Greeks who, over time and cohabitation with the Semitic peoples, became Hellenized and became rivals of the Greeks)
He was worshiped par excellence by the Philistines and they had built magnificent temples in many cities, as well as in Azoton and Gazan. And in the temple of Azotos they deposited the ark when they captured it and that is why the statue of Dagon fell and crashed. The temple of Gaza was completely destroyed by Samson, where he and 3,000 fellow Jews were killed in the battle.
Marnas was also a god of the Philistines, who was honored in Gaza in a grand manner, with ceremonies and sports competitions. He was also engraved on their coins, many of which have been found in the area and are kept in the Israel Museum. St. Jerome writes that this god (Marnas) stayed closed and hidden in the temple because he was afraid of his fall. The Gazans thought he was Zeus and the name in Syriac means Lord and they called him Zeus Marna. Many believed that the Marna Zeus that the Philistines honored was the Cretan Zeus, the one who, according to historical tradition, seized Europe. According to them, Minos was the first (8,000-9,000 BCE) and then they also received the Syrian Marna there because they said that the Minos had a Syrian grammarian named Marnan who helped him in writing and arranging the laws. His name became a byonym in Crete and the virgins in Crete were called “Marnas”. Due to this fact, the Greeks and the Syrians from prehistoric times had a special respect for each other and this remained until recently. Greeks and Syrians had developed strong cultural and religious ties even with different religions, Greeks were and are welcome in the land of Syrians.
The Palestinian People (Arabic: Filasṭīnī or Philistines), The Palestinians. they are the modern descendants of the Philistines who lived in Palestine for centuries, and who today are primarily culturally and linguistically Arab due to the Arabization of the region. Most Mohammedans and a small part Orthodox Christians
Commentary
1/ We lost all contact with the Hellenism of the East due to the change of religion that the Roman Empire forced upon us after it became Christian. Despite all this, Greekness still survived in the region and Christian Greece has the Orthodox Patriarchates of Jerusalem and until recently of Antioch, which changed hands and its Patriarch is now a Syrian of origin. Many undeclared Greeks and Greek-speakers live in the Middle East Today it is our duty to take care of the survival and relief of the trying Palestinian people, but not Hamas which we have condemned as a “terrorist organization”
2/ We have ancient ties of friendship with Syria We have always had excellent diplomatic and cultural relations in the past. Since the establishment of the state of Israel and the transformation of Syria into a satellite of Russia, these relations have deteriorated. It is sad that Greece and Syria with such deep prehistoric and historical ties cut off all contact due to different regimes or different geopolitical position of each country. The people are not responsible for these divisions nor should they be poisoned and alienated by foreign political centers and interests. The interests of the peoples are common and these are favored and improved by the development of Friendship, Cooperation and Peace
3/ The people must have channels of cultural communication and contact regardless of government policy and the interruption of state relations. Then they become a bridge of friendship, cooperation and peace in the region so that at some point in the future state relations will be reconnected. Severing cultural relations with Syria and Russia is against our cultural values
4/Today, Turkey is poisoning its youth with criminal lies and Nazi-style propaganda about “Living Space” with its expansionist and revisionist policy against Greece-the former Ottoman Empire. This is how it psychologically prepares the new generations for new Genocides and bloody wars. Turkey’s attitude must be condemned in the UN and international bodies, because it blatantly violates the Charter of the United Nations
5/ The truth must be told, no matter how bitter it is. The Jews, an active people of the Near East, were from the prehistoric times of Diaprysia an opponent of the Achaean (Greek) Philistines of Palestine. The same people who bombed Gaza today. .This enmity continues secretly and openly against the Greeks in general, Greece and the Greek Culture to this day, because they consider the Greek culture to be an obstacle to their plans for world domination. The Greeks, the undisputed creators of civilization in the world, while the Jews, the owners of the world’s monetary capital and wealth in general, were two components of the Western World that sometimes prevailed one and sometimes the other in a necessary coexistence, because one dimension had to progress need of the other.
6/ Geopolitical interests in common Today geopolitical interests have brought one people close to the other out of necessity, because they are fighting the ultimate struggle for survival against superior powers, dominated by Turkey, which question their democratic status and their very existence in the region . This relationship must be fleshed out with joint defense plans. Therefore, for as long as this confrontation between West and East lasts, Greece and Israel are the advanced outposts of the Western world and must be united and cooperate closely for their survival. One needs the other and their struggle is common and must be supported technologically and with weapon systems from the West. It is a fact that we often do not agree with Israel’s tactics and extremes, but because our strategic interests are common we maintain some tolerance. As hard as it is, we are obliged to cooperate harmoniously, not only in the Eastern region Mediterranean but also in the USA and Europe the “lobbies” of the two peoples. Their cooperation strengthens their power and makes them able to face the strongest nations in the region They still have a Greek gene. The persistent, long and cruel struggle of the Palestinians against an ironclad enemy for Independence and Freedom with their historical leader Yasser Arafat from 1959 to the present shows that this people differs from other Arabs in their mentality. No Arab people have fought as hard for so many decades as the Palestinians. His sacrifices make him entitled to enjoy an independent homeland in peaceful coexistence with Israel. It is time to end the prehistoric conflict between the two peoples. Let’s Shake Hands Now (4/7/24)
*Amphiktyon is Major General Konstantinos Konstantinidis Writer, Member of the Society of Greek Writers amphiktyon@gmail.com http://amphiktyon.blogspot.com/ https://amphiktyon.org