or to take the field
on their own account, but in matters of common importance they acted
together, and took their places each at the head of his own contingent.*
Their armies were made up of regiments of skilled archers and of
pikemen, to whom were added a body of charioteers made up of the princes
and the nobles of the nation. The armour for all alike was the coat
of scale mail and the helmet of brass; their weapons consisted of the
two-edged battle-axe, the bow, the lance, and a large and heavy sword of
bronze or iron.**

* Achish, for example, King of Gath, makes war alone against
the pillaging tribes, owing to the intervention of David and
his men, without being called to account by the other
princes (1 Sam. xxvii. 2-12, xxviii. 1, 2), but as soon as
an affair of moment is in contemplation--such as the war
against Saul--they demand the dismissal of David, and Achish
is obliged to submit to his colleagues acting together (1
Sam. xxix.).

** Philistine archers are mentioned in the battle of Gilboa
(1 Sam. xxxi. 3) as well as chariots (2 Sam. i. 6). The
horsemen mentioned in the same connexion are regarded by
some critics as an interpolation, because they cannot bring
themselves to think that the Philistines had cavalry corps
in the Xth century B.C. The Philistine arms are described at
length in the duel between David and Goliath (1 Sam. xvii. 5
-7, 38, 39). They are in some respects like those of the
Homeric heroes.

Their war tactics were probably similar to those of the Egyptians, who
were unrivalled in military operations at this period throughout the
whole East. Under able leadership, and in positions favourable for the
operations of their chariots, the Philistines had nothing to fear from
the forces which any of their foes could bring up against them. As to
their maritime history, it is certain that in the earliest period,
at least, of their sojourn in Syria, as well as in that before their
capture by Ramses III., they were successful in sea-fights, but the
memory of only one of their expeditions has come down to us: a squadron
of theirs having sailed forth from Ascalon somewhere towards the end
of the XIIth dynasty,* succeeded in destroying the Sidonian fleet, and
pillaging Sidon itself.

* _Justinus_, xviii. 3, Sec. 5. The memory of this has been
preserved, owing to the disputes about precedence which
rag