Falasɗinu koyaushe tana taka muhimmiyar rawa a cikin tunani, adabin addini da kuma wakilcin tarihi na Yammacin duniya (Said 1980: 9). Wannan ya fara ne tun daga tsoffin adabin Girka da manyan ayyukan marubutan Girka, musamman Herodotus da Aristotle a ƙarni na 5 da na 4 kafin haihuwar Annabi Isa. Haka kuma, a rubuce-rubucen Herodotus (wanda ya rayu a ƙarni na 5 kafin haihuwar Annabi Isa (kimanin shekara 484–425 kafin haihuwarsa)

Palestine always played a special role in the imagination, sacred literature and historical representations of the West (Said 1980: 9). This began with the earliest classical literature and seminal works of the Greek writers, especially Herodotus and Aristotle in the 5th and 4th centuries BC. It was in the writings of Herodotus (who lived in the 5th century BC (c. 484–425 BC)

cewa sunan ya ɗauki sigar Girkanci Παλαιστίνη (Palaistinê ko Phalastin)

that the name took on its Greek form Παλαιστίνη (Palaistinê or Phalastin)

kuma aka yi amfani da shi a matsayin sunan yankin. Herodotus ya yi magana game da Palaestine, Palaestine-Syria da 'yan Syria na Palestine', kuma ya bambanta Phoenicians da 'yan Syria na Palestine' (Herodotus 1841: 135). Haka kuma ya bayyana yanayin ƙasa na yankin da ake danganta shi a yau da Gabas ta Tsakiya kamar haka:

and was used as the name of the region. Herodotus talks about Palaestine, Palaestine-Syria and the ‘Syrians of Palestine’ and he distinguishes the Phoenicians from the ‘Syrians of Palestine’ (Herodotus 1841: 135). He also describes the physical geography of the region which is associated today with the modern Middle East as follows:

Ɗayan yankin kuwa yana farawa ne daga ƙasar Farisawa, yana kuma miƙewa har zuwa Tekun Erythraea, yana ƙunshe da Farisa da farko, sannan Assuriya, kuma bayan Assuriya, Larabawa. Yana ƙarewa, wato ana ɗaukar cewa yana ƙarewa, ko da yake a zahiri bai kai ga ƙarshe ba, a Tekun Larabawa ...

The other [region] starts from the country of the Persians, and stretches into Erythraean sea, containing first Persia, then Assyria, and after Assyria, Arabia. It ends, that is to say it is considered to end, though it does not really come to termination, at the Arabian gulf ...

Tsakanin Farisa da Finiciya akwai wani fili mai fadi da yalwa, wanda yankin da nake bayani yake bi ta gabar tekunmu [Bahar Rum], yana miƙewa daga Finiciya ta gabar Falasdinu-Siriya har ya kai Masar, inda yake ƙarewa. Wannan fili baki ɗaya ya ƙunshi al'umma uku ne kawai. (Herodotus 1860: 27)

between Persia and Phoenicia lies a broad and ample tract of country, after which the region I am describing skirts our [Mediterranean] sea, stretching from Phoenicia along the coast of Palestine-Syria till it comes to Egypt, where it terminates. This entire tract contains but three nations. (Herodotus 1860: 27)

A cikin tsarin taswirarsa na yankin ƙasa na Παλαιστίνη (Palaistinê ko Phalastin)

In his geographic representation of Παλαιστίνη (Palaistinê or Phalastin)

Herodotus yana amfani da kalmar a ma'anarta mafi fadi, ba kawai dangane da Filistiya ba, ko tsiri na gabar teku daga Karmel zuwa Gaza, har ma da cikin kasar (Herodotus 1841: 135). Shi da Aristotle, misali, sun yi amfani da kalmar ta hanyar da ta hada da yankunan Transjordan, ko 'Gabashin Falasdin', bayan Kwarin Jordan. Herodotus ba ya ambaton Falasdin a matsayin yanki mai cin gashin kansa na Siriya kawai ba, har ma yana bayyana ta a fannin yanki, kamar yadda kasar take a yau, amma kuma yana hada wasu yankunan makwabta a Sinai da arewa, da kuma yankin gabashin kogin Jordan. Herodotus ya kara da cewa tashoshin ruwa na kudancin Falasdin daga Cadytis zuwa Jenysus (ko Ienysos, Khan Yunis ta yau a Zirin Gaza) Larabawa ne suka mamaye su (Herodotus 1841: 135).

Herodotus uses the term in its wider sense and not merely in reference to Philistia, or the coastal strip of land from Carmel to Gaza, but also the interior of the country (Herodotus 1841: 135). He and Aristotle, for example, used the term in a way that includes the regions of Transjordan, or ‘Eastern Palestine’, beyond the Jordan Rift Valley. Herodotus not only mentions Palestine as an autonomous district of Syria but describes it geographically, as the country we know today, but also including some adjoining areas in the Sinai and the north, as well as the area east of the river Jordan. Herodotus also adds that southern Palestine sea ports from Cadytis to Jenysus (or Ienysos, modern Khan Yunis in the Gaza Strip) were occupied by Arabians (Herodotus 1841: 135).

Ra'ayin Herodotus game da Palaistinê ya haɗa da Galili, kuma yana nufin Falasdinu a faɗin ma'ana. A zahiri, wannan ra'ayi ya shafi yankin Levant tsakanin Phoenicia da Masar (Jacobson 1999). Wannan tsohon ra'ayin game da Falasdinu ya kuma yi tasiri ga yadda aka wakilci ƙasar a zamani, kuma wani taswirar Falasdinu a kusan 450 BC, bisa ga Herodotus, John Murray, ɗaya daga cikin manyan kuma mafi tasiri na masu wallafa littattafai a Birtaniya, ya sake gina ta a 1897.

Herodotus’ conception of Palaistinê included the Galilee and referred to Palestine in the wider sense. In effect, this conception applied to the region of the ‘Levant between Phoenicia and Egypt’ (Jacobson 1999). This classical conception of Palestine also influenced modern representations of the country and a map of Palestine in c. 450 BC, according to Herodotus, was reconstructed in 1897 by John Murray, one of the most important and influential publishers in Britain.

Herodotus’ wider conception of Palestine also reflected the expansion of the province of Idumaea in the south, following the destruction of Iron Age Edom by the Babylonian Nabonidus. Some scholars identified the Idumites as being of Nabataean Arab origin. Idumaea’s centre, first in Hebron (al-Khalil) and later centred in Lakish, in the southern foothills, created boundaries stretching from the Transjordan plateau to the Mediterranean. In 132 CE, under the Romans, Idumaea was joined to the provinces of Judaea and the Galilee, and the Latin form Palaestina was used to refer to the whole of the southern Levant.

Herodotus’ wider conception of Palestine also reflected the expansion of the province of Idumaea in the south, following the destruction of Iron Age Edom by the Babylonian Nabonidus. The Idumites were identified by some scholars to be of Nabataean Arab origins. Idumaea’s centre, first in Hebron (al-Khalil) and later centred in Lakish, in the southern foothills, created boundaries stretching from the Transjordan plateau to the Mediterranean. In 132 CE, under the Romans, Idumaea was joined to the provinces of Judaea and the Galilee and the Latin form Palaestina was used to refer to the whole of the southern Levant.

Herodotus ya kasance zamanin Socrates kuma ana kiransa sosai da "Uban Tarihi" (Cicero, karni na 1 BC). Shi ne masanin tarihi na farko da ya bincika batutuwan tarihi cikin tsari, yana shirya bayanai cikin labari na tarihi. Tarihin Herodotus (wanda kuma aka sani da The History, 1987) na ɗaya daga cikin shahararrun rubuce-rubucen tarihi game da asalin Yaƙe-yaƙen Girka da Farisa, rubutun da masana, masana tarihi da ɗalibai na tarihi a duniya ke sani. A yanzu ana ɗaukar Tarihin a matsayin rubutu na asali a ilimin Yammacin duniya. Yana aiki a matsayin muhimmin tarihin al'adun baka na dā, siyasa, ƙasa da yaƙe-yaƙen iko daban-daban da aka sani a Girka, Yammacin Asiya da Arewacin Afirka. Idan ya zo ga tsohuwar Falasdinu da tunawa da sunayen wurare, rubuce-rubucen Kiristocin Yamma na zamani sun dogara a wani sashe kan aikin gargajiya na Herodotus (1987).

Herodotus was a contemporary of Socrates and is widely referred to as ‘the Father of History’ (Cicero, 1st century BC). He was the first historian to systematically investigate historical subjects, arranging material into a historical narrative. Herodotus’ Histories (also known as The History, 1987) is one of the most famous historical texts on the origins of the Greco-Persian Wars, a text known to academics, historians and history students throughout the world. Histories is now considered a foundational text in the Western academy. It serves as a key record of ancient oral traditions, politics, geography and the clashes of various powers that were known in Greece, Western Asia and North Africa. When it comes to ancient Palestine and toponymic memory, modern Western Christian writing relies partly on Herodotus’ classic work (1987).

在这部古典文本中(写于公元前450年代至420年代),希罗多德提到了一个“叫做Palaistinê的叙利亚地区”,并列出了古代巴勒斯坦的地名。希罗多德本人在公元前5世纪的第五个十年访问过巴勒斯坦。他广泛游历了“我亲眼见过的、叫做巴勒斯坦的叙利亚地区”,1 并对该国及其人民获得了第一手的了解(Jacobson 1999)。希罗多德多次将Παλαιστίνη(Palaistinê)、叙利亚或简称Palaistinê,指代腓尼基与埃及之间的整个地区(另见Herodotus 2014: 724,地图10)。

In this classical text (written from the 450s to the 420s BC), Herodotus writes about a ‘district of Syria, called Palaistinê’ and lists place names of ancient Palestine. Herodotus himself visited Palestine in the fifth decade of the 5th century BC. He travelled extensively through ‘the part of Syria called Palestine, I myself saw’,1 and acquired first-hand knowledge of the country and its people (Jacobson 1999). Herodotus refers to Παλαιστίνη (Palaistinê), Syria, or simply Palaistinê, many times as an area comprising the whole region between Phoenicia and Egypt (see also Herodotus 2014: 724, Map 10).

Herodotus’ rubutu ya haɗa da bayanin muhimman garuruwa da tashoshin jiragen ruwa, da hanyar da daga baya za a kira ta Via Maris, da sauran wurare masu yawa da ya gani ya kuma rubuta. Ya bayyana garin Ascalon da cikakken bayani, wani tsohon birnin tashar jiragen ruwa wanda tarihinsa ya koma zamanin Neolithic. A lokacin Herodotus, Falasɗinu tana bin addinin arna masu bautar gumaka, saboda haka ya bayyana cewa Ascalon tana da haikali na Aphrodite Urania. Wannan na nufin ‘ƙaunar sama’ da ‘ta ruhaniya’, wanda ya bambanta da ɓangaren Aphrodite Pandemos da ya fi na duniya, ‘Aphrodite ta dukan mutane’. Bautar Aphrodite Urania tana da alaƙa da jiki da rai, da ƙaunar ruhaniya, kyau, haihuwa, haifuwa da jin daɗi, kuma tattabarunta masu tsarki sun kasance suna taruwa a kan rufin garin har a zamanin Roma (Lewin 2005: 156). Bautar Aphrodite Urania kuma tana da alaƙa da teku, kuma ta wanzu a birane da dama na Falasɗinu, ciki har da tsohon birnin tashar jiragen ruwa na Jaffa, wanda Falasɗinawa sukan kira da Larabci ‘Arus al-Bahr’ (Amaryar Teku).

Herodotus’ text includes the description of key towns and ports, the road later to be called Via Maris, and many other places he had seen and recorded. He describes in detail the city of Ascalon, an ancient seaport city which dates back to the Neolithic Age. At the time of Herodotus Palestine was polytheistic and he consequently describes Ascalon as having a temple for Aphrodite Urania. This signified ‘celestial love’ and the ‘spiritual’, as distinct from the more earthly aspect of Aphrodite Pandemos, ‘Aphrodite for all the people’. The cult of Aphrodite Urania was associated with body and soul and with spiritual love, beauty, fertility, procreation and pleasure, and its sacred doves still flocked on the roofs of the city in Roman times (Lewin 2005: 156). The cult of Aphrodite Urania was also associated with the sea and existed in several Palestinian cities, including the ancient port city of Jaffa, often referred to in Arabic by Palestinians as ‘Arus al-Bahr’ (Bride of the Sea).

Masana tarihin Girka na zamani Herodotus da Thucydides (c. 460–c. 400

Classical Greek historians Herodotus and Thucydides (c. 460–c. 400

BC), sabanin marubutan Tsohon Alkawari, sun nemi raba tatsuniya (muthos) da gaskiya bisa hujja mai ma'ana (logos), da labarun alloli daga labaran mutane; sun yi watsi da labaran siyasa da na tatsuniya don fifita gaskiyar abin da ya faru a ƙasa. Labaran tarihinsu kuma sun dogara sosai kan ƙasa da al'umma. Bayanin ƙasa da al'umma yana da muhimmanci a labarin Herodotus game da tsohuwar Falasdinu da mazaunanta. Masana tarihi da masu nazarin ƙasashe na Girka sun san sarai cewa tekun Bahar Rum da Bahar Maliya hanya ce babba ta cinikayya ta duniya, kuma babbar hanyar arziki ga Falasdinu. Herodotus ya ambaci Larabawan da suka mamaye tashoshin jiragen ruwa na Bahar Rum a kudancin Falasdinu (Herodotus 1841: 135) da arewacin Sinai, kuma suka mallaki hanyar cinikin turare daga gabashin Bahar Rum zuwa kudancin Larabawa, sannan ta Bahar Maliya zuwa Indiya – wato hanyar turaren wuta ta zamanin da, wadda ta ƙunshi hanyoyin cinikayya masu yawa ta ƙasa da teku, suna haɗa duniyar Bahar Rum da majiyoyin turare, kayan ƙanshi da sauran kayan alatu daga gabas da kudu. Tana shimfiɗa daga tashoshin jiragen ruwa na Falasdinu da Masar ta Arabiya da bayanta, kuma ta ƙunshi Larabawan Nabatawa (da Petra a kololuwar ta a farkon karni na 2 miladiyya), cinikin turare ta ƙasa mai nisa ya bunƙasa tsakanin karni na 7 kafin haihuwar Annabi Isa da karni na 2 bayan haihuwarsa.

BC), in contrast with the authors of the Old Testament, sought to separate myth (muthos) from reality based on reasoned argument (logos) and histories of the gods from histories of humans; they disregarded political and myth-narratives in favour of facts on the ground. Their histories were also strongly geo-ethnographic. Geo-ethnography is central to Herodotus’ account of ancient Palestine and its inhabitants. Greek historians and geographers were fully conscious of the fact that the Mediterranean and Red Seas were a major route of international trade and a major source of wealth for Palestine. Herodotus refers to the Arabs who occupied Mediterranean sea ports in southern Palestine (Herodotus 1841: 135) and north Sinai and controlled the incense trade route from the Eastern Mediterranean to southern Arabia and via the Red Sea to India – the frankincense road of Antiquity which comprised a network of major ancient land and sea trading routes linking the Mediterranean world with eastern and southern sources of incense, spices and other luxury goods. Stretching from the Mediterranean ports of Palestine and Egypt through Arabia and beyond, and involving the Nabataean Arabs (and Petra at its height at the beginning of the 2nd century AD), the long-distance land trade in incense flourished between the 7th century BC and the 2nd century AD.

Ta haka Herodotus ya rubuta tattaunawarsa da dama da Filistiyawa da sauran al'ummomin da ya gamu da su, da kuma abubuwan ban sha'awa da ya koya game da rayuwarsu, kamar al'adar kaciyar maza (wacce asalinta ta masu bautar gumaka ce) wadda ya koya daga Masarawa: 'Suriyawa da ake kira Falasdinawa' 'sun yarda cewa sun koyi al'adar Masarawa' (Herodotus 1858, Littafi na II, Babi na 104; 1836, Juzu'i na 1, Littafi na II: 247). Masar ce ke da shaidar rubuce-rubuce mafi tsufa game da kaciyar maza, tun daga shekara 2345–2182 kafin haihuwar Annabi Isa (World Health Organization 2007: 3). David Asheri (1925‒2000), Farfesa a fannin Tarihin Zamanin Da a Jami'ar Ibrananci ta Urushalima, Shugaban Sashen Ilimin Ɗan Adam (1972‒1975), a cikin A Commentary on Herodotus, Books 1‒4, ya rubuta:

Thus Herodotus records his many conversations with the Philistines and other groups he meets, and interesting facts he learnt about their lives, such as the practice of male circumcision (originally polytheistic) learnt from the Egyptians: the ‘Syrians called Palestinians’ ‘confess that they learnt the custom of the Egyptians’ (Herodotus 1858, Book II, Ch. 104; 1836, Vol. 1, Book II: 247). Egypt had the oldest documented evidence for male circumcision dating back to 2345–2182 BC (World Health Organization 2007: 3). David Asheri (1925‒2000), Professor of Ancient History at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Dean of the Faculty of Humanities (1972‒1975), in A Commentary on Herodotus, Books 1‒4, writes:

"Sooriyawan da ake kira Falasdinawa" a zamanin Herodotus sun kasance cakuda Finikawa, Filistiyawa, Larabawa, Masarawa, kuma watakila wasu al'ummomi kuma ... Watakila Sooriyawan da ake kira Falasdinawa da suke yin kaciya su ne Larabawa da Masarawa na gabar tekun Sinai; a zamanin Herodotus akwai Yahudawa kalilan a yankin gabar teku. (Asheri et al. 2007: 402)

the ‘Syrians called Palestinians’, at the time of Herodotus were a mixture of Phoenicians, Philistines, Arabs, Egyptians, and perhaps also other peoples ... Perhaps the circumcised ‘Syrians called Palestinians’ are the Arabs and Egyptians of the Sinai coast; at the time of Herodotus there were few Jews in the coastal area. (Asheri et al. 2007: 402)

Herodotus, wanda ya yi tafiya mai nisa a cikin Falasdinu da Siriya da kuma bayan yankin bakin teku, bai ambaci Yahudiya ko yin magana game da Yahudawa ba. Bai ambaci kalmomi kamar Cana'an ko Kan'aniyawa ko Isra'ilawa a Falasdinu ba; haka kuma bai bayyana tauhidi a ƙasar ba. Da farko, kamar yadda shaidun ilimin kayan tarihi suka nuna, tauhidi ya kasance ci gaba ne da ya zo daga baya sosai a Falasdinu da Gabas ta Kusa (Masalha 2007). Na biyu, kuma abin lura sosai, yawancin akidu da koyarwar addini-akida na Tsohon Alkawari sun samo asali ne bayan ƙarnuka da dama bayan zamanin Herodotus.

Herodotus, who travelled widely in Palestine and Syria and beyond the coastal region, does not mention Judaea or refer to Jews. He does not mention terms such Cana’an or Canaanites or Israelites in Palestine; nor does he describe monotheism in the country. First, as archaeological evidence shows, monotheism was a much later development in Palestine and the Near East (Masalha 2007). Second, also significantly, many of the Old Testament religio-ideological dogmas evolved centuries after Herodotus.

Abubuwan ban sha'awa shi ne cewa sunayen wurare na dā, na Falasɗinawa da na Helenawa, na Palaistinê, Tantur (Tantura) da Ascalon ('Asqalan), sun dawwama a cikin al'adar Larabawan Falasɗinu ta gida da kuma a wurin malaman tarihi, na ƙasa da matafiya Larabawa na zamanin tsakiya. 'Ascalan' ya zama sananne ga Falasɗinawa a matsayin 'Asqalan (ko Majdal 'Asqalan), wanda sojojin Isra'ila suka kwashe mutanensa a 1950 (Masalha 1997). Wannan ya nuna cewa, gabaɗaya, sunayen ƙauyuka da garuruwan Falasɗinawa na asali sun kasance da dorewa sosai a tsawon tarihin Falasɗinu na zamanin dā, na tsakiya da na zamani.

Interestingly the ancient Philistine and Greek toponyms for Palaistinê, Tantur (Tantura) and Ascalon (‘Asqalan) were preserved in local Palestinian Arab tradition and by medieval Arab historians, geographers and travellers, and ‘Ascalan’ became known to the Palestinians as ‘Asqalan (or Majdal ‘Asqalan), depopulated by the Israel army in 1950 (Masalha 1997). This shows how, by and large, the local names of Palestinian villages and towns were fairly stable throughout the ancient, medieval and modern history of Palestine.