巴勒斯坦在西方的想象、神圣文学和历史叙述中始终扮演着特殊的角色(Said 1980: 9)。这一点可以追溯到最早的古典文学以及希腊作家的奠基性著作,尤其是公元前5世纪和4世纪的希罗多德和亚里士多德。正是在希罗多德的著作中(他生活于公元前5世纪(约公元前484–425年)),

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)

这个名称后来采用了希腊语形式 Παλαιστίνη（Palaistinê 或 Phalastin）。

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

……并被用作该地区的名称。希罗多德提到了“Palaestine”、“Palaestine-Syria”以及“巴勒斯坦的叙利亚人”，并且他将腓尼基人与“巴勒斯坦的叙利亚人”区分开来（Herodotus 1841: 135）。他还描述了今天与现代中东相关的这一地区的自然地理，内容如下：

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:

另一区域始于波斯人的国度，延伸至厄立特里亚海，依次包括波斯，然后是亚述，亚述之后是阿拉伯。它终止于阿拉伯湾——也就是说，人们认为它在那里终止，尽管它实际上并未真正走到尽头……

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 ...

在波斯与腓尼基之间，有一片广阔而富饶的土地。我所描述的这一地区沿着我们的[地中海]海岸延伸，从腓尼基出发，沿巴勒斯坦—叙利亚的海岸直到埃及，在那里终止。整片地域只有三个民族。（希罗多德 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)

在他对Παλαιστίνη（Palaistinê 或 Phalastin）的地理描述中

In his geographic representation of Παλαιστίνη (Palaistinê or Phalastin)

希罗多德在更广的意义上使用这个词,并不仅仅指腓力斯提亚,也就是从迦密山到加沙之间的沿海地带,还包括该国的内陆地区(希罗多德,1841:135)。例如,他和亚里士多德使用该词时,涵盖了约旦河谷以东的外约旦地区,即“东巴勒斯坦”。希罗多德不仅将巴勒斯坦称为叙利亚的一个自治区,还从地理上对其加以描述,指出它就是今天我们所知的这片土地,同时也包括西奈和北部的一些邻近地区,以及约旦河以东的区域。希罗多德还补充说,从卡狄提斯到耶尼苏斯(或伊尼索斯,即今加沙地带的汗尤尼斯)的南部巴勒斯坦海港,由阿拉伯人居住(希罗多德,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).

希罗多德所说的"Palaistinê"包括加利利在内,是在广义上使用"巴勒斯坦"一词的。实际上,这一概念所指的是"腓尼基与埃及之间的黎凡特地区"(Jacobson 1999)。这种古典意义上的巴勒斯坦概念也影响了后世对该地区的描绘。据希罗多德的记载,约公元前450年的巴勒斯坦地图于1897年由英国最重要、最具影响力的出版商之一约翰·默里(John Murray)重绘。

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.

希罗多德对巴勒斯坦的更广义理解,也反映了南部伊杜美亚省的扩张,此前巴比伦王纳博尼德摧毁了铁器时代的以东。一些学者认为伊杜美人源自纳巴泰阿拉伯人。伊杜美亚的中心最初位于希伯伦(al-Khalil),后来转移到南部丘陵地带的拉吉士,其边界从外约旦高原一直延伸到地中海。公元132年,在罗马人统治下,伊杜美亚并入犹太和加利利两省,拉丁文形式 Palaestina 被用来指代整个南黎凡特地区。

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.

希罗多德是苏格拉底的同时代人,被广泛称为“历史之父”(西塞罗,公元前1世纪)。他是第一位系统地考察历史课题的历史学家,将材料编排成历史叙事。希罗多德的《历史》(也称 The History,1987)是关于希波战争起源最著名的历史文献之一,为全世界的学者、历史学家和历史专业学生所熟知。《历史》如今被视为西方学术界的奠基性文本。它是古代口述传统、政治、地理以及希腊、西亚和北非所知各种势力之间冲突的重要记录。谈到古代巴勒斯坦和地名记忆时,现代西方基督教著作部分地依赖希罗多德的这部经典著作(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年代至前420年代),希罗多德提到叙利亚的一个"名为Palaistinê的地区",并列出了古代巴勒斯坦的地名。希罗多德本人曾在公元前5世纪的第五个十年访问过巴勒斯坦。他广泛游历了"我亲眼所见的名为巴勒斯坦的叙利亚地区",并获得了关于该国及其人民的第一手知识(Jacobson 1999)。希罗多德多次将Παλαιστίνη(Palaistinê)、叙利亚,或简称Palaistinê,用来指代菲尼基与埃及之间的整个区域(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).

希罗多德的记述中包括对主要城镇和港口的描写、后来被称为"海路"(Via Maris)的道路，以及他亲眼所见并记录下来的许多其他地方。他详细描述了阿什凯隆城，这是一座古老的海港城市，可追溯至新石器时代。在希罗多德的时代，巴勒斯坦是多神信仰的地区，因此他记载阿什凯隆有一座供奉乌拉尼亚阿弗洛狄忒（Aphrodite Urania）的神庙。"乌拉尼亚"意为"天上的爱"和"精神的"，与更具尘世色彩的潘德穆斯阿弗洛狄忒（Aphrodite Pandemos，即"为全体民众的阿弗洛狄忒"）相区别。乌拉尼亚阿弗洛狄忒的崇拜与身体和灵魂、精神之爱、美、生育、繁衍和快乐相关联，其圣鸽在罗马时代仍聚集在城市的屋顶上（Lewin 2005: 156）。乌拉尼亚阿弗洛狄忒的崇拜还与海洋相关，并存在于巴勒斯坦的多座城市中，包括古老的港口城市雅法。巴勒斯坦人在阿拉伯语中常称雅法为"Arus al-Bahr"（海之新娘）。

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).

古典希腊历史学家希罗多德与修昔底德（约公元前460年—约公元前400年）

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

公元前），与《旧约》的作者不同，他们试图以基于理性论证的推理（logos）将神话（muthos）与现实区分开来，并将诸神的历史与人类的历史区分开来；他们摒弃了政治叙事和神话叙事，转而重视实地事实。他们的历史记述也具有强烈的地理民族志特征。地理民族志是希罗多德叙述古代巴勒斯坦及其居民的核心。希腊历史学家和地理学家充分意识到，地中海与红海是国际贸易的主要通道，也是巴勒斯坦财富的重要来源。希罗多德提到占据巴勒斯坦南部地中海港口以及西奈半岛北部的阿拉伯人（Herodotus 1841: 135），他们控制着从东地中海通往阿拉伯半岛南部、再经红海通往印度的乳香之路——这是古代的一条重要通道，由一系列主要的古代陆路与海上贸易路线组成，将地中海世界与东方和南方的香料、香料及其他奢侈品产地连接起来。这条路线从巴勒斯坦和埃及的地中海港口出发，穿越阿拉伯半岛并延伸至更远的地方，涉及纳巴泰阿拉伯人（以及在公元2世纪初达到鼎盛的佩特拉城）。公元前7世纪至公元2世纪间，长途陆路香料贸易十分繁荣。

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.

因此，希罗多德记录了他与非利士人及他所遇到的其他族群的许多对话，以及他了解到的关于他们生活的有趣事实，例如男性割礼的习俗（最初是多神教的）——他是从埃及人那里得知的：“叙利亚人，即所谓的巴勒斯坦人”“承认他们学会了埃及人的习俗”（希罗多德，1858，第二卷第104章；1836，第1卷，第二卷：247）。埃及拥有关于男性割礼的最古老的文献证据，可追溯至公元前2345–2182年（世界卫生组织，2007：3）。耶路撒冷希伯来大学古代史教授、人文学院院长（1972‒1975）大卫·阿什里（1925‒2000）在《希罗多德评注，第1‒4卷》中写道：

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:

"被称为‘巴勒斯坦人’的‘叙利亚人’"在希罗多德时代，是腓尼基人、非利士人、阿拉伯人、埃及人，或许还有其他民族的混合体……那些受过割礼、被称为“巴勒斯坦人”的“叙利亚人”，或许就是西奈海岸的阿拉伯人和埃及人；在希罗多德时代，沿海地区的犹太人很少。(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)

希罗多德曾广泛游历巴勒斯坦、叙利亚以及沿海地区之外的地方,但他既没有提及犹太地(Judaea),也没有提到犹太人。他也没有提及“迦南”(Cana’an)或迦南人,或巴勒斯坦的以色列人;他同样没有描述该地区的一神论。首先,正如考古证据所显示的,一神论在巴勒斯坦和近东地区是更晚才出现的发展(Masalha 2007)。其次,同样重要的是,许多《旧约》中的宗教意识形态教义,是在希罗多德之后的几个世纪才逐步形成的。

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.

古代腓力斯人和希腊人对Palaistinê、Tantur（Tantura）和Ascalon（‘Asqalan）的地名，在巴勒斯坦本地的阿拉伯传统中以及中世纪阿拉伯历史学家、地理学家和旅行家的著作中得以保存；“Ascalan”为巴勒斯坦人所知，后称为‘Asqalan（或Majdal ‘Asqalan），该地于1950年被以色列军队驱离居民（Masalha 1997）。这表明，总体而言，巴勒斯坦村镇的本地名称在巴勒斯坦的古代、中世纪和现代历史中都相当稳定。

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.