View source for Caphtor

{{Short description|Biblical nation}}
[[File:Noahsworld map Version2.png|thumb|300px|right|One reconstruction of the [[Generations of Noah]], placing the "Caphthorim" on [[Ancient Crete]]]]
'''Caphtor''' ({{langx|he|{{script/Hebrew|כַּפְתּוֹר}}}} {{Lang|he-Latn|Kaftōr}}) is a locality mentioned in the [[Bible]], in which its people are called '''Caphtorites''' or '''Caphtorim''' and are named as a division of the ancient Egyptians.<ref>Genesis 10:13-14</ref> Caphtor is also mentioned in ancient inscriptions from [[Ancient Egypt|Egypt]], [[Mari, Syria|Mari]], and [[Ugarit]].

According to the Bible, Caphtor is the original homeland of the Philistines. They are reported to have eradicated the [[Avvim]] prior to settling in Gaza. Genealogically, the Philistines are categorized as descendants of the Caphtorites within the table of nations. The Book of Jeremiah suggests that Caphtor is an island ("the isle of Caphtor"), but the term might alternatively refer to a seashore.<ref name=":02">{{Cite book |last=Lemche |first=Niels Peter |title=Historical dictionary of ancient Israel |date=2004 |publisher=Scarecrow Press |isbn=978-0-8108-4848-1 |series=Historical dictionaries of ancient civilizations and historical eras |location=Lanham, Md. |pages=89–90 |quote=}}</ref>

Traditionally, Caphtor has been linked to [[Crete]] and associated with Egyptian ''[[Keftiu language|Keftiu]]'' or Akkadian ''Kaptara''.<ref name=":02" /><ref name="Strange">Strange, J. ''Caphtor/Keftiu: A New Investigation'' (Leiden: Brill) 1980</ref> Jewish sources placed Caphtor in the region of [[Pelusium]]. Contemporary research has challenged the link with Crete, proposing alternative locations such as [[Cyprus]] or [[Cilicia]].<ref name="Strange" /><ref name=":02" />

==Jewish accounts==
The Caphtorites are mentioned in the [[Table of Nations]], [[Book of Genesis]] ({{bibleverse|Genesis|10:13-14|KJV}}) as one of several divisions of [[Mizraim]] (Egypt). This is reiterated in the [[Books of Chronicles]] ({{bibleverse|1 Chronicles|1:11-12|KJV}}) as well as later histories such as [[Josephus]]' ''[[Antiquities of the Jews]]'' i.vi.2,<ref name="ethiopic">Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews - Book i, Chapter vi, Section 2, partial: Now all the children of Mesraim, being eight in number, possessed the country from Gaza to Egypt, though it retained the name of one only, the Philistim; for the Greeks call part of that country Palestine. As for the rest, Ludicim, and Enemim, and Labim, who alone inhabited in Libya, and called the country from himself, Nedim, and Phethrosim, and Chesloim, and Cephthorim, we know nothing of them besides their names; for the Ethiopic war,[*Antiq. b. ii. chap. x.] which we shall describe hereafter, was the cause that those cities were overthrown.</ref> which placed them explicitly in Egypt and the ''[[Sefer haYashar (midrash)|Sefer haYashar]]'' 10 which describes them living by the Nile.  A migration of the Philistines from Caphtor is mentioned in the [[Book of Amos]] ({{Bibleverse|Amos|9:7|ESV|Amos 9:7}}).

Josephus, (''Jewish Antiquities'' I, vi)<ref name="ethiopic" /> using extra-Biblical accounts, provides context for the migration from Caphtor to Philistia.  He records that the Caphtorites were one of the Egyptian peoples whose cities were destroyed during the [[Ethiopic War]].

Tradition regarding the location of Caphtor was preserved in the Aramaic [[Targums]] and in the commentary of [[Maimonides]] which place it at [[Caphutkia]] in the vicinity of [[Damietta]]<ref name="Lightfoot"/> (at the eastern edge of the [[Nile delta]] near classical [[Pelusium]]). This view is supported by the tenth century biblical exegete [[Saadia Gaon]],<ref>{{cite book |last=Saadia Gaon|author-link=Saadia Gaon|title=Rabbi Saadia Gaon's Commentaries on the Pentateuch|editor=Yosef Qafih|editor-link=Yosef Qafih|edition=4|year=1984|publisher=[[Mossad Harav Kook]]|page=33 (note 39) |location=Jerusalem|language=he|oclc=232667032}}</ref> and by [[Benjamin of Tudela]], the twelfth-century Jewish traveller from Navarre, who both wrote that Damietta was Caphtor.<ref name="Gill"/><ref>Yosef Kapach trans., ''Saadia Gaon Al-Hatorah'', Mossad HaRav Kook, 1963</ref>

The [[Midrash Rabbah]] on Genesis 37:5 (page 298 in the 1961 edition of Maurice Simon's translation) says that the "Caphtorim were dwarfs".<ref>[https://archive.org/details/midrashrabbahgen027557mbp Midrash Rabbah Genesis Volume I, Maurice Simon] (39.4M [[PDF]] page 346 of 560) Simon's footnote on the "dwarfs"[sic] says: "''Kaftor'' <nowiki>[</nowiki>{{langx|he|כפתור}}<nowiki>]</nowiki> is Hebrew for "button", and he probably interprets 'Caphtorim' as meaning "button-like — little and rotund people."</ref>

==In archaeological sources==

===Mari Tablets===
A location called ''Kaptar'' is mentioned in several texts of the [[Mari Tablets]] and is understood to be reference to Caphtor. An inscription dating to c. 1780–1760 BCE mentions a man from Caphtor (''a-na Kap-ta-ra-i-im'') who received [[tin]] from [[Mari, Syria|Mari]]. Another Mari text from the same period mentions a Caphtorite weapon (''kakku Kap-ta-ru-ú''). Another records a Caphtorite object (''ka-ta-pu-um Kap-ta-ru-ú'') which had been sent by king [[Zimrilim]] of the same period, to king [[Shariya (king)]] of [[Razama]]. A text in connection with [[Hammurabi]] mentions Caphtorite (''k[a-a]p-ta-ri-tum'') fabric that was sent to Mesopotamia via Mari. An inventory thought to be from the same era as the previous texts mentions a Caphtorite vessel (''GAL kap-ta-ri-tum'') (probably a large jug or jar).<ref name="Strange"/>

===Ras Shamra Texts===
An [[Akkadian (language)|Akkadian]] text from the archives of [[Ugarit]] (modern Ras Shamra, Syria) contains a possible reference to Caphtor: it mentions a ship that is exempt from duty when arriving from a place whose name is written with the [[Akkadian cuneiform]] signs ''KUR.DUGUD.RI''. ''KUR'' is a determinative indicating a country, while one possible reading of the sign ''DUGUD'' is {{Transliteration|akk|kabtu}}, whence the name of the place would be ''Kabturi'', which resembles Caphtor.

Within [[Ugaritic]] inscriptions from the [[Amarna]] period, ''k-p-t-r'' is mentioned and understood to be Caphtor: A poem uses ''k-p-t-r'' as a [[Parallelism (rhetoric)|parallel]] for Egypt (''H-k-p-t'') naming it as the home of the god [[Kothar-wa-Khasis]] the Ugaritic equivalent of the Egyptian god [[Ptah]].<ref name="Strange"/> Prior to the discovery of the reference to ''H-k-p-t'' scholars had already considered the possibility of ''iy Caphtor'' found in Jeremiah being the Semitic cognate of "Egypt".<ref>[[Edward Wells (theologian)|Edward Wells]], ''An historical geography of the Old and New Testament'', Clarendon Press, 1809</ref>

===Egyptian inscriptions===
The name ''k-p-t-ȝ-r''  is found written in hieroglyphics in a list of locations in the [[History of Ptolemaic Egypt|Ptolemaic]] [[temple of Kom Ombo]] in [[Upper Egypt]] and is regarded as a reference to Caphtor.

The reference to ''k-p-t-ȝ-r'' should not be confused with other inscriptions at the temple and from earlier sites mentioning a locality called ''Keftiu'' listed amongst lands to the northeast of Egypt and having different spelling and pronunciation, although it has been conjectured by some scholars that this is also a reference to Caphtor.<ref name="Strange"/> Attempts to identify Caphtor with Keftiu go back to the 19th century <ref>Steiner, ''From Minoan farmers to Roman traders: sidelights on the economy of ancient Crete'', 1999, Stuttgart, p.124</ref><ref>Dickinson, ''The Aegean Bronze age'', 1994. Cambridge University Press, pp.243-4</ref><ref>Roemer, ''Ancient perspectives on Egypt'', 2003, Routledge-Cavendish, p.10</ref> and argue that ''r'' changed to ''y'' in the Egyptian language.<ref>Bromiley, Geoffrey Williams, ''The international standard Bible encyclopedia'' / general ed.: Geoffrey W. Bromiley, Vol. 3. Grand Rapids, Mich: Eerdmans, 1999, p.844</ref> However the name ''k-p-t-ȝ-r'' more closely resembling "Caphtor" is from the (late) Ptolemaic era and still has the "r" and references to "Keftiu" occur separately at the same site. Those arguing for the identification suggest that ''k-p-t-ȝ-r'' is an Egyptian transliteration of the Semitic form of the name and that "Keftiu" is the true Egyptian form.<ref name="Strange"/> Sayce had however already argued in the 19th century that the names in the text in which ''k-p-t-ȝ-r'' occurs were not transliterations of the Semitic forms. Other scholars have disagreed over whether this can be said for the occurrence of ''k-p-t-ȝ-r''.<ref name="Strange"/>

The equation of Keftiu with Caphtor commonly features in interpretations that equate Caphtor with Crete, Cyprus, or a locality in Anatolia. [[Jean Vercoutter]] in the 1950s had argued, based on an inscription of the tomb of [[Rekhmire]] that Keftiu could not be set apart from the "islands of the sea" which he identified as a reference to the [[Aegean Sea]]. However in 2003, Claude Vandersleyen pointed out that the term ''wedj wer'' (literally "great green") which Vercoutter had translated "the sea" actually refers to the vegetation growing on the banks of the Nile and in the Nile Delta, and that the text places Keftiu in the Nile Delta.<ref>Claude Vandersleyen, ''Keftiu: A Cautionary Note'', Oxford Journal of Archaeology, vol 22, issue 2, 2003</ref>

This issue is not settled though.  In Caphtor / Keftiu:  a New Investigation, John Strange argues that the late geographical lists referenced in the preceding paragraph cannot be taken at face value, as they appear to be "random" collections of antique place names, and contain other corruptions and duplicates.<ref name="Strange1980">{{cite book|author=John Strange|title=Caphtor/Keftiu: A New Investigation|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=c9QUAAAAIAAJ&q=kpt3r&pg=PA43|year=1980|publisher=Brill Archive|isbn=90-04-06256-4|page=43}}</ref>

==Translation==
The [[targum]]im translate Caphtor into Aramaic as ''Kaputkai'', ''Kapudka'' or similar i.e. [[Caphutkia]] explained by [[Maimonides]] as being [[Damietta]] on the coastland of Egypt.<ref name="Lightfoot">John Lightfoot, ''From the Talmud and Hebraica, Volume 1'', Cosimo, Inc., 2007</ref><ref name="Gill">[http://www.searchgodsword.org/com/geb/view.cgi?book=am&chapter=9&verse=7 The New John Gill Exposition of the Entire Bible, Amos 9:7]</ref><ref name="ORT">''Navigating the Bible'', World ORT, 2000, commentary ''Caphtorim''</ref>

Referencing Katpatuka, the [[Septuagint]] translated the name as "Kappadokias" and the [[Vulgate]] similarly renders it as "Cappadocia". The seventeenth-century scholar [[Samuel Bochart]]<ref>''[[Geographia Sacra seu Phaleg et Canaan]]'' (Caen 1646)  l. 4. c. 32. [http://www.godrules.net/library/gill/28gillamo9.htm].</ref> understood this as a reference to [[Cappadocia]] in Anatolia but John Gill writes that these translations relate to Caphutkia.<ref name="Gill"/>

==Modern identifications==
[[File:Four Foreign Chieftains, Tomb of Puyemre MET DT10871.jpg|thumb|"Four Foreign Chieftains" from [[TT39]] (Metropolitan Museum of Art, MET DT10871). The second from the right is a ''Keftiu''.]]
From the 18th century onwards commentators attempted several identifications of Caphtor which increasingly disregarded the traditional identification as an Egyptian coastal locality in the vicinity of Pelusium. These included identification with [[Qift|Coptus]], [[Colchis]], [[Cyprus]], [[Cappadocia]] in Asia Minor, [[Cilicia]], and [[Crete]].

The identification with Coptus is recorded in Osborne's ''A Universal History From The Earliest Account of Time'',<ref>''An Universal History From The Earliest Account of Time: Compiled from Original Authors And Illustrated with Maps, Cuts, Notes etc. With A General Index to the Whole'', Volume 1, Osborne, 1747</ref> where it is remarked that many suppose the name to have originated from Caphtor. While this interpretation agrees with tradition placing Caphtor in Egypt it disregards the tradition that it was a coastland (''iy'' rendered island in some Bible translations) and more precisely Caphutkia; and this contradiction is noted in Osborne. It is now known that the name Coptus is derived from Egyptian ''Gebtu'' <ref>Toby A. H. Wilkinson, ''The Egyptian world, Routledge worlds Edition 10, illustrated'', Routledge, 2007</ref> which is possibly not associated with the name Caphtor.

[[File:Name-Keftiu-at-Abydos-Ramses-Temple.jpg|right|thumb|100px| Detail of a generic captive enemy with the hieroglyph for Keftiu under it at Ramses II's temple at Abydos]][[Egyptian language|Egyptian]] ''kftı͗w'' (conventionally vocalized as ''Keftiu'') is attested in numerous inscriptions.<ref>J. Strange, ''Caphtor/Keftiu: A New Investigation'' (Leiden: Brill) 1980, has brought together all the attestations for ''Caphtor'' and ''Keftiu''.</ref> The 19th-century belief that Keftiu/Caphtor was to be identified with Cyprus or Syria<ref>Steindorf 1893; W. Max Müller 1893; the history of the locating of Keftiu is set out briefly in Wainwright 1952:206f.</ref> shifted to an association with Crete under the influence of [[Sir Arthur Evans]]. It was criticized in 1931 by [[G. A. Wainwright]], who located ''Keftiu'' in [[Cilicia]], on the Mediterranean shore of [[Asia Minor]],<ref>Wainwight, "Keftiu: Crete or Cilicia?" ''The Journal of Hellenic Studies'' '''51''' (1931); in response to critics who shifted the locale to the mainland of Greece, Wainwright assembled his various interlocking published arguments and summarized them in "Asiatic Keftiu" ''American Journal of Archaeology'' '''56'''.4 (October 1952), pp. 196-212.</ref> and he drew together evidence from a wide variety of sources: in geographical lists and the inscription of [[Tutmose III]]'s "Hymn of Victory",<ref>Text in Breasted, ''Ancient Records of Egypt'' II, 659-60.</ref> where the place of ''Keftiu'' in lists appeared to exist among recognizable regions in the northeasternmost corner of the Mediterranean, in the text of the "Keftiuan spell" ''śntkppwymntrkkr''<!--śntkppwymntrkkr is correct-->, of c. 1200 BCE,<ref>The spell is a rosary of divine names according to Gordon (''JEA'' '''18''' (1932) pp 67f.)</ref> in which the Cilician and Syrian deities [[Tarku (god)|Tarku]] (the [[hittite mythology|Hittite]] sun god), Sandan (the Cilician and Lydian equivalent of Tarku),<ref>A deity that occurs in [[Luwian]] contexts, in [[theophoric]] names in [[Hittite language|Hittite]] texts and at [[Ugarit]] and [[Alalakh]], and later in Greek ''Sandos'', in [[Lycia]]n and [[Cilicia]]n contexts, according to Albrecht Goetze, "The Linguistic continuity of Anatolia as shown by its proper names" ''Journal of Cuneiform Studies'' '''8'''.2 (1954, pp. 74-81) p. 78.</ref> and [[Kubaba]] were claimed,<ref>Wainwright 1952:199.</ref> in personal names associated in texts with ''Keftiu'' and in Tutmose's "silver [[shawabty]] vessel of the work of Keftiu" and vessels of iron, which were received as gifts from Tinay in northern Syria. Wainwright's theory is not widely accepted, as his evidence shows at most a cultural exchange between Keftiu and Anatolia without pinpointing its location on the Mediterranean coast.

In 1980 J. Strange drew together a comprehensive collection of documents that mentioned ''Caphtor'' or ''Keftiu''. He writes that crucial texts dissociate ''Keftiu'' from "the islands in the middle of the sea", by which Egyptian scribes denoted Crete.<ref name="Strange1980b">{{cite book|last=Strange|first=John|title=Caphtor/Keftiu: a new investigation|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=c9QUAAAAIAAJ&q=%22Taken+as+a+whole+the+material+does+not+exclude+Crete+as+a+possible+identification+of+Caphtor/Keftiu.%22&pg=PA1255 |year=1980|publisher=Brill Archive|location=Leiden|isbn=978-90-04-06256-6|page=125}}</ref>

The stone base of a statue during the reign of [[Amenhotep III]] includes the name ''kftı͗w'' in a list of Mediterranean ship stops prior to several Cretan cities such as [[Kydonia]], [[Phaistos]], and [[Amnisos]], showing that the term clearly refers to the Aegean.<ref name="Ahlström1993">{{cite book|last=Ahlström|first=Gösta Werner|author2=Gary O. Rollefson |author3=Diana Edelman |title=The history of ancient Palestine|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5cSAlLBZKaAC&q=%22This+interpretation+is+supported+by+a+topographical+list+on+the+base+of+a+statue+from+the+funerary+temple+of+Amenhotep+III+mentioning+some+Cretan+and+Peloponnesian+cities.%22&pg=PA315|year=1993|publisher=Fortress Press|location=Minneapolis|isbn=978-0-8006-2770-6|page=315}}</ref>

==See also==
*[[Avim]]

==Notes==
<!--This article uses the Cite.php citation mechanism. If you would like more information on how to add references to this article, please see http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Cite/Cite.php -->
{{Reflist|2}}

== References ==
* Hertz J.H. (1936) The Pentateuch and Haftoras. Deuteronomy. Oxford University Press, London.
*Strange, J. ''Caphtor/Keftiu: A New Investigation'' (Leiden: Brill) 1980. Reviewed by J.T. Hooker, ''The Journal of Hellenic Studies'' '''103'''  (1983), p.&nbsp;216.
* {{bibleverse|Deuteronomy|2:20-23|KJV}}
* {{bibleverse|Amos|9:7|KJV}}
* {{bibleverse|Jeremiah|47:4|KJV}}

== External links ==
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20030808201455/http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Aegean/7551/keftiu.html Who Were the Keftiu?]

[[Category:Hebrew Bible nations]]
[[Category:Sea Peoples]]
[[Category:Hebrew Bible places]]
[[Category:Prehistoric Crete]]
[[Category:Former populated places in Cilicia]]
[[Category:Ancient Cappadocia]]
[[Category:Prehistoric Cyprus]]
[[Category:Noach (parashah)]]
[[Category:Mizraim]]
[[Category:Pelusium]]