Caphtor is the land of the Biblical Caphtorim (Egyptian Keftiu, Mari Kaptara). It has been etymologically linked to Cyprus while other suggestions identify it variously as Crete, and the nearby coasts of Anatolia. The name is written in hieroglyphics in the temple of Kom Ombo in Upper Egypt and possibly in the Egyptian tomb of Rekhmire .
The Caphtorim arrived in Palestine from Caphtor following a catastrophe that destroyed their homeland. Biblically, they are referred to as a remnant.
In the Biblical tradition, peoples with cultural routes in Egypt populated the land where they developed a new identity and had even branched into the Gaza Strip as the Philistim by the time of the Habiru incursions into the Levant under the biblical patriarch Abraham. They later came under the rule of the Ionians.
The name means chaplet or crown.
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Last updated: 10-13-2005 15:41:15
