291. Ancient Gaza: The Philistines (Part 1)

Empire

Goalhanger

History

4.6 • 4.1K Ratings

🗓️ 17 September 2025

⏱️ 47 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Gaza is one of the oldest urban centres on Earth, and in this series we are exploring its long history. It was first referred to by Pharaoh Thutmose III in the 15th century BC when it was known as Ghazzati. In this episode we ask: Who were the Philistines? Why did Egyptian pharaohs put monopolies on Gazan sweet wine? And what was 'The Bronze Age Collapse'? William and Anita are joined by Josephine Quinn, Professor of Ancient History at the University of Cambridge and author of How The World Made The West, to discuss the ancient history of Gaza. Join the Empire Club: Unlock the full Empire experience – with bonus episodes, ad-free listening, early access to miniseries and live show tickets, exclusive book discounts, a members-only newsletter, and access to our private Discord chatroom. Sign up directly at empirepoduk.com For more Goalhanger Podcasts, head to www.goalhanger.com. Email: [email protected] Instagram: @empirepoduk Blue Sky: @empirepoduk X: @empirepoduk Assistant Producer: Becki Hills Producer: Anouska Lewis Executive Producer: Neil Fearn Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	If you want access to bonus episodes reading lists for every series of Empire, a chat community.
0:06.7	Discounts for all the books mentioned in the week's podcast, add free listening and a weekly newsletter,
0:12.0	sign up to Empire Club at www.empowerpod.ukuk.com.
0:32.5	Hello and welcome to Empire with me, Anita Arnand.
0:34.4	And me, William Durhampool.
0:37.5	And we are starting a brand new series today.
0:41.9	One which has been in the news for the last two years.
0:43.6	How would you put it, William?
0:46.2	I mean, the deepest of emotions swirl around.
0:48.4	The very concept of even discussing this.
0:53.4	This is the most divisive subject in the world at the moment.
0:55.8	I think it's fair to say. There is such high emotions when talking about Gaza and Palestine and Israel, never have views on this being more
1:03.5	polarized. Friendships have been lost. But what is important, I think, is that we all need to do our best to understand the long
1:13.0	background to this story. And that has been notably absent. I haven't seen on a single TV
1:18.9	documentary. I haven't seen on a single radio show anything that taught me about the history,
1:24.8	the deep history of the story of Gaza. And that's what we're going to try and lay out in the series.
1:29.4	Absolutely. So as always, on Empire, we sort of try to go back to the very, very beginning.
1:34.0	And first of all, you know, one thing that we should all know,
1:36.7	Gaza's one of the oldest urban centres on planet Earth,
1:41.2	one of the most fought over and contested spaces.
1:43.5	We just talked about that for over
1:45.1	3,000 years. And it is also, just look at a map. It's the crossroads between Africa and Asia,
	...

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