The Origins of "Palestine" and the "Levant"

Imperial Names, Historical Context, and the Biblical Foundation of Hebrew Title to the Land

The geographic region along the eastern Mediterranean coast—encompassing what is today Israel, the Palestinian territories, parts of Jordan, Lebanon, and Syria—has carried many names across millennia: Canaan, the Land of Israel (Eretz Yisrael), Judah, Judea, and Zion, among others. These indigenous Hebrew and biblical designations reflect the deep historical and national connection of the Jewish people to the land. Two terms widely used in modern discourse, "Palestine" and "Levant," emerged from very different contexts. While one was explicitly deployed as a tool of imperial punishment and cultural erasure, the other arose as a later European geographical label. Both, however, represent external nomenclature that at times overshadowed or diminished the ancient Hebrew names and authority tied to the region. At the heart of Hebrew claims to the land stands a foundational religious conviction: a divine covenant granting eternal title to the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

The Term "Palestine": From Ancient Philistines to Roman Erasure

The word "Palestine" derives from "Peleshet" (or Philistia in Hebrew), referring to the Philistines (known as Peleset in Egyptian records from around 1150 BCE). The Philistines were a non-Semitic seafaring people, likely of Aegean origin, who settled along the southern coastal plain and became archetypal enemies of the ancient Israelites in the Hebrew Bible (appearing over 250 times in the Tanakh). They were not Arabs or related to modern Palestinians; their culture vanished centuries before the Common Era.

The earliest known geographic use of a related term appears in the 5th century BCE writings of the Greek historian Herodotus, who referred to "Palaistinê" as the coastal area between Phoenicia and Egypt. For centuries afterward, the name remained limited largely to that coastal strip and was not applied to the entire inland region of Judea or the broader homeland of the Jews.

The pivotal transformation occurred in the 2nd century CE under Roman rule. Following the brutal suppression of the Bar Kokhba revolt (132–135 CE)—a major Jewish uprising against Roman occupation—Emperor Hadrian deliberately renamed the Roman province of Judaea (Yehudah in Hebrew, literally "the land of the Jews") to Syria Palaestina. He also renamed Jerusalem to Aelia Capitolina and barred Jews from the city.

Historians widely interpret this renaming as a punitive measure designed specifically to humiliate the Jewish people, obliterate their national identity, and sever the historical link between the Jews and their ancestral homeland. By replacing "Judaea"—a name directly tied to the tribe of Judah and the Jewish people—with a term evoking the Philistines (long-standing biblical adversaries of the Hebrews), Rome sought to erase Hebrew history and authority from the map. As classicist Louis Feldman noted, the choice applied the name of "the nearest and most accessible tribe" (the long-defunct Philistines) to the entire area in an effort to "obliterate the Jewish character of the land." This was no neutral administrative tweak; it was part of a broader campaign of de-Judaization following two devastating Jewish-Roman wars. The intent was clear: diminish the Hebrew connection so thoroughly that future revolts would lose their ideological foundation.

This Roman act of renaming set a precedent. Over centuries, "Palestine" persisted through Byzantine, Arab, Ottoman, and British periods, often used by outsiders while Jews continued to refer to the land as Eretz Yisrael.

The Term "Levant": A Later European Geographical Label

The word "Levant" has an entirely different and more recent origin, unrelated to ancient conflicts with the Hebrews. It comes from the French levant (and Italian levante), meaning "rising"—specifically the rising of the sun in the east. The term entered English around 1497 and originally denoted the Mediterranean lands east of Italy, particularly the coastal regions of what are now Syria, Lebanon, Israel, and parts of Turkey and Jordan.

It arose in the context of European trade, commerce, and the Crusades, reflecting a Western (Eurocentric) perspective: the "place where the sun rises." Similar concepts appear in Arabic as Mashriq ("where the sun rises"). Unlike "Palestine," "Levant" was never an administrative imposition by an empire seeking to punish or humiliate the Jews. It is a neutral, descriptive geographical term favored in archaeology, history, and academia (e.g., "Southern Levant") precisely because it avoids the political baggage of more charged names.

That said, in the broader pattern of external naming, "Levant" still represents a non-Hebrew label imposed from outside, one that could sideline indigenous Hebrew designations such as Eretz Yisrael or Judea. In modern usage, it sometimes serves as a depoliticized alternative to "Israel" or "Palestine," reflecting ongoing external framing of a land whose deepest historical identity is Hebrew.

The Biblical Role of God: The Divine Grant of Title to the Hebrews

While empires renamed provinces and foreigners applied new labels, the Hebrew Bible presents an unchanging source of authority: God Himself granted the land as an eternal inheritance to the Jewish people. This divine covenant forms the foundational "title deed" in Jewish tradition, predating and superseding all human conquerors, renamings, or geographical terms.

The promise begins with Abraham (originally Abram) in the Book of Genesis. God commands him to leave his homeland and declares: "To your offspring I will give this land" (Genesis 12:7). The covenant is formalized and expanded in Genesis 15:18–21, where God swears to Abraham: "To your descendants I have given this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the Euphrates." It is reiterated as an "everlasting possession" in Genesis 17:8: "The whole land of Canaan, where you now reside as a foreigner, I will give as an everlasting possession to you and your descendants after you."

God renews the exact promise to Abraham’s son Isaac (Genesis 26:3–4) and grandson Jacob (whose name is changed to Israel in Genesis 32 and 35): "The land that I gave to Abraham and Isaac I will give to you, and to your descendants after you I will give the land" (Genesis 35:12). Later, through Moses and the Exodus generation, the covenant is reaffirmed as the people prepare to enter the land under Joshua. The borders described vary slightly by context but consistently encompass the core territory from the Mediterranean to the Jordan River and beyond in fuller promises.

This is an unconditional, eternal covenant rooted in God’s sovereignty. No Roman emperor, no foreign cartographer, and no later term could revoke what the Creator granted. The repeated biblical emphasis on the land as a divine inheritance underscores why Hebrew names like Israel and Judea carried such profound weight—and why external renamings like Syria Palaestina were experienced as profound humiliations. Conquerors could change maps, but they could not erase the spiritual and historical title rooted in the Abrahamic covenant.

Names, Power, and Enduring Identity

The stories of "Palestine" and the "Levant" illustrate how language and nomenclature have long served as instruments of power. The Roman creation of "Syria Palaestina" was a calculated act of diminishment and humiliation, designed to strip the Hebrews of their national name and memory. The "Levant," though perhaps more benign in origin, reflects centuries of outsiders defining a land whose truest ancient identity remains Hebrew. Yet throughout it all, the biblical record stands as the ultimate claim: God’s irrevocable grant of title to the descendants of Israel.

These terms may appear on maps today, but they cannot rewrite the deep Hebrew roots or the divine promise that, in Jewish tradition, defines the land’s true ownership. History shows that names imposed by empires fade or evolve; the connection forged in covenant endures.