PHI 
priefts of his own ; and that he, in the middle times at 
lead, was much fought after by thofe who were anxious 
about futurity. Derceto we take certainly to have been 
the goddefs of Afcalon ; but we are fupported by profane 
authority, without the lead countenance from Scripture. 
Gath is ieemingly the only city of all the five unprovided 
■with a deity; wherefore, as the Scripture declares that 
Afiitaroth, or Adarte, was worfhipped by this people, we 
are ready to place her at Gath, and the rather, as this of 
all their cities may have had mod communication with 
Sidon. To fpeak in general concerning their religious 
rites and ceremonies, which is all we can do, they feem 
to have eredled very large and fpacious temples, or very 
wide halls, for the celebration of their folemn feafons and 
fedivals, (for fuch they furely had;) their religious of¬ 
fices were attended with much pomp, and a great con- 
courfe from all parts; and they prefented their gods with 
the chief part of their fpoil, and carried them about with 
them when they went to war.” 
Although this extraordinary people were not compre¬ 
hended in the number of nations devoted to extermina¬ 
tion, and whole territory the Lord had abandoned to the 
Hebrews, nor were of the curfed feed of Canaan ; Jofliua 
did not forbear to give their lands to the Hebrews, and 
to fet upon them by command from the Lord, becaufe 
they pofleffed a country which was promifed to the peo¬ 
ple of God. (Jofh. xv. 45—47. and xiii. 2, 3.) But thefe 
conquefts of Jofliua mult have been ill maintained, lince 
under the Judges, under Saul, and at the beginning of 
the reign of David, the Philiftines opprelfed the Ifraelites. 
True it is, Shamgar, Samfon, Samuel, and Saul, made 
head againlt them, but did not reduce their power; and 
they continued independent down to the reign of David, 
who fubjedted them to his government. They continued 
in fubjedlion to the kings of Judah down to the reign of 
Jehoram, fon of Jehoftiaphat; that is, for about 246 years. 
However, Jehoram made war againlt them, and probably 
reduced them to his obedience again ; becaufe it is ob- 
ferved in Scripture, that they revolted again from Uzziah, 
and that this prince kept them to their duty during the 
time of his reign ; (2 Chron. xxi. 16. and xxvi. 6, 7.) 
During the unfortunate reign of Ahaz, the Phililtines 
made great havoc in the territories of Judah ; but his fon 
and fuccelfor Hezekiah fubdued them ; (2 Chron. xxviii. 
18. and 2 Kings xviii. 8.) Laftly, they regained their 
full liberty under the latter kings of Judah ; and we may 
fee by the menaces denounced againlt them by the pro¬ 
phets Ifaiah, Amos, Zephaniah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel, 
that they brought a thoufand hardlhips and calamities 
upon the children of Ifrael; for which cruelties God 
threatened to punifli them. Efarhaddon befieged Alhdod or 
Azoth, and took it; (Ila. xx. 1.) and, according to Herodo¬ 
tus, Pfammeticus king of Egypt took the fame city aftera 
fiege of twenty-nine years. There is great probability 
that Nebuchadnezzar, when he fubdued the Ammonites, 
Moabites, Egyptians, and other nations bordering upon 
the Jews, reduced alfo the Philiftines. After this they 
fell under the dominion of the Perfians ; then under that 
of Alexander the Great, who deftroyed the city of Gaza, 
the only city of Phoenicia that durft oppofe him. After 
the perfecution of Antiochus Epiphanes, the Afmonseans 
fubjedted under their obedience feveral cities of the Phi¬ 
liftines ; and Tryphon gave to Jonathan Maccabaeus the 
government of the whole coalt of the Mediterranean, 
from Tyre as far as Egypt, which included all the coun¬ 
try of the Philiftines. What became of them at laft may 
be belt learned from the threats of the prophets, and par¬ 
ticularly Zephaniah, who paints their deftrudlion in very 
lively colours : “Gaza lhall be forfaken, and Alkelou a 
defolation ; they (hall drive out Alhdod at the noon day, 
and Ekron lhall be rooted up. Wo unto the inhabitants 
of the fea-coafts, the nation of the Cherethites! the word 
of the Lord is againft you : O Canaan, the land of the 
Philiftines, I will deftroy thee, that there lit a 11 be no in¬ 
habitant; and the fea-coafts lhall be dwellings and cot- 
P H I 05 
tages for fliepherds, and folds for flocks.” Zeph. ii. 4—6- 
Joel iii. Amos i. Jerem. xlvii. Ezek. xxv. Zech. ix. 
5. Anc. Univ. Hifi. 
PHILIS'TUS, an eminent hiftorian of antiquity, was, 
according to fome, a native of Naucratis, according to 
others, of Syracufe. He was born about 431 B. C. and 
was liberally educated by his father Archomenides, who 
fent him to Athens, where he ftudied under Ifocrates and 
the poet Evenus. Fixing his abode at Syracufe, he pro¬ 
moted the fchemes of Dionyfius the elder to overthrow 
the liberties of his country, and was placed by him in the 
important poll: of governor of the citadel. That prince 
even connived at the criminal intercourfe which Philiftus 
maintained with his mother; but, upon the difcovery of 
a fecret marriage which he had contracted with the daugh¬ 
ter of Dionyfius’s brother Leptines, the tyrant banilhed 
both him and his father-in-law. Philiftus retired to 
Adria, where he employed his leifure in compofinga his¬ 
tory of Sicily, and of the reign of Dionyfius. He re¬ 
mained in banifliment till after the acceflion of Dionyfius 
the younger, when he was recalled upon the perfuafion 
of thofe courtiers who were jealous of the influence ac¬ 
quired by the virtuous Dion, and his friend the philofo- 
pher Plato, who had been invited to the Syracufan court. 
Philiftus, by working upon the fufpicious temper of Dio¬ 
nyfius, procured the exile of Dion, and brought himfelf 
into high favour by his tyrannical maxims. When Dion 
returned with an armed force to refcue his country from 
tyranny, Philiftus was made admiral of the fleet appointed 
to oppofe him. An engagement enfued, in which the 
royal fleet was defeated, and Philiftus was made prifoner, 
who was put to an ignominious death, B. C. 357. He was 
a man of learning and abilities, but his memory is ftigma- 
tized for the bad ufe he made of his talents. He wrote 
feveral works, but was chiefly famous for his An¬ 
tiquities of Sicily,” in five books, his “ Hiftory of 
Dionyfius the Elder,” in three books, and that of part 
of the reign of Dionyfius the Younger, in two books. 
In his ftyle he was an imitator of Thucydides; 
but his purpofe of flattering tyrants debarred him from 
the elevation of fentiment displayed by the Athenian. 
His hiftories, ho wever, were in much efteeni, and were 
long preferved in libraries. Cicero fpeaks of them in a 
letter to his brother Quintus; but no part of them has 
reached modern times. 
PHIL'LACK, a village and parifh in Cornwall, about 
fix miles weft of Cambourne, and about five miles eaft of 
St. Ive’s. In this parifh is the port of Hayle, in which 
port is the copper-houfe belonging to the Cornifh copper- 
company. This company imports prodigious quantities 
of coal, hemp, timber, iron, &c. for the ufe of the neigh¬ 
bouring mines, and adjacent country, and exports large 
quantities of fine copper. Mr. John Edwards, one of 
the firm, and chief director of the works, has eredted an 
elegant houfe for his refidence on the north-weft fide of 
the port, almoft oppofite the copper-works. Near the 
copper-works a number of good houfes are built for the 
refidence of the agents, fervants, workmen, and perfons 
in trade. There is alfo, at the fame place, a methodill meet- 
ing-houfe, of a circular form, built with the drofs, or 
flag, taken from the fmelting-copper. 
About one mile eaft of the copper-works is the village 
of Angarrack, where theyfmelt great quantities of black 
tin, and refine it into white. About one mile to the fouth 
or Angarrack is Nanpufcah. 
St. Erth parifh is about two miles and a half fouth of 
Phillack, about five miles north of Marazion, and about 
five miles and a half fouth-eaft of St. Ive’s. It is bounded 
on the north-weft by a part of the port of Hayle, and has 
ar elegant bridge acrofs Hayle-river, near the church- 
town. Alfo near the church-town are rolling-mills for 
flatting fine copper to any degree of thinnefs required, 
for the making of copper utenfils, roofing houfes, or 
any other purpofe. Thefe belong to, and are under the 
diredtion of, the Cornifh. copper-company. At the north¬ 
ern 
