The major god of the Philistines was Dagan which originated in Mesopotamia and was worshiped in Syria. The Akkadians knew Him as daguna. It is doubtful they would have, would have adopted a Syrian god after settling in southern Canaan. They would not have been familiar with Dagan, which not even the Canaanites worshiped to any extent. The Cretans did not worship Dagan., and since the name dgn, showed up in inscriptions from Assyria and Babylonia, it is doubtful the god was brought from Crete. Dagan was the father of the Mesopotamian god baal, who by the 15th century bce, became the god of choice for many Syrians. That would have made it more difficult for newcomers in the 12th century bce to have encountered Dagan. The lack of copper and utter absence of iron and tin on Crete indicate that the Philistines, known for their metallurgy (1Samuel 13:19-20 (NIV)), probably did not originate from Crete. The Philistines did not worship any Mycenaean gods, which would seem strange. They had only three deities, all with Semitic names: Dagon, Ashtoreth, and Baal-zebub. The Egyptian language was made up of mostly Semitic words and names, with Egyptian pronunciations
The date of the Philistine immigration has been questioned by Bietak and Stager, who argue that the absence of Egyptian artifacts in the Philistine context supports a settlement before the attempted conquest of Canaan. In this scenario the battle described by Ramsses II in his eighth regnal year would have taken place on the eastern borders of Egypt, not the Nile Delta. The nature of their material culture has been considered eclectic and derivative, because of the range of artifacts and architecture with Philistine, Canaanite and some Egyptian traits. The Philistines at Medinet Habu are pictured wearing feathered headdresses very similar to those pictured on the Phaistos Disk, a round, baked clay disk discovered on Crete at Phaistos and dated to the Middle Minoan IIIB period, circa 1600 B.C. The clay and firing of the disk are not similar to what is generally found on Crete; it is possibly an import from Caria or Lycia in southwest Anatolia. The type of bow pictured on the disk is of Asiatic origin. Nearly five hundred years separate the Phaistos Disk and the Egyptian reliefs at Medinet Habu. There is little doubt that Ramesses III settled a group of people in southern Canaan following a failed conquest. They may have been the Prst in His inscriptions. They may have been part of the Haunebu. It's evident, however, that neither the Haunebu nor the Philistines were newcomers during the reign of Ramesses III.
In 1972, Alessandra Nibbi published a small book (64 pages), The Sea-Peoples: A Re-examination of the Egyptian Sources. In this she explained that the term ‘Great Green’ in the Egyptian texts did not mean ‘the sea’, as was generally believed, but essentially the Egyptian Delta, because of its immense greenery. This book of 1972 provoked a shock: the view that the Egyptians did not even have a word for ‘sea’ was so different from the common view that no-one wanted to believe it. In reality she may have been right. The Nile Delta is large, covering 1,293,000 square miles. It is the only place in Egypt that does not depend on rainfall, which is normally scant. It is constantly being overlaid with rich fertile silt, from the Nile River. It has so vast it has different climates. The delta is triangle shaped, with several lagoons on the Northern edge. One particular lagoon is enclosed by a chain of islands to the north that stretch across the lagoon. On one side of the lagoon is Port Said and Damietta on the other. The chain of islands could very well be the “Northern Isles” and the “circle of earth” in the inscriptions.
The Middle Kingdom inscriptions of Henu make it clear that the Haunebu were not from across the Mediterranean Sea. Egyptian Kings did not quell revolts in the Greek isles:
"Year 8, first month of the third season (ninth month), day 3; his real favorite servant, who does all that he praises every day, wearer of the royal seal, [sole] com[panion], ////overseer of that which is and that which is not, overseer of the temples, overseer of the granary and White House, overseer of horn and hoof, chief of the six courts of justice, high-voiced in proclaiming the name of the king on the day of his warding off [////] who judges the prisoner according to his deserts //////////////////// (omitted lines containing titles) Satisfying the heart of the king as Keeper of the Door of the South;over the administration of the nomes of the South, chief treasurer ////////////. who quells the Haunebu, to whom the Two Lands come bowing down, to whom every office reports; wearer of the royal seal, sole companion, the steward, Henu says:
[My lord, life prosperity], health! sent me to dispatch a ship to Punt to bring for him fresh myrrh from the sheiks over the Red Land, by reason of the fear of him in the highlands. Then I went forth from Coptos upon the road, which his majesty commanded me. There was with me an army of the South from //// of the Oxyrhyncus nome, the beginning thereof as far as Gebelen; the end thereof as far as [////], everyoffice of the king's house, those who were in town and field, united, came after me. The army [////] cleared the way before, overthrowing those hostile toward the king, the hunters and the children of the highlands were posted as the protection of my limbs. Every official body of his majesty was placed under my authority. They reported messengers to me, as one alone commanding, to whom many hearken.I went forth with an army of 3,000 men. I made the road a river, and the Red Land (desert) a stretch of field, for I gave a leathern bottle, a carrying pole, 2 jars of waterand 20 loaves to each one among them every day. The asses were laden with sandals[//// //// //// ////]. Now, I made 12 wells in the bush, and two wells in Idehet, 20 square cubits in one, and 31 [square] cubits in the other. I made another in Iheteb, 20 by 20 cubits on each side [//// //// //// ////]. Then I reached the [Red] Sea; then I made this ship, and I dispatched it with everything, when I had made for it a great oblation of cattle, bulls and ibexes. Now, after my return from the (Red) Sea, I executed the command of his majesty, andI brought for him all the gifts, which I had found in the region of God's Land. I returned through the [valley] of Hammamat, I brought for him august blocks for statues belonging to the temple. Never was brought down the like thereof for the king's court; never wasdone the like of this by any king's confidant sent out since the time of the god. I did this for the majesty of my lord because he so much loved me ////////////////////////.. " Reign of Mentuhotep II J.H.Breasted, Ancient Records of Egypt, Part One, § 428f
