LONG BEFORE the Israel-Palestine conflict, the history of the land now known as “Palestine” is marked by another conflict. There are records of the origins of the name being used in different forms by Greek historians and Roman rulers before the land was officially rechristened. 

The story of the disputed land is the story of a region historically associated with Jewish people  and how it came to be called Palestine. In the historical records, it is difficult to give credit behind the name to one person. Nonetheless, Roman Emperor Hadrian’s decision to change the name began the biggest ripple effect in history. Maybe that is the reason some commentators even call Hadrian the father of the name “Palestine,” while others argue that the name predates the Roman period, giving a much more complex picture.

Before the Roman Empire: Early Mentions of Philistines and “Palestine”

One of the earliest roots associated with the name is linked to the Philistines, the ancient people who settled along the southern coasts of the region around the 12th century BC. The early civilization established important settlements including Gaza, Ashkelon, and Ashdod. They also became well known through their conflicts with the Israelites, which were recorded in biblical and historical traditions as well.

Another origin name, as noted by historians, comes from the ancient inscriptions from the 8th and 7th centuries BC. Assyrians used a term resembling “Palashtu,” while Egyptian inscriptions had already recorded related forms centuries earlier. The Greek historian Herodotus, often called the “Father of History,” used the term “Palaistine” in his writings. However, his use of the term described the region extending between the eastern Mediterranean and Egypt, referring to a much larger geographical area than the territory traditionally associated with the Philistines or modern day Palestine.

Greek writers and geographers helped popularize the term further and it eventually became part of the vocabulary used to describe the region. These are some of the major reasons why historians argue that the history of the word “Palestine” cannot simply be reduced to the Romans as all of these records predate the empire.

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Judea, Jewish History and the Roman Renaming into Syria Palestina

While the records show the region referred to as a different variation of the name derived from “Philistines,” the area went through various periods under several kingdoms. One of these was the Kingdom of Judah, a major Jewish kingdom, with Jerusalem as its capital. Jewish political and religious life in the region was centered around Jerusalem and the First and Second Temples.

The Babylonian conquest in the 6th century BC, followed by Persian, Hellenistic, and eventually Roman rule, witnessed major political transformations of the land over the years. But the Jewish connection to the land remains deeply rooted in religious and historical records.

Under Roman rule, Judea became a center of Jewish resistance against the rulers. The First Jewish Revolt resulted in the destruction of Jerusalem and the Second Temple in 70 AD, followed by another major uprising: the Bar Kokhba Revolt in 132 AD.

Facing repeated uprisings from the Jewish, Emperor Hadrian— after defeating the Bar Kokhba Revolt— took the decision to rename Judea to symbolize his authority and the anti-Jewish sentiment. He rebuilt Jerusalem as a Roman city and restricted Jewish access to the city and surrounding areas. Subsequently, Judea became part of the province known as “Syria Palaestina.”

The renaming was intended to weaken the Jewish historical and national association with the territory and further the name “Palaestina” also drew upon the older geographical terminology associated with the Philistines. This is where Emperor Hadrian becomes central to the story of the name Palestine. Loay Alshareef, a UAE-based Egyptian activist and online educator, even called Hadrian as the Father of the Name “Palestine.”

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Palestine After the Roman Empire: How the Name Survived Under Different Rulers

Hadrian's decision did not settle the disputed history of the name. The Roman administration continued to use forms of “Palestina,” and later Byzantine rulers divided the territory into administrative provinces including Palaestina Prima and Palaestina Secunda. The specific geographical borders of Palestine were also never completely fixed. At different points in history, the term was used for territories extending from the Mediterranean towards the Jordan River and, in some descriptions, across the Jordan as well. 

After the Islamic conquest in the 7th century, the name continued in Arabic as “Filastin.” The establishment of the military district of Jund Filastin shows that the name remained in administrative use under Muslim rule. When the region later came under Ottoman rule in the 16th century, even then, “Palestine” remained the official designation. 

From Historical Geography to Modern Palestine

The meaning of Palestine changed again in the 19th and 20th centuries. During the late Ottoman period and especially under the British Mandate after World War I, “Palestine” became increasingly prominent as a political designation.

The British Mandate for Palestine was established after the collapse of the Ottoman Empire. The region initially included areas that were later officially separated. At the same time, the region was home to a large Arab population, alongside Jewish communities and other groups. The competing national aspirations of Jews and Palestinian Arabs increasingly transformed Palestine from a historical-geographical name into a question of national identity and sovereignty.

Historical records show that the modern Palestinian identity developed particularly strongly in the early 20th century, amid the decline of the Ottoman Empire, the British Mandate, Zionism, Jewish immigration, and the political disputes surrounding the creation of Israel in 1948.

From appearing in ancient texts associated with the Philistines to Romans, particularly Hadrian, officially adopting the term in his name “Syria Palaestina,” the name “Palestine” travelled a vast historical journey. While some may see the latter’s role in the official renaming of the land as the incident that gave legitimacy to the anti-Jewish sentiment, the real origins pre-dates his rule. The claims of Hadrian as the “Father of the name Palestine” are disputed, making the history of the word “Palestine” so complicated, similar to the land itself.

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