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82-518: Kiryat Gat is named for Gath , one of the five major cities of the Philistines . In Hebrew, "gat" means "winepress". In the 1950s, archaeologists found ruins at a nearby tell ( Tel Erani ) which were mistaken for the Philistine city of Gath. The location most favored for Gath now is Tel es-Safi , thirteen kilometers (8.1 miles) to the northeast. Kiryat Gat was founded in 1954, initially as

164-481: A ma'abara . The following year it was established as a development town by 18 families from Morocco . It was founded just west of the ruins of the Palestinian Arab village of Iraq al-Manshiyya , which was ethnically cleansed in 1949 after the 1948 Arab–Israeli War . The former location of Iraq al-Manshiyya is now within the built-up area of Kiryat Gat. By 1992, Kiryat Gat had grown and spread also onto

246-603: A matriculation certificate. Kiryat Gat has a Pedagogic Center, science centers, a computerized library and a center devoted to industry, art and technology. In 2012, a high school student from Kiryat Gat won first prize in the First Step to Nobel Prize in Physics competition. Kiryat Gat is twinned with: Gath (city) Gath or Gat ( Hebrew : גַּת , romanized :  Gaṯ , lit.   ' wine press '; Latin : Geth , Philistine : 𐤂𐤕 * Gīt )

328-453: A different Gath, usually now called Gath-Gittaim. This view is also supported by other scholars, those holding that there was, both, a Gath (today's Tell es-Safi ) and Gath-Rimmon (in or near Ramla). Israeli archaeologist, Y. Aharoni , relying upon Eusebius ' Onomasticon where he fixes the ancient site of Gath near the Roman road 5 miles (8 km) from Eleutheropolis (Beth Gubrin) on

410-743: A few in German , Dutch , Norwegian , Danish and Swedish . Latin is still spoken in Vatican City, a city-state situated in Rome that is the seat of the Catholic Church . The works of several hundred ancient authors who wrote in Latin have survived in whole or in part, in substantial works or in fragments to be analyzed in philology . They are in part the subject matter of the field of classics . Their works were published in manuscript form before

492-562: A new Classical Latin arose, a conscious creation of the orators, poets, historians and other literate men, who wrote the great works of classical literature , which were taught in grammar and rhetoric schools. Today's instructional grammars trace their roots to such schools , which served as a sort of informal language academy dedicated to maintaining and perpetuating educated speech. Philological analysis of Archaic Latin works, such as those of Plautus , which contain fragments of everyday speech, gives evidence of an informal register of

574-476: A remarkable unity in phonological forms and developments, bolstered by the stabilising influence of their common Christian (Roman Catholic) culture. It was not until the Muslim conquest of Spain in 711, cutting off communications between the major Romance regions, that the languages began to diverge seriously. The spoken Latin that would later become Romanian diverged somewhat more from the other varieties, as it

656-518: A shred of evidence for the identification with Gath." Albright suggested another site, Tell 'Areini (now close to the city of Kiryat Gat ) which, despite some opposition, was accepted to the point that the Israel Government Names Committee renamed it as Tel Gat in 1953. However, excavations at Tell 'Areini starting in 1959 found no Middle Bronze Age traces and the excavators proposed instead that Gath be identified with

738-709: A small number of Latin services held in the Anglican church. These include an annual service in Oxford, delivered with a Latin sermon; a relic from the period when Latin was the normal spoken language of the university. In the Western world, many organizations, governments and schools use Latin for their mottos due to its association with formality, tradition, and the roots of Western culture . Canada's motto A mari usque ad mare ("from sea to sea") and most provincial mottos are also in Latin. The Canadian Victoria Cross

820-543: A third site, Tell en-Nejileh (Tel Nagila), a proposal abandoned after excavations in the 1980s. Attention then returned again to Tell es-Safi, which is thought to be the location of Gath. In the Madaba map of the 6th century, Tell es-Ṣāfi / Tell el-Ṣāfiyya occurs under the name Saphitha ( Greek : ΣΑΦΙΘΑ ). The Madaba map identifies a second town, the Philistine Geth (Gath), as being "Gitta, formerly one of

902-411: Is Veritas ("truth"). Veritas was the goddess of truth, a daughter of Saturn, and the mother of Virtue. Switzerland has adopted the country's Latin short name Helvetia on coins and stamps, since there is no room to use all of the nation's four official languages . For a similar reason, it adopted the international vehicle and internet code CH , which stands for Confoederatio Helvetica ,

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984-420: Is a kind of written Latin used in the 3rd to 6th centuries. This began to diverge from Classical forms at a faster pace. It is characterised by greater use of prepositions, and word order that is closer to modern Romance languages, for example, while grammatically retaining more or less the same formal rules as Classical Latin. Ultimately, Latin diverged into a distinct written form, where the commonly spoken form

1066-640: Is a reversal of the original phrase Non terrae plus ultra ("No land further beyond", "No further!"). According to legend , this phrase was inscribed as a warning on the Pillars of Hercules , the rocks on both sides of the Strait of Gibraltar and the western end of the known, Mediterranean world. Charles adopted the motto following the discovery of the New World by Columbus, and it also has metaphorical suggestions of taking risks and striving for excellence. In

1148-483: Is also mentioned as being captured by Hazael of Aram Damascus. The narrative in the first book of Chronicles relates that Ezer and Elead, sons of Ephraim , were killed by men who were natives of Gath, because "they came down to take their livestock". Gath is named as one of 15 cities fortified by king Rehoboam , son of King Solomon, which were captured by Shishak , king of Egypt. A tradition reported by Ishtori Haparchi (1280–1355) and other early Jewish writers

1230-424: Is evidenced at the site during the late Iron Age IIA (c. late 9th century BCE). Throughout the site there is evidence of this destruction, and well-preserved assemblages of finds. The dating of this destruction to the late 9th century BCE is a strong indication that it can be related to the conquest of Gath by Hazael , king of Aram-Damascus , as mentioned in 2 Kings 12:17 . Evidence of a large-scale siege system that

1312-660: Is highly fusional , with classes of inflections for case , number , person , gender , tense , mood , voice , and aspect . The Latin alphabet is directly derived from the Etruscan and Greek alphabets . Latin remains the official language of the Holy See and the Roman Rite of the Catholic Church at the Vatican City . The church continues to adapt concepts from modern languages to Ecclesiastical Latin of

1394-689: Is modelled after the British Victoria Cross which has the inscription "For Valour". Because Canada is officially bilingual, the Canadian medal has replaced the English inscription with the Latin Pro Valore . Spain's motto Plus ultra , meaning "even further", or figuratively "Further!", is also Latin in origin. It is taken from the personal motto of Charles V , Holy Roman Emperor and King of Spain (as Charles I), and

1476-1011: Is taught at many high schools, especially in Europe and the Americas. It is most common in British public schools and grammar schools, the Italian liceo classico and liceo scientifico , the German Humanistisches Gymnasium and the Dutch gymnasium . Occasionally, some media outlets, targeting enthusiasts, broadcast in Latin. Notable examples include Radio Bremen in Germany, YLE radio in Finland (the Nuntii Latini broadcast from 1989 until it

1558-479: Is that Ramla was the biblical Gath of the Philistines . Initial archaeological claims seemed to indicate that Ramla was not built on the site of an ancient city, although in recent years the ruins of an old city site were uncovered on the southern outskirts of Ramla. Earlier, Benjamin Mazar had proposed that ancient Gath lay at a site called Ras Abu Hamid east of Ramla. Avi-Yonah , however, considered that to be

1640-543: The Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum (CIL). Authors and publishers vary, but the format is about the same: volumes detailing inscriptions with a critical apparatus stating the provenance and relevant information. The reading and interpretation of these inscriptions is the subject matter of the field of epigraphy . About 270,000 inscriptions are known. The Latin influence in English has been significant at all stages of its insular development. In

1722-540: The 1948 Arab–Israeli War . During the Early Bronze Age there is evidence of a large urban site, apparently similar to other EB III urban sites in southern Canaan, such as nearby Tel Yarmut ( Jarmuth ). Scant evidence of this period was found on the tell in the form of stray sherds. In the vicinity of the tell (to the east, in Area C6) evidence of tombs and possible domestic activities were found. Finds from

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1804-715: The Amarna letters . 31°42′00″N 34°50′49″E  /  31.700°N 34.847°E  / 31.700; 34.847 Latin language Latin ( lingua Latina , pronounced [ˈlɪŋɡʷa ɫaˈtiːna] , or Latinum [ɫaˈtiːnʊ̃] ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages . Latin was originally spoken by the Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio ),

1886-528: The Holy See , the primary language of its public journal , the Acta Apostolicae Sedis , and the working language of the Roman Rota . Vatican City is also home to the world's only automatic teller machine that gives instructions in Latin. In the pontifical universities postgraduate courses of Canon law are taught in Latin, and papers are written in the same language. There are

1968-604: The Kiryat Gat Railway Station on the Tel Aviv - Be'er Sheva inter-city line of Israel Railways . Kiryat Gat is situated between two major highways, Highway 40 to the west of the town and Highway 6 . Kiryat Gat has 25 schools with an enrollment of 10,676. Of these schools, 18 are elementary schools with a student population of 5,498, and 13 are high schools with a student population of 5,178. In 2001, 54.7% of Kiryat Gat's 12th grade students graduated with

2050-502: The Late Latin period, language changes reflecting spoken (non-classical) norms tend to be found in greater quantities in texts. As it was free to develop on its own, there is no reason to suppose that the speech was uniform either diachronically or geographically. On the contrary, Romanised European populations developed their own dialects of the language, which eventually led to the differentiation of Romance languages . Late Latin

2132-607: The Middle Ages as a working and literary language from the 9th century to the Renaissance , which then developed a classicizing form, called Renaissance Latin . This was the basis for Neo-Latin which evolved during the early modern period . In these periods Latin was used productively and generally taught to be written and spoken, at least until the late seventeenth century, when spoken skills began to erode. It then became increasingly taught only to be read. Latin grammar

2214-574: The Middle Ages , borrowing from Latin occurred from ecclesiastical usage established by Saint Augustine of Canterbury in the 6th century or indirectly after the Norman Conquest , through the Anglo-Norman language . From the 16th to the 18th centuries, English writers cobbled together huge numbers of new words from Latin and Greek words, dubbed " inkhorn terms ", as if they had spilled from a pot of ink. Many of these words were used once by

2296-481: The ancient mound now widely identified as Gath (variant: "Geth"), one of the five cities in the ancient Philistine Pentapolis (along with Gaza , Ekron , Ashkelon , and Ashdod ). It is a large multi-period site that is located in central Israel, approximately halfway between Jerusalem and Ashkelon, on the border between the southern Coastal Plain of Israel and the Judean foothills . First noted by explorers in

2378-407: The common language of international communication , science, scholarship and academia in Europe until well into the early 19th century, by which time modern languages had supplanted it in common academic and political usage. Late Latin is the literary language from the 3rd century AD onward. No longer spoken as a native language, Medieval Latin was used across Western and Catholic Europe during

2460-464: The mass immigration of Soviet Jews , approximately one third of the inhabitants hail from the former Soviet Union . The Polgat textile factory was the main employer in the town until it closed in the 1990s. In 1999, Intel opened a chip fabrication plant , known as Fab 18, to produce Pentium 4 chips and flash memories . Intel received a grant of $ 525 million from the Israeli government to build

2542-509: The 1990s, the mass immigration of Soviet Jews to Israel brought many new residents to the town and its population grew to 42,500 by 1995. The development of the Rabin industrial zone on the eastern edge of the city, and the opening of Highway 6 further improved the economy of the city. In 2012, the ethnic makeup of the city was 93.8 percent Jewish . In its early years, Kiryat Gat was populated mainly by Jews of Sephardi / Mizrahi origin. Since

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2624-524: The 2005 season, below the late 9th-century BCE destruction level, in a stratum dating to an earlier phase of the Iron Age IIA, an important inscription was found. Scratched on a shard typical of the Iron Age IIA, two non-Semitic names written in Semitic "Proto-Canaanite" letters were found. These two names, "ALWT" ( אלות ) and "WLT" ( ולת ), are etymologically similar to the name Goliath ( גלית ),

2706-637: The British Crown. The motto is featured on all presently minted coinage and has been featured in most coinage throughout the nation's history. Several states of the United States have Latin mottos , such as: Many military organizations today have Latin mottos, such as: Some law governing bodies in the Philippines have Latin mottos, such as: Some colleges and universities have adopted Latin mottos, for example Harvard University 's motto

2788-654: The Canaanite city of Gath, which is mentioned in the El-Amarna letters. Finds from this period include a large, apparently public building, cultic-related finds, and a small collection of Egyptiaca, including two Egyptian Hieratic inscriptions, both inscribed on locally-made vessels. This city was apparently destroyed at the end of the Late Bronze Age, most probably with the arrival of the Philistines. During

2870-703: The Germanic and Slavic nations. It became useful for international communication between the member states of the Holy Roman Empire and its allies. Without the institutions of the Roman Empire that had supported its uniformity, Medieval Latin was much more liberal in its linguistic cohesion: for example, in classical Latin sum and eram are used as auxiliary verbs in the perfect and pluperfect passive, which are compound tenses. Medieval Latin might use fui and fueram instead. Furthermore,

2952-599: The Grinch Stole Christmas! , The Cat in the Hat , and a book of fairy tales, " fabulae mirabiles ", are intended to garner popular interest in the language. Additional resources include phrasebooks and resources for rendering everyday phrases and concepts into Latin, such as Meissner's Latin Phrasebook . Some inscriptions have been published in an internationally agreed, monumental, multivolume series,

3034-470: The Iron Age, the site became a major Philistine site, "Gath of the Philistines", one of the five cities of the Philistine "pentapolis", known from biblical and extra-biblical (such as Assyrian) sources. Settled from the earliest phases of the Philistine culture (c. 1200 BCE), evidence of the various stages of the Philistine culture have been found. In particular, finds indicating the gradual transformation of

3116-630: The Latin language. Contemporary Latin is more often studied to be read rather than spoken or actively used. Latin has greatly influenced the English language , along with a large number of others, and historically contributed many words to the English lexicon , particularly after the Christianization of the Anglo-Saxons and the Norman Conquest . Latin and Ancient Greek roots are heavily used in English vocabulary in theology ,

3198-458: The MB IIB (and a few MB IIA) were found on various parts of the tell in the survey (including a scarab of Khyan , found in the 1960s). Recently, in the 2006 season, evidence of an impressive MB IIB fortification was found in the vicinity of the summit of the tell, comprising a stone wall/tower and a packed earth rampart/glacis. The Late Bronze remains at the site are impressive as well, evidence of

3280-400: The Philistine city wall were used to build the later Judahite buildings. Among the numerous finds from this destruction level , there is an impressive pottery assemblage, various cultic objects, and a bone tool workshop. The excavators suggested that during Hazael's siege, the city defenders made weapons from animal bones because they were short of raw materials to make metal weapons. In

3362-403: The Philistines, from a non-local (Aegean) culture , to a more locally oriented culture abound. This process, which has been termed " acculturation " or " creolisation " can be seen in various aspects of the Philistine culture, as the Iron Age unfolds. Of particular importance are the strata dating to the 10th–9th century BCE, in which rich assemblages of finds were uncovered. These strata enable

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3444-467: The United States the unofficial national motto until 1956 was E pluribus unum meaning "Out of many, one". The motto continues to be featured on the Great Seal . It also appears on the flags and seals of both houses of congress and the flags of the states of Michigan, North Dakota, New York, and Wisconsin. The motto's 13 letters symbolically represent the original Thirteen Colonies which revolted from

3526-563: The University of Kentucky, the University of Oxford and also Princeton University. There are many websites and forums maintained in Latin by enthusiasts. The Latin Misplaced Pages has more than 130,000 articles. Italian , French , Portuguese , Spanish , Romanian , Catalan , Romansh , Sardinian and other Romance languages are direct descendants of Latin. There are also many Latin borrowings in English and Albanian , as well as

3608-535: The beginning of the Renaissance . Petrarch for example saw Latin as a literary version of the spoken language. Medieval Latin is the written Latin in use during that portion of the post-classical period when no corresponding Latin vernacular existed, that is from around 700 to 1500 AD. The spoken language had developed into the various Romance languages; however, in the educated and official world, Latin continued without its natural spoken base. Moreover, this Latin spread into lands that had never spoken Latin, such as

3690-425: The benefit of those who do not understand Latin. There are also songs written with Latin lyrics . The libretto for the opera-oratorio Oedipus rex by Igor Stravinsky is in Latin. Parts of Carl Orff 's Carmina Burana are written in Latin. Enya has recorded several tracks with Latin lyrics. The continued instruction of Latin is seen by some as a highly valuable component of a liberal arts education. Latin

3772-525: The biblical Philistine champion who was a native of Gath. These two name fragments might indicate that names similar to the name Goliath were in use in Philistia during the Iron Age IIA, approximately the same time as Goliath is described in the Bible. Although not proof of Goliath's existence, the ostracon provides evidence of the cultural milieu of this period. In any case, they provide a useful example of

3854-424: The biblical verse that mentions its capture by Hazael of Aram Damascus . Archaeological excavations have uncovered a Philistine temple and evidence of a major earthquake in biblical times. The excavator Aren Maeir commented on the dating of this geological event, Based on the tight stratigraphic context, this [earthquake] can be dated to the mid-8th cent. BCE. A very impressive, site-wide destruction

3936-488: The castle and the village can be seen on the site today. Portions of the exterior fortifications of the castle have been excavated in recent years. Gath was a common placename in ancient Israel and the surrounding regions. Various cities are mentioned in the Bible with such names as Gath of the Philistines, Gath-Gittaim, and Gath Carmel (Ginti-kirmil). Other sites with similar names appear in various ancient sources, including

4018-533: The city has yet to be discovered. A Gittite is a person from Gath. Gath is mentioned in the Hebrew Bible as one of the five main Philistine cities. It was one of the last refuges of the Anakim in front of the conquering Israelites under Joshua . Gath was either subdued during the days of prophet Samuel , or by King David , although the first book of Kings states that in the time of King Solomon it

4100-430: The comic playwrights Plautus and Terence and the author Petronius . While often called a "dead language", Latin did not undergo language death . By the 6th to 9th centuries, natural language change eventually resulted in Latin as a vernacular language evolving into distinct Romance languages in the large areas where it had come to be natively spoken. However, even after the fall of Western Rome , Latin remained

4182-585: The conquest of the land during the First Crusade, a small fortress, named Blanche Garde for the dramatic white chalk cliffs that guard its western approach, was built at the site as part of the Crusader encirclement of Fatimid Ashkelon. This site was subsequently captured by the Ayyubids, and served the basis for the medieval and modern village of Tell es-Safi , which existed until 1948. The ruins of

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4264-465: The country's full Latin name. Some film and television in ancient settings, such as Sebastiane , The Passion of the Christ and Barbarians (2020 TV series) , have been made with dialogue in Latin. Occasionally, Latin dialogue is used because of its association with religion or philosophy, in such film/television series as The Exorcist and Lost (" Jughead "). Subtitles are usually shown for

4346-503: The decline in written Latin output. Despite having no native speakers, Latin is still used for a variety of purposes in the contemporary world. The largest organisation that retains Latin in official and quasi-official contexts is the Catholic Church . The Catholic Church required that Mass be carried out in Latin until the Second Vatican Council of 1962–1965 , which permitted the use of the vernacular . Latin remains

4428-568: The development of European culture, religion and science. The vast majority of written Latin belongs to this period, but its full extent is unknown. The Renaissance reinforced the position of Latin as a spoken and written language by the scholarship by the Renaissance humanists . Petrarch and others began to change their usage of Latin as they explored the texts of the Classical Latin world. Skills of textual criticism evolved to create much more accurate versions of extant texts through

4510-413: The earliest extant Latin literary works, such as the comedies of Plautus and Terence . The Latin alphabet was devised from the Etruscan alphabet . The writing later changed from what was initially either a right-to-left or a boustrophedon script to what ultimately became a strictly left-to-right script. During the late republic and into the first years of the empire, from about 75 BC to AD 200,

4592-445: The fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, and some important texts were rediscovered. Comprehensive versions of authors' works were published by Isaac Casaubon , Joseph Scaliger and others. Nevertheless, despite the careful work of Petrarch, Politian and others, first the demand for manuscripts, and then the rush to bring works into print, led to the circulation of inaccurate copies for several centuries following. Neo-Latin literature

4674-629: The five satrapies [of the Philistines]," a contemporary town South and slightly West of Lydda ( Lod ) that corresponds with modern Ramla. Others suggest that Gath is none other than "Saphitha" ( Tell es-Ṣāfi ), but are hard pressed to explain why there are two distinct listings for these sites in the Madaba map, and ascribe an error unto the copyist of the mosaic. Tell es-Safi and Tel Zafit ( Arabic : تل الصافي , Tall aṣ-Ṣāfī ; Hebrew : תל צפית , Tel Tzafit ) are Arabic and Hebrew names for

4756-546: The history of Latin, and the kind of informal Latin that had begun to move away from the written language significantly in the post-Imperial period, that led ultimately to the Romance languages . During the Classical period, informal language was rarely written, so philologists have been left with only individual words and phrases cited by classical authors, inscriptions such as Curse tablets and those found as graffiti . In

4838-703: The invention of printing and are now published in carefully annotated printed editions, such as the Loeb Classical Library , published by Harvard University Press , or the Oxford Classical Texts , published by Oxford University Press . Latin translations of modern literature such as: The Hobbit , Treasure Island , Robinson Crusoe , Paddington Bear , Winnie the Pooh , The Adventures of Tintin , Asterix , Harry Potter , Le Petit Prince , Max and Moritz , How

4920-419: The land that formerly belonged to the village of Al-Faluja . The population of Kiryat Gat rose from 4,400 inhabitants in 1958 to 17,000 in 1969, mostly Jewish immigrants from North Africa . The economy was initially based on processing the agricultural produce of the Lachish region, such as cotton and wool. In December 1972, Kiryat Gat's municipal status was upgraded and it became Israel's 31st city. During

5002-412: The language of the Roman Rite . The Tridentine Mass (also known as the Extraordinary Form or Traditional Latin Mass) is celebrated in Latin. Although the Mass of Paul VI (also known as the Ordinary Form or the Novus Ordo) is usually celebrated in the local vernacular language, it can be and often is said in Latin, in part or in whole, especially at multilingual gatherings. It is the official language of

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5084-405: The language, Vulgar Latin (termed sermo vulgi , "the speech of the masses", by Cicero ). Some linguists, particularly in the nineteenth century, believed this to be a separate language, existing more or less in parallel with the literary or educated Latin, but this is now widely dismissed. The term 'Vulgar Latin' remains difficult to define, referring both to informal speech at any time within

5166-427: The lower Tiber area around Rome , Italy. Through the expansion of the Roman Republic it became the dominant language in the Italian Peninsula and subsequently throughout the Roman Empire . By the late Roman Republic , Old Latin had evolved into standardized Classical Latin . Vulgar Latin refers to the less prestigious colloquial registers , attested in inscriptions and some literary works such as those of

5248-431: The meanings of many words were changed and new words were introduced, often under influence from the vernacular. Identifiable individual styles of classically incorrect Latin prevail. Renaissance Latin, 1300 to 1500, and the classicised Latin that followed through to the present are often grouped together as Neo-Latin , or New Latin, which have in recent decades become a focus of renewed study , given their importance for

5330-434: The mid-19th century CE, it was subsequently excavated beginning in 1899 for three seasons by the American archaeologist F.J. Bliss and the Irish archaeologist R. A. S. Macalister . Extensive exploration of the site was not conducted until 1996, when a long-term project was commenced at the site, directed by Aren Maeir of Bar-Ilan University , Israel. Since 1996, excavations, surveys and other studies have been conducted at

5412-412: The names used by the Philistines during that time, and the earliest evidence for the use of an alphabetic writing system in the Philistine culture. Following the destruction of the site by Hazael, Philistine Gath lost its role as a primary Philistine city. Although the site was settled during later periods, it never regained its role as a site of central importance. During the Crusader period, following

5494-407: The plant. In February 2006, the cornerstone was laid for Intel's second Kiryat Gat plant, Fab 28. Despite this, Kiryat Gat has one of Israel's highest unemployment rates. In 2021, Intel announced a $ 10 billion investment in new manufacturing in Kiryat Gat. The headquarters and small-arms (guns) manufacturing facility of Israeli Weapons Industries is now located in Kiryat Gat. Kiryat Gat is served by

5576-421: The sciences , medicine , and law . A number of phases of the language have been recognized, each distinguished by subtle differences in vocabulary, usage, spelling, and syntax. There are no hard and fast rules of classification; different scholars emphasize different features. As a result, the list has variants, as well as alternative names. In addition to the historical phases, Ecclesiastical Latin refers to

5658-406: The site, focusing on various cultures, periods and aspects relating to the site, its culture and history, and its surroundings. The site was inhabited from Proto-Historic through Modern times. The earliest evidence for settlement is from the Chalcolithic Period (c. 5th millennium BCE), after which there is continuous occupation until the modern Palestinian village of Tell es-Safi, abandoned during

5740-442: The study of the entire sequence of the Philistine culture, since at other Philistine sites (such as Ekron , Ashdod , and Ashkelon ) these phases are not well represented. Archaeologists believe it was the largest city of the Southern Levant during the 10th and 9th centuries BCE. Recent excavations have uncovered dramatic evidence of a siege and subsequent destruction of the site in the late 9th century BCE, which can be related to

5822-444: The styles used by the writers of the Roman Catholic Church from late antiquity onward, as well as by Protestant scholars. The earliest known form of Latin is Old Latin, also called Archaic or Early Latin, which was spoken from the Roman Kingdom , traditionally founded in 753 BC, through the later part of the Roman Republic , up to 75 BC, i.e. before the age of Classical Latin . It is attested both in inscriptions and in some of

5904-561: The two Shuwardata and 'Abdi-Ashtarti. Another Gath, known as Ginti-kirmil (Gath of Carmel) also appears in the Amarna letters. The site most favored as the location of Gath is the archaeological mound or tell known as Tell es-Safi in Arabic and Tel Zafit in Hebrew (sometimes written Tel Tzafit), located inside Tel Zafit National Park , but a stone inscription disclosing the name of

5986-545: The way to Diospolis (Lod), suggested to identify the biblical Gath with either Tell ej-Judeideh , or Tel Safi, and that Gath and Moresheth-Gath were one and the same place. The 19th-century scholar Edward Robinson proposed that Gath be identified with Tell es-Safi , and this identification was generally accepted until the early 20th century, when it began to be questioned. In the 1920s, famed archaeologist W. F. Albright disputed this identification, writing that "The archaeological exploration of Tell el-Safi did not yield

6068-422: The written form of Latin was increasingly standardized into a fixed form, the spoken forms began to diverge more greatly. Currently, the five most widely spoken Romance languages by number of native speakers are Spanish , Portuguese , French , Italian , and Romanian . Despite dialectal variation, which is found in any widespread language, the languages of Spain, France, Portugal, and Italy have retained

6150-783: Was also used as a convenient medium for translations of important works first written in a vernacular, such as those of Descartes . Latin education underwent a process of reform to classicise written and spoken Latin. Schooling remained largely Latin medium until approximately 1700. Until the end of the 17th century, the majority of books and almost all diplomatic documents were written in Latin. Afterwards, most diplomatic documents were written in French (a Romance language ) and later native or other languages. Education methods gradually shifted towards written Latin, and eventually concentrating solely on reading skills. The decline of Latin education took several centuries and proceeded much more slowly than

6232-491: Was extensive and prolific, but less well known or understood today. Works covered poetry, prose stories and early novels, occasional pieces and collections of letters, to name a few. Famous and well regarded writers included Petrarch, Erasmus, Salutati , Celtis , George Buchanan and Thomas More . Non fiction works were long produced in many subjects, including the sciences, law, philosophy, historiography and theology. Famous examples include Isaac Newton 's Principia . Latin

6314-425: Was found surrounding the site, is apparently related to this event. This siege system, which comprises a man-made siege trench, a related berm (earth embankment) and other elements, is currently the earliest archaeological evidence "on the ground" for an ancient siege system. Although king Uzziah is said to have broken down Gath's walls ( 2 Chronicles 26:6 ), this possibly refers to the fact that several sections of

6396-503: Was largely separated from the unifying influences in the western part of the Empire. Spoken Latin began to diverge into distinct languages by the 9th century at the latest, when the earliest extant Romance writings begin to appear. They were, throughout the period, confined to everyday speech, as Medieval Latin was used for writing. For many Italians using Latin, though, there was no complete separation between Italian and Latin, even into

6478-691: Was one of the five cities of the Philistine pentapolis during the Iron Age . It was located in northeastern Philistia , close to the border with Judah . Gath is often mentioned in the Hebrew Bible and its existence is confirmed by Egyptian inscriptions. Already of significance during the Bronze Age , the city is believed to be mentioned in the El-Amarna letters as Gimti/Gintu , ruled by

6560-529: Was perceived as a separate language, for instance early French or Italian dialects, that could be transcribed differently. It took some time for these to be viewed as wholly different from Latin however. After the Western Roman Empire fell in 476 and Germanic kingdoms took its place, the Germanic people adopted Latin as a language more suitable for legal and other, more formal uses. While

6642-482: Was shut down in June 2019), and Vatican Radio & Television, all of which broadcast news segments and other material in Latin. A variety of organisations, as well as informal Latin 'circuli' ('circles'), have been founded in more recent times to support the use of spoken Latin. Moreover, a number of university classics departments have begun incorporating communicative pedagogies in their Latin courses. These include

6724-618: Was still ruled by a Philistine king named Achish . King Achish is mentioned as the ruler of Gath for the times of Saul , David, and Solomon, making it uncertain whether this refers to two or more kings of the same name. Gath was also the home city of the Philistine giant Goliath and his brothers, as well as of Itai HaGiti , one of King David's generals, and his 600 soldiers who aided the king in his exile from his son Absalom . David, while running from Saul , escaped to Gath, and served under its king Achish. During Solomon's reign, Shemei went to Gath to recover his escaped slave. The city of Gath

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