Reconsidering Goliath: An Iron Age I Philistine Chariot Warrior.

The text of 1 Sam 17:4-7 gives a detailed account of the arms and armor of the Philistine champion who battled David in the Elah Valley, a description unmatched for detail in any other biblical text. The text seems to contain enough information to provide an approximate sense, of Goliath's appearance. However, this is where the heart of the debate lies. Previous approaches have viewed the description of Goliath as modeled on an infantry man, be it a Mycenaean warrior of the Iron Age I, a Greek hoplite of the sixth century, or something of a mix of the two. However, if he is understood as a chariot warrior, a member of the Philistine elite warrior class, there is nothing in the description of his equipment that demands a late date for the text's origin. In fact, all his gear matches well with what might be expected of an Aegean-Levantine chariot warrior of the Iron I period. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]