Editing Goliath (section)

===Goliath and the Greeks===
The armor described in 1 Samuel 17 appears typical of Greek armor of the sixth century BCE; narrative formulae such as the settlement of battle by [[single combat]] between champions has been thought characteristic of the [[Homeric epics]] (the ''[[Iliad]]'') rather than of the ancient Near East. The designation of Goliath as a {{lang|he|איש הביניים}}, "man of the in-between" (a longstanding difficulty in translating 1 Samuel 17) appears to be a borrowing from Greek "man of the ''{{transliteration|grc|metaikhmion}}'' ({{lang|grc|μεταίχμιον}})", i.e., the space between two opposite army camps where [[Champion warfare|champion combat]] would take place.<ref>{{cite journal|url= http://berlinarchaeology.files.wordpress.com/2013/08/yadin-goliaths-armor.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141225131622/http://berlinarchaeology.files.wordpress.com/2013/08/yadin-goliaths-armor.pdf |archive-date=2014-12-25 |url-status=live|author=Azzan Yadin|title=Goliath's Armor and the Israelite Collective Memory|journal=[[Vetus Testamentum]]|volume=LIV|issue=3|pages=373–95|date=2004}}<br/>– See also {{cite journal|author=Israel Finkelstein|author-link=Israel Finkelstein|title=The Philistines in the Bible: A Late Monarchic Perspective|journal=[[Journal for the Study of the Old Testament]]|volume=27|issue=131|page=67}}<br/>– For a brief online overview, see {{cite web|title=Yadin on "David and Goliath" in VT 54 (2004)|url= http://www.heardworld.com/higgaion/?p=398|work=Higgaion|author=Christopher Heard|date=28 Apr 2006|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071013211237/http://www.heardworld.com/higgaion/?p=398|archive-date=2007-10-13|url-status=usurped}}</ref> Other scholars argue the description is a trustworthy reflection of the armaments that a Philistine warrior would have worn in the tenth century BCE.<ref>{{Cite journal |title=Reconsidering Goliath: An Iron Age I Philistine Chariot Warrior |journal=Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research |url=https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/BASOR41104416 |last=Zorn |first=Jeffrey R. |volume=360 |pages=1–22 |doi=10.1086/BASOR41104416 |year=2010|s2cid=163281106 |url-access=subscription }}</ref>{{efn|group=upper-alpha|Hoffmeier (2011): "A number of critical evalua-tions of more minimalist readings of David and Goliath duel quickly followed Finkelstein and A. Yadin’s articles. Philip King’s analysis of Goliath’s weapons in the Seymour Gitin Festschrift is worth men-tioning.<sup>33</sup> Contrary to Finkelstein’s conclusion, King determines that “Goliath’s bronze helmet, cuirass, greaves, long range bronze jav-elin, spear with socketed blade, shield-bearer, and sword have their counterparts in the repertoire of a Mycenaean soldier."<sup>34</sup> He flatly rejects the portrayal of Goliath as a 7th century Greek hoplite. In the Lawrence Stager Fest-schrift, Alan Millard likewise offered a critical response to Finkel-stein and A. Yadin.<sup>35</sup> Most recently, Moshe Garsiel wrote a comprehen-sive critique of the recent mini-malistic literary and archaeological readings of this classic narrative.<sup>36</sup>"{{sfn|Hoffmeier|2011|p=92}}}}

A story very similar to that of David and Goliath appears in the [[Iliad]], written {{circa|760}}–710&nbsp;BCE, where the young [[Nestor (mythology)|Nestor]] fights and conquers the giant Ereuthalion.{{sfn|Finkelstein|Silberman|2007|pp=198–199}}<ref>[[Homer]], ''[[Iliad]]'' Book 7 ll.132–160.</ref> Each giant wields a distinctive weapon—an iron club in Ereuthalion's case, a massive bronze spear in Goliath's; each giant, clad in armor, comes out of the enemy's massed array to challenge all the warriors in the opposing army; in each case the seasoned warriors are afraid, and the challenge is taken up by a stripling, the youngest in his family (Nestor is the twelfth son of [[Neleus]], David the seventh or eighth son of [[Jesse (biblical figure)|Jesse]]). In each case an older and more experienced father figure (Nestor's own father, David's patron Saul) tells the boy that he is too young and inexperienced, but in each case the young hero receives divine aid and the giant is left sprawling on the ground. Nestor, fighting on foot, then takes the chariot of his enemy, while David, on foot, takes the sword of Goliath. The enemy army then flees, the victors pursue and slaughter them and return with their bodies, and the boy-hero is acclaimed by the people.{{sfn|West|1997|pp=370, 376}} However, some scholars question whether the biblical writers would have ever had access to the Iliad, and argue that the similarities between both tales are also present in other ancient Near Eastern accounts of duels.<ref>{{cite journal |title=Homeric and Ancient Near Eastern Intertextuality in 1 Samuel 17 |journal=Journal of Biblical Literature |last=Frolov |first=Serge |url=https://doi.org/10.2307/41304213 |volume=130 |issue=3 |pages=451–471 |last2=Wright |first2=Allen |year=2011 |doi=10.2307/41304213 |issn=0021-9231 |jstor=41304213|url-access=subscription }}</ref>{{sfn|Hoffmeier|2011|pp=93–94}}