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Biblical character (First Book of Samuel) From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Achish (Hebrew: אָכִישׁ ʾāḵīš, Philistine: 𐤀𐤊𐤉𐤔 *ʾākayūš,[1] Akkadian: 𒄿𒅗𒌑𒋢 i-ka-ú-su) is a name used in the Hebrew Bible for two Philistine rulers of Gath. It is perhaps only a general title of royalty, applicable to the Philistine kings. The two kings of Gath, which most scholars identify as Tell es-Safi, are:
The Latin transliteration "Achish" represents the begadkefat (aspiration over a medial stop) in Aramaic and in post-Biblical Hebrew. Before the strong influence of Aramaic over Hebrew, which occurred after the Babylonian captivity, אָכִישׁ would have been pronounced: "Akish."
In the seventh-century BCE Ekron Royal Dedicatory Inscription, the name Akish appears as "son of Padi, son of ysd, son of Ada, son of Ya'ir"; Akish by then held enough authority in Ekron to dedicate a temple. A similar name, Ikausu, appears as king of Ekron in seventh-century BCE Assyrian inscriptions, as does Padi. Scholars agree that these two are the same men,[6] although a royal status cannot yet be confirmed for their ancestors Ysd, Ada, and Ya'ir.
This appears to indicate that either the name "Akish" was a common name for Philistine kings, used both at Gath and Ekron, or, as Naveh has suggested, that the editor of the biblical text used a known name of a Philistine king from the end of the Iron Age (Achish of Ekron) as the name of a king(s) of Gath in narratives relating to earlier periods.
Achish king of Gath appears in the 1985 film King David, starring Richard Gere.
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: "Achish". Easton's Bible Dictionary. 1897.
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