On the other hand, the Damascenes, the northern neighbours of the Amorites, whose city is mentioned by the Egyptians with Hamath as early as the sixteenth century, and who in the ninth and eighth centuries B.C. were the centre of the most powerful community in the Syrian interior, were not reckoned by the Hebrews among the sons of Canaan; and the inscriptions of the Assyrians also place the Damascenes among the Arimi, _i.e._ Aramaeens. Nor are the old inhabitants of the valley of the Jordan included by Hebrew tradition among the Canaanites, which is here associated with the principalities of Sodom and Gomorrah, of Adamah, Zeboim, and Zoar, and the names of the princes who once fought against Kedor Laomer in the valley of Siddim. But Jehovah caused fire and brimstone to rain upon Sodom and Gomorrah owing to the sins of the inhabitants, and destroyed these cities and the whole region. The Philistines also, whom we find in possession of the coast from Gaza in the south to Carmel in the north, were not counted by the Hebrews among the sons of Canaan. It has been remarked that the name occurs for the first time in Egyptian inscriptions in the first half of the thirteenth century B.C. The Hebrews tell us that the Philistines marched from Caphtor and overcame the Avites, who dwell "in villages as far as Gaza." By Caphtor we should probably understand the eastern sea coast of Egypt, the north-east of the Delta, where a Semitic population may have established itself firmly from the time of the Hyksos, and may have been able to maintain themselves after their expulsion. Yet there is nothing to contradict the assumption that, at the time of their expulsion by Amosis and the Tuthmosis, a part of the Hyksos turned towards Syria, and that the Philistines were sprung from these. We may remember that Manetho terms the Hyksos Phenicians, or kinsmen of the Phenicians, and tells us that they retired in the direction of Syria, and Herodotus represents the shepherd Philitis as pasturing his flocks at Memphis.[491] In the eleventh century B.C. we find the Philistines under the dominion of the princes of the cities of Gaza, Ascalon, Ashdod, Gath, and Ekron. The princes had their palaces; the cities were protected by walls and towers, and possessed extensive temples, in which were images of wood and iron, and rich offerings. The five cities formed a federation, their princes (Seranim) sat in a common council, led out their armies in common, and in common offered thankofferings for the victories won. They could bring into the field a splendid army of chariots, horsemen, heavy-armed soldiers, and bowmen; the soldiers were divided into troops of hundreds and thousands.[492]