Philistia (Hebrew: פְּלֶשֶׁת‎, Pəlešeṯ, Greek (LXX): Φυλιστιιμ Phulistiim) was a confederation of cities of Sea Peoples in the Southwest Levant, which included the cities of Ashdod, Ashkelon, Ekron, Gath, Gaza and for a time Jaffa. It was populated by the Peleset or Philistines, who are believed to have been an Indo-European people who settled in Canaan around the year 1200 BC. At its maximum territorial expansion, its territory may have stretched along the Canaanite coast from Arish in the Sinai (today's Egypt) to the Yarkon River (today's Tel Aviv), and as far inland as Ekron and Gath. Nebuchadnezzar II invaded Philistia in 604 BC, burned Ashkelon, and incorporated the territory in the Neo-Babylonian Empire; Philistia and its native population the Philistines disappear from the historic