Tribe of Dan: Sons of Israel, or of Greek Mercenaries Hired by Egypt?

Haaretz ^ | Dec 04, 2016 | Philippe Bohstrom

[Openurmind]

Samson the Greek? 3,000-year-old archaeological finds at Tel Dan suggest that the Danites were Aegean soldiers hired by Canaan's Egyptian overlords to keep order.

The Tribe of Dan, one of the 12 "Israelite tribes," may have started as no such thing. New archaeological evidence suggests that the Danites originated with mercenaries hired from the Aegean and Syria by the Egyptian overlords of Canaan to keep order.

According to the Bible, after the Israelites conquered Canaan, the land was split between the tribes – with the exception of the tribe of Dan. Bitter at their lot, the tribe went northward, conquered and destroyed the city of Laish (also called Leshem), then rebuilt it and renamed it after their ancestor (Judges 18:1-29).

"And the coast of the children of Dan went out too little for them: therefore the children of Dan went up to fight against Leshem, and took it, and smote it with the edge of the sword, and possessed it, and dwelt therein, and called Leshem, Dan, after the name of Dan their father" (Joshua 19:47).

[SunkenCiv]

That's just fabulous. Where exactly in his writings does Josephus say any such thing? You should have no problem finding it, since you're purporting to know so much about it. Same goes for Diodorus -- where is it written?