CERETEI (Hebrew Kéréthé). - Mercenary troops, often listed in the Bible alongside the Peretei. Since the homeland of the Philistines (q.v.), their relatives, was Caphtor, commonly identified with Crete (q.v.), the C. appear to have been the "Cretans," as understood by the Septuagint in translating in the prophetic books (Ex. 25, 16; Soph. 2, 5) C.
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