The Levant in Ancient Times

FOH 13

Can you locate…?

• The Fertile Crescent• Mediterranean Sea, Persian Gulf• 3 major rivers• Mesopotamia– Sumer, Babylonia, Akkad, Assyria

• Egypt: Upper, Lower, delta, desert

Between the major powers of Egypt and Mesopotamia?

Peoples of the Levant

• Who lived here?• Were they settled or nomadic?• How did they make a living?• What resources did they have?• What language(s) did they speak?• What god(s) did they worship?• How did they deal with the presence and

projects of larger powers?

• Phoenicians• Canaanites• Arameans• Philistines• Hebrews– Israelites– Judeans/Jews

c. 830 BCE

The International Age

The “Five Powers” c. 1350 BCE• Egypt

– Including Syria/Palestine/Canaan

• Hatti (Hittites)• Mittani (Hurrians)• Alashiya• Mesopotamia

– Northern part: Assyrians– Babylonia: Hittites, Kassites,

Assyrians

From alliance of “five great powers” to many smaller kingdoms?

c. 1350 BCE c. 830 BCE

The arrival of “the Sea Peoples”

• c. 1200 BCE• Origin unknown, but armed with iron and

warships, they attack and diminish the power of:- Mittani (the Hurrians)

- Hatti (the Hittites) - Alashiya

- Egypt (loses Syria/Palestine)• 1st Assyrian Empire is conquered by Arameans• the Levant is up for grabs…

New powers take shape in the Levant (c. 1200 – 800 BCE)

• Some of the “Sea Peoples” (peleset) settle on the southern coast Philistines, Palestine

• They form city-states: Gaza, Ashkelon, Ashdod• Further north, Phoenician city-states form: Byblos, Tyre, Sidon• Nomadic Hebrews, led by Moses, settle in the

land of Canaan, and eventually form kingdoms• Settled people of Canaan form kingdoms: Edom,

Moab, Ammon – as newcomers displace them

Semitic family of languages

The Phoenicians (c. 1200 – 500 BCE)

• Location? Major settlements? Natural environment? Geopolitics?

The Phoenicians (c. 1200 – 500 BCE)

Geopolitics:o Rough terrain, hilly, rocky hard to unite, created

independent city-stateso Narrow strip of plains along coast, hemmed in by

mountains and forests did some farming, but mostly relied on trade

o Caught between two major civilizations expanded to the west, around the Mediterranean, by creating colonies and extensive maritime (sea-based) trade routes

• Phoenicians’ colonies:• - Islands in middle of Mediterranean• - coast of southern Iberian peninsula (Spain)• - Coast of North Africa– Carthage and other settlements allowed them to

control passage of ships between Eastern and Western Mediterranean

– Access to natural resources and trading opportunities in these areas

Phoenicians as traders

o Trade featured: o two unique natural resources: timber and dye

from snailso cheaper imitations of other people’s pottery, glass,

jewelry, etc.o resources obtained through their colonies

Phoenicians’ innovations as traders

• Keeping track of stuff • Traveling by sea

Phoenicians’ innovations as traders

• Keeping track of stuff• Developed an alphabet

with 22 symbols (letters) – all consonants

• This made it easier for traders to keep their own records, not have to hire scribes

• Traveling by sea

Phoenicians’ innovations as traders

• Phonetic alphabet • Traveling by sea:• New models of ships that

were sturdy, stable, durable

• Discovered tacking (sailing into wind)

• Developed biremes and triremes as warships

• Explored Mediterranean and beyond (Britain, Africa)

End of the Phoenicians?

• Assyrians (2nd empire)• Neo-babylonians• Persians• Greeks• Carthage, 146 BCE, by Romans

Heartland of ancient Phoenicia today?