Chapter 7
The Levant: Canaan, Israel, Phonecia
The development of various aspects of complex societies is highlighted in this chapter.
The region of the Levant is still a trouble spot in today’s world. This chapter will give the
background to these conflicts. Major ideas such as the foundations of the Judaism,
commerce and the alphabet are also highlighted.
Pages 109-111
Canaan
Pages 112-113
Ancient Israel
Page 114-115
The Hebrews
Pages 115-116
The Kingdom
Pages 117-119
Phonecians
Pages 120-121
DBQ Document Based Question
Page 122
Works Consulted
Essential Questions:
How did the different factions in the modern Middle East come to be?
Why is history considered to be an interpretation?
Timeline of Levant
80,000 BP
Homo Sapiens, crossing Red Sea into Yemen from East Africa, begin to
populate world and eliminate other hominids.
10,000 BP/8000 BC
Agriculture emerges in Fertile Crescent, region of Middle East
incorporating Mesopotamia, Levant, and Egypt (Neolithic Revolution),
leading to formation of permanent settlements;
3500 BCE
Bronze, strong man-made alloy of copper and tin, invented
independently in Middle East and Far East
1500 BC
Abraham of Ur in southern Mesopotamia leads Hebrews, a Semitic
people, from Sumer to Canaan and then, as result of famine, to Egypt
1200 BC
1050 BC



Moses leads Israelites (Hebrews) from Egypt into Canaan
Widespread use of iron begins in Mediterranean region; Iron
Sea Peoples, who may have been Philistines (from Canaan)
invade Mediterranean coasts, destroying Hittite Empire

Phoenicians, a Semitic people living in present-day Lebanon and skilled
in ancient times as seafaring traders, invent phonetic alphabet, with about
two dozen abstract symbols (letters) representing sounds, in contrast to
non-alphabetic writing systems.
930 BC
Israel and Judah separate into two kingdoms; some time afterward priests
in each kingdom begin writing down oral traditions that eventually
coalesce into Bible
722 – 720 BC
Israel crushed by Assyrians; 10 tribes exiled (Ten Lost Tribes).
586 BC
Judah conquered by Babylonia; Jerusalem and First Temple destroyed;
most Jews exiled to Babylonia.
538-515 BC
Many Jews return from Babylonia; Temple rebuilt.
The Levant Cultures
Canaan and Ancient Israel
Geography
The habitable portion of the southern Levant is small but exceedingly diverse. From
mountain peaks to the lowest point on the earth, from abundant rainfall to arid desert,
the land includes a wide range of habitats. The peak of
Mt. Hermon (Picture right) is more than 9,000 feet
(2800 m) above sea level, while the Dead Sea is the
lowest point on the earth's surface more than 1,300
feet (390 m) below sea level. The climatic variations
are largely due to it being a land hemmed in between
the Mediterranean Sea to the west and the Arabian
Desert to the east. Summers are hot and dry; most
precipitation occurs during the relatively cool winters.
The dry areas approach desert conditions and can receive as little as 2 inches of
rainfall per year. Apart from the Sea of Galilee and the Jordan River valley, there are
few lakes or rivers. Most water is found in springs that break through the limestone
bedrock covering most of the region.
The more humid areas have a mild Mediterranean climate, such as is found in
Greece and Italy. These areas receive between 12 and 40 inches of rain per year. The
natural vegetation originally consisted of dense oak, pistachio and pine tree forests.
Wild wheat, barley and olive trees were also native to this area.
Over the millennia, human beings
have brought about dramatic
changes in the environment. By
8,500
years
ago,
human
intervention had led to plant
domestication and by 5,000 years
ago, deforestation was well
underway. A great variety of
animals are known from the
Levant and among them are about
100 species of mammals and almost 500 species of birds. Many of the wild beasts of
the forest no longer exist today as a result of intensive hunting. Among these
animals are the lion, bear, antelope, wild ox, Mesopotamian fallow deer, ostrich,
crocodile and hippopotamus. Domesticated animals from the area include the horse,
donkey, goat, sheep, pig and cattle.
3300 - 1950
BCE Walled
towns
The inhabitants of Canaan built the first walled towns. These towns were not large -populations seldom exceeded 2000. The evolution of urban societies had a profound
effect on the civilization in Canaan. The clear boundaries of the cities and their role
as regional centers represented a new concept in communal organization
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Town
layout
The most imposing feature of these
towns was their defenses. Walls were
built of rough stones or of unbaked mud
brick. One of the best preserved sites
from this time was Arad. There, the
defensive wall (see picture left) was
furnished with semicircular bastions at
regular intervals. Families lived within
the city walls in houses clustered around
courtyards. Differences in wealth existed
but were not marked. Buildings that
might qualify as "palaces" were almost
non-existent. Small temples were the main form of public building and
probably served as the focal point for community life. Both temples and
private houses had a similar basic plan, namely a rectangular structure built of
mud brick with the entrance in the long side.
Technology
Advances
Around this time, pottery technology developed as the potter's wheel came into
common use and methods for firing wares were better controlled. Metal
weapons and tools were created by artisans in these urban centers and despite
the terminology, copper, and not bronze, was the metal used in the Early
Bronze Age.
Collapse
By 2,300 BCE, most of the towns in the southern Levant had been abandoned
or reduced in size. Current evidence suggests that a global climate change and
drier conditions were the basic cause of these social changes. In addition, there
was a gradual decline in trade with Egypt towards the end of the period. Under
this strain, the specialized agricultural economy of Early Bronze Age Canaan
collapsed. In order to survive, people turned to small-scale farming and
pastoral nomadism. Urban communities disintegrated and disappeared. For the
next 350 years, walled towns ceased to play a role in Canaanite life.
1950 -1539
BCE
Around 1950 BCE, urban life revived in Canaan. For the first time, palaces
were built in the largest settlements. These palace-towns controlled nearby
villages and vied with one another for power. From Syria to the Egyptian Delta,
Social
Classes and rulers competed for prestige though warfare, trade, building projects and fine
architecture crafts. The Middle Bronze Age was a period of great wealth and strong selfgovernment of individual city-states. The aristocratic local rulers embellished
their cities with large scale public buildings, temples and palaces. Orthogonal
town planning was in effect, with paved streets at right angles. Cities were
surrounded by huge fortifications, with ramparts built to defend against the
battering rams of enemies. The weapons of the warriors were now made of
bronze. Bronze is an alloy of copper with 5-10% tin, which was likely imported
from the area where modern-day Afghanistan is.
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1539 - 1200
BCE
Advances
New types of weapons made in the Middle Bronze
Age were the duckbill axe, the narrow, chiselshaped axe, and a leaf-shaped dagger with a
wooden handle and a stone pommel. The chariot
was used in battle at this time. Despite their great
defenses, many of the cities in Canaan were destroyed in the turmoil following the
Egyptian expulsion of the Hyksos in the mid-16th century BCE. This event led to
the collapse of the Middle Bronze Age social system in Canaan.
1200 – 950
BCE
Egyptian
influence
In the Late Bronze Age, Canaan joined the international community. Canaanite
"mayors" served the Egyptian Pharaoh and traded by sea with Minoan Crete,
Mycenaean Greece and Cyprus. Egyptian rule was consolidated by the conquests
of Pharaoh Thutmoses III, who at the Battle of Megiddo defeated a unified force
of Canaanite city states. Land-owning and merchant families from whom the
city's rulers, councils of elders and elite warriors were drawn, controlled
Canaanite cities in the Late Bronze Age. These rulers were dependent on
Egyptian overlordship and the princes of the local noble families were often
educated in Egypt and trained to be loyal to the Pharaoh. The city rulers were
also required to pay heavy tribute and taxes and supply the resident Egyptian
army with food and other supplies. Canaanite cities during this time often
completely lacked fortifications.
Classes
The lower classes in Canaanite society were the artisans and farmers. In addition
to the city and village dwellers, a widespread nomadic pastoral population
known as the Shasa lived in the countryside, mountain regions and desert fringe.
Another local population which existed on the fringes of society was the 'Apiru,
groups of bandits and refugees. Although some scholars equate them to the
earliest biblical Hebrews, it is clear that 'Apiru denoted a social, rather than
ethnic, category.
Disruption
and Change
After 1200 BCE, significant social and economic
upheaval disrupted the eastern Mediterranean
world. From Greece to Israel, many important
cities were abandoned, or burned, perhaps at the
hands of people displaced by the collapse of the
Mycenaean palace system in the Aegean. Even
the mighty empire of Egypt was put under siege
as the Pharaohs Meneptah and later Ramesses III
fought back attacks from the "Sea Peoples."
In the Iron Age I period, new ethnic and political identities emerged across the
Levant. Israelites, Philistines and Arameans, among others, are identified as
"peoples" for the first time. As Egyptian rule in Canaan collapsed towards the end
of the New Kingdom, new patterns of settlement and lifestyle emerged. On the
Mediterranean coast, artifacts and customs reminiscent of Mycenaeans settled in
Cyprus indicate the arrival of the Philistine immigrants from the Aegean. Many
scholars believe that the Philistines were one of the tribes of Sea Peoples, called
the Pelset, mentioned in Egyptian inscriptions.
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Origins of
Israel
Archaeologists have uncovered little evidence to support the biblical account of
the Exodus from Egypt led by Moses and the Israelite's subsequent conquest of
Canaan. An Egyptian stele inscribed with a triumphal hymn to the victory of
Pharaoh Meneptah, however, mentions a people named Israel, placing them in the
highlands of Canaan by 1208 BCE. At the same time, many small villages appear
as part of a new wave of settlement in the Judean and Samarian highlands in
Canaan. These were sedentary populations of small communities, each numbering
several dozens of people who subsisted on farming and herding. Although these
settlements are clearly related to early Israel, their material culture is not
significantly different from rural settlements elsewhere in the southern Levant.
Monumental structures, fortifications and public buildings are almost entirely
absent from the early Israelite settlement sites.
The Hebrews
Origins
Geography
Agriculture
112
The stage on which Hebrew history took place was a varied and a troubled place.
Hebrew history, as told by the Hebrews, began in Mesopotamia, in the cities of Ur
in the south and Haran in the north. Powerful city-states, such as Ur, rose up in this
fertile area, and these city-states would eventually become the foundation of mighty
empires, such as the Akkadian and Amorite empires.
Its most salient geographical fact was that it lay between Mesopotamia and Egypt.
It was the land bridge that carried all the commercial goods between these two
wealthy and powerful areas; it was also the highway on which armies would travel,
whether Mesopotamian, Egyptian, Persian, Greek, or Roman. More than anything
else, this fact of geography determined the course of Hebrew history. Like a moon
caught between the massive gravitational forces of two large planets, Palestine was
in constant turmoil and under constant threat. Although the Hebrews called it the
"land of milk and honey," Palestine (named after the group that dominated it for
much of its early history, the Philistines) was in fact a harsh environment. It
appeared to be the land of milk and honey only to a group of people that had been,
after all, living in the desert for several generations. The land itself is composed of
four geographically self-contained longitudinal strips; the self-containment of these
areas always made it difficult throughout history to create a unified state out of the
entire area.
The richest agricultural areas are along the Mediterranean coast, but this area was
dominated first by Canaanites and then Philistines for a large part of Hebrew
history. The Hebrews controlled this area for only a very brief time during the
monarchy. Because they could not dislodge these people, the Hebrews settled in
the second area, the central hill country, a backbone of mountains running from
north to south between the coastal areas and the Jordan River valley. Dry and
rocky, the central hills were a very difficult place to live, but the spectacle of
Hebrew history mainly takes place in this hill country: Galilee, Samaria, Megiddo,
Shechem, Judah, Jerusalem, Hebron, Beer-sheba. To the west of the hills is the
Jordan River valley. In Hebrew, the word Jordan means "the descender," for it
begins at Mount Hermon in the north at about 200 feet above sea level, and literally
plummets to the Sea (actually a lake) of Galilee ten miles south at 700 feet below
sea level.
Along this valley and
around the Sea of
Galilee
are
rich
farmlands
yielding
grains and fruit as well
as fishing in the river
and the Sea of Galilee.
To the west of the
Jordan River valley are
the
Transjordan
Highlands (about 1500
feet above sea level).
The climate can be
harsh, but several rivers
allow
for
rich
agriculture. This area
was largely occupied by
non-Hebrews; in the
Transjordan Highlands
were the kingdoms of
Edom (south), Moab
(center), and Ammon
(center). For most of its
history, these lands
were out of Hebrew
control.
First
mention in
history
For the most part, the people surrounding the Hebrews took little interest in
them for much of Hebrew history. The Hebrews themselves don't actually
appear in history until the reign of Meneptah, king of Egypt from about
1224-1211 BC. The son of Ramses I (1290-1224 BC), generally taken to be
the king of Egypt at the time of the Hebrew exodus, Meneptah undertakes a
military campaign in Asia in 1220 BC. In an account of the campaign
inscribed in granite, a list of all the conquered peoples includes the
Israelites who were mentioned as "now living in Canaan."
Before this point, the only history of the Hebrews was written by the
Hebrews themselves, in Genesis 12-50. In the Hebrew account of their own
history, they trace their origins back to a single individual, Abraham, who
came originally from Mesopotamia. The histories of the pre-Egyptian
Hebrews is generally called the age of the patriarchs (patriarch means
"father-ruler"); while it is virtually impossible to date this age since the
Hebrew history of the age is written down after more than a thousand years
had passed and no one else was interested in their history; scholars place
this age, roughly between 1950 and 1500 BCE.
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113
Who were
the
Hebrews?
Early Hebrews were nomads, wandering tribal groups who were organized
along classic tribal logic. Society was principally organized around kinship
with a rigid kinship hierarchy. The relationship with a god was also a
kinship relationship: anybody outside the kinship structure (anybody who
wasn’t a descendant of Abraham) was not included in the special
relationship with G-d. Well into the monarchical period and beyond, the
Hebrews seem to dynamically remember their tribal character, for Genesis
associates civilization with Cain and his descendants (meaning that
civilization is not a good thing) and the history of the monarchy is clearly
written from an anti-monarchical stance, since it is made clear that
desiring a king is disobedience to G-d.
Age of
Patriarchs
In Hebrew history, Abraham and his descendants were selected by
Yahweh (a regional god) to be his chosen people over all other peoples.
Abraham, a Semite living in Haran, a city in northern Mesopotamia, and
whose father, Terah, came from the city Ur in southern Mesopotamia, was
visited suddenly by Yahweh and told to move his family. If Abraham's
migration can be dated to around 1950 BC, this means that his migration
from Mesopotamia would make sense, since the region was collapsing into
chaos. Migrating to the west, Abraham stopped at Shechem and was again
visited by Yahweh, who then told him that all this land would be given to
him and his descendants.
So the election of the Hebrews involved a
certain unexplained quality (why pick
Abraham?) that was partially answered by
Abraham's unswerving obedience when
Yahweh asked him to sacrifice his son. But
more importantly, the foundation of the
Hebrew view of history was contained in
these patriarchal stories.
The third aspect that emerges is that these
tribal groups of early Hebrews wandered far
and wide; they did not occupy the lands around Palestine; this occupation
would come considerably later. They seemed to freely move from Palestine,
across the deserts, and as far as Egypt. At several points in the narrative,
Hebrew tribes moved to Egypt in order to find a better life. It would not be
unfair to imagine that the Hebrews were among the infinite variety of
foreigners who overwhelmed Egypt at the end of the Middle Kingdom.
Beyond this it is difficult to come to certain conclusions. As far as the
religion of the early Hebrews was concerned, it is generally believed that it
had nothing to do with the Yahweh cult. The Hebrew accounts of the
patriarchs generally use the term "Elohim" (G-d), "El Shaddai" (G-d
Almighty), and other variants. Several religious practices described in
Genesis seem to indicate a belief in animistic forces and even, possibly,
polytheism, but these passages are highly controversial.
114
1200 – 900
BCE
Origin of the
Kingdom
Exodus asserts that Moses is the first to hear the name
of G-d, Yahweh.. All that is known for certain is that by
the end of the patriarchal age, several tribes identified
with one another as having a common ancestor and a
common identity. There is no evidence of what they
called themselves; the best guess of the origin of the
term “Hebrew” is that it comes from the Egyptian word,
"apiru," or "foreigner."
In Iron Age II, nation-states arose in the southern Levant. Territory and nationality
joined family and town as sources of identity. Saul, of the tribe of Benjamin,
became the first king of Israel. He consolidated the tribes and set to work on the
Philistine problem. Israelite elders realized they needed better leadership to
withstand military threats. Socioeconomic factors, like population growth and the
need for food, were also part of the reason the men wanted a strong leader. They
asked the prophet Samuel to appoint a king like those that led other countries -- like
Egypt. Although Samuel thought it a bad idea, and warned that a king would draft
their sons and more, he did what they and what he thought God wished.
The kingdom of Israel under David and Solomon is the best known example of the
"new states" of the Iron II period. According to the Bible, the first king of Israel,
Saul, died in a battle with the Philistines. The next king, David, defeated the
Philistines and united the states of Israel and Judah to rule over all Israelites for the
first time. David was able to extend the size of the kingdom due to the great army
he commanded. The Canaanite town of Jerusalem was conquered and became
David's civil and religious capital. David's son, Solomon, continued to rule over a
united and wealthy kingdom.
Two Kingdoms
Israel and
Judah
From an archaeological perspective, however, evidence for state government
increases after Solomon (c.930 BCE) -- in the period when Israel was divided
into the two kingdoms of Israel in the north and Judah to the south. The two
kingdoms co-existed for approximately 200 years, mostly as allies but at times at
odds with each other.
Between 900 and 750 BCE, biblical states such as Israel, Judah, Ammon and Moab
developed centralized governments with increasingly professional bureaucracies.
This is marked by the occurrence of large-scale public works projects, such as
elaborate water-tunnels, the spread of standardized systems of weights and
measures and an increase in the use of writing. The Iron Age II period marks the
first time that the alphabet was widely used since its invention in Bronze Age
Canaan.
Fall of the
kingdoms
After 734 BCE, the Assyrian Empire (based in northern Iraq) began to intervene
directly in the politics of the southern Levant, helping to further concentrate power
in the person of the king and his officials with whom the Assyrians dealt.
115
Failure of the nation states to pay tribute to the Empire, or any show of resistance,
brought about crushing retaliation. The northern kingdom of Israel came to an end
about 722 BCE with the capture of its capital, Samaria.
In the southern kingdom, Zedekiah
(597-586), the last king of Judah,
revolted against Nebuchadnezzar,
ceased paying tribute to him and
entered into an alliance with
Pharaoh Hophra of Egypt. In 589
BCE, Nebuchadnezzar II returned to
Judah and again besieged Jerusalem.
During this period, many Jews fled
to surrounding Moab,
Ammon, Edom and other countries
to seek refuge.
The city fell after an eighteenmonth siege and Nebuchadnezzar
again pillaged both Jerusalem and
the Temple, after which he
destroyed them both. After killing
all
of
Zedekiah's
sons,
Nebuchadnezzar took Zedekiah to
Babylon, putting an end to the
independent Kingdom of Judah.
In addition to those killed during
the siege, over time, some 4,600
Jews were deported after the fall of
Judah. By 586 BCE much of Judah
was devastated, and the former kingdom suffered a steep decline of both
economy and population.
In 539 BCE the Persians conquered Babylon and allowed the exiled Jews to
return to Judah and rebuild the Temple, which was completed in the sixth year of
Darius (515 BCE) (Ezra 6:15) under Zerubbabel, the grandson of the second to
last king of Judah, Jehoiachin. Judah province was a peaceful part of
the Achaemenid Persian Empire until the fall of the Empire in c. 333 BCE
to Alexander the Great.
116
Phoenicians The Phoenicians (the Canaanites, or Sidonians, of the Bible) were Semitic people.
Their country was a narrow strip of the Syrian coast, about 160 miles (260
Environment kilometers) long and 20 miles (32 kilometers) wide. The area now comprises
Lebanon and parts of Syria and Israel. Although Phoenicia had hills and mountains,
its lack of fertile land made large-scale farming impossible. According to the
historian Richard Miles, the people of the land recognized "a shared ethnic identity
Turner
as Can'nai, inhabitants of the land of Canaan yet, despite a common linguistic,
cultural, and religious inheritance, the region was very rarely politically united,
with each city operating as a sovereign state ruled over by a king".
Their territory was so
small that the
Phoenicians were forced
to turn to the sea for a
living. They became the
most skillful
shipbuilders and
navigators of their time.
They worked the silver
mines of Spain, passed
through the Strait of
Gibraltar, and founded
the city of Cadiz on the
southern coast of Spain.
They sailed to the
British Isles for tin and
may have ventured
around southern Africa. They founded many colonies, the greatest being Carthage.
Economy
Murex
Cedars of
Lebanon
The Phoenicians began to develop as a seafaring, manufacturing, and trading nation
when the Cretans--the first masters of the Mediterranean--were overthrown by the
Greeks (see Aegean Civilization). Not only did they take the fine wares of the
Eastern nations to the Western barbarians, but they also became skilled in making
such wares themselves--especially metalwork, glass, and cloth. From a snail, the
murex, they obtained a crimson dye called Tyrian purple. This was so costly that
only kings and wealthy nobles could afford garments dyed with it. Silver, iron, tin,
lead, horses, ebony and ivory, linen, coral, honey, spices, oil and precious stones,
"These were the merchants of all things” Ezekiel wrote, "in blue clothes, and
embroidered work, and in chests of rich apparel, bound with cords, and made of
cedar, among the merchandise."
The Phoenicians were also blessed with the bounty of the forests in the
mountains of Lebanon. They never hesitated to trade for their abundant
pines, firs, and cypresses, as well as their fabulous cedars of Lebanon,
some of the world's most famous trees. Capable of reaching heights of
over 120 ft (with trunks almost 40 ft in diameter), with a fragrant and
durable wood, the cedars of Lebanon have been sought after since the third
millennium BC. It is these trees that according to the Old Testament that
were offered by Hiram, king of Tyre, to Solomon for use in the
construction of the First Temple in Jerusalem.
117
Map of
Extent of
Phoenician
colonies
Cities
Byblos
Byblos In the middle of the 10th century BC, Byblos, believed to have been the
first city of the Phoenicians, achieved its greatest renown beginning in the third
millennium BC when it was a busy port used for trade. Ships from throughout the
Mediterranean would come to Byblos in search of local materials, as well as those
found in other further-distant lands. Egypt would send gold, papyrus, linen and
alabaster, and exchange it all for oil and wood.
Perhaps the most significant contribution of the Phoenicians was a syllabic writing,
developed in about 1000 BC at Byblos. The Phoenicians imported so much papyrus
from Egypt that the Greeks used their name for the first great Phoenician port,
Greatest
contribution Byblos, to refer to the ancient paper. The name Bible, or "the book," also derives
from Byblos. This form of writing was spread by the Phoenicians in their travels
and influenced the Aramaic and Greek alphabets. Byblos continued to be important
until the first millennium BC.
Sidon
Tyre
118
Sidon is another of the oldest Phoenician cities. Founded in the 3rd millennium BC,
it was the only of the great urban centers that was not built directly on the waters of
the Mediterranean. Referred to as “Sidon the Great, Mother of Arvad and of Tyre" it
is referred to in the Old Testament and by Homer. --Sidon, the center of the glass
industry.
Tyre, the center of the purple-dye industry, assumed the leadership of all Phoenicia.
Friendly relations were established with the Hebrews, and King Solomon sent to
King Hiram of Tyre not only for materials but also for skilled workmen to build the
temple in Jerusalem.
As demands for commerce increased and trade relations developed, the Phoenician
influence began to spread. Although by the 9th century BC, settlements had reached
much farther afield - as far as the North Africa and Spanish coast, in the early years,
Phoenician mingling remained centered along the Levantine coast.
Turner
The Phoenicians never developed a united kingdom. It was more a conglomeration
of the various trading cities. After 1000 BC, when Tyre rose to prominence as the
principal city of Levantine Phoenicia, the imperial overlord of the moment, the
Assyrians, required regular tribute payments to their king.
To satisfy this demand - and Phoenician curiosity - traders pushed west in search of
new resources and commodities, founding great cities like Utica and Carthage. This
expansion was further encouraged by alliances between Tyre and Israel and later by
disruptive enemy raids.
Collapse
The city-states of Phoenicia flourished through maritime trade between c. 1500-322
BCE. when the major cities were conquered by Alexander the Great and, after his
death, the region became a battleground in the fight between his generals for
succession and empire. Unfortunately, as with much of what was once Phoenicia,
little remains of the great cities that stood at the center of this ancient maritime
power. None of the original buildings they lived in and temples they built are still
standing, and there is no great wealth of art depicting exactly how they lived. In fact,
it has taken chance and persistent digging just to uncover some of the foundation
traces of these intrepid people, despite the once heralded majesty of their
municipalities. The armies and peoples that eventually conquered the Phoenicians
either destroyed or built over their cities. Their writings, mostly on fragile papyrus,
disintegrated—so that we now know the Phoenicians mainly by the biased reports of
their enemies. Although the Phoenicians themselves reportedly had a rich literature,
it was totally lost in antiquity.
Acting as cultural middlemen, the Phoenicians disseminated ideas, myths, and
knowledge from the powerful Assyrian and Babylonian worlds in what is now Syria
and Iraq to their contacts in the Aegean. Those ideas helped spark a cultural revival
in Greece, one which led to the Greeks' Golden Age and hence the birth of Western
civilization.
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Document Based Question
Using the source given, write one paragraph using direct quotes from the source to
support your response.
Question
How do these documents demonstrate that history is an interpretation?
Source
Sennacherib’s War with Judah
Biblical account
The Biblical account of Sennacherib's siege of Jerusalem begins with the destruction
of the Northern Kingdom of Israel and its capital Samaria. This is how the ten
northern tribes came to be known as the Ten Lost Tribes, because as recorded in II
Kings 17, they were carried off and settled with other peoples as was the Assyrian
policy. II Kings 18-19 (and parallel passage II Chronicles 32:1-23) details
Sennacherib's attack on Judah and capital Jerusalem. Hezekiah had rebelled against
the Assyrians, so they had captured all of the towns in Judah. Hezekiah realized his
error and sent great tribute to Sennacherib. But the Assyrians nevertheless marched
toward Jerusalem. Sennacherib sent his supreme commander with an army to besiege
Jerusalem while he himself went to fight with the Egyptians. The supreme
commander met with Hezekiah's officials and threatened them to surrender; while
hailing insults so the people of the city could hear, blaspheming Judah and particularly
YHWH. When the King Hezekiah heard of this, he tore his clothes (as was the custom
of the day for displaying deep anguish) and prayed to YHWH in the Temple. Isaiah
the prophet told the king that YHWH would take care of the whole matter and that he
would return to his own lands. That night, the angel of YHWH killed 185,000
Assyrian troops. Jewish tradition maintains that archangel Gabriel (along with
Michael in the Targum's version) was the angel sent to destroy the Assyrian troops,
and that the destruction occurred on Passover night. Sennacherib soon returned to
Nineveh in disgrace. Some years later, while Sennacherib was worshiping in the
temple of his god Nisroch, two of his sons killed him and fled. Some[who?] suggest
that Psalm 46 was composed as a Song of Deliverance that was led by the Korahite
Levitical singers and accompanied by the Alamoth (maidens with tambourines) and
sung by the inhabitants of Jerusalem after their successful defense of the city from the
siege.
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PRIMARY SOURCE from Assyrian Capture of Jerusalem
by Sennacherib
In 701 B.C. an Assyrian king, Sennacherib, launched a bloody campaign against several princes of
Phoenicia and Palestine and captured the city of Jerusalem. What does this passage from an official
record of Sennacherib’s conquests tell you about Assyria’s military power?
In the continuation of my campaign I besieged Beth-Dagon, Joppa, Banai-Barqa, Azuru, cities belonging
to Sidqia who did not bow to my feet quickly enough; I conquered them and carried their spoils away.
The officials, the patricians and the common people of Ekron—who had thrown Padi, their king, into
fetters because he was loyal to his solemn oath sworn by the god Ashur, and had handed him over to
[king] Hezekiah, the Jew—and he (Hezekiah) held him in prison, unlawfully, as if he (Padi) be an
enemy—had become afraid and had called for help upon the kings of Egypt and the bowmen, the chariotcorps and the cavalry of the king of Ethiopia, an army beyond counting—and they had come to their
assistance. In the plain of Eltekeh, their battle lines were drawn up against me and they sharpened their
weapons. Upon a trust-inspiring oracle given by Ashur, my lord, I fought with them and inflicted a defeat
upon them. In the mêlée of the battle, I personally captured alive the Egyptian charioteers with their
princes and also the charioteers of the king of Ethiopia. I besieged Eltekeh and Timnah, conquered them
and carried their spoils away. I assaulted Ekron and killed the officials and patricians who had committed
the crime and hung their bodies on poles surrounding the city. The common citizens who were guilty of
minor crimes, I considered prisoners of war. The rest of them, those who were not accused of crimes and
misbehavior, I released. I made Padi, their king, come from Jerusalem and set him as their lord on the
throne, imposing upon him the tribute due to me as overlord.
As to Hezekiah, the Jew, he did not submit to my yoke, I laid siege to 46 of his strong cities, walled forts
and to the countless small villages in their vicinity, and conquered them by means of well-stamped earthramps, and battering-rams brought thus near to the walls combined with the attack by foot soldiers, using
mines, breeches as well as sapper work. I drove out of them 200,150 people, young and old, male and
female, horses, mules, donkeys, camels, big and small cattle beyond counting, and considered them
booty. Himself I made a prisoner in Jerusalem, his royal residence, like a bird in a cage. I surrounded him
with earthwork in order to molest those who were leaving his city’s gate. His towns which I had
plundered, I took away from his country and gave them over to Mitinti, king of
Ashdod, Padi, king of Ekron, and Sillibel, king of Gaza. Thus I reduced his country, but I still increased
the tribute and the katrû-presents due to me as his overlord which I imposed later upon him beyond the
former tribute, to be delivered annually. Hezekiah himself, whom the terror-inspiring spendor of my
lordship had overwhelmed and whose irregular and elite troops which he had brought into Jerusalem, his
royal residence, in order to strengthen it, had deserted him, did send me, later, to Nineveh, my lordly city,
together with 30 talents of gold, 800 talents of silver, precious stones, antimony, large cuts of red stone,
couches inlaid with ivory, nîmedu-chairs inlaid with ivory, elephant-hides, ebony-wood, boxwood, and all
kinds of valuable treasures, his own daughters, concubines, male and female musicians. In order to
deliver the tribute and to do obeisance as a slave he sent his personal messenger.
from James B. Pritchard, ed., Ancient Near Eastern Texts, 2nd ed. (Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton
University Press, 1955), 287ff. Reprinted in The Ancient World to A.D. 300, 2nd ed. (New York: The
Macmillan Company, 1968), 6–7.
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