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
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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?
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Phoenicians
Canaanites
Arameans
Philistines
Hebrews
– Israelites
– Judeans/Jews
c. 830 BCE
The International Age
The “Five Powers”
• Egypt
– Including
Syria/Palestine/Canaan
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Hatti (Hittites)
Mittani (Hurrians)
Alashiya
Mesopotamia
– Northern part: Assyrians
– Babylonia: Hittites, Kassites,
Assyrians
c. 1350 BCE
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-states
o 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
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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 snails
o 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?
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Assyrians (2nd empire)
Neo-babylonians
Persians
Greeks
Carthage, 146 BCE, by Romans
Heartland of ancient Phoenicia today?