Title: 6. The Levant: 1200-720 BCE
16. The Levant 1200-720 BCE
- BOT612 Old Testament Backgrounds
2Crisis Political Change 1200-900
- "The political pattern of the Near East c. 1200
can be summarized broadly as follows in the
Levant, Cyprus and Mycenaean Greece the basic
political unit was the city-state usually
controlling a fair stretch of surrounding
territory. Between c. 1400 and 1200, the small
states of the Levant generally formed part of the
Hittite or Egyptian sphere of imperial control
Cyprus (or part of it), too, was dominated by the
Hittites at the end of the thirteenth century. To
the east a contemporary political power was
Kassite Babylonia, although it was being eclipsed
in the second half of the thirteenth century by
the meteoric rise of Assyria to the north (the
Middle Assyrian empire), and the establishment of
a strong Elamite state to the east."
3Crisis Political Change 1200-900
- "1200 . . . to the east, Assyria, Babylonia and
Elam appear to have remained relatively stable
until around the mid-eleventh century. - Crisis in the West
- "First, the great Hittite empire, with the
exception of one or two of its subject kingdoms
(e.g. Carchemish), disappeared completely around
(or probably soon after) 1200." - "Second, several cities in the Levant, most
strikingly Ugarit and Emar, were destroyed around
this time, and their sites not reoccupied." - "Finally, soon after the middle of the twelfth
century, Egypts control of the southern Levant
ended by the early eleventh century it had
withdrawn within its narrowest frontiers, having
lost control over Sinai and Nubia."
4The Sea Peoples
- Merneptah (1224/1213-1204)
- There is a description, "(inscribed at Karnak) of
a war fought by Merneptah in his fifth year (1220
(1209)) against a Libyan coalition attempting to
move into the western Delta. Included in the
Libyan forces were people who are designated,
variously, as northerners coming from all lands
and of the countries of the sea. Modern
scholars have therefore dubbed them simply
sea-peoples. They are listed as being S_?gt0rdn,
3kws, Trs, S0krws and Rwkw. A total of the
numbers of prisoners taken from the first four
groups is preserved 2200 in all. This needs to
be set against the 7000 Libyan prisoners (several
different tribes were
5The Sea Peoples
- involved). The impression, then, is that these
Libyan allies constituted a proportionally
smaller force. The Egyptian account mentions that
the sea-people contingents consisted of men
only, unlike the Libyans, who were accompanied by
their families. This implies that the
sea-peoples were mercenary soldiers hired by
the Libyan chief."
6Merneptah Monument at Karnak
7Merneptah Monument at Karnak
8The Sea Peoples
- Ramesses III (1184-1150)
- "Over forty (or thirty) years later (1176),
Ramesses III fought in his eighth year a
campaign, which was elaborately commemorated
(pictorially and textually) in his great funerary
temple at Medinet Habu, against an attack of
peoples moving south from Syria by sea and by
land. Some of them, such as the Tjkr, Prst, Wss
and Dnn, had not been mentioned before, while two
(S0rdn, S0krs Trs - extremely doubtful) were
among the Libyan allies in Merneptahs campaign
forty-four (or thirty-three) years earlier."
9The Sea Peoples
- ". . . as for the foreign countries, they made a
conspiracy in their islands. All at once the
lands were on the move, scattered in war. No
country could stand before their arms Hatti,
Kode (Cilicia), Carchemish, Arzawa and Alashiya
(Cyprus). They were cut off. A camp was set up in
one place in Amor (Amurru, i.e. north Syria).
They desolated its people, and its land was like
that which has never come into being. They were
advancing on Egypt while the flame was prepared
before them. Their league was Prst, Tjkr, S0krs,
Dnn and Wss united lands. They laid their hands
upon the lands to the very circuit of the earth,
their hearts confident and trusting Our plans
will succeed." (ANET, 262-263)
10The Sea Peoples
- "I extended all the boundaries of Egypt. I
overthrew those who invaded them from their
lands. I slew the Dnn who are in their isles,
the Tjkr and the Prst were made ashes. The S0rdn
and the Wss of the sea, they were made as those
that exist not, taken captive at one time,
brought as captives to Egypt, like the sand of
the shore I settled them in strongholds bound in
my name. Numerous were their classes like
hundred-thousands. I assigned portions for them
all with clothing and grain from the store-houses
and granaries each year. . . . I made the
infantry and chariotry to dwell at home in my
time the S0rdn and Khk (a Libyan group) were in
their towns, lying the length of their backs
they had no fear, for there was
11The Sea Peoples
- no enemy from Kush nor foe from Syria. Their
bows and their weapons were laid up in their
magazines, while they were satisfied and drunk
with joy. Their wives were with them, their
children at their side for I was with them as
the defence and protection of their limbs."
(Papyrus Harris I ANET, 262)
12Mortuary Temple of Rameses III in Medinet Habu
13Mortuary Temple of Rameses III in Medinet Habu
14The Sea Peoples
- "The conclusion to be drawn from the Egyptian
evidence alone is that some groups of people,
perhaps at home in coastal areas of southern
Turkey, were affected adversely by a series of
economic difficulties in the thirteenth and
twelfth centuries and therefore hired themselves
out as mercenary soldiers to states such as
Egypt, but also to others (e.g. Libyans). A small
number were forced by the growing crisis to take
their families and farming stock in the hope of
finding new lands where they might settle. Others
(e.g. the Lukka in EA 38) used boats to raid the
coastline, which was probably little more than an
extension of their normal piratical activities.
The implication is that they were relatively
15The Sea Peoples
- poor people who, perhaps as a result of the
gradual decline of central control by major
powers, such as the Hittites, moved around in
small bands to find further means of survival by
plunder, encroaching on land and mercenary
activities. Further, although these movements
seem to have been on the increase and to have
become, in some cases, more aggressive, they were
not a new phenomenon, and the Egyptians seem to
have had established means for absorbing at least
some of the people involved into their service."
16The Sea Peoples Origins (?)
- "Clear evidence for the origins of the Sea
Peoples is still missing. Disregarding some
farfetched theories, the admissible views may be
roughly classified according to three main
geographical zones. (a) The N Balkans,
particularly Illyria on the Adriatic coast the
"Illyrian theory" is related with the
identification of the Philistines (Palaisti may
be the original form of the name) with the
Pelasgoi (sometimes spelled Pelastoi) of the
classical sources, a pre-Hellenic people who
inhabited the Balkans and the Aegean regions.
17The Sea Peoples Origins (?)
- (b) The W Aegean region, i.e., Greece, the
Aegean islands, and Crete this theory relies on
archaeological (mainly ceramic) comparisons and
on the biblical tradition, which brings the
Philistines from the island of Caphtor, i.e.,
Crete. (c) The E Aegean, i.e., Anatolia and the
offshore islands. This view, which is gaining
increasing acceptance, is supported by the most
solid and diversified evidence."
18Philistines Introduction
- ""The Philistines (Heb pe6listm), whose
country of origin is still unknown, must have
come to Canaan through the Aegean basin,
destroying the Mycenaean and Minoan
civilizations. They came partly overland via
Anatolia, destroying the Hittite empire, Ugarit,
and Amurru, and partly by ship via Crete (Caphtor
of the Bible, cf. Amos 97 and Jer 474 Keftiu
of the Egyptians) and Cyprus ("ships come from
the quarter of Kittim," i.e. Cyprus Num 2424
probably alludes to the first waves of the Sea
Peoples). They were allied with other Sea
Peoples, and their ultimate goal was to settle in
Egypt. In about 1190, Rameses III clashed with
them and defeated them. Rameses settled the
conquered
19Philistines Introduction
- Philistines, mostly as Egyptian mercenaries, in
the coastal towns, Gaza, Ashkelon, and Ashdod
(cf. Deut 223, where "Caphtorim" refers to the
Philistines). The connection between Egypt and
Caphtorim is reflected in Gen 1013-14. The term
"the Negeb of the Cherethites" (1 Sam 3014) may
reflect Philistine occupation of that part of the
Negeb (for the identification of Cherethites as
Philistines, cf. Ezek 2516)."
20Philistines History
- "The signs of destruction in Ashdod, Ashkelon,
and Gaza suggest that sometimes after the reign
of Rameses VI (ca. 1150 b.c.e.), the Philistines
drove out their Egyptian overlords by force." - "The Philistine Pentapolis was formed, a
confederation of Gaza, Ashkelon, and Ashdod,
together with two towns in the Shephelah which
had already been settled by Philistines Ekron
and Gath. Each of these towns was a city-state,
consisting of a "royal city" ruling a number of
"country towns" (1 Sam 275, cf. 1 Sam 618). The
rulers of these city-states were called
se6ra4nm (singular, seren), a title whose
etymology has not yet been satisfactorily
explained it may be from the Hittite word for
21Philistines History
- "Judge." For the next 150 years, until about
1000 b.c.e., the Philistine confederation was the
most powerful entity in this corner of the world,
occupying the land strip from Raphia in the S to
Joppa, spreading gradually N (they founded Tell
Qasile) and E through the Jezreel Valley to
Beth-shan, and even establishing their hegemony
over the Israelite tribes in the hill country
(cf. 1 Sam 105 1323-1416, and also 2 Sam
2313-17). The source of Philistine power was
apparently in the jealously defended monopoly of
iron wares and the art of forging iron (1 Sam
1319-21)."
22Philistines History
- "Very early the Philistines accepted the local
Canaanite deities, dedicating temples to Dagon in
Gaza (Judg 1621-23), Ashdod (1 Sam 52-3), and
Beth-shan (1 Chr 1010-12), and to Astarte (1 Sam
3110)." - "The clashes between the Philistines and the
Israelites are vividly reflected in the book of
Judges. Despite the heroic exploits of Samson
(Judges 13-16) and Shamgar son of Anath (Judg
331), the pressure of the Philistines was
relentless, as seen in the tales of the migration
of part of the tribe of Dan, who traveled N in
their search for a safe refuge."
23Philistines History
- "Further evidence of the advance of the
Philistines can be found in the defeat of the
Israelites at Ebenezer (the Philistines had
already reached Aphek), resulting in the loss of
the ark of the covenant and the destruction of
the holy precinct Shiloh (1 Sam 4 cf. Jer 712,
14)." - Samuel's victory over the Philistines (1 Sam
75-14), even if it is historical, did not
appreciably reduce the pressure of the
Philistines. The people demanded a king to lead
them in war. The king chosen was Saul, whose wars
with the Philistines can be traced from the
beginning of his reign (1 Sam 13) until its
tragic end on Mount Gilboa (1 Samuel 31). The
eventual victor, however, was David, whose
triumphs over the
24Philistines History
- Philistines (1 Samuel 17 186-9, 25-27, 30
198) had gained him such renown as to arouse the
jealousy and hatred of Saul. David was forced to
flee, and eventually to become a vassal to his
former foes the Philistines (1 Samuel 27, 29)." - After the death of Saul, David was crowned king
of Judah in Hebron (2 Sam 21-4), apparently with
the consent of the Philistines. When David was
chosen king over all Israel, however, and moved
his capital to Jerusalem, the Philistines
realized their danger and attacked. David's
victories over the Philistines made Israel the
leading power in the land of Canaan. We may
assume that Gath became a vassal state to Israel.
This change is suggested by David's
25Philistines History
- mercenaries from Gath, who were under the
command of Ittai the Gittite (cf. 2 Sam
1518-22), and by his bodyguard, the Cherethites
and the Pelethites (2 Sam 818 1518 207, 23
1 Kgs 138, 44 1 Chr 1817). The crushing defeat
inflicted by David appears to have put an end to
the Philistine Pentapolis henceforward each
city-state acted independently in its own selfish
interest. It seems likely that the Philistines
made a defensive alliance with Pharaoh to protect
them against David otherwise it is difficult to
explain how Pharaoh was able to capture Gezer and
give it as a dowry to his daughter, the wife of
Solomon (1 Kgs 916). Forty years later
apparently the same geopolitical situation
26Philistines History
- enabled Shishak to invade Judah and Israel (1
Kgs 1425), because no Philistine city, except
Gaza, his starting point, is mentioned in his
list of conquered towns. After the death of
Shishak, Egypt was no longer a power in Asia. In
the constant struggles between the Philistines
and Israel (cf. 1 Kgs 1527 1615) and the
Philistines and Judah, in which the Philistines
turned to the Edomites and the Arabs as allies
(cf. Amos 16-8 2 Chr 2116-17), Judah sometimes
prevailed (2 Chr 1711 266), and sometimes the
Philistines (2 Chr 2116-17 2818, until a new
factor appeared on the scene, Assyria."
27Philistines History
- "Philistia (Akk Pa-la-as8-tu) appears in Assyrian
records for the first time in the inscriptions of
Adad-nirari III (810-783 BCE ANET, 281b, 282a),
but Assyrian domination of Philistia started only
after the conquest of Syria by Tiglath-pileser
III, when the Assyrian empire reached the
Mediterranean, and the Assyrians began to try to
dominate the maritime trade of the coastal towns
of Phoenicia and Philistia. In 734 b.c.e., the
first Assyrian campaign against Philistia began
its main object was the conquest of Gaza (the
sequence of events is very fully expressed in
Zech 95-6). The king of Gaza, Hanno, fled to
Egypt, but later returned and was reinstated as a
vassal of Assyria."
28Philistines History
- ". . . when Sargon ascended the throne of
Assyria, Hanno joined the Syro-Palestinian
rebellion headed by the king of Hamath, which was
also supported by Egypt. In 720, Sargon, having
crushed the rebels near Qarqar, attacked
Philistia. Hanno called on the Egyptian army for
help. The Assyrians met the Egyptians near
Raphiah, defeated them, captured Hanno and took
him captive to Assyria. Gaza subsequently
remained a loyal vassal until the end of the
Assyrian empire."
29Philistines Material Culture
30Ashdod Map
31Ashdod Material Culture
32Ashkelon
33(No Transcript)
34Ashkelon Material Culture
35Ashkelon Mycenaean IIIC1b Pottery
36Ashkelon Mycenaean IIIC1b Pottery
37Ashkelon Mycenaean IIIC1b Pottery
38Ashkelon Mycenaean IIIC1b Pottery
39Ashkelon Material Culture
40Ashkelon Material Culture
41Ekron Map
42Ekron Inscription
43Ekron Inscription
44Ekron Temple
45Ekron Mycenaean IIIC1b Pottery
46Aramaeans
- Deut 26.5 "A wandering Aramean was my ancestor
he went down into Egypt and lived there as an
alien, few in number, and there he became a great
nation mighty and populous." - "Assyrian and biblical texts reveal the presence
of people called Arameans living in most parts of
Syria from the end of the 2d millennium BC." - ". . . the general designation Aramaeans masks
the fact that they are not a unified group,
except in terms of their language."
47Aramaeans Assyrian Sources
- "From the fourteenth century onwards there are
occasional references to a people called Ahlamu
who, most scholars now agree, were associated
with the later Aramaeans. They appear variously
as agricultural labourers and marauders from as
far afield as Bahrain to Syria. But the earliest
indisputable evidence for the Aramaeans dates
from the reign of Tiglath-pileser I (1114-1076).
From his fourth regnal year onwards he undertook
at least fourteen annual policing actions against
a people called Ahlume-Armuya in the area of the
middle and upper Euphrates
48Aramaeans Assyrian Sources
- "I have crossed the Euphrates twenty-eight times,
twice in one year, in pursuit of the ahlumu
Aramaeans. I brought about their defeat from the
city Tadmar of the land Amurru, Anat of the land
Suhu, as far as Rapiqu of Karduniash (Babylonia).
I brought their booty (and) possessions to my
city Ashur."
49Aramaeans Assyrian Sources
- "It is even possible that, perhaps towards the
end of Tiglath-pileser Is reign, Aramaean
raiders penetrated right into the heartland of
Assyria . . . ." - ". . . subsequently, Ashur-bel-kala (1074-1057)
was definitely in control of the main Assyrian
cities, and fighting vigorously against Aramaeans
in his turn. Admittedly, Ashur-bel-kalas account
makes it quite plain that he was being pressed
hard by the Aramaeans in Upper Mesopotamia-around
the headwaters of the Khabur, along the upper
Balikh, in the mountains and along the Euphrates
-and, after his reign, the sources in Assyria are
extremely scanty. When they become relatively
plentiful again, at the end of the tenth century,
the Assyrian evidence
50Aramaeans Assyrian Sources
- shows Aramaean states established just to the
west of the Assyrian heartland and stretching
right across Upper Mesopotamia." - Ashur-dan II (934-912) " With the renewed
expansion of Assyria from Ashur-dan II onwards,
the Assyrian kings reasserted their claims to
Upper Mesopotamia, and the Aramaean states were
gradually incorporated into the revitalised
Assyrian empire, and some inhabitants were
deported to the Assyrian cities. Right from the
start of its renaissance, then, the new Assyrian
state included Aramaeans within its territorial
span."
51Aramaeans Assyrian Sources
- "In summary, the Assyrian evidence presents a
picture of Aramaeans pressing into Assyrian-held
territory in the eleventh century. Their success
in seizing and holding stretches of land is
reflected in the emergence of a number of
Aramaean states in Upper Mesopotamia by the tenth
century. As the Assyrian mobilized to reconquer
the area from the end of the tenth century on,
they gradually absorbed these territories,
turning them into Assyrian provinces but, at
least in come cases, using members of the local
Aramaean population to enforce Assyrian control.
Such individuals owed their position to the
Assyrian king, and came to form an integral part
of the Assyrian imperial machinery at
52Aramaeans Assyrian Sources
- the highest levels. An indication of the fact
that this interweaving of Aramaeans and Assyrians
happened not only exceptionally at the very
highest echelons is the early appearance (eighth
century) of 'Aramaisms' in Assyrian, and the use
of Aramaic written on parchment in certain
contexts and for particular purposes. The
conclusion must, therefore, be that despite the
aggressive military tone against Aramaeans taken
by the royal annals they came to constitute a
significant proportion of the Assyrian population
at all levels of the socio-political structure."
53Aramaeans Biblical Evidence
- "Zobah was the earliest prominent Aramaean state,
according to the account of David's Syrian wars
contained in 2 Samuel 8, and its formation has
been most interestingly analysed, by analogy with
David's creation of the strong state of Israel in
the tenth century, by Malamat (1963). What
Malamat has stressed in his comparison are the
similarities in the development of the two
regions both David and Hadadezer (king of Zobah)
constructed their initial power-base around a
small kernel Judah in the case of David, Beth
Rehob in the case of Hadadezer both added a
larger, more important adjoining region to this
small core to create a new, unified state
Israel was added to Judah, Zobah to Beth Rehob
54Aramaeans Biblical Evidence
- in both cases, the ruler of the new political
formation bore the title of the larger group
David was called the 'king of Israel' (not 'of
Judah'), Hadadezer 'king of Zobah' (not 'of
Rehob'). Finally, Hadadezer of Zobah may have
annexed the important and rich oasis of Damascus
and added some smaller states that owed him
allegiance, but were left under their own rulers.
Eventually, Damascus established its independence
from both Solomon's Israel and the kingdom of
Zobah, under its king Rezin."
55Phoenicians Introduction
- Ezekiel 27
- "Phoenicia was the Greek name for the Syrian
littoral north of Palestine. The name meant "dark
red" and was applied first to the people and
region renowned for dyes of this color, and then
to some of the natural products that became
associated with them in international trade.
Phoenicia was neither a country nor a nation but
a conglomerate of city-states that was
distinguished from adjacent areas by its habitual
outreach into the Mediterranean world and by its
preferred dealings with Indo-Europeans and
Greeks. Its history consists in the contribution
of these individual cities and their dominions to
the civilization and gradual maturation of the
Mediterranean world."
56Phoenicians Introduction
- "The notion that 'Phoenicia' means 'Canaanites'
underlines the fact that the Phoenician
city-states of Tyre, Sidon, Byblos, Beirut, Arvad
and Sarepta represent a direct development of the
Late Bronze Age Canaanite coastal cities. That
the idea is basically correct is shown by the
fact that the Phoenicians called themselves
Canaanites the designation 'Phoenician' is
Graeco-Roman. The Phoenician cities were those
that appear to have been relatively slightly
affected or disrupted by either the Aramaean
penetration or the Israelite expansion, and so
they were able to maintain what appear to be
essentially the earlier Canaanite traditions. A
plausible explanation for this continuity is their
57Phoenicians Introduction
- geographical position they lay right on the
coast, sometimes with offshore island
settlements, and were backed by a very narrow
plain protected by a steep mountain range crossed
by few passes." - "One of the reasons for a fairly widespread
knowledge of the Phoenicians is their extensive
commercial activities, especially in the western
Mediterranean, where they founded a number of
colonies some of which developed into substantial
cities. The foundations date to the early first
millennium, although the precise chronology is
disputed."
58Phoenicians Sources
- "There are references to Phoenicians in the Iliad
and Odyssey, where they appear as highly skilled
craftsmen, especially in metalwork, and weavers
of elaborate garments. They may also appear as
kidnappers and producers of cheap trinkets. The
curiously mixed image reflects admiration and
fear, the sort of antagonism that is now often
felt towards gypsies and tinkers, and the kind of
aristocratic contempt for 'trade' which is a
hallmark of these heroic poems. Herodotus
provides some information on their colonization,
especially in Greece, to which he attributes the
origin of the Greek alphabet, and their discovery
of the goldmines on Thasos. Thucydides mentions
that they formed the earliest
59Phoenicians Sources
- foreign settlers in Sicily, predating the Greek
presence there. Such depictions remain at the
level of stereotypes and generalities, and
provide no very coherent picture, especially not
of the Phoenician homeland. In the first century
AD, Josephus included in his history of the
Jewish people some material supposedly drawn from
a lost history of Tyre basically it is little
more than a list of kings. A little later, in the
early second century A.D. Philo of Byblos wrote
an account of Phoenician religion, which he
claimed was a translation into Greek of a work of
Sanchuniathon, a priest of Byblos. Philo's work
is only preserved in fragments, and there has
been considerable doubt as to whether
60Phoenicians Sources
- Sanchuniathon's work was ever anything more than
a figment of Philo's imagination. But a more
positive tendency has been to accept the reality
of the Phoenician original underlying Philo's
account, because some of it seems to correspond
to the material now known from Ugarit, which has
provided important insights into Canaanite
mythology and religion. But even it we accept the
more positive approach, Philo seems to have
'hellenised' Sanchuniathon substantially, so the
question of how we might use his material for
reconstructing the Phoenician reality of the
early first millennium remains vexed."
61Phoenicians
- "It is evident, from the extensive material from
Ugarit, in particular, and, to a lesser degree,
Byblos, that the Canaanite city-states played a
central role in the trading and production system
of the Near East, and that their commercial
activities were stimulated by, and supported, the
large centralized states such as Egypt, the
Hittite realm, and Babylonia. Because of the
demands made on them by these large and complex
states, the coastal cities appear to have
concentrated their energy and resources on the
production of luxury commodities such as ivory
inlaid furniture for royal consumption an
industry that certainly continued in the
Neo-Assyrian period. At the same time the
manufacture of textiles was
62Phoenicians
- developed on a large scale to meet demands for
tribute payments, as exemplified in the
agreements between Ugarit and the Hittite kings.
Textiles could also be used in exchange for raw
materials, that either were used to produce
luxury commodities (such as elaborate furniture
and metalwork) or could be re-exported. An
accompanying and necessary development was the
perfection of ships capable of carrying bulky
items, and the refinement of navigational skills
a specialization that could, and was, exploited
by some of the larger states. . . ."
63Phoenicians
- "An obvious concomitant of this development was
that the cities and their politically powerful
neighbours were mutually dependent, as the larger
states provided the consumer markets on which the
economy of the coastal cities had come to
depend."
64Neo-Hittite States
- "'Neo-Hittite' (alternatively 'Late Hittite' or
'Syro-Hittite') is the term applied, after 1200,
to a number of small principalities in north
Syria, Cilicia and south-central Anatolia. . . .
having formed part of the earlier Hittite empire,
they retained a number of definable Hittite
features."