View source for History of the ancient Levant

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The [[Levant]] is the area in [[Southwest Asia]], south of the [[Taurus Mountains]], bounded by the [[Mediterranean Sea]] in the west, the [[Arabian Desert]] in the south, and [[Mesopotamia]] in the east. It stretches roughly {{convert|400|mi|abbr=on}} north to south, from the [[Taurus Mountains]] to the [[Sinai Peninsula]] and [[Syrian Desert]],<ref>''A History of Ancient Israel and Judah'' by Miller, James Maxwell, and Hayes, John Haralson (Westminster John Knox, 1986) {{ISBN|0-664-21262-X}}. p.36</ref> and east to west between the [[Mediterranean Sea]] and the [[Khabur (Euphrates)|Khabur river]].<ref name="Porter"/> The term is often used to refer to the following regions or modern states: [[Syria]], [[Lebanon]], [[Israel]], [[Palestine (region)|Palestine]], [[Jordan]] and [[Hatay Province]] in [[Turkey]]. More broadly it also includes: [[Sinai Peninsula|Sinai]] ([[Egypt]]), [[Cilicia]] (Turkey) and [[Cyprus]].

The Levant is one of the earliest centers of [[sedentism]] and [[agriculture]] in history, and some of the earliest agrarian cultures, [[Pre-Pottery Neolithic]], developed in the region.<ref name="DT">[[File:CC-BY icon.svg|50px]] Material was copied from this source, which is available under a [https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License] {{Cite journal |last1=Turbón |first1=Daniel |last2=Arroyo-Pardo |first2=Eduardo |date=5 June 2014 |title=Ancient DNA Analysis of 8000 B.C. Near Eastern Farmers Supports an Early Neolithic Pioneer Maritime Colonization of Mainland Europe through Cyprus and the Aegean Islands |journal=PLOS Genetics |language=en |volume=10 |issue=6 |article-number=e1004401 |doi=10.1371/journal.pgen.1004401 |issn=1553-7404 |pmc=4046922 |pmid=24901650 |doi-access=free }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Shukurov |first1=Anvar |last2=Sarson |first2=Graeme R. |last3=Gangal |first3=Kavita |date=7 May 2014 |title=The Near-Eastern Roots of the Neolithic in South Asia |journal=PLOS ONE |language=en |volume=9 |issue=5 |article-number=e95714 |bibcode=2014PLoSO...995714G |doi=10.1371/journal.pone.0095714 |issn=1932-6203 |pmc=4012948 |pmid=24806472 |doi-access=free}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Cooper |first=Alan |date=9 November 2010 |title=Ancient DNA from European Early Neolithic Farmers Reveals Their Near Eastern Affinities |journal=PLOS Biology |language=en |volume=8 |issue=11 |article-number=e1000536 |doi=10.1371/journal.pbio.1000536 |issn=1545-7885 |pmc=2976717 |pmid=21085689 |doi-access=free }}</ref> Previously regarded as a peripheral region in the [[ancient Near East]], modern academia largely considers the Levant as a center of civilization on its own, independent of [[Mesopotamia]] and [[Egypt]].<ref>{{cite book |title= The Archaeology of Syria: From Complex Hunter-Gatherers to Early Urban Societies ({{circa|16,000-300}}&nbsp;{{sc|BC}}) |first1=Peter M.M.G. |last1=Akkermans |first2=Glenn M. |last2=Schwartz |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year= 2003 |isbn=978-0-521-79666-8}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Baffi|first1=Francesca |last2=Peyronel |first2=Luca |editor1-last=Matthiae |editor1-first= Paolo |editor2-last=Marchetti |editor2-first=Nicolò |title=Ebla and its Landscape: Early State Formation in the Ancient Near East |chapter=Trends in Village Life. The Early Bronze Age Phases at Tell Tuqan |year=2013 |publisher=Left Coast Press |isbn=978-1-61132-228-6}}</ref> Throughout the [[Bronze Age|Bronze]] and [[Iron Age|Iron]] ages, the Levant was home to many [[ancient Semitic-speaking peoples]] and kingdoms, and is considered by many to be the urheimat of [[Semitic languages]].

{{History of the Levant}}

==Stone Age==
{{main|Prehistory of the Levant}}

===Paleolithic===
Anatomically modern [[Homo sapiens]] are demonstrated at the area of [[Mount Carmel]]<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1393/|title=Sites of Human Evolution at Mount Carmel: The Nahal Me'arot / Wadi el-Mughara Caves|website=UNESCO World Heritage Centre|language=en|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190717141629/https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1393/|archive-date=2019-07-17|url-status=live|access-date=2019-08-06}}</ref> in Canaan during the [[Middle Paleolithic]] dating from {{circa|90,000&nbsp;BC|lk=on}}. These migrants [[Recent African origin of modern humans|out of Africa]] seem to have been unsuccessful,<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal|last=Beyin|first=Amanuel|date=2011|title=Upper Pleistocene Human Dispersals out of Africa: A Review of the Current State of the Debate|journal=International Journal of Evolutionary Biology|language=en|volume=2011|article-number=615094|doi=10.4061/2011/615094|issn=2090-052X|pmc=3119552|pmid=21716744 |doi-access=free }}</ref> and by {{circa|60,000&nbsp;BC}} in the Levant, [[Neanderthal]] groups seem to have benefited from the worsening climate and replaced Homo sapiens, who were possibly confined once more to Africa.<ref name=amud>{{cite encyclopedia|url=http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9007286/Amud|title=Amud|encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Britannica|access-date=2007-10-11|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071011213723/http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9007286/Amud|archive-date=2007-10-11|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name=":0" />

A second move out of Africa is demonstrated by the Boker Tachtit Upper Paleolithic culture, from 52,000 to 50,000&nbsp;BC, with humans at [[Ksar Akil]] XXV level being modern humans.<ref>Marks, Anthony (1983)"Prehistory and Paleoenvironments in the Central Negev, Israel" (Institute for the Study of Earth and Man, Dallas)</ref> This culture bears close resemblance to the Badoshan Aurignacian culture of Iran, and the later [[Sebilian]] I Egyptian culture of {{circa|50,000&nbsp;BC}}. [[Stephen Oppenheimer]]<ref>Oppemheiomer, Stephen (2004), "Out of Eden", (Constable and Robinson)</ref> suggests that this reflects a movement of modern human groups back into North Africa, at this time.

It would appear this sets the date by which Homo sapiens Upper Paleolithic cultures begin replacing Neanderthal [[Levallois-Perret|Levalo]]-[[Mousterian]], and by {{circa|40,000&nbsp;BC}} the region was occupied by the [[Levantine Aurignacian|Levanto-Aurignacian]] [[Ahmarian culture]], lasting from 39,000 to 24,000&nbsp;BC.<ref>Gladfelter, Bruce G. (1997) "The Ahmarian tradition of the Levantine Upper Paleolithic: the environment of the archaeology" (Vol 12, 4 ''Geoarchaeology'')</ref> This culture was quite successful spreading as the [[Antelian culture]] (late Aurignacian), as far as Southern Anatolia, with the Atlitan culture.

===Epi-Palaeolithic===
After the [[Late Glacial Maxima]], a new [[Epipaleolithic (Levant)|Epipaleolithic]] culture appears. The appearance of the [[Kebaran culture]], of [[microlithic culture|microlithic type]] implies a significant rupture in the cultural continuity of Levantine Upper Paleolithic. The Kebaran culture, with its use of microliths, is associated with the use of the bow and arrow and the domestication of the dog.<ref>Dayan, Tamar (1994), "Early Domesticated Dogs of the Near East" (Journal of Archaeological Science Volume 21, Issue 5, September 1994, Pages 633–640)</ref> Extending from 18,000 to 10,500&nbsp;BC, the Kebaran culture<ref>Ronen, Avram, "Climate, sea level, and culture in the Eastern Mediterranean 20 ky to the present" in Valentina Yanko-Hombach, Allan S. Gilbert, Nicolae Panin and Pavel M. Dolukhanov (2007), ''The Black Sea Flood Question: Changes in Coastline, Climate, and Human Settlement'' (Springer)</ref> shows clear connections to the earlier microlithic cultures using the bow and arrow, and using grinding stones to harvest wild grains, that developed from the {{circa|24,000|17,000&nbsp;BC}} [[Halfan culture]] of [[Egypt]], that came from the still earlier [[Aterian]] tradition of the Sahara. Some linguists see this as the earliest arrival of [[Nostratic languages]] in the Middle East.

Kebaran culture was quite successful, and was ancestral to the later [[Natufian culture]] (12,500–9,500&nbsp;BC), which extended throughout the whole of the Levantine region. These people pioneered the first sedentary settlements, and may have supported themselves from fishing and the harvest of wild grains plentiful in the region at that time. {{As of|2018|7|post=,}} the oldest remains of bread were discovered {{circa|12,400&nbsp;BC}} at the archaeological site of Shubayqa 1, once home of the Natufian hunter-gatherers, roughly 4,000 years before the advent of agriculture.<ref>{{Cite news|last=Mejia|first=Paula|date=16 July 2018|title=Found: 14,400-Year-Old Flatbread Remains That Predate Agriculture|url=https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/worlds-oldest-bread|url-status=live|department=Gastro Obscura|work=[[Atlas Obscura]]|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180717191316/https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/worlds-oldest-bread|archive-date=17 July 2018|access-date=17 July 2018}}</ref>

Natufian culture also demonstrates the earliest domestication of the [[dog]], and the assistance of this animal in hunting and guarding human settlements may have contributed to the successful spread of this culture. In the northern Syrian, eastern Anatolian region of the Levant, Natufian culture at [[Cayonu]] and [[Mureybet]] developed the first fully agricultural culture with the addition of wild grains, later being supplemented with domesticated sheep and goats, which were probably domesticated first by the [[Zarzian culture]] of Northern Iraq and Iran (which like the Natufian culture may have also developed from Kebaran).

===Neolithic and Chalcolithic===
{{see also|Levant Chalcolithic}}
[[File:Chalcolithic Male Figurine, 4500-3500 BCE.jpg|thumb|upright|Levant Chalcolithic male figurine, 4500-3500 BC]]
By 8500–7500&nbsp;BC, the Pre-Pottery Neolithic A ([[PPNA]]) culture developed out of the earlier local tradition of Natufian, dwelling in round houses, and building the first defensive site at [[Tell es-Sultan]] (ancient Jericho) (guarding a valuable fresh water spring). This was replaced in 7500&nbsp;BC by Pre-Pottery Neolithic B ([[PPNB]]), dwelling in square houses, coming from Northern Syria and the Euphrates bend.

During the period of 8500–7500&nbsp;BC, another hunter-gatherer group, showing clear affinities with the cultures of Egypt (particularly the Outacha retouch technique for working stone) was in Sinai. This [[Harifian]] culture<ref>Belfer-Cohen, Anna and Bar-Yosef, Ofer "Early Sedentism in the Near East: A Bumpy Ride to Village Life" (''Fundamental Issues in Archaeology'', 2002, Part II, 19–38)</ref> may have adopted the use of pottery from the Isnan culture and [[Helwan culture]] of Egypt {{Citation needed|date=February 2024}} (which lasted from 9000 to 4500&nbsp;BC), and subsequently fused with elements from the PPNB culture during the climatic crisis of 6000&nbsp;BC to form what [[Juris Zarins]] calls the Syro-Arabian pastoral technocomplex,<ref>Zarins, Yuris "Early Pastoral Nomadiism and the Settlement of Lower Mesopotamia" (# ''Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research'' No. 280, November, 1990)</ref> which saw the spread of the first [[Nomadic pastoralists]] in the Ancient Near East. These extended southwards along the [[Red Sea]] coast and penetrating the Arabian bifacial cultures, which became progressively more Neolithic and pastoral, and extending north and eastwards, to lay the foundations for the tent-dwelling [[Amorite|Martu]] and [[Akkadian language|Akkadian]] peoples of Mesopotamia.

In the [[Amuq valley]] of Syria, [[PPNB culture]] seems to have survived, influencing further cultural developments further south. Nomadic elements fused with PPNB to form the Minhata Culture and [[Yarmukian Culture]], which were to spread southwards, beginning the development of the classic mixed farming Mediterranean culture, and from 5600&nbsp;BC were associated with the [[Ghassulian culture]] of the region, the first [[Chalcolithic]] culture of the Levant. This period{{which|date=October 2021}} also witnessed the development of megalithic structures, which continued into the Bronze Age.<ref>Scheltema, H.G. (2008). ''Megalithic Jordan: An Introduction and Field Guide''. Amman, Jordan: The American Center of Oriental Research. {{ISBN|978-9957-8543-3-1}} No Google Books access.</ref>{{dubious|The Scheltema book has no online access, and is written by a diplomat. RS? Usrful it's certainly not. How much of the paragraph is it supposed to cover? Which period does it refer to, Neolithic (PPN, PN?), or Chalcolithic? Altogether: the Chalcolithic is not considered by all to be part of the Neolithic, deserves separate treatment.|date=October 2021}}

Historically, the [[Bedouin]] engaged in nomadic herding, agriculture and sometimes fishing in the Syrian [[steppe]] since 6000 BC. By about 850 BC, a complex network of settlements and camps were established. The earliest Arab tribes emerged from Bedouins.<ref name=":03">{{Cite book |last=Chatty |first=Dawn |url=https://ehrafworldcultures.yale.edu/document?id=mj04-000 |title=Culture Summary: Bedouin |date=2009 |publisher=Human Relations Area Files}}</ref>

==Copper Age==
===Kish civilization===
{{Main|Kish civilization}}
The Kish civilization or Kish tradition is a concept created by [[Ignace Gelb]] and discarded by more recent scholarship,<ref name=WS>{{cite book |last= Sommerfeld |first= Walter |chapter= The "Kish Civilization" |pages= 545–547 |editor-last= Vita |editor-first= Juan-Pablo |title= History of the Akkadian Language |volume= 1 |publisher= BRILL |series= Handbook of Oriental Studies. Section 1 The Near and Middle East |year= 2021 |isbn= 978-90-04-44521-5 |chapter-url= https://books.google.com/books?id=hyU9EAAAQBAJ&pg=PA545 |access-date= 23 February 2022}}</ref> which Gelb placed in what he called the early [[East Semitic languages|East Semitic]] era in [[Mesopotamia]] and the [[Levant]], starting in the early 4th millennium BC. The concept encompassed the sites of [[Ebla]] and [[Mari, Syria|Mari]] in the Levant, [[Tell Brak|Nagar]] in the north,<ref>{{cite book |author= Ristvet, Lauren |title= Ritual, Performance, and Politics in the Ancient Near East |page= 217 |year= 2014 |publisher= Cambridge University Press |isbn= 978-1-107-06521-5 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=GE1sBQAAQBAJ&pg=PA217}}</ref> and the proto-[[Akkadian Empire#City-state of Akkad|Akkadian]] sites of [[Abu Salabikh]] and [[Kish (Sumer)|Kish]] in central Mesopotamia, which constituted the Uri region as it was known to the [[Sumer]]ians.<ref name=Donald>{{cite book |last= Van De Mieroop |first= Marc |author-link= Marc Van De Mieroop |title= In Search of Prestige: Foreign Contacts and the Rise of an Elite in Early Dynastic Babylonia |editor= Erica Ehrenberg |series= Leaving No Stones Unturned: Essays on the Ancient Near East and Egypt in Honor of Donald P. Hansen |page= 125-137 [133] |isbn= 978-1-57506-055-2 |year= 2002 |publisher= Eisenbrauns |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=6lDgYxV0DN8C&pg=PA133}}</ref> The Kish civilisation was considered to end with the rise of the [[Akkadian empire]] in the 24th century BC.<ref name="Rebecca2">{{Cite book |last=Hasselbach |first=Rebecca |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eiHXt0yIWiIC&pg=PA4 |title=Sargonic Akkadian: A Historical and Comparative Study of the Syllabic Texts |date=2005 |publisher=Otto Harrassowitz Verlag |isbn=978-3-447-05172-9 |page=4 |language=en}}</ref>

==Bronze Age==
{{See also|Bronze Age}}

=== Early and middle Bronze Age ===
Some recent scholars dealing with the Syrian part of the Levant during the [[Bronze Age]] use Syria-specific subdivision: "Early/Proto Syrian" for the [[Early Bronze Age]] (3300–2000 BC); "Old Syrian" for the [[Middle Bronze Age]] (2000–1550 BC); and "Middle Syrian" for the [[Late Bronze Age]] (1550–1200 BC). "Neo-Syrian" corresponds to the Early [[Iron Age]].<ref>{{cite book |last= Hansen |first= M. H. |author-link= Mogens Herman Hansen |title= A Comparative Study of Thirty City-state Cultures: An Investigation, Volume 21 |page= 57 |year= 2000|publisher= Kgl. Danske Videnskabernes Selskab |isbn= 978-87-7876-177-4 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=8qvY8pxVxcwC&pg=PA57 |access-date= 2022-02-20 }}</ref> The Early Syrian period was dominated by the [[East Semitic]]-speaking kingdoms of [[Ebla#First kingdom|Ebla]], [[Tell Brak#Kingdom of Nagar|Nagar]] and the [[Mari, Syria#The second kingdom|Mari]]. At its greatest extent, Ebla controlled an area roughly half the size of modern Syria,<ref>{{cite book |last=Hamblin |first=William J. |title=Warfare in the Ancient Near East to 1600&nbsp;{{sc|BC}} |year=2006 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-134-52062-6}}</ref> from [[Urshu|Ursa'um]] in the north,<ref name="Astour2">{{cite book |last= Astour |first=Michael C. |editor1-first=Cyrus Herzl |editor1-last=Gordon |editor2-first=Gary |editor2-last=Rendsburg |title=Eblaitica: Essays on the Ebla Archives and Eblaite Language |volume=3 |chapter=An outline of the history of Ebla (part&nbsp;1) |year=1992 |publisher=Eisenbrauns |isbn=978-0-931464-77-5}}</ref><ref name="Astour1">{{cite book |last= Astour |first=Michael C. |editor1-first=Cyrus Herzl |editor1-last= Gordon |editor2-first=Gary |editor2-last=Rendsburg |title=Eblaitica: Essays on the Ebla Archives and Eblaite Language |volume=4 |chapter=A Reconstruction of the History of Ebla (Part 2) |year=2002 |publisher=Eisenbrauns |isbn=978-1-57506-060-6}}</ref> to the area around [[Damascus]] in the south,<ref>{{cite book |title= Peoples Of The Past: Canaanites |first= Jonathan N. |last=Tubb |publisher= University of Oklahoma Press |year= 1998 |isbn= 978-0-8061-3108-5 |url= https://archive.org/details/canaanites00tubb}}</ref> and from [[Phoenicia#Origins|Phoenicia]] and the [[Syrian Coastal Mountain Range|coastal mountains]] in the west,<ref name="Aubet">{{cite book |title=The Phoenicians and the West: Politics, Colonies and Trade|first= Maria Eugenia |last= Aubet|author-link=María Eugenia Aubet|translator-first= Mary |translator-last=Turton |date=2001 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |edition=2 |isbn=978-0-521-79543-2}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Astour |first=Michael C. |editor1-last=Young |editor1-first=Gordon Douglas |title=Ugarit in Retrospect. Fifty years of Ugarit and Ugaritic: Proceedings of the symposium of the same title held at the University of Wisconsin at Madison, February 26, 1979, under the auspices of the Middle West Branch of the American Oriental Society and the Mid-West Region of the Society of Biblical Literature |chapter=Ugarit and the Great Powers |year=1981 |publisher=Eisenbrauns |isbn=978-0-931464-07-2}}</ref> to [[Haddu]] in the east,<ref>{{cite journal |last=Archi |first= Alfonso |year=2011 |title=In Search of Armi|journal=Journal of Cuneiform Studies |publisher=The American Schools of Oriental Research |volume=63 |pages=5–34 |issn=2325-6737 |doi=10.5615/jcunestud.63.0005|s2cid= 163552750}}</ref> with more than sixty vassal kingdoms and city-states. Mobile [[nomad]]ic tribal confederations such as Mardu, Dadanu and [[Ib'al]] lived in the steppes to the south of Ebla.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Porter |first1=Anne |title=Mobile Pastoralism and the Formation of Near Eastern Civilizations: Weaving Together Society |date=2012 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-76443-8 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LKQ0fZFTeHkC}}</ref>

[[File:First Eblaite Empire.png|thumb|First kingdom of Ebla, c. 3000-2300 BC]]

Ebla and Mari were incorporated into the [[Akkadian Empire]] by [[Sargon of Akkad]] and his successors, until the empire collapsed due to [[4.2-kiloyear event|a major climatic event]] around 2200 BC.<ref name="Riehl">{{cite journal |last=Riehl |first=S. |year=2008 |title=Climate and agriculture in the ancient Near East: a synthesis of the archaeobotanical and stable carbon isotope evidence |journal=Vegetation History and Archaeobotany |volume=17 |issue=1 |pages=43–51 |doi=10.1007/s00334-008-0156-8|bibcode=2008VegHA..17S..43R |s2cid=128622745 }}</ref> This event prompted the influx of nomadic [[Amorites]] into [[Sumer]], and correlates with a subsequent influx and settlement expansion in many regions of Syria as well.<ref name="Burke1" /> In the later periods of the [[Third Dynasty of Ur]], immigrating Amorites had become such a force that the king of Ur, [[Shu-Sin]], constructed a {{convert|270|km|adj=on}} wall dubbed "Repeller of the Amorites", extending in between the [[Tigris]] and [[Euphrates]], to hold them off.<ref>Lieberman, Stephen J., "An Ur III Text from Drēhem Recording 'Booty from the Land of Mardu.'", Journal of Cuneiform Studies, vol. 22, no. 3/4, pp. 53–62, 1968</ref><ref>Buccellati, G., "The Amorites of the Ur III Period", Naples: Istituto Orientale di Napoli. Pubblicazioni del Semionario di Semitistica, Richerche 1, 1966</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Schwartz |first1=Glenn M. |last2=Akkermans |first2=Peter M. M. G. |title=The Archaeology of Syria: From Complex Hunter-Gatherers to Early Urban Societies (c.16,000-300 BC) |date=2003 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-79666-8 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_4oqvpAHDEoC}}</ref> The Amorites are depicted in contemporary records as [[nomad]]ic tribes under chiefs, who forced themselves into lands they needed to graze their [[herd]]s. Some of the [[Akkadian literature]] of this era speaks disparagingly of the Amorites and implies that the urbanized people of [[Mesopotamia]] viewed their nomadic and primitive way of life with disgust and contempt. In the Sumerian myth "Marriage of Martu", written early in the [[2nd millennium BC]], a goddess considering marriage to the god of the Amorites is warned:

{{blockquote|Now listen, their hands are destructive and their features are those of monkeys; (An Amorite) is one who eats what (the Moon-god) [[Sin (mythology)|Nanna]] forbids and does not show reverence. They never stop roaming about [...], they are an abomination to the gods' dwellings. Their ideas are confused; they cause only disturbance. (The Amorite) is clothed in sack-leather [...], lives in a tent, exposed to wind and rain, and cannot properly recite prayers. He lives in the mountains and ignores the places of gods, digs up truffles in the foothills, does not know how to bend the knee (in prayer), and eats raw flesh. He has no house during his life, and when he dies he will not be carried to a burial-place. My girlfriend, why would you marry Martu?<ref>Gary Beckman, "Foreigners in the Ancient Near East", Journal of the American Oriental Society, vol. 133, no. 2, pp. 203–16, 2013 {{doi|10.7817/jameroriesoci.133.2.0203}}</ref>}}

[[File:Third Mari.png|thumb|Three principal Syrian kingdoms: Mari, Qatna and Yamhad c. 18th century BC]]

The Amorites came to politically and culturally dominate much of the [[ancient Near East]] for centuries, and founded multiple kingdoms throughout the region including the [[Old Babylonian Empire]].<ref name="Burke1">{{cite book |last1=Burke |first1=Aaron A. |title=The Amorites and the Bronze Age Near East: The Making of a Regional Identity |date=2021 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-1-108-85700-0 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=--Y3EAAAQBAJ}}</ref> Famed Amorites included Babylonian king [[Hammurabi]] and warlord [[Shamshi-Adad I]].<ref>{{cite book|last1=Van De Mieroop|first1=Marc|title=A History of the Ancient Near East ca 3000-323 BC|date=2004|publisher=Blackwell Publishing|location=Malden|isbn=978-1-4051-4911-2|edition=2nd}}</ref> After the decline of the Third dynasty of Ur, Amorite rulers gained power in a number of Mesopotamian city-states beginning in the [[Isin]]-[[Larsa]] period and peaking in the Old Babylonian period.

In southern Mesopotamia, [[Babylon]] became the major power under Amorite ruler [[Sumu-la-El]] and his successor [[Hammurabi]] (c. 1792–1750 BC).<ref name="Burke1" /> In northern Mesopotamia, the Amorite warlord [[Shamshi-Adad I]] conquered much of [[Assur|Assyria]] and formed the large, though short-lived Kingdom of Upper Mesoptamia.<ref>Wygnańska, Zuzanna, "Burial in the Time of the Amorites. The Middle Bronze Age Burial Customs From a Mesopotamian Perspective", Ägypten Und Levante / Egypt and the Levant, vol. 29, pp. 381–422, 2019</ref> In the Levant, Amorite dynasties ruled various kingdoms of [[Qatna]], Ebla and [[Yamhad]], which also had a significant [[Hurrians|Hurrian]] population.<ref name="Heimpel" /> [[Mari, Syria#The Lim dynasty|Mari]] was similarly ruled by the Amorite Lim dynasty which belonged to the pastoral Amorites known as the ''Haneans'', who were split into the ''Yaminites'' (sons of the south) and ''Sim'alites'' (sons of the north) tribes.<ref name="Heimpel">{{cite book|title=Letters to the King of Mari: A New Translation, with Historical Introduction, Notes, and Commentary|first= Wolfgang |last=Heimpel|publisher=Eisenbrauns|year=2003|volume=12|series=Mesopotamian civilizations|issn=1059-7867|isbn=978-1-57506-080-4}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title= The Ancient Near East: History, Society and Economy|first= Mario |last=Liverani|publisher= Routledge|year=2013|isbn= 978-1-134-75084-9}}</ref><ref>Matthiae, Paolo, "New Discoveries at Ebla: The Excavation of the Western Palace and the Royal Necropolis of the Amorite Period", The Biblical Archaeologist, vol. 47, no. 1, pp. 18–32, 1984</ref> Another Semitic peoples during this period, the [[Suteans]], inhabited [[Suhum]] and were in direct conflict with Mari.<ref name="Heimpel" /> The Suteans were nomads famous in epic poetry for being fierce nomadic warriors, and like the [[Habiru]], traditionally worked as mercenaries.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Margalit |first=Baruch |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bk8wpyiiXOgC&dq=Suteans+wine+god&pg=PA166 |title=The Ugaritic Poem of AQHT: Text, Translation, Commentary |date=2011-11-21 |publisher=Walter de Gruyter |isbn=978-3-11-086348-2 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Smith |first=Mark S. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pxJ_BAAAQBAJ&dq=Sutean+warrior&pg=PA118 |title=Poetic Heroes: The Literary Commemorations of Warriors and Warrior Culture in the Early Biblical World |date=2014-09-15 |publisher=Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing |isbn=978-0-8028-6792-6 |language=en}}</ref>

Amorite elements were also to be found in [[Ancient Egypt|Egypt]] with the [[Fourteenth Dynasty of Egypt]] of the [[Nile Delta]], whose rulers bore distinctly Amorite names such as [[Yakbim Sekhaenre|Yakbim]]. The [[Hyksos]], who overran [[Ancient Egypt|Egypt]] and founded the [[Fifteenth Dynasty of Egypt|Fifteenth dynasty]], were an amalgam of Levantine elements including the Amorites.<ref>{{cite book |last=Bietak |first=Manfred |author-link=Manfred Bietak |chapter=The Spiritual Roots of the Hyksos Elite: An Analysis of Their Sacred Architecture, Part I |title=The Enigma of the Hyksos |editor-last1=Bietak |editor-first1=Manfred |editor-last2=Prell |editor-first2=Silvia |publisher=Harrassowitz |year=2019 |pages=47–67 |isbn=978-3-447-11332-8}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Burke |first=Aaron A. |chapter=Amorites in the Eastern Nile Delta: The Identity of Asiatics at Avaris during the Early Middle Kingdom |title=The Enigma of the Hyksos |editor-last1=Bietak |editor-first1=Manfred |editor-last2=Prell |editor-first2=Silvia |publisher=Harrassowitz |year=2019 |pages=67–91 |chapter-url=https://www.academia.edu/40770694 |isbn=978-3-447-11332-8}}</ref>

===Foreign rule===
[[File:Asiatic official Munich (retouched).jpg|200px|thumb|An Asiatic official from [[Avaris]] wearing the mushroom-headed hairstyle]]
By the 16th and 15th centuries BC, most of the major urban centers in the [[Levant]] had been overran and went into steep decline.<ref name="auto">{{cite book | last = Hasel | first = Michael G | title = Domination and Resistance: Egyptian Military Activity in the Southern Levant, 1300–1185 B.C. (Probleme Der Agyptologie) | publisher = Brill Academic Publishers | year = 1998 | page = 155 | isbn = 978-90-04-10984-1}}</ref> Mari was destroyed and reduced in a series of wars and conflicts with [[Babylon]], while [[Yamhad]] and [[Ebla]] were conquered and completely destroyed by Hittite king [[Mursili I]] in about 1600&nbsp;BC.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Bryce |first1=Trevor |title=The Routledge Handbook of the Peoples and Places of Ancient Western Asia |date=2009 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-0-415-39485-7 |page=211 |url=https://www.routledge.com/The-Routledge-Handbook-of-the-Peoples-and-Places-of-Ancient-Western-Asia/Bryce/p/book/9780415692618}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Yener |first1=K. Aslihan |last2=Hoffner Jr. |first2=Harry |title=Recent Developments in Hittite Archaeology and History: Papers in Memory of Hans G. Güterbock |date=2002 |publisher=Eisenbrauns |isbn=978-1-57506-053-8 |page=24 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5a8-NudlBx8C}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Hamblin |first1=William J. |title=Warfare in the Ancient Near East to 1600 BC: Holy Warriors at the Dawn of History |date=2006 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-134-52062-6 |page=260 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=biyDDd0uKGMC&pg=PT256}}</ref> In northern Mesopotamia, the era ended with the defeat of the Amorite states by Assyrian kings [[Puzur-Sin]] and [[Adasi (Assyria)|Adasi]] between in 1740–1735 BC, and the rise of the native [[Sealand Dynasty]] further south.<ref>{{EB1911|inline=y|wstitle=Amorites|volume=1|page=876}}</ref> In Egypt, [[Ahmose I]] expelled the Levantine Hyksos rulers from power, pushing [[New Kingdom of Egypt|Egypt]]'s borders further into [[Canaan]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Schneider |first=Thomas |chapter=The Relative Chronology of the Middle Kingdom and the Hyksos Period |title=Ancient Egyptian Chronology |editor-last1=Hornung |editor-first1=Erik |editor-last2=Krauss |editor-first2=Rolf |editor-last3=Warburton |editor-first3=David A. |year=2006 |publisher=Brill |isbn=90-04-11385-1 |pages=168–196 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Gux5DwAAQBAJ&dq=Schneider+Relative+chronology+middle+kingdom&pg=PA168}}</ref> The Amorites were eventually absorbed by another [[West Semitic languages|West Semitic-speaking]] people known collectively as the [[Ahlamu]]. The [[Arameans]] rose to be the prominent group amongst the Ahlamu, and from c. 1200 BC on, the Amorites disappeared from the pages of history.

Between 1550–1170 BC, much of the Levant was contested between [[Ancient Egypt|Egypt]] and the [[Hittites]]. The political vacuum paved way for the rise of [[Mitanni]], a mixed [[Semitic languages|Semitic]] and [[Hurrian]]-speaking kingdom whose names of the ruling family bore influence from [[Indo-Aryan languages|Indo-Aryan]] languages.<ref name="auto"/> Egyptian rule remained strong over the Canaanite-city states in [[Palestine (region)|Palestine]], facing resistance mainly from pastoral nomadic groups such as the [[Shasu]].<ref name="Younker"/><ref name="Hasel">{{cite journal |last=Hasel |first=Michael G. |date=1998 |title=Domination and Resistance: Egyptian Military Activity in the Southern Levant, 1300–1185 BC. |journal=Probleme der Ägyptologie |volume=11 |publisher=Brill |pages=217–239 |isbn=90-04-10984-6 |url=https://books.google.com/books?}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Ahlström|first=Gösta Werner|title=The History of Ancient Palestine|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5cSAlLBZKaAC&pg=PA277|year=1993|publisher=Fortress Press|isbn=978-0-8006-2770-6}}</ref> The Shasu grew so powerful that they were able to cut off Egypt's northern routes through Palestine and [[Transjordan (region)|Transjordan]], prompting a vigorous punitive campaigns by [[Ramesses II]] and his son [[Merneptah]]. After Egyptians abandoned the region, Canaanite city-states came under the mercy of the Shasu and the [[Habiru]], who were seen as 'mighty enemies'.<ref name="Younker">{{cite book |last1=Younker |first1=Randall W. |editor1-last=MacDonald |editor1-first=Burton |editor2-last=Younker |editor2-first=Randall W. |title=Ancient Ammon |year=1999 |publisher=BRILL |isbn=978-90-04-10762-5 |page=203 |chapter=The Emergence of the Ammonites |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5Sm7BOubDYcC}}</ref><ref name="Hasel"/> Egyptian control over the southern Levant completely collapsed in the wake of the [[Late Bronze Age collapse]].<ref name=Dever8993>Dever, William G. ''Beyond the Texts'', Society of Biblical Literature Press, 2017, pp. 89-93</ref>

===Late Bronze Age collapse===
{{main|Late Bronze Age collapse}}
Between c. 1200–1150 BC, all of these powers suddenly collapsed. Centralized state systems collapsed, and the region was hit by [[famine]]. Chaos ensued throughout the region, and many urban centers were burnt to the ground by famine-struck natives<ref>Cline, Eric H. (2014). Translation of letter RS 20.18 in "[[1177 B.C.: The Year Civilization Collapsed]]". [[Princeton University Press]]. p.&nbsp;151.</ref> and an assortment of raiders known as the [[Sea Peoples]], who eventually settled in the Levant. The Sea Peoples' origins are ambiguous and many theories have proposed them to be [[Troy|Trojans]], [[Nuragic civilization|Sardinians]], [[Achaeans (tribe)|Achaeans]], [[Sicels|Sicilians]] or [[Lycians]].<ref>{{cite thesis |type=Ph.D. |last= Woudhuizen |first= Frederik Christiaan |date=2006 |title= The Ethnicity of the Sea Peoples |publisher=Erasmus Universiteit Rotterdam, Faculteit der Wijsbegeerte|hdl= 1765/7686 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book | first=Robert|last= Drews |author-link=Robert Drews | year=1995 | title=The End of the Bronze Age: Changes in Warfare and the Catastrophe of ca. 1200 B.C | publisher=Princeton University Press | location=Princeton, New Jersey | isbn=978-0-691-04811-6}}</ref><ref>{{citation|title=Herodotus 1.94, the Drought ca. 1200 B.C., and the Origin of the Etruscans|first=Robert|last=Drews |author-link=Robert Drews |journal=Zeitschrift für Alte Geschichte|volume=41|issue=1|year=1992|pages=14–39|jstor=4436222}}</ref><ref>{{citation|title=The Philistines and Other "Sea Peoples" in Text and Archaeology|work=Society of Biblical Literature Archaeology and biblical studies|volume=15|first=Ann E.|last=Killebrew|publisher=Society of Biblical Lit|date=2013|isbn=978-1-58983-721-8|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gBCl2IQfNioC&pg=PA1}}</ref>

Urban centers which survived Hittite and Egyptian expansions in 1600 BC, including [[Alalakh]], [[Ugarit]], [[Tel Megiddo|Megiddo]] and [[Kadesh (Syria)|Kadesh]], were razed to the ground and were never rebuilt. The [[Hittites|Hittite empire]] was destroyed, and its capital [[Tarḫuntašša]] was razed to the ground. Egypt repelled its attackers with only a major effort, and over the next century shrank to its territorial core, its central authority permanently weakened.

==Iron Age==

Despite the tumultuous beginning of the [[Iron Age]], the period a number of technological innovations spread, most notably [[Ferrous metallurgy#Ancient Near East|iron working]] and the [[Phoenician alphabet]], which was developed by the Phoenicians around the 11th century&nbsp;BC from the [[Proto-Sinaitic script|Old Canaanite]] script, possibly a hybrid of [[Hieroglyph]]s, [[Cuneiform]] and the mysterious [[Byblos syllabary]].<ref name=Cross1991>{{cite book |last1=Cross |first1=Frank Moore |title=The Invention and Development of the Alphabet |date=1991 |publisher=University of Nebraska Press |isbn=978-0-8032-9167-6 |pages=77–90}}</ref> The massive [[Bronze Age collapse|destruction at the end of the Bronze Age]] collapsed most major polities and city-states of the Bronze Age. The early Iron Age in [[Syria]] and [[Mesopotamia]] saw a dispersal of settlements and ruralization, with the appearance of large numbers of hamlets, villages, and farmsteads.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Wilkinson |first=Tony J. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DGne7r74GKUC |title=Archaeological Landscapes of the Near East |date= November 2003|publisher=University of Arizona Press |isbn=978-0-8165-2173-9 |language=en}}</ref>

=== North ===
[[File:Aramean states in Upper Mesopotamia.png|thumb|Aramaean states in eastern Syria and Mesopotamia]]

Following the Late Bronze age collapse, [[Aramaeans|Aramean]] tribes and kingdoms came to dominate most of present-day [[Syria]] and [[Upper Mesopotamia]].<ref name="Edward">{{cite book |last1=Lipiński |first1=Edward |title=The Aramaeans: Their Ancient History, Culture, Religion |date=2000 |publisher=Peeters Publishers |isbn=978-90-429-0859-8 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rrMKKtiBBI4C}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Younger |first=Kenneth Lawson |title=A Political History of the Arameans: From Their Origins to the End of Their Polities |year=2016 |location=Atlanta |publisher=SBL Press |isbn=978-1-62837-084-3 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vpgsDQAAQBAJ}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Younger |first=Kenneth Lawson |chapter=Reflections on Hazael's Empire in Light of Recent Study in the Biblical and Ancient Near Eastern Texts |title=Writing and Rewriting History in Ancient Israel and Near Eastern Cultures |year=2020 |location=Wiesbaden |publisher=Harrassowitz Verlag |pages=79–102 |isbn=978-3-447-11363-2 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0t9CzQEACAAJ}}</ref><ref name="Hafþórsson2006">{{cite book|author=Sigurður Hafþórsson|title=A Passing Power: An Examination of the Sources for the History of Aram-Damascus in the Second Half of the Ninth Century B.C.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=33SgAAAAMAAJ|year=2006|publisher=Almqvist & Wiksell International|isbn=978-91-22-02143-8|page=61}}</ref> The pastoral expansion of the Arameans in upper Mesopotamia quickly brought them into conflict with the [[Assyria]]ns, whose dominion in upper Mesopotamia consequently came to an end (ca. 1114–1056 BC).<ref>{{Cite book |last=Younger |first=Kenneth Lawson |chapter=The Late Bronze Age/Iron Age Transition and the Origins of the Arameans |title=Ugarit at Seventy-Five |year=2007 |location=Winona Lake |publisher=Eisenbrauns |pages=131–174 |isbn=978-1-57506-143-6 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3xbHT7ZiAtUC&pg=PA131}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Younger |first=Kenneth Lawson |chapter=War and Peace in the Origins of the Arameans |title=Krieg und Frieden im Alten Vorderasien |year=2014 |location=Münster |publisher=Ugarit Verlag |pages=861–874 |chapter-url=https://www.academia.edu/9122190}}</ref> Aramean infiltration also extended into southern Mesopotamia, where their presence was felt by cities in central [[Babylonia]] as early as the 10th century.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Arnold |first1=Bill |title=Aramean Origins: The Evidence from Babylonia |url=https://www.academia.edu/3261382 |website=Academia}}</ref> Some of the major Aramaean kingdoms included [[Aram-Damascus]], [[Hamath]], [[Samʾal]] and  [[Aram-Zobah]] (in Syria); and [[Bet-Adini]], [[Bet-Bagyan]], [[Bet-Zamani]] and [[Bet-Halupe]] (in upper Mesopotamia).<ref name="Edward" /> In northern Syria, the dispersal of the Hittites and expansion of Aramaeans gave rise to a conglomeration of [[West Semitic languages|West Semitic]] and [[Anatolian languages|Anatolian]]-speaking kingdoms known as the [[Neo-Hittite states]].<ref>{{Cite book|last=Hawkins|first=John David|chapter=The end of the Bronze age in Anatolia: New Light from Recent Discoveries|title=Anatolian Iron Ages|year=1994|volume=3|location=London-Ankara|publisher=British Institute of Archeology at Ankara|pages=91–94|isbn=978-1-912090-69-3|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2ElHDwAAQBAJ}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=Hawkins|first=John David|chapter=Karkamish and Karatepe: Neo-Hittite City-States in North Syria|title=Civilizations of the Ancient Near East|year=1995a|volume=2|location=New York|publisher=Simon & Schuster Macmillan|pages=1295–1307|isbn=978-0-684-19721-0|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TY3rAAAAMAAJ}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=Hawkins|first=John David|chapter=Great Kings and Country Lords at Malatya and Karkamiš|title=Studio Historiae Ardens: Ancient Near Eastern Studies|year=1995b|location=Istanbul|publisher=Nederlands Historisch-Archaeologisch Instituut te Istanbul|pages=75–86|isbn=978-90-6258-075-0|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=S0QsAQAAIAAJ}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=Hawkins|first=John David|chapter=The Political Geography of North Syria and South-East Anatolia in the Neo-Assyrian Period|title=Neo-Assyrian Geography|year=1995c|location=Roma|publisher=Università di Roma|pages=87–101|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IaoMAQAAMAAJ}}</ref>

The [[Chaldea]]ns, another [[West Semitic languages|West Semitic]]-speaking group from the Levant, infiltrated Babylonia after the Aramaeans (ca. 940–860 BC), where they were actively involved in rebellion against the Assyrians.<ref name="Edward"/> [[Assyria]]n texts of the 9th century BC further mention the [[History of Arabs|Arabs]] (''Aribi''), who inhabited swaths of land in the [[Levant]] and in [[Babylonia]]n border region in a similar suit to the Aramaeans, their presence seemingly intermingled.<ref name="Retso">{{cite book |last1=Retso |first1=Jan |title=The Arabs in Antiquity Their History from the Assyrians to the Umayyads |date=2013 |publisher=Taylor & Francis |isbn=978-1-136-87282-2 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=a9RN6gE8z40C}}</ref><ref>{{citation|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sBxRvmw2pDsC&q=Petra+Equini+nabatean|title=Petra|first1=Maria Giulia Amadasi|last1=Guzzo|first2=Eugenia Equini|last2=Schneider|first3=Lydia G.|last3=Cochrane|edition=Illustrated|publisher=[[University of Chicago Press]]|year=2002|isbn=978-0-226-31125-8}}</ref><ref name="Edward" /> In Laqe near [[Terqa]], a mix of Arab and Aramaean tribes settled the lower [[Khabur (Euphrates)|Khabur valley]] in 12th century BC, forming a confederation comparable to other tribal leagues of the time.<ref name="Edward" />

Along the coast of northern Canaan, the [[Phoenicia]]n city-states managed to escape the destruction that ensued in the Late Bronze Age collapse and developed into commercial maritime powers with established colonies across the [[Mediterranean Sea]].<ref name="Aubet" /> These colonies stretched into [[Sardinia]], [[North Africa]], [[Cyprus]], [[Sicily]], [[Malta]] and [[Iberia]].<ref name="Aubet" /><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Chamorro |first1=Javier G. |date=1987 |title=Survey of Archaeological Research on Tartessos |journal=American Journal of Archaeology |volume=91 |issue=2 |pages=197–232 |doi=10.2307/505217 |jstor=505217 |s2cid=191378720}}</ref> One prominent colony, [[Ancient Carthage|Carthage]] (from [[Punic language|Punic]] {{lang|xpu|qrt-ḥdšt}}, meaning 'New City'), would eventually become an independent city-state which quarrelled with the [[Roman Republic]] over control of the Mediterranean.<ref name="Aubet2008">{{cite web |author=Maria Eugenia Aubet |year=2008 |title=Political and Economic Implications of the New Phoenician Chronologies |url=http://www.upf.edu/larq/_pdf/AubtCrono.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131211024112/http://www.upf.edu/larq/_pdf/AubtCrono.pdf |archive-date=11 December 2013 |access-date=24 February 2013 |publisher=Universidad Pompeu Fabra |page=179 |quote=The recent radiocarbon dates from the earliest levels in Carthage situate the founding of this Tyrian colony in the years 835–800 cal BC, which coincides with the dates handed down by Flavius Josephus and Timeus for the founding of the city.}}</ref><ref name="Aubet" /><ref name="Markoe2000">{{cite book |author=Glenn Markoe |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=smPZ-ou74EwC |title=Phoenicians |publisher=University of California Press |year=2000 |isbn=978-0-520-22614-2 |page=55}}</ref>
The Phoenicians transmitted their alphabetic system across the maritime networks, which was eventually adopted and developed into [[Greek alphabet]] and [[Latin alphabet]].<ref name="Aubet" />

=== South ===
[[File:Kingdoms around Israel 830 map.svg|thumb|Kingdoms of the southern Levant c. 9th century BC]]
In the southern Levant, [[Nomadic pastoralism|pastoral nomadic]] tribal groups began to settle down at the start of the 11th century. These included the [[Israelites]] in the Cisjordan and the [[Ammon]]ites, [[Moab]]ites and [[Edom]]ites in the [[Transjordan (region)|Transjordan]].<ref name=":02">{{Cite book |last=Avraham |first=Faust |title=The Oxford illustrated history of the Holy Land |date=2018 |others=Robert G. Hoyland, H. G. M. Williamson |isbn=978-0-19-872439-1 |edition=1st |location=Oxford, United Kingdom |publisher=Oxford University Press |pages=9–11 |chapter=The Birth of Israel |oclc=1017604304}}</ref> The Philistines, a group of [[Aegean Sea|Aegean]] immigrants arrived at the shores of [[Canaan]] circa 1175 BC and settled there.<ref name=":02"/><ref>{{cite book |last=Drews |first=Robert |title=The End of the Bronze Age: Changes in Warfare and the Catastrophe of ca. 1200 B.C |publisher=Princeton University Press |year=1995 |isbn=978-0-691-04811-6 |location=Princeton, New Jersey |author-link=Robert Drews}}</ref><ref>{{citation |last=Killebrew |first=Ann E. |title=The Philistines and Other "Sea Peoples" in Text and Archaeology |date=2013 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gBCl2IQfNioC&pg=PA1 |work=Society of Biblical Literature Archaeology and biblical studies |volume=15 |publisher=Society of Biblical Lit |isbn=978-1-58983-721-8}}</ref>

During the seventh century BC, no fewer than eight nations were settled in the southern Levant. These included the [[Arameans]] of the kingdom of [[Geshur]]; the [[Samaritans]] who replaced the Israelite kingdom in [[Samaria (ancient city)|Samaria]]; the [[Phoenicia]]ns in the northern cities and parts of [[Galilee]]; the [[Philistines]] in the [[Philistia|Philistine pentapolis]]; the three kingdoms of the [[Transjordan (region)|Transjordan]]– [[Ammon]], [[Moab]] and [[Edom]]; and the Judaeans of [[Kingdom of Judah]].<ref>Stern, Ephraim. "The Religious Revolution in Persian-Period Judah". ''Judah and the Judeans in the Persian Period'', edited by Oded Lipschits and Manfred Oeming, University Park, USA: Penn State University Press, 2006, pp. 199-206. https://doi.org/10.1515/9781575065618-011</ref><ref name=":022">{{Cite book |last=Finkelstein |first=Israel |title=The forgotten kingdom: the archaeology and history of Northern Israel |isbn=978-1-58983-910-6 |page=74 |oclc=949151323}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Lemaire |first=André |title=The Oxford Illustrated History of the Holy Land |date=2018 |others=Robert G. Hoyland, H. G. M. Williamson |isbn=978-0-19-872439-1 |edition=1st |location=Oxford, United Kingdom |publisher=Oxford University Press |pages=61–85 |chapter=Israel and Judah |oclc=1017604304}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Lipiński |first=Edward |title=On the Skirts of Canaan in the Iron Age: Historical and Topographical Researches |date=2006 |publisher=[[Peeters Publishers]] |isbn=978-9-042-91798-9 |series=Orientalia Lovaniensia analecta |volume=153 |location=[[Leuven]], [[Belgium]] |page= |author-link=Edward Lipiński (orientalist)}}</ref><ref name="AEM">{{cite conference |last1=LaBianca |first1=Oystein S. |last2=Younker |first2=Randall W. |date=1995 |title=The Kingdoms of Ammon, Moab, and Edom: The Archaeology of Society in Late Bronze/Iron Age Transjordan (ca. 1400–500 BCE) |url=https://www.academia.edu/744029 |publisher=Leicester University Press |page=114 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210809031715/https://www.academia.edu/744029 |archive-date=9 August 2021 |access-date=16 June 2018 |book-title=The Archaeology of Society in the Holy Land |editor=Thomas Levy |url-status=live}}</ref>

===Foreign rule===
====Under Assyrians====
[[File:Tiglath-Pileser map.png|thumb|Map of the Neo-Assyrian Empire before (purple) and after (purple and blue) Tiglath-Pileser's reign (745–727 BC)<ref name="Frahm">{{cite book|last=Frahm|first=Eckart|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nhsmDwAAQBAJ|title=A Companion to Assyria|publisher=John Wiley & Sons|year=2017|isbn=978-1-118-32524-7|editor=E. Frahm|location=Hoboken |chapter=The Neo-Assyrian Period (ca. 1000–609 BCE)|pages=161–208}}</ref>]]

In the [[Iron Age]], the Levant was characterized by patches of scattered kingdoms and tribal confederations which originated from the same cultural and linguistic milieu.<ref name="Porter">{{cite journal |last1=Porter |first1=Benjamin W. |title=Assembling the Iron Age Levant: The Archaeology of Communities, Polities, and Imperial Peripheries |journal=Journal of Archaeological Research |date=2016 |volume=24 |issue=4 |pages=373–420 |doi=10.1007/s10814-016-9093-8 |url=https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10814-016-9093-8|url-access=subscription }}</ref> Occasionally, these peoples united against expansion from neighboring regions, notably in the [[Battle of Qarqar]] (853 BC) which saw an alliance of Aramaeans, [[Phoenicia]]ns, Israelites, Ammonites and Arabs united against the Assyrians under [[Shalmaneser III]] (859–824 BC).<ref>Shea, William H. "A Note on the Date of the Battle of Qarqar." ''Journal of Cuneiform Studies'', vol. 29, no. 4, 1977, pp. 240–242</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Gabriel|first=Richard A.|author-link=Richard A. Gabriel|title=The Great Armies of Antiquity|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=y1ngxn_xTOIC&pg=PA129|year=2002|publisher=[[Greenwood Publishing Group]]|isbn=978-0-275-97809-9|page=129}}</ref> The alliance, led by [[Hadadezer]] of [[Aram-Damascus]], succeeded in halting the Assyrian army boasting 120,000 soldiers active in Syria.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Healy |first1=Mark |title=The Ancient Assyrians: Empire and Army, 883–612 BC |date=2023 |publisher=Osprey Publishing |isbn=978-1-4728-4807-9 |url=https://www.bloomsbury.com/us/ancient-assyrians-9781472848079/}}</ref><ref name="Retso" />

By 843 BC the political situation in central and southern Syria changed radically, after [[Hazael]] succeeded Hadadezer as king of Aram-Damascus. The anti-Assyrian alliance dissolved, and former allies of Aram-Damascus turned into enemies.<ref name="Edward" /> In 842, Hazael invaded the northern parts of the [[Kingdom of Israel (Samaria)|Kingdom of Israel]] and reportedly penetrated into the coastal planes as far as [[Ashdod|Asdod]], seizing [[Gilead]] and [[eastern Jordan]] in the process.<ref name="Edward" /> Hazael survived Assyrian attempts to subjugate Aram-Damascus and also expanded his influence in northern Syria, where he reportedly crossed the [[Orontes River|Orontes river]] and seized territories as far as [[Aleppo]].<ref name="Edward" /><ref>{{Citation |last=Hasegawa |first=Shuichi |title=Aram and Israel during the Jehuite Dynasty |date=2012-07-04 |url=https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1515/9783110283488/html |access-date=2023-11-30 |publisher=De Gruyter |language=en |doi=10.1515/9783110283488 |isbn=978-3-11-028348-8|url-access=subscription }}</ref><ref name="FreedmanMyers2000">{{cite book|author1=David Noel Freedman|author2=Allen C. Myers|title=Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qRtUqxkB7wkC&pg=PA84|date=31 December 2000|publisher=Amsterdam University Press|isbn=978-90-5356-503-2|page=84}}</ref><ref>[http://digital.library.stonybrook.edu/cdm/compoundobject/collection/amar/id/139862/rec/44 Arslan-Tash. v. 1] p.135: "Trois fragments d'une lamelle d'ivoire portant une ligne de texte en caractères araméens. Ces fragments ont été trouvés aux environs immédiats des cadres décrits plus haut p. 89 et suiv."</ref> These northern forays allowed Hazael to control much of Syria and Palestine, from [[Third Intermediate Period of Egypt|Egypt]] to the [[Euphrates]].<ref name="Ghantous">{{cite book |last1=Ghantous |first1=Hadi |title=The Elisha-Hazael Paradigm and the Kingdom of Israel: The Politics of God in Ancient Syria-Palestine |date=2014 |publisher=Taylor & Francis |isbn=978-1-317-54435-7 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Q_bOBAAAQBAJ}}</ref> Hazael's power far exceeded that of former Aramean kings, and some scholars consider his state to have been a nascent empire.<ref name="Ghantous" />

The Assyrians managed to subdue the Levantine states after multiple campaigns that were finalized by [[Tiglath-Pileser III]] (745–727 BC).<ref name="territories"/><ref name="Edward"/><ref>{{Cite book|last=Elayi|first=Josette|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wap5EAAAQBAJ|title=Tiglath-pileser III, Founder of the Assyrian Empire|publisher=SBL Press|year=2022|isbn=978-1-62837-430-8|location=Atlanta}}</ref><ref>{{Cite thesis|last=Davenport|first=T. L.|title=Situation and Organisation: The Empire Building of Tiglath-Pileser III (745-728 BC)|date=2016|degree=PhD|publisher=University of Sydney |url=https://ses.library.usyd.edu.au/bitstream/handle/2123/15464/2016_Tracy_Davenport_thesis.pdf?sequence=2}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Bagg|first=Ariel M.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nhsmDwAAQBAJ|title=A Companion to Assyria|publisher=John Wiley & Sons|year=2017|isbn=978-1-118-32524-7|editor=E. Frahm|location=Hoboken |chapter=Assyria and the West: Syria and the Levant|pages=268–274}}</ref><ref name="Frahm" /><ref>{{Cite journal|last=Dubovský|first=Peter|date=2006|title=Tiglath-pileser III's Campaigns in 734-732 B.C.: Historical Background of Isa 7; 2 Kgs 15-16 and 2 Chr 27-28|journal=Biblica|volume=87|issue=2|pages=153–170 |jstor=42614666}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|last=Radner|first=Karen|date=2012|title=Tiglath-pileser III, king of Assyria (744-727 BC)|url=https://www.ucl.ac.uk/sargon/essentials/kings/tiglatpileseriii/|access-date=9 February 2022|website=Assyrian empire builders}}</ref> Consolidation of Assyrian rule was followed by numerous revolts throughout the Levant, including division along pro- and anti-Assyrian axes, and intra-Levantine conflict in the [[Syro-Ephraimite War]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Niehr |first1=Herbert |title=The Aramaeans in Ancient Syria |date=2014 |publisher=Brill |isbn=978-90-04-22943-3}}</ref> The anti-Assyrian axis included [[Aram-Damascus|Damascus]]–[[Tyre, Lebanon|Tyre]]–[[Kingdom of Israel (Samaria)|Samaria]]–the Arabs; and a pro-Assyrian axis which included [[Arwad]], [[Ascalon|Ashqalon]] and [[Gaza City|Gaza]] joined by [[Kingdom of Judah|Judah]], Ammon, Moab and Edom.<ref name="Retso" /> The anti-Assyrian forces were eventually crushed by 732 BC.<ref name="Retso" /> Aram-Damascus was annexed and its population was deported; [[Hama]]th was razed to the ground and Arameans were prohibited from rebuilding it;<ref name="Hawkins">Hawkins, J.D. "Hamath." ''Reallexikon der Assyriologie und Vorderasiatischen Archäologie'', Vol. 4. Walter de Gruyter, 1975.</ref> the [[Kingdom of Israel (Samaria)|Kingdom of Israel]] based in [[Samaria]] was destroyed and, according to [[Bible|Biblical]] accounts, the city's population was deported into [[Assyrian captivity]].<ref>"Hamath Wrecked to Terrify Small Opponents of Assyria" ''The Science News-Letter''. 39:13 (29 March 1941:205–206.)</ref>

The fierce resistance and fighting capabilities of the Arameans convinced the Assyrian kings to incorporate them into the army, namely the tribes of Gurru and Itu'u.<ref>{{Cite thesis|last=Uotila|first=Repekka|title=Arameans in the Neo-Assyrian Empire: Approaching Ethnicity and Groupness with Social Network Analysis|date=2021|degree=Master's|publisher=University of Helsinki |url=https://helda.helsinki.fi/bitstreams/e069cbac-52e9-4a8f-b7dd-79d0854b36b3/download}}</ref> By the time of [[Shalmaneser V]] (727–722 BC), these tribes were an essential part of the empire, and were given the task of securing the empire's peripheries. The Aramaean identity of these tribes probably contributed to the consolidation of [[Aramaic]]'s prestigious status as the empire's ''[[lingua franca]]''.<ref name="territories">{{cite book |last1=Dušek |first1=Jan |last2=Mynářová |first2=Jana |title=Aramaean Borders: Defining Aramaean Territories in the 10th – 8th Centuries B.C.E. |date=2019 |publisher=Brill |isbn=978-90-04-39853-5}}</ref>

====Under Neo-Babylonians====
After the [[Battle of Carchemish]], which effectively annihilated Assyrian resistance and [[Twenty-sixth Dynasty of Egypt|Egypt]]ian intervention, Nebuchadnezzar II [[Siege of Jerusalem (587 BC)|besieged Jerusalem]] and destroyed the Temple (597 BC), starting the period of the [[Babylonian captivity]], which lasted about half a century. Nebuchadnezzar also [[Siege of Tyre (586–573 BC)|besieged]] the Phoenician city of [[Tyre, Lebanon|Tyre]] for 13 years (586–573 BC).

The subsequent balance of power was, however, short-lived. In the 550s&nbsp;BC, the [[Achaemenid Empire|Achaemenids]] revolted against the Medes and gained control of their empire, and over the next few decades annexed the realms of [[Lydia]], [[Damascus]], [[Babylonia]], and Egypt into their empire, consolidating control as far as [[India]]. This vast kingdom was divided up into various [[satrap]]ies and governed roughly according to the Assyrian model, but with a far lighter hand. [[Babylon]] became one the empire's four capitals, and the lingua franca was [[Aramaic]]. Around this time [[Zoroastrianism]] became the predominant religion in [[Iran|Persia]].

==Classical Age==
===Hellenistic rule===
[[File:Hellenistic world and Maurya Empire 281 BCE.png|thumb|Seleucid Empire with its capital at [[Antioch]]]]
[[Achaemenid Empire]] took over the Levant after 539 BC, but by the 4th century the Achaemenids had fallen into decline. The [[Phoenicians]] frequently rebelled against the Persians, who taxed them heavily, in contrast to the [[Judea]]ns who were granted return from the [[Babylonian captivity|exile]] by [[Cyrus the Great]]. [[Ten Thousand|The campaigns]] of [[Xenophon]] in 401-399 BC illustrated how very vulnerable Persia had become to armies organized along [[ancient Greece|Greek]] lines. Eventually, such an army under [[Alexander the Great]] conquered the Levant in 333-332 BC. However, Alexander did not live long enough to consolidate his realm, and soon after his death in 323 BC, the greater share of the east eventually went to [[Seleucid Empire|the descendants]] of [[Seleucus I Nicator]]. Seleucus built his capital [[Seleucia]] in 305 BC, but the capital was later moved to [[Antioch]] in 240 BC.

Alexander and his [[Seleucid dynasty|Seleucid]] successors founded many ''[[Polis|poleis]]'' in Syria, which were then populated by settled troops and locals.<ref name="Cohen">{{cite book |last1=Cohen |first1=Getzel |title=The Hellenistic Settlements in Syria, the Red Sea Basin, and North Africa |date=2006 |publisher=University of California Press |isbn=978-0-520-93102-2 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RqdPcxuNthcC}}</ref> The Seleucids also sponsored [[Ancient Greece|Greek]] settlement from [[Macedon]], [[Athens]], [[Euboea]], [[Thessaly]], [[Crete]] and [[Aetolia]] in military settlements across northern Syria and [[Anatolia]].<ref name="Chaniotis">{{cite book |last1=Chaniotis |first1=Angelos |title=War in The Hellenistic World: A Social and Cultural History |date=2005 |publisher=Wiley |isbn=978-0-631-22607-9 |pages=85–86 |doi=10.1002/9780470773413 |url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/book/10.1002/9780470773413}}</ref> It was among these communities that [[Koine Greek]] formed and became the standard Greek dialect across the Hellenistic world and the [[Byzantine empire]] later on.<ref name="Bubenik">{{cite book|last=Bubenik|first=V.|year=2007|chapter=The rise of Koiné|editor=A. F. Christidis|title=A history of Ancient Greek: from the beginnings to late antiquity|location=Cambridge|publisher=University Press|pages=342–345}}</ref> Use of Koine Greek was largely confined to administration and trade while [[Aramaic]] remained the lingua franca in much of the rural areas, whereas Hellenistic urban centers were for the most part bilingual.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Lee |first1=Sang-Il |title=Jesus and Gospel Traditions in Bilingual Context: A Study in the Interdirectionality of Language |date=26 April 2012 |publisher=De Gruyter |location=Berlin, Boston |doi=10.1515/9783110267143 |isbn=978-3-11-026714-3 |url=https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1515/9783110267143/html}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=Andrade|first=Nathanael J.|title=Syrian Identity in the Greco-Roman World|year=2013|location=Cambridge|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-1-107-24456-6|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4ROhAQAAQBAJ}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=Gzella|first=Holger|title=A Cultural History of Aramaic: From the Beginnings to the Advent of Islam|year=2015|location=Leiden-Boston|publisher=Brill|isbn=978-90-04-28510-1|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=y9UuBgAAQBAJ}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last=Bae|first=Chul-hyun|title=Aramaic as a Lingua Franca During the Persian Empire (538–333 B.C.E.)|journal=Journal of Universal Language|year=2004|volume=5|pages=1–20|doi=10.22425/jul.2004.5.1.1|url=https://www.sejongjul.org/download/download_pdf?pid=jul-5-1-1|doi-access=free}}</ref><ref name="Cohen" /> During the period, [[Hellenistic culture]] developed as a fusion of [[Ancient Greece|ancient Greek]] culture and local cultures of Syria, Babylonia and Egypt. The Seleucid kings would also adopt the title '[[Basileus]] (King) of [[Syria (region)|Syria]]'.<ref name="Cohen"/><ref name="Chaniotis"/> Hellenistic settlements established by Alexander and his Seleucid successors in the Levant include:

*[[Antioch]] (the capital of the Seleucid empire)
*[[Apamea, Syria|Apamea]]
*[[Decapolis]] (a league of ten Hellenistic cities)
*[[Laodicea in Syria|Laodicea]]
*[[Seleucia Pieria]]
*[[Shaizar|Larissa in Syria]]
*[[Cyrrhus]]
*[[Chalcis ad Belum]]

The Greek settlers would be used to form the Seleucid [[phalanx]] and cavalry units, with picked men put into the kingdom's guards' regiments. While the Seleucids were happy to recruit from smaller groups and outlying parts of the Empire such as [[Arabs]] and Jews, as well as Iranians from [[Central Asia]] and the people of [[Asia Minor]]; they generally eschewed recruiting Syrians (Arameans) and [[Babylon]]ians. This was presumably from a desire not to train and arm the people who were an overwhelming majority in the trade and governmental centers of the Empire, in [[Antioch]] and Babylon, which would have undermined the empire's very existence in case of revolt.<ref name="Chaniotis"/> However, recruitment policy would become less strict by time of the [[Roman–Seleucid war]] (192–188 BC)<ref name="Chaniotis"/>

[[File:Syria under the Seleucids 87 BC.svg|thumb|Seleucid domains by 87 BC]]

===Resurgence of local kingdoms===
The Seleucids gradually lost their domains in [[Bactria]] to the [[Greco-Bactrian Kingdom]], and in [[Iran]] and [[Mesopotamia]] to the rising [[Parthian Empire]]. Eventually, this limited Seleucid domains to the Levant, and the power decline would lead to the formation of several breakaway states in the Levant.

In the north, Greco-Iranian satrap [[Ptolemaeus of Commagene|Ptolemaeus]] declared himself the king of [[Commagene]] in 163 BC,<ref>{{cite book|last=Marciak|first=Michał|title=Sophene, Gordyene, and Adiabene: Three Regna Minora of Northern Mesopotamia Between East and West|date=2017|publisher=BRILL|isbn=978-90-04-35072-4|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hwEtDwAAQBAJ}}</ref> while the Arab [[Abgarid dynasty|Abgarids]] ruled [[Osroene]] independently since 132 BC.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.britannica.com/place/Osroene|title = Osroëne &#124; ancient kingdom, Mesopotamia, Asia &#124; Britannica}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last1=Bowman|first1=Alan|last2=Garnsey|first2=Peter|last3=Cameron|first3=Averil|title=The Cambridge Ancient History: Volume 12, The Crisis of Empire, AD 193-337|date=2005|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0-521-30199-2|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MNSyT_PuYVMC&q=%22arab+principality+of+edessa%22&pg=PA508|language=en}}</ref> The [[Maccabean Revolt]] in [[Palestine (region)|Palestine]] inaugurated the [[Hasmonean dynasty|Hasmonean kingdom]] in 140 BC.<ref>{{cite book |last=Grabbe |first=Lester L.  |author-link=Lester L. Grabbe |date=2020 |title=A History of the Jews and Judaism in the Second Temple Period: The Maccabean Revolt, Hasmonaean Rule, and Herod the Great (174&ndash;4 BCE) |location= |publisher=T&T Clark |volume=95 |series=Library of Second Temple Studies |isbn=978-0-5676-9294-8}}</ref> The [[Nabataeans]] further south had maintained their [[Nabataean Kingdom|kingdom]] since the 3rd century BC.<ref name="Taylor2001">{{cite book|author=Jane Taylor|title=Petra and the Lost Kingdom of the Nabataeans|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FcAoBq4_EnEC&pg=PA124|year=2001|publisher=[[I.B.Tauris]]|isbn=978-1-86064-508-2|pages=124–151}}</ref> This rendered the Seleucids a weak, vulnerable state limited to parts of [[Syria]] and [[Lebanon]].

==Roman period==
The [[Roman Republic|Romans]] gained a foothold in the region in 64 BC after permanently defeating the [[Seleucid dynasty|Seleucids]] and [[Tigranes the Great|Tigranes]]. [[Pompey]] deposed the last Seleucid king [[Philip II Philoromaeus]], and incorporated Syria into Roman domains. However, the Romans only gradually incorporated local kingdoms into [[Roman province|provinces]], which gave them considerable autonomy in local affairs. The [[Herodian Kingdom of Judea]] replaced the [[Hasmonean dynasty|Hasmonians]] in 37 BC until the full incorporation of Judea as [[Judaea (Roman province)|Provincia Iudaea]] in 44 AD after [[Herod Agrippa II]]. [[Commagene]] and [[Osroene]] were incorporated as Roman provinces in 72 and 214 AD respectively, while [[Nabatea]] was incorporated as [[Arabia Petraea]] in 106 AD.

Between the 1st and 3rd centuries the [[Levant]] prospered and flourished, reaching an estimated population of 3.5 to 6 million, which were only later matched by those of the 19th century. Urban centers peaked, and so did population density in the rural settlements. [[Antioch]] and [[Palmyra]] each reached a peak of 200,000–250,000 inhabitants, while [[Apamea, Syria|Apamea]] counted 117,000 'free citizens' in AD 6. Combined with the dependencies and villages as well as slaves, Apamea may have, in fact, counted as high as 500,000. The [[Syrian Coastal Mountain Range]], a marginal hill country, was less densely settled and had a population of around 40–50,000.<ref name="Kennedy">{{cite web |last1=Kennedy |first1=David L. |title=Demography, the Population of Syria and the Census of Q. Aemilius Secundus |url=https://www.academia.edu/11730357 |website=Academia|date=January 2006 }}</ref> According to Robert Kennedy, [[Palestine (region)|Palestine]] and the Transjordan accounted for roughly 800,000–1,200,000 of the population.<ref name="Kennedy"/> The first to second centuries saw the emergence of a plethora of religions and philosophical schools. [[Neoplatonism]] emerged with [[Iamblichus]] and [[Porphyry (philosopher)|Porphyry]], [[Neopythagoreanism|Neopythagorianism]] with [[Numenius of Apamea]], and Hellenic Judaism with [[Philo of Alexandria]]. [[Christianity]] initially emerged as a sect of [[Judaism]] and finally as an independent religion by the mid-second century. [[Gnosticism]] also took significant hold in the region.

The region of [[Palestine (region)|Palestine]] or [[Judea]] experienced abrupt periods of conflict between Romans and Jews. The [[First Jewish–Roman War]] (66–73) erupted in 66, resulting in the [[Siege of Jerusalem (70 CE)|destruction of Jerusalem and the Second Temple]] in 70. Province forces were directly engaged in the war; in 66 AD, [[Cestius Gallus]] sent the Syrian army, based on [[Legio X Fretensis]] and [[Legio XII Fulminata]] reinforced by ''[[vexillatio]]nes'' of IV ''Scythica'' and VI ''Ferrata'', to restore order in Judaea and quell the revolt, but suffered a defeat in the [[Battle of Beth Horon (66)|Battle of Beth Horon]]. However, XII ''Fulminata'' fought well in the last part of the war, and supported its commander [[Vespasian]] in his successful bid for the imperial throne.<ref>Parker, ''Roman Legions'', pp. 138f</ref> Two generations later, the [[Bar Kokhba revolt]] (132–136) erupted once again, after which the province [[Syria Palaestina]] was created in 132.

[[File:Palmyrene Empire.png|thumb|Palmyrene Empire in 271]]

During the [[Crisis of the Third Century]], the Sassanids under [[Shapur I]] invaded the Levant and captured Roman emperor [[Valerian (emperor)|Valerian]] in the [[Battle of Edessa]]. A Syrian notable of [[Palmyra]], [[Odaenathus]] assembled the Palmyrene army and Syrian peasants, and marched north to meet Shapur I.<ref name="SmithII">{{cite book|title=Roman Palmyra: Identity, Community, and State Formation|first= Andrew M.|last=Smith II|publisher=Oxford University Press|year= 2013|isbn= 978-0-19-986110-1}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=Empress Zenobia: Palmyra's Rebel Queen|first= Patricia|last=Southern|publisher=A&C Black|year= 2008|isbn= 978-1-4411-4248-1}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=The Roman Empire from Severus to Constantine|first= Patricia|last=Southern|publisher=Routledge|year= 2015|isbn= 978-1-317-49694-6}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|title=Odaenathus and the Roman-Persian War of 252-264 A.D.|first= Lukas|last=de Blois|publisher= Brill|journal=Talanta – Proceedings of the Dutch Archaeological and Historical Society|volume=VI|year=1975|issn=0165-2486|oclc=715781891}}</ref> The Palmyrene monarch fell upon the retreating Persian army between [[Samosata]] and [[Zeugma, Commagene|Zeugma]], west of the Euphrates, in late summer 260, defeating and expelling them.<ref>{{cite book|first1= Michael H|last1=Dodgeon|first2=Samuel N. C |last2= Lieu|title= The Roman Eastern Frontier and the Persian Wars AD 226–363: A Documentary History| year=2002| publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-134-96113-9}}</ref><ref name="Udo"/> After eliminating Roman usurpers in Syria –[[Balista]] and [[Quietus]]– in 261, Odaeanathus penetrated the Sassanid province of [[Asoristan|Asōristān]] in late 262 and laid siege to the Sassanid capital, [[Ctesiphon]] in 263.<ref name="Udo">{{cite book|first= Udo|last=Hartmann|title=Das Palmyrenische Teilreich|year=2001|publisher=Franz Steiner Verlag|language= de|isbn=978-3-515-07800-9}}</ref> However, logistical problems meant the siege could not continue for long, and soon after Odaenathus broke the siege and brought numerous prisoners and booty to Rome.<ref name="Udo"/> After his return, Odaenathus assumed the title of [[King of Kings]] of the East (''Mlk Mlk dy Mdnh'' / ''Rex Regum'').<ref>{{cite book|title= Roman Syria and the Near East|first= Kevin|last=Butcher|year=2003|publisher=Getty Publications|isbn=978-0-89236-715-3}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last=Potter|first=David S.|year= 1996|title=Palmyra and Rome: Odaenathus' Titulature and the Use of the Imperium Maius|journal= Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik|publisher=Dr. Rudolf Habelt GmbH|volume=113|issn=0084-5388}}</ref> Odaenathus was succeeded by his son [[Vaballathus]] under the regency of his mother Queen [[Zenobia]]. In 270, Zenobia detached from Roman authority and declared the [[Palmyrene Empire]], rapidly conquering much of Syria, [[Egypt]], [[Arabia Petraea]] and large parts of [[Asia Minor]], reaching present-day [[Ankara]].<ref name="SmithII"/> However, by 273, Zenobia was decisively defeated by [[Aurelian]] and his Arab [[Tanukhid]] allies in Syria.<ref name="SmithII"/><ref name="zenoksa">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=41-MAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA302|title=Ancient Syria: A Three Thousand Year History|author= Trevor Bryce|page= 302|year= 2004|publisher=OUP Oxford |isbn=978-0-19-100293-9}}</ref>

== Byzantine period ==
{{See also|Byzantine Palestine}}
Following the permanent division of the Roman Empire in 391, the Levantine provinces became part of the [[Byzantine Empire]]. In the southern Levant, a newly established [[foederati]] were crystallizing, the [[Ghassanid]] Arabs. The Ghassanids became a client state of the Byzantines, and served as a bulwark against Sassanid incursions and raids by nomads.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Shahid |first1=Irfan |title=Byzantium And The Arabs In The Fourth Century |date=1984 |publisher=Dumbarton Oaks |isbn=978-0-88402-116-2 |url=https://archive.org/details/byzantium-and-the-arabs-in-the-fourth-century/}}</ref> With the consolidation of [[Christianity]], Jews had become a minority in southern Levant, remaining a majority only in Southern Judea, [[Galilee]] and [[Golan]]. Jewish revolts had also become much rarer, mostly with the [[Jewish revolt against Constantius Gallus]] (351–352) and [[Jewish revolt against Heraclius]] (617). This time the [[Samaritans]], whose population swelled to over a million, insurrected the [[Samaritan revolts]] (484–572) against the Byzantines, which killed an estimated 200,000 Samaritans,<ref name="Alan David Crown 1989, pp. 75–76">Alan David Crown, ''The Samaritans'', Mohr Siebeck, 1989, {{ISBN|3-16-145237-2}}, pp. 75–76.</ref> after the civil uprising of [[Baba Rabba]] and his subsequent execution in 328/362.

The devastating [[Byzantine–Sasanian War of 602–628]] ended with Byzantine recapture of the land, but left the empire rather exhausted, which taxed the inhabitants heavily. The Levant became the frontline between the Byzantines and the Persian [[Sasanian Empire|Sassanids]], which devastated the region.<ref>{{Citation|title=The Roman Eastern Frontier and the Persian Wars (Part II, 363-630 AD)|last1=Dodgeon |first1=Michael H.|last2=Greatrex|first2=Geoffrey|last3=Lieu|first3= Samuel N. C.|year=2002|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-0-415-00342-1 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zoZIxpQ8A2IC|postscript=.}}</ref><ref name="Kaegi">{{Citation|last=Kaegi|first=Walter Emil|author-link=Walter Kaegi|title=Byzantium and the early Islamic conquests|publisher=Cambridge University Press|year=1995|orig-date=1992|isbn=978-0-521-48455-8|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IvPVEb17uzkC|postscript=.}}</ref><ref>{{Citation|title=The Roman Eastern Frontier and the Persian Wars (Part II, 363-630 AD) |last1=Reinink|first1=Bernard H.|last2=Stolte|first2=Geoffrey|last3=Groningen|first3=Rijksuniversiteit te|year=2002|publisher=Peeters Publishers|isbn=978-90-429-1228-1|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0ytkockAajMC|postscript=.}}</ref> The war triggered the displacement of many inhabitants from Syria and Palestine to [[Egypt]], and from there to [[Carthage]] and [[Sicily]],<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Theodoropoulos |first1=Panagiotis |title=The Migration of Syrian and Palestinian Populations in the 7th Century: Movement of Individuals and Groups in the Mediterranean |journal=Migration Histories of the Medieval Afroeurasian Transition Zone |date=2020 |pages=261–287 |doi=10.1163/9789004425613_011 |series=Studies in Global Social History, Volume: 39/13 and Studies in Global Migration History, Volume: 39/13 |publisher=Brill |location=Leiden, The Netherlands|isbn=978-90-04-42561-3 |s2cid=218995707 |doi-access=free }}</ref> although archaeological evidence suggests smooth continuity and little displacement of the overall population.<ref name = "Phoenicia">{{cite book |title= Itineraria Phoenicia|url = https://books.google.com/books?id=SLSzNfdcqfoC&q=Opusculum+de+Persica+captivitate&pg=PA542| author = Edward Lipiński |publisher = Peeters Publishers |pages = 542–543 |year = 2004 |access-date=11 March 2014|isbn = 978-90-429-1344-8}}</ref>

==Muslim conquest and period==
Eastern Roman control over the Levant lasted until 638 when [[Arabs|Arab]] armies [[Muslim conquest of the Levant|conquered the Levant]], after which it became a part of the [[Rashidun Caliphate]] and was known as [[Bilad al-Sham|Bilād ash-Shām]].

Under the [[Umayyad dynasty|Umayyads]], the capital was moved to [[Damascus]]. However, the Levant did not experience wide-scale Arabian tribal settlement unlike in [[Lower Mesopotamia|Iraq]], where the focus of Arabian tribal migration was. Archaeological and historical evidence strongly suggest there was smooth population continuity and no large-scale abandonment of major sites and regions of the Levant after the Muslim conquest.<ref name="Kaegi"/><ref name="Burke">{{Cite journal |last= Burke |first= Aaron A. |title= The Archaeology of the Levant in North America: The Transformation of Biblical and Syro-Palestinian Archaeology |website= www.academia.edu |url= https://www.academia.edu/363228 |access-date= 2016-01-12}}</ref><ref name="Sauer">{{cite journal|title=Syro-Palestinian Archeology, History, and Biblical Studies|author=James A. Sauer|journal=The Biblical Archaeologist|volume= 45| date=Autumn 1982|pages=201–209|issue=4|doi=10.2307/3209764|jstor=3209764|s2cid=165611233}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Azdī |first1=Muḥammad ibn ʻAbd Allāh |editor1-last=Hassanein |editor1-first=Hamada |editor2-last=Scheiner |editor2-first=Jens J. |title=The Early Muslim Conquest of Syria: An English Translation of Al-Azdī's Futūḥ Al-Shām |date=23 September 2019 |publisher=Taylor & Francis |isbn=978-1-000-69058-3 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=A0uxDwAAQBAJ}}</ref> Moreover, in contrast to [[Iran]], [[Iraq]] and [[North Africa]], where Muslim soldiers established separate [[amsar|garrison cities]] (''amsar''), Muslim troops in the Levant settled alongside locals in pre-existing cities such as [[Damascus]], [[Homs]], [[Jerusalem]] and [[Tiberias]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Donner |first1=Fred M. |author-link=Fred M. Donner |title=The Early Islamic Conquests |year=2014 |orig-date=1981 |publisher=Princeton University Press |location=Princeton |isbn=978-0-691-05327-1 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=l5__AwAAQBAJ }}</ref> The Umayyads also relied on the native Syrian Arab tribes for their military, who oversaw a recruitment policy that resulted in considerable numbers of tribesmen and frontier peasants filling the ranks of the regular and auxiliary forces.<ref name="Jandora1">{{cite journal |last1=Jandora |first1=John W. |title=Developments in Islamic Warfare: The Early Conquests |journal=Studia Islamica |date=1986 |issue=64 |pages=101–113 |doi=10.2307/1596048 |jstor=1596048}}</ref> These were Arab tribes who inhabited the Levant before Islam, and included tribes such as [[Lakhmid kingdom|Lakhm]], [[Banu Judham|Judham]], [[Ghassanids|Ghassan]], [[Banu Amilah|Amilah]], [[Banu al-Qayn|Balqayn]], [[Salihids|Salih]] and [[Tanukhids|Tanukh]].<ref name="Jandora1"/> When the [[Abbasid dynasty|Abbasids]] moved the capital to [[Baghdad]] in 750, this exposed the Muslim Arabs to the challenge of the strong and well-articulated identity of [[Iran]], whereas in Damascus, they had only to contend with the numerous parochial and fractured identities of the Levant.<ref name="Hoyland">{{cite book|last1=Hoyland|first1=Robert G.|title=Arabia and the Arabs|date=2001|publisher=Routledge|isbn=0-203-76392-0}}</ref>

Abbasid focus on Iraq and Iran neglected the Levant, which in turn experienced a period of frequent uprisings and revolts. Syria became fertile grounds for anti-Abbasid sentiments, in various contrasting pro-Umayyad and pro-Shiite forms. In 841, [[al-Mubarqa]] ('the Veiled One') lead a rebellion against the Abbasids in Palestine, declaring himself the Umayyad [[Sufyani]].<ref name="State University of New York Press">{{cite book |last1=Cobb |first1=Paul M. |title=White Banners: Contention in 'Abbasid Syria, 750-880 |date=2001 |publisher=State University of New York Press |location=Albany |isbn=0-7914-4879-7 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2C6KIBw4F9YC}}</ref> In 912, a revolt against the Abbasids arose in the [[Damascus]] region, this time by an [[Alid]] descendant of tenth Shiite Imam [[Ali al-Hadi]].<ref name="State University of New York Press"/> The growing [[Isma'ilism|Isma'ili]] ''dawah'' moved to the town of [[Salamiyah]] as its headquarters in 765, binding missionaries over to [[Iraq]], [[Khuzestan]], [[Yemen]], [[Egypt]] and [[Maghreb]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Daftary |first1=Farhad |title=The Isma'ilis: Their History and Doctrines |date=2007 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-1-139-46578-6}}</ref> From Salamiyah, Isma'ili Imam [[Abd Allah al-Mahdi Billah]] moved to [[Sijilmasa]] in [[Morocco]] in 904, where his missionaries were active in proselytizing Berber tribes, eventually establishing the [[Fatimid Caliphate|Fatimid empire]] by 909.<ref>{{cite book | last = Brett | first = Michael | title = The Rise of the Fatimids: The World of the Mediterranean and the Middle East in the Fourth Century of the Hijra, Tenth Century CE | series = The Medieval Mediterranean | volume = 30 | publisher = Brill | location = Leiden | year = 2001 | isbn = 90-04-11741-5 | url = {{Google Books|BqCdfhW3nVwC|plainurl=y}} }}</ref><ref>{{EI3 | last = Walker | first = Paul E. | authorlink = | title = Abū ʿAbdallāh al-Shīʿī | year = 2008 | doi = 10.1163/1573-3912_ei3_SIM_0282}}</ref>

==See also==
* [[Names of the Levant]]
*[[History of the Middle East]]
*[[List of archaeological periods (Levant)]]
* [[Ancient Near East]]
*[[Levantine archaeology]]
*[[Near Eastern bioarchaeology]]
* History of the ancient Levant
** [[History of Cyprus]]
** [[History of Palestine]] – same as "History of Israel", with a non-Jewish focus
** [[History of Israel]] i.e. of the "[[land of Israel]]" – same as "History of Palestine", with a Jewish focus
*** [[History of ancient Israel and Judah]]
** [[History of Jordan]]
** [[History of the Sinai Peninsula]]
** [[Prehistory of the Levant]]
*[[History of Islam]]

==References==

===Notes===
<!--See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Footnotes for an explanation of how to generate footnotes using the <ref(erences/)> tags-->

{{Reflist}}

===General references===
* Philip Mansel, ''Levant: Splendour and Catastrophe on the Mediterranean'', London, John Murray, 11 November 2010, hardback, 480 pages, {{ISBN|978-0-7195-6707-0}}, New Haven, Yale University Press, 24 May 2011, hardback, 470 pages, {{ISBN|978-0-300-17264-5}}

{{Commons category|History of the Levant}}

==External links==
* [http://ancientneareast.tripod.com/Levant.html The History of the Ancient Near East]

{{Ancient states and regions of the Levant}}
{{Prehistoric Asia}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:History Of The Levant}}
[[Category:Ancient Levant| ]]
[[Category:History of the Levant]]