t he levant in ancient times
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The Levant in Ancient Times
FOH 13
Can you locate…?
• The Fertile Crescent• Mediterranean Sea, Persian Gulf• 3 major rivers• Mesopotamia– Sumer, Babylonia, Akkad, Assyria
• Egypt: Upper, Lower, delta, desert
Between the major powers of Egypt and Mesopotamia?
Peoples of the Levant
• Who lived here?• Were they settled or nomadic?• How did they make a living?• What resources did they have?• What language(s) did they speak?• What god(s) did they worship?• How did they deal with the presence and
projects of larger powers?
• Phoenicians• Canaanites• Arameans• Philistines• Hebrews– Israelites– Judeans/Jews
c. 830 BCE
The International Age
The “Five Powers” c. 1350 BCE• Egypt
– Including Syria/Palestine/Canaan
• Hatti (Hittites)• Mittani (Hurrians)• Alashiya• Mesopotamia
– Northern part: Assyrians– Babylonia: Hittites, Kassites,
Assyrians
From alliance of “five great powers” to many smaller kingdoms?
c. 1350 BCE c. 830 BCE
The arrival of “the Sea Peoples”
• c. 1200 BCE• Origin unknown, but armed with iron and
warships, they attack and diminish the power of:- Mittani (the Hurrians)
- Hatti (the Hittites) - Alashiya
- Egypt (loses Syria/Palestine)• 1st Assyrian Empire is conquered by Arameans• the Levant is up for grabs…
New powers take shape in the Levant (c. 1200 – 800 BCE)
• Some of the “Sea Peoples” (peleset) settle on the southern coast Philistines, Palestine
• They form city-states: Gaza, Ashkelon, Ashdod• Further north, Phoenician city-states form: Byblos, Tyre, Sidon• Nomadic Hebrews, led by Moses, settle in the
land of Canaan, and eventually form kingdoms• Settled people of Canaan form kingdoms: Edom,
Moab, Ammon – as newcomers displace them
Semitic family of languages
The Phoenicians (c. 1200 – 500 BCE)
• Location? Major settlements? Natural environment? Geopolitics?
The Phoenicians (c. 1200 – 500 BCE)
Geopolitics:o Rough terrain, hilly, rocky hard to unite, created
independent city-stateso Narrow strip of plains along coast, hemmed in by
mountains and forests did some farming, but mostly relied on trade
o Caught between two major civilizations expanded to the west, around the Mediterranean, by creating colonies and extensive maritime (sea-based) trade routes
• Phoenicians’ colonies:• - Islands in middle of Mediterranean• - coast of southern Iberian peninsula (Spain)• - Coast of North Africa– Carthage and other settlements allowed them to
control passage of ships between Eastern and Western Mediterranean
– Access to natural resources and trading opportunities in these areas
Phoenicians as traders
o Trade featured: o two unique natural resources: timber and dye
from snailso cheaper imitations of other people’s pottery, glass,
jewelry, etc.o resources obtained through their colonies
Phoenicians’ innovations as traders
• Keeping track of stuff • Traveling by sea
Phoenicians’ innovations as traders
• Keeping track of stuff• Developed an alphabet
with 22 symbols (letters) – all consonants
• This made it easier for traders to keep their own records, not have to hire scribes
• Traveling by sea
Phoenicians’ innovations as traders
• Phonetic alphabet • Traveling by sea:• New models of ships that
were sturdy, stable, durable
• Discovered tacking (sailing into wind)
• Developed biremes and triremes as warships
• Explored Mediterranean and beyond (Britain, Africa)
End of the Phoenicians?
• Assyrians (2nd empire)• Neo-babylonians• Persians• Greeks• Carthage, 146 BCE, by Romans
Heartland of ancient Phoenicia today?
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