Canaan, Phoenicia:

- eastern shore of the Mediterranean: a world of small and aggressive city states
- the first Canaanites or Phoenicians (Greeks named them) - spoke a variety of Semitic dialects (4th millennium - blending with an earlier population)
- urban foundations - Sidon
                                  Byblos (3000 B.C.) (Bible = book)
=> traded with Egypt and Summer

Economy:
- sailors, shipbuilders and merchants
- craftsmen (wood, ivory, copper jewelry, bronze tools and weapons; glass makers)
Sidon: textiles (purple dye)

Institutions:
- King (hereditary)
- council of elders (oligarchic system)

Culture:
- invented the first alphabet (a phonetic script with 22 abstract symbols - consonants; vowels are omitted)
Religion:
- Astarte: Earth Mother - all powerful fertility goddess; other nature gods (god of storms, of harvest etc.)
- priests: women - included ritual prostitution

Political crises:
- Amorites destroyed Byblos (2150 B.C.)
- region dominated by Hyksos (c.1720-1560 B.C.): invaders from north of Canaanite immigrants?
   - semitic origin, came at the same time with other Semitic groups (ancient Hebrews)
- Egyptian dominance (until the Hittites - during pharaoh Akhenaton - 1379 - 1362 B.C.)

Hittites
- the Hittite empire reached its peak in 1300 B.C.
- the Hittite introduced iron into Near East
- the Hittite: warrior aristocracy - imposed their rule without altering basic institutions

Social structure:
- King ( capital: Hattusa) => granted land to the charioteers
- tribute => demanded from towns
- women - important role in society
- local autonomy

1190 B.C. - Sea People attacked the Egyptian delta (came from the north - Aegean or western Asia Minor - iron weapons) => driven out of Egypt => established along the coast south of Jaffa

towns: Gaza, Ashkelon, Ashdod, Gath => formed a league: Philistia or the Philistine confederacy (Bible calls them Philistines; Romans used Palestine - to describe the entire region)

Philistine - southern coast

Hebrews - escaped from Egypt - invaded the Canaanite highlands - fought with the Philistines - they established  the kingdom of Israel

c.1100 B.C. - Canaan was too crowded => colonies
- Phoenicians planted colonies around the Mediterranean sea (from north Africa to Cyprus, Sicily, Sardinia, Spain, Gibraltar, reached Britain)

Ancient Israel

the history of early Hebrews is recorded in the Old Testament (or Tanak) from their early migration from Mesopotamia to Canaan to their captivity in Egypt, to the establishment and breakup of their kingdom, their subjugation under powerful empires, and eventual dispersal

- tradition: Abraham - the patriarch of the Hebrew came from Ur => lived for several generations in the trans - Jordan highlands => emigrated to Egypt => during the New Kingdom the situation became difficult => a group fled to Sinai under the leadership of Moses
- Moses molded the refugees into the people of Israel and transmitted to them the Ten Commandments (the ethical code - forms the basis of Judaism, Christianity and Islam)

Book of Judges:
- loose confederacy of tribes (c.1200) with a common religion and common military goal
- Saul (c.1020 - 1000 B.C.) - established a monarchy ; only David (1000 - 961)  consolidated the territories into the kingdom of Israel
- Solomon (961 - 922) - Israel became a major power
- after Solomon => rebellion (heavy taxation + religious disputes) => Israel divided in two kingdoms Israel in the north and Judah in the south

Religion:

- the central feature: a vision of one God - invisible, could not be represented  (Yahweh - the God of the Jews = to be; means that the deity is eternal and changeless)
- Yahweh - creator of the universe, absolute in power, could influence history and take part in the lives of individual Jew
- Yahweh - is a God of goodness and mercy/ profound break with the religious beliefs of other Near Eastern people
- fundamental to Hebrew belief was the idea that God created people not to be his slaves but to fulfill their moral potential by freely choosing to follow or not to follow his law
- a heavy responsibility was placed on the Hebrews as the chosen people to become the moral teachers of humanity
- the expression of Yahweh's will - found in the Ten Commandments
>> the Ten Commandments - brought down by Moses from Mt. Sinai; delivered to the people of Israel before their entry in Canaan - the basis of the legal and moral code that governed every aspect of life and conduct
>> features of Mosaic Law: eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth (Babylonian precedents); but governed private and public behavior:
    - dietary regulation
    - rules for sexual conduct
    - proper forms of religious observances

==>> Mosaic Law - comprehensive guide to ethical behavior
=> many of those principles would later be adopted by both Christianity and Islam