History of the ancient Levant

Anatomically modern Homo sapiens are demonstrated at the area of Mount Carmel[2] in Palestine during the Middle Paleolithic dating from c. 90,000 BC. These migrants out of Africa seem to have been unsuccessful,[3] and by c. 60,000 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.[4][3]

A second move out of Africa is demonstrated by the Boker Tachtit Upper Paleolithic culture, from 52,000 to 50,000 BC, with humans at Ksar Akil XXV level being modern humans.[5] This culture bears close resemblance to the Badoshan Aurignacian culture of Iran, and the later Sebilian I Egyptian culture of c. 50,000 BC. Stephen Oppenheimer[6] suggests that this reflects a movement of modern human (possibly Caucasian) 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 Levalo-Mousterian, and by c. 40,000 BC the region was occupied by the Levanto-Aurignacian Ahmarian culture, lasting from 39,000 to 24,000 BC.[7] This culture was quite successful spreading as the Antelian culture (late Aurignacian), as far as Southern Anatolia, with the Atlitan culture.

After the Late Glacial Maxima, a new Epipaleolithic culture appears. The appearance of the Kebaran culture, of 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.[8] Extending from 18,000 to 10,500 BC, the Kebaran culture[9] 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 c. 24,000 – c. 17,000 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 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 July 2018, the oldest remains of bread were discovered c. 12,400 BC at the archaeological site of Shubayqa 1, once home of the Natufian hunter-gatherers, roughly 4,000 years before the advent of agriculture.[10]

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).

By 8500–7500 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 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 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[11] may have adopted the use of pottery from the Isnan culture and Helwan culture of Egypt (which lasted from 9000 to 4500 BC), and subsequently fused with elements from the PPNB culture during the climatic crisis of 6000 BC to form what Juris Zarins calls the Syro-Arabian pastoral technocomplex,[12] 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 Martu and 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 BC were associated with the Ghassulian culture of the region, the first Chalcolithic culture of the Levant. This period also witnessed the development of megalithic structures, which continued into the Bronze Age.[13]

Some recent scholars dealing with the Syrian part of the Levant during the Bronze Age are using 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.[19]

The Early Syrian period was dominated by the East Semitic-speaking Eblaite first kingdom (3000–2300 BC), Kingdom of Nagar (2600–2300 BC) and the Mariote second kingdom (2500–2290 BC). The Akkadian Empire conquered large areas of the Levant, but collapsed due to the 4.2 kiloyear event circa 2200 BC. This event prompted movement of populations from Upper Mesopotamia to the northern Levant. The Akkadians were followed by a long period of Amorite dominance in Syria ca. 2200-1600 BC. The Amorites established powerful kingdoms and city-states throughout the Fertile Crescent, including Yamhad, Eblaite third kingdom, Alalakh, and Qatna in the Levant, and Babylon, Mari, Apum, Kurda, Ekallatum, Andarig and Shamshi-Adad I's kingdom in Mesopotamia.

After the collapse of the Akkadian empire, Hurrians settlements commenced westwards, and by the 17th century BC the Hurrians made up a significant portion of the population in Aleppo, Alalakh and Ugarit. Also following the Akkadians was the extension of Khirbet Kerak Ware culture, showing affinities with the Caucasus, and possibly linked to the later appearance of the Hurrians.

In the mid-17th century BC, the Hyksos overran Egypt, either by coup or an invasion, and founded the Fifteenth Dynasty of Egypt in Avaris. The origins of the Hyksos are unknown, but they were potentially linked to the Amorites of Syria. The Hyksos were later expelled, leaving the empire of the New Kingdom to develop in their wake.

Around the beginning of the New Kingdom period, Egypt exerted rule over much of the Levant. From 1550 until 1100, much of the Levant was conquered by Egypt, which in the latter half of this period contested Syria with the Hittite Empire. Rule remained strong during the Eighteenth Dynasty, but Egypt's rule became precarious during the Nineteenth and Twentieth Dynasties. Ramses II was able to maintain control over it in the stalemated battle against the Hittites at Kadesh in 1275 BC, but soon thereafter, the Hittites successfully took over the northern Levant (Syria and Amurru). Ramses II, obsessed with his own building projects while neglecting Asiatic contacts, allowed control over the region to continue dwindling. During the reign of his successor Merneptah, the Merneptah Stele was issued which claimed to have destroyed various sites in the southern Levant, including a people named as "Israel". A newly discovered massive layer of fiery destruction confirms Merneptah's boast about his Canaanite campaign.[20]

Over the course of the reign of Ramses VI (C.1125 BC), Egyptian control over the southern Levant completely collapsed in the wake of the invasion of the Sea Peoples, more specifically, the Philistines who settled into the southwestern Coastal Plain.[21]

Around the 16th and 15th centuries BC most of the older centers had been overrun. In northern Mesopotamia, the era ended with the defeat and expulsion of the Amorites and Amorite-dominated Babylonians from Assyria by Puzur-Sin and king Adasi between 1740 and 1735 BC, and in the far south, by the rise of the native Sealand Dynasty c. 1730 BC.[22] Babylon was taken over by the Kassites in 1595 BC. Mitanni emerged in northern Syria as a powerful player in the 16th century, and were under constant threat from their surrounding neighbors, Hittites and Assyria, prompting them to forge close ties with Egypt. Mitanni was predominantly made up of Hurrian, Akkadian and Amorite speaking populations.

After the fall of Mitanni in the 14th century, Syria came under the domination of the Hittites and the Middle Assyrian Empire (1365–1050). The Amorites were displaced or absorbed by a semi-nomadic West Semitic-speaking peoples known collectively as the Ahlamu, during the Late Bronze Age collapse. 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.

At the end of the 13th century BC, all of these powers suddenly collapsed. Centralized state systems collapsed, and the region was hit by famine. Moreover, cities all around the eastern Mediterranean were sacked within a span of a few decades by assorted raiders known as the Sea Peoples, a confederation of both local and foreign warriors and tribes that settled in the Levant after the Late Bronze Age collapse. The Hittite empire was destroyed and its capital 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. Previously significant cities such as Ugarit, Alalakh and Kadesh were completely destroyed and abandoned.

Phoenicia on the coast (red) and the Syro-Hittite states, c. 8th century BC

Neo-Babylonian Empire under its last king, Nabonidus (r. 556-539 BC)

The massive destruction at the end of the Bronze Age left a number of tiny kingdoms and city-states behind. The Syro-Hittite states, a conglomeration of Semitic, Hittite and Luwian-speaking kingdoms, were established in northern Syria after the fall of the Hittites in 1180 BC.

In the 12th century BC, most of interior Syria as well as Babylonia and Upper Mesopotamia, was overrun by Aramaeans, Chaldeans, Arabs and Suteans. These groups formed kingdoms all over Syria reaching Upper Mesopotamia, where they came in proximity to the weakened Middle Assyrian state. Further west, the Levantine coast was settled by the incoming Sea Peoples, most notably by the Philistines around today's Gaza Strip.

Unlike most of Syria and Southern Levant, Phoenician city-states in Canaan managed to escape the destruction that ensued in the Late Bronze age collapse, and developed into big commercial powers. Phoenician centers of Byblos, Tyre, Sidon and Arwad soon flourished.

Another group, the Arabs ('Aribi) first appeared in Assyrian historical records from the 8th century BC, whose presence accompanied the Aramean tribes in Mesopotamia and the Syrian Desert. Several Arab groups are also mentioned inhabiting the lower Orontes valley, Damascus and al-Leja in Syria and Bekaa valley in Lebanon.[24][25] The Nabatu, possible precursors of Nabateans, were among those groups.[24]

Two new groups appeared in the southern Levant during the early Iron Age I: the Philistines, a group of Aegean immigrants who arrived in the southern shore of Canaan around 1175 BCE and settled there, and the Israelites, who gradually established many small communities that dotted the central highlands.[26] The Israelites' exodus from Egypt and conquest of Canaan as described in the Hebrew Bible are generally disputed by modern scholarship, which holds that the Israelites and their culture diverged from the Canaanite peoples and their cultures through the development of a unique monolatristic—and later monotheistic—religion centered on the national god Yahweh.[27][28][29]

The 10th and 9th centuries BCE saw the emergence of several territorial kingdoms in the southern Levant. Two Israelite kingdoms emerged: the Kingdom of Israel, which ruled over the areas of Samaria, Galilee, Sharon and parts of Transjordan, and had its capital for the most of its history in the city of Samaria,[30] and the Kingdom of Judah, which controlled the Judaean Mountains, most of the Shephelah, and the northern Negev, and had its capital in Jerusalem.[31] Three kingdoms—Moab, Ammon, and Edom—began to arise in Transjordan at about the same period.

During the 9th century BC, the Assyrians began to reassert themselves against the incursions of the Aramaeans, and over the next few centuries developed into a powerful and well-organised empire. Their armies were among the first to employ cavalry, which took the place of chariots, and had a reputation for both prowess and brutality. They launched campaigns against the Arameans and Sutean tribes living in central Syria and Upper Mesopotamia, expelling them and destroying their city-states and confederations. At their height, the Assyrians dominated all of the Levant, Egypt, and Mesopotamia. However, the empire began to collapse toward the end of the 7th century BC, and was obliterated by an alliance between a resurgent New Kingdom of Babylonia and the Iranian Medes.

After the Battle of Carchemish (c. 605 BC), Nebuchadnezzar II besieged Jerusalem and destroyed the Temple (597 BC), starting the period of the Babylonian captivity, which lasted about half a century. The subsequent balance of power was short-lived, though. In the 550s BC the Persians revolted against the Medes and gained control of their empire, and over the next few decades annexed to it the realms of Lydia in Anatolia, Damascus, Babylonia, and Egypt, as well as consolidating their control over the Iranian plateau nearly as far as India. This vast kingdom was divided up into various satrapies and governed roughly according to the Assyrian model, but with a far lighter hand. Around this time Zoroastrianism became the predominant religion in Persia.

Alexander did not live long enough to consolidate his realm; after his death in 323 BC the greater share of the east eventually went to the descendants of Seleucus I Nicator. Seleucus built his capital Seleucia in 305, but the capital was later moved to Antioch in 240 BC.

Under the Seleucids, Hellenistic culture developed as a fusion of ancient Greek culture and local cultures, and the period saw notable innovations in mathematics, science and philosophy. The Seleucids founded many cities throughout the region and sponsored Greek settlement from Euboea, Crete and Aetolia.[32] Later on, the Seleucid kings also adopted the title "King of Syria".

Seleucid domains by 87 BC

The power decline of the Seleucids in 2nd century BC lead to the formation of independent breakaway states: Commagene and Osroene in the north, and the Maccabean Revolt and Hasmonean dynasty in Palestine. The Itureans similarly broke away in 89 BCE, while the Nabataean Kingdom had maintained their autonomy since the 3rd century BC. This rendered the Seleucids a weak, vulnerable state limited to parts of Syria and Lebanon.

The Romans gained foothoold in the region in 64 BC after permenantly defeating the Seleucids and Tigranes. The Romans only gradually incorporated local kingdoms into provinces, giving them some autonomy. The Herodian Kingdom of Judea replaced the Hasmonians in 37 BC until their incorporation of the province of Judaea in 44 CE. Commagene and Osroene were incorporated in 72 and 214 CE respectively, while Nabatea was incorporated as Arabia Petraea in 106 CE.

The first to second centuries saw the emergence of a plethora of religions and philosophical schools. Neoplatonism emerged with Iamblichus and Porphyry, Neopythagorianism with Apollonius of Tyana and 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 hold in the region.

In 391, the Roman era began with the permanent division of the Roman Empire into Eastern and Western halves. Eastern Roman control over many parts of the Levant lasted until 636 when Arab armies conquered the Levant, after which it became a part of the Rashidun Caliphate and became known as Bilad al-Sham.

• 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

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