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History of the ancient Levant
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==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, 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=9780520931022 |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=9780631226079 |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=9783110267143 |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=9781107244566|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=9789004285101|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 the [[Arabs]] and Jews in Syria, Iranians from [[Central Asia]] and people of [[Asia Minor]], they generally eschewed recruiting native Aramean Syrians 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]].<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=9789004350724|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 | ancient kingdom, Mesopotamia, Asia | 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=9780521301992|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 BCE.<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 (174–4 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]].
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