Editing History of the ancient Levant (section)

==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 {{sc|BC}}); "Old Syrian" for the [[Middle Bronze Age]] (2000–1550 {{sc|BC}}); and "Middle Syrian" for the [[Late Bronze Age]] (1550–1200 {{sc|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= 9788778761774 |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=9780521764438 |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|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]], was obliged to construct 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=9780521796668 |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=9781108857000 |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=9781405149112|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=9783447113328}}</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=9783447113328}}</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 {{sc|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;{{sc|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=9780415394857 |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=9781575060538 |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=9781134520626 |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 {{sc|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=9004113851 |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 {{sc|BC}} on, the Amorites disappeared from the pages of history.

Between 1550 and 1170 {{sc|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=9004109846 |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}}
During the 12th century BC, between c. 1200 and 1150, 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.