nestled between the Eastern shores of the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River along with parts of the surrounding areas to the North and South lies some of the most contested real estate of the modern era this region sacred to three of the world's major religions namely Judaism Christianity and Islam Today comprises the political entities of Israel the Palestinian territories Lebanon parts of Western Jordan and in Southwestern Syria however the borders of these modern countries are relatively recent constructs throughout recorded history the boundaries of the small kingdoms and statelets that once occupied this area have continually shifted as have the peoples who once inhabited them in Antiquity this land was known as Canaan and its ancient inhabitants as Canaanites although Canaan and its people are mentioned numerous times in the Hebrew Bible or Old Testament most people have heard or read little Beyond these references fortunately substantial archaeological and textual evidence from across the Middle East now allows us to construct a clearer picture of ancient Canaan and its diverse population throughout its history so who were the Canaanites how did they live and what did they believe what do we know about their culture and history in this program we'll take a look at this and more before we proceed it's important to clarify the terms Canaan and Canaanite Canan refers to the region along the lentine coast encompassing present day Israel the Palestinian territories Lebanon and parts of Jordan and Syria a Canaanite was an inhabitant of this region despite sharing many cultural and linguistic traits the people of this region were highly diverse among the well-known groups identified throughout Antiquity were the amorites moabites ammonites Israelites Philistines Phoenicians and others collectively these groups are considered to be part of a broader ancient Canaanite civilization due to their shared cultural heritage and Homeland the earliest known reference to Canaan and Canaanites is believed to come from a Cadian language texts dating to around 1800 BC from the ancient city of Mari these texts mention the term k Anu in a Cadian B form referring to troublemakers in a town called risum a similar term was also found on tablets from The Archives of the nearby ancient city of eah though it can't be confirmed if this also is a reference to Canaan and its people while we could go back tens of thousands of years for our purposes here we'll begin our story during one of the most transformative periods in human history the Neolithic or agricultural revolution this era marked the shift from a nomadic hunter gatherer lifestyle to settled agricultural communities although this transition occurred independently in various parts of the world Canan and the surrounding areas of the Fertile Crescent are believed by most Scholars to be the first place where this phenomenon began around 10,000 to 12,000 years ago the land that was once Canaan is home to some of the world's oldest continuously inhabited settlements with Jericho being the most famous archaeological evidence indicates that Jericho has been occupied for over 11,000 years making it one of the earliest known human settlements the site has revealed numerous layers of occupation spanning various historical periods including the Neolithic and bronze ages throughout its long long history Jericho has been strategically located near key trade routes linking Egypt and Africa to Western Asia Mesopotamia ancient Iran and Beyond during the early Bronze Age around 3300 BC the first walled towns began to appear across the Canaanite Countryside these towns were typically small housing about 2,000 inhabitants though larger settlements may have contained three to 5,000 people the walls were generally constructed from large stones or mud bricks one of the best preserved sites from this period is telerad where the town's defensive wall featured semicircular bastions at regular intervals as time progressed fortifications in these towns grew more complex and by around 2,000 BC some towns were even encircled by double or triple lines of defenses walls unfortunately the absence of written records makes it difficult to determine the political landscape of early Bronze Age Canan however it is believed that the region was composed of many independent city states each controlling the surrounding land and nearby Villages these city states may have been governed by a Chieftain a Council of Elders or a king the existence of defensive City walls suggests conflict between Canaanite city states and possibly attacks from Outsiders due to its location Canaan was heavily influenced by the cultures of both Egypt to the west and Mesopotamia to the east during the middle Bronze Age roughly from 1950 to 1500 BC Canan often fell under the dominance of various powers in the South Egyptian influence Ence was strong while the Central and Northern regions were more closely connected with kingdoms like yamhad and later the huran kingdom of the mitani while the Egyptians and Regional powers of Western Asia sought control over canaan's lucrative trade routes many Canaanites sought refuge in Egypt drawn by greater economic opportunities a now famous mural on the tomb wall of an Egyptian nobleman at benih Hassan dating to around 1900 BC clearly depicts people of Canaanite origin being presented to an Egyptian Court further evidence of their presence in Egypt comes from discoveries in the Nile Delta region where settlements such as the city of avaris have unmistakably Canaanite features as indicated by the architectural style of many of the buildings Pottery shards and other artifacts that have been uncovered there the reasons for Canaanite migration to Egypt VAR bued some arrived with trading Caravans and eventually settled in the Delta region or the more populated parts of the Nile Valley others came as laborers drawn by Abundant farming and construction jobs especially during the Middle Kingdom some served as mercenaries or bodyguards Manning border fortresses or serving in the household guard of wealthy Egyptians and finally after numerous armed conflicts with the Egyptians where they end Ed up on the losing side many Canaanites were brought to Egypt as slaves today egyptologists recognized that Egypt's 15th Dynasty whose rulers are referred to as asiatics in later Egyptian texts and also known as the hios were of Canaanite origin during this period many prosperous Canaanite cities and ports flourished including the coastal cities of biblos sidon and Ty which developed close trade relationships with Egypt and were especially known for exporting highquality Cedarwood cloth and wine other notable cities included hator megiddo bethan dor and ashalon it's believed that the population of Canaan at this time may have reached close to 150,000 people most of whom lived on the coastal plains along the Eastern Mediterranean Sea the jezel valley or the upper Jordan Valley the Canaanite peoples adopted many new technologies and Innovations from their neighbors particularly with regard to Warfare including the composite bow chariots battering rams and Siege Towers however they were also highly Innovative Canaanite scribes who were proficient in their local languages as well as in a Cadian kuna form and Egyptian hieroglyphs used this knowledge to maintain records of exchanges with their Region's many trading partners to manage the large volume of trade data along with the need for quick recordkeeping around 1600 BC Canaanite scribes developed a simpler writing system by combining common signs from these two major scripts thereby creating the first alphabet this early alphabet facilitated communication among diverse groups speaking different languages and today stands as one of Humanity's greatest achievements the late Bronze Age between 1550 and 1150 BC was perhaps the most pivotal period in canan's ancient history largely due to the Ambitions of its neighbors to the North in central Anatolia was the land of hati ruled by the Hittites to the Northeast in Northern Mesopotamia was the hurrian Federation known as the kingdom of the mitani however the greatest influence and indeed domination over Canaan came from the budding Empire to its Southwest Egypt around 1550 BC Pharaoh ethos of Egypt's 18th Dynasty expelled the last Tios ruler from Egypt and launched a ruthless campaign of Conquest ultimately leading to his descendants ruling nearly all of Canaan the motivation for this was clear according to Egyptian documents the hios had invaded Egypt from Canaan to prevent other Canaanite groups or Regional powers like the mitani and Hittites from doing the same it became a matter of security for the Pharaohs to control this region at the very least Canan would serve as a buffer between Egypt and the potentially hostile forces es to the east controlling this region would also give Egypt full access to all the resources and lucrative trade routes found within Canaan between 1550 and 1450 BC city after City in Canaan and the Western Levant fell to the Egyptians several 18th Dynasty pharaohs including thos I campaigned in the region pushing as far as the Euphrates River although this was more of a raid than a conquest its intent was clear to signal to the mitani that Canaan was now within Egypt's sphere of influence in the mid 15 Century BC Pharaoh tmos III focused on the full conquest of Canaan his most famous military campaign was also his first in the region which culminated in the Battle of megiddo in the jezrel Valley where he faced a coalition of rebellious Canaanite states and their allies led by the king of cadesh after a 7-month Siege megiddo surrendered Paving the way for the conquest of all Canaan the capture of megiddo was only the beginning dmos III LED another 16 campaigns into the region extending Egyptian influence beyond the Euphrates river and deep into mitani territory near the city of Kish for the first time in its recorded history the politically fragmented land of Canaan was largely United though under foreign rule Wars between Egypt and the mitani continued until the reign of dmos IV who ruled from 1400 to 1390 BC during this time a formal peace and Treaty of friendship were established the peace between these two great Powers brought much needed stability to Canaan at least from the Egyptian perspective as it allowed them to collect taxes and extract resources at will archaeological evidence indicates that many Canaanite settlements were abandoned during this period and that the population declined significantly possibly to as few as 70,000 people this decline may have been due to the migration of many Canaanites to Egypt for work as the Kingdom on the Nile reached its Zenith under Pharaoh em hotep III on average there were about 15 to 20 major Canaanite cities under Egyptian control between the years 1500 to 1200 BC each city was governed by a Canaanite mayor who answered directly to the Pharaoh though often locally born most Mayors were raised and educated at the Egyptian Court making them well-versed in Egyptian customs and fostering greater loyalty to the crown Canaanite Mayors generally served the Pharaoh and his government in three main ways first they were required to provide the Egyptian army with troops when needed a standard Duty for all NE Eastern vassals they were also responsible for collecting taxes on behalf of the Egyptian king typically paid in Grain olive oil wine and other food stuffs additionally Mayors often supplemented these with silver glass precious stones copper Timber incense and other luxury items that pass through their territories via Merchant Caravans and finally Canaanite Mayors were expected to provide Hospitality to any Egyptian dignitaries generals officers soldiers Tax Collectors or other Personnel sent by the Pharaoh this included Sheltering and providing them with food though the Canaanite mayor had his own local militia it was often not enough and requests for more Egyptian troops were common during the reign of pharaoh Otep IV better known as akatan significant political instability seems to have affected much of Canaan particularly in the north around biblos and the Border region of amuru this information comes from a series of 60 letters dictated by rib hadada the mayor of biblos who frequently complained to the Pharaoh about threats to his City and the lack of resources to address them these letters are part of the collection of international correspondence known as the amarna letters the apparent lack of response from the Pharaoh and other officials suggests either disinterest in the region or an inability to take meaningful action a section of one such letter reads speak to the king my Lord the sun god the message of rib hadada your servant at the feet of my Lord the son God seven times and seven times I have fallen May the lady of the city of biblos Grant strength to the king my Lord now thus I write to the king my Lord but he does not heed my words now for 2 years I have been robbed of my grain there is no grain for us to eat what shall I say to my yman Farmers their sons and their daughters the Furnishings of their houses are gone as payment in the land of yarim muta to sustain their lives furthermore May the king my Lord heed the words of his loyal servant and may he send grain in the hold of ships that he may sustain his servant and his City and may he give 400 troops and 30 pairs of horses just as he gave surata and may they protect the city for you riada never got the troops he asked for in general Canaanite Mayors were distrustful and hostile toward one another as evidenced by numerous instances in the amarna letters from the perspective of the Egyptian government this may have been the preferred situation as it prevented Canaanite leaders from uniting to rebel against the increasingly unpopular Egyptian presence in Canaan Egyptian troops only intervened when conflicts escalated beyond control however more formidable threats soon emerged by the mid 14th century BC the hurrian kingdom of the mitani had collapsed under pressure from Assyria to the East and more significantly for Canaan the hit Empire to the north Egypt's apparent neglect of its most distant Asian territories as well as hittite military incursions eventually brought parts of Northern Canaan and the Levant into alliances with hati with the end of the 18th Dynasty a new line of rulers which egyptologists identify today as the 19th Dynasty came to Power by this time Egypt was fully engaged in war with the Hittites the Egyptians would occasionally regain territory along their northern border only to lose it again in subsequent years although there were brief periods of calm the conflict showed no signs of abating in the spring of 1274 BC rumors spread that King muali II of the hittite empire was personally leading a campaign to the Canaanite city of cadesh with the aim of pushing further south into Canaan Egypt's pharaoh at the time rameses II had little choice but to act if the hitti King was personally leading his army into Canaan then rames had to do the same the battle that would soon follow was one of the most famous of the Bronze Age The Battle of cadesh in May of 1274 BC rames II and his army marched into What was a effectively a trap set by muali although rames II's numerous inscriptions later claim a decisive Victory most historians conclude that the famous battle of cadesh was at best a stalemate between the two Regional Powers if not a disaster for the Egyptians the Egyptians never reached the walls of cadesh lost half their army and faced rebellions throughout their territories in Canaan although these revolts were ruthlessly suppressed they never regained the territories in Canaan that they'd lost to muali though the Hittites may have fared better overall a dynastic struggle within the royal family along with renewed pressure on his western border with Assyria prompted the later hittite King huili III to ultimately sue for peace with rames in 1259 BC once again the end of hostilities between the two regions superpowers vying for influence in Canaan did not necessarily bring peace for the Canaanites themselves in 123 BC rames II died and was succeeded by his son Venta whose name can also be read as mereta a Stila of his records how he faced opposition from the Canaanite districts of ashalon gazer and yanam known today as the Israel Stila part of its inscription reads Canan is seized by every evil ashalon is carried off and gazer is seized yoom is made as that which never existed Israel is wasted without seed core is made Widow of Egypt all the lands are at peace this inscription is the first known mention in any Monument or text of a people called Israel the archaeological record seems to confirm such conflicts and the disruptions and destruction that they wrought upon the Canaanite people and their land overall the area under Egyptian rule became impoverished due to heavy Taxation and the intentional destruction of many towns and Villages the exception were the larger Urban centers particularly along the Canaanite Coast where increased security security came from a stronger Egyptian Military presence and the wealth generated by Maritime trade large quantities of Egyptian luxury items such as Ivory and glazed vessels entered Canaan while Canaanite wine bronze tools and textiles made their way into Egypt such luxuries though were reserved for high-ranking Egyptian officials and local Elites who at the time may have made up only 5% of the population the other 95% or the common people were largely excluded from The Limited Prosperity that the region experienced there were generally two classes of Canaanite commoners Artisans and Farmers The Artisans were skilled laborers who created various crafts including Pottery textiles metal and wooden objects the second and by far largest class of commoners were the farmers who were more like surfs and required to work the land on behalf of the aristocracy they survived on whatever they produced and were required to give any surplus to the land owners I.E the Canaanite and Egyptian Elites two other groups living on the fringes of Canaanite Society are also worth mentioning the shasu and the apiru the shasu whose name roughly translates to foot Wanderers were shepherds early Egyptian New Kingdom texts mentioned them as being troublemakers and living throughout Canaan from the Northern areas of the empire in what's now Southwestern Syria to the negtive desert in southern Israel the other term apiru was any person regardless of ethnicity who lived on the outskirts of society in most Egyptian documents it seems to have been a rather derogative term given to unskilled laborers who had come to a given place as refugees and worked jobs that no one else wanted to do in some of the amarna letters the term was used to label criminals and outlaws for example the mayor of a Canaanite City would sometimes accuse one of his Rivals of conspiring with apiru another excerpt of a letter from rib hadada reads speak to Aman apaa my father the message of rib hadada your son at the feet of my father I have fallen I have repeatedly said to you are you not able to rescue me from the hand of Abdi aserta all of the apiru men are with him and as for the city rulers no sooner do they hear something but they write to him so thus he is strong there are some Scholars who believe that there's a possible connection between apiru as mentioned in Egyptian documents and the Hebrew word IB which literally means Hebrew and might be a possible reference to the early Israelites however apiru had become a common term in the middle and late Bronze Age and without further Evidence beyond the similarity in sound any connection between the two is difficult to prove around 1200 BC the Eastern Mediterranean and aan world was completely upended leading to the cataclysmic end to the age of international relations that had flourished for over two centuries this gradual breakdown of the old world order is commonly known as the late Bronze Age collapse since this episode focuses on Canan we won't explore the events and causes of the late Bronze Age collapse in detail that said it's important to note that Scholars still disagree on the exact causes though it was likely due to a combination of factors including widespread drought famine and economic instability which may have triggered civil unrest large-scale migrations and ultimately Warfare what is clear is that by 1100 BC Societies in the Eastern Mediterranean aan and the greater near East had undergone significant Transformations one group consistently blamed throughout history and often considered a primary cause of the Bronze Age collapse are the sea peoples comprising several groups from different parts of the Mediterranean their Origins remain unclear some of them may have come from the aan and Greece others parts of Anatolia there's also evidence that many may have ventured East from what are today the islands of Sicily and Sardinia likely fleeing chaos in their own homelands the sea peoples ventured and mass into the territories controlled by both the hittite and Egyptian Empires including Canan our main sources on the sea peoples come from text and inscriptions dating to the end of the late Bronze Age for example a letter from the once prosperous city of ugarit destroyed around 1185 BC warns of impending seab based attacks later inscriptions of pharaoh rames III at his Mortuary Temple at medat Habu document attacks on Egypt and Canaan by nine different groups that made up the sea peoples while the Egyptians managed to repel the sea peoples from Egypt they were less successful in Canaan ultimately losing the territory and emerging as a significantly weaker State both militarily and economically despite this Egypt fared better than most other states such as the hittite empire were completely wiped off the map after the battles ended and the dust settled several groups of sea peoples are believed to have established themselves in Canaan further contributing to its growing ethnic and cultural diversity the most famous of these were the pelet who are mentioned in rames III's medad Habu inscription most Scholars today believe that the pet were the ancestors of the people later known as the Philistines who settled in the coastal area of the Southern Levant during the early Iron Age based largely on Pottery found in the region many archaeologists believe the pelet originated from somewhere in the aan the Philistines eventually settled in five primary cities ashad ekron GTH ashalon and Gaza collectively they're known as the Philistine pentapus despite the political upheaval and the influx of new populations Canaanite culture language and religion continued to thrive with many of their ethnic identities and tribal affiliations remaining intact the collapse of the hittite Empire and Egypt's Retreat from Asia created a power vacuum in Canaan which local Canaanite peoples began to fill by reasserting their autonomy and control the Bronze Age Canaanite tribal groups who had inhabited the region for centuries emerged in the Iron Age as localized kingdoms these included the Phoenicians in cities such as Ty biblos and sidon as well as the moabites ammonites and the Israelites local textual sources and archaeological evidence from the southern Levant provide valuable insights into the development and expansion of these groups as they grew to fill the void left by the late Bronze Age Collapse by 950 BC the Canaanite languages of the Southern Levant had evolved into a diverse array of local dialects and writing systems often supported by Royal patronage unlike the Canaanite mayors of the middle Bronze Age who in the Acadian language amarna letter graveled before their Egyptian Overlord these new local rulers asserted their independence and Power by proclaiming their own achievements and legitimacy over Their Kingdoms in their native tongues for example in one of the amarna letters the mayor of ashalon addresses the Pharaoh in the following way to the king my Lord my God the Sun from the sky I indeed prostrate myself on the stomach and on the back at the feet of the king my Lord seven times and seven times I am indeed guarding the place of the king where I am whatever the king my Lord has written me I have listened to very carefully who is the dog that would not obey the orders of the king his Lord the son of the son compare this to the proclamation of King mesha of Moab from the mesastila whose Allegiance is not to the Pharaoh or any Earthly King but his Patron deity the god Kos I am mesha the son of Kos the king of Moab the Debon knite my father was King over Moab for 30 years and I was king after my father and I made this high place for Kos in kcho because he has delivered me from all Kings and because he has made me look down on all my enemies we'll examine this passage in more detail shortly each Iron Age Kingdom in Canaan had its own Patron deity the people of Moab worshiped kamos Edom revered Kus Amon honored milcom and Israel followed Yahweh each Community had a covenant with its Patron de swore loyalty to it and performed sacrifices or participated in religious rituals and festivals in its honor in return the deity was believed to provide protection to the community although other deities may have been recognized they were considered inferior to the National deity for example early Israelites may have acknowledged that the moabites worshiped Kosh but they believed their God Yahweh was Superior and vice versa Devotion to the National god or goddess became a symbol of political allegiance and patriotism toward the community Kingdom or state although the deities varied between kingdoms and even tribes Canaanites shared many common religious practices and styles of worship most temples and sanctuaries featured a large raised altar often enclosed by a wall and surrounded by Standing Stones incense burners and various cultic items such as figurines small Idols jewelry and food offerings while many towns and cities had large public sanctuaries serving the entire population or even a whole region smaller settlements and individual households often had modest worship areas that mirrored these larger structures for nearly 400 years the regions of Moab Edom Ammon Phoenicia and Israel were ruled as contiguous kingdoms across the land of Canaan each kingdom developed its own distinct ethnic identity with a localized religious system a written language and a unique material [Music] culture east of the Dead Sea was the kingdom of Moab first mentioned in historical records during the reign of pharaoh rames II in the late Bronze Age his inscriptions detail military campaigns in Moab and Edom between 1290 and 1224 BC although these records mention his campaigns the formation of a kingdom of Moab may not have occurred until several centuries later according to Scholars of the Hebrew Bible Moab was conquered in the early 10th Century BC by the Israelite King David however about a century later King mesha of Moab regained independence from Israel this is documented in the mesha Stila also known as the moabit stone discovered in moab's ancient Capital Debon and dating to around 8:30 BC the Stila celebrates mesha's achievements including reestablishing moabit independence with the aid of the Kingdom's Patron God K part of its inscription reads omry was the king of Israel and he oppressed Moab for many days for Kosh was angry with his land and his son succeeded him and he said I will oppress Moab in my days did he say so but I looked down on him and on his house and Israel has gone to ruin yes it has has gone to ruin forever and Omri had taken possession of the whole land of medba and he lived there in his days and half the days of his son 40 years but Kosh restored it in my days later Assyrian anals record that Moab was conquered during the reign of tiglath Pazer III between 734 and 732 BC after the fall of the Neo Assyrian Empire in 612 BC Moab came under Babylonian control and was later incorporated into the Persian Empire as part of the satrapy or province of eir nari whose capital was Damascus another prominent Iron Age Canaanite kingdom was Edom just south of the Dead Sea the name is derived from a word meaning red which is likely a reference to the color of the area's Sandstone mountains archaeologists believe that the were a semi-nomadic people who likely entered the negtive desert around 1300 BC they first appear in the written records of pharaoh mpta who claimed to have granted many access to the pasture lands of the Eastern Nile Delta between 1210 and 12:05 BC the archeological record offers limited details on Edomite material culture in the Hebrew Bible the are recorded as a subject people under King David of Israel after the original Kingdom of Israel split into two Edom became part of the kingdom of Judah however by 845 BC Edom gained its independence only to lose it in the following Century to the Assyrians Assyrian animals provide the names of some Edomite Kings for instance the 8th Century BC records of tigth Pazer III mention kaush malaka of Edom who along with Sanu of Amon Salam Manu of Moab binti of ashalon and yhaz of Judah paid tribute to Assyria another Edomite King kaush gabri appears in the 7th Century BC annals of the Assyrian King Kings isar hadan and asheran a wealthy land due in part to its copper mines Edom seems to have thrived under Assyrian rule however its fortunes changed during the neo-babylonian period when around 586 BC the kingdom was completely destroyed like Moab the remnants of Edom were later absorbed into the Persian satrapy of eir nari [Music] the kingdom of Ammon occupied the region east of the Jordan River and Northeast of the Dead Sea with its Chief City rabbat Aman located where the modern Jordanian Capital Aman now stands likely formed by the consolidation of several nearby settlements towards the end of the late Bronze Age Amon reached its peak between the 8th and 6th centuries BC as evidenced by the remnants of rabbath Aman's great Acropolis and lower City much of what we know about Aman comes from the textual sources of its neighbors it's mentioned in the Hebrew Bible as both an enemy and subject of the Kingdom of Israel though archaeological evidence for this is almost non-existent Assyrian records from the 9th century BC provide us with more information including the names of several ammonite Kings such as basa who fought alongside a coal ition of 11 states at the Battle of kakar in 853 BC against the army of the Assyrian King shal menzer III although the battle ended in a stalemate Ammon eventually fell to the Assyrians and remained under their rule until the 6th Century BC when it became a vassel of the Neo Babylonian Empire however when the Babylonians were conquered by Cyrus the Great in 539 BC Ammon as a political entity ceased to exist and was absorbed into the Persian satrapy of eir nari the most famous of all kingdoms of ancient Canaan at least in the western world are those of Israel and Judah there's no shortage of scholarly work let alone academic debates on the history of these two iconic kingdoms for our purposes in this program we'll simply cover some of the most common and agreed upon points amongst archaeologists and Scholars of the Hebrew Bible the Kingdom of Israel is believed to have been established around 1,000 BC by the second half of the 10th Century BC the archaeological record shows the emergence of large Urban centers featuring palatial architecture extensive fortifications and multi-chambered gates at sites such as hator and megiddo some Scholars link these developments to the rise of the first Israelite monarchy as described in the biblical narrative a view that is potentially supported by The Mention Of The House of David on atila found at the site of T danan the Kingdom of Israel was eventually split into two with Israel in the north centered around its capital at Samaria and the kingdom of Judah in the South with its capital at Jerusalem though the Hebrew Bible describes how this occurred there's little contemporary or archaeological evidence to substantiate such claims however the later history of both kingdoms is much better documented though in other mainly Assyrian sources one of these mentions the reign of king omry of Israel who ruled between 885 to 874 BC his Reign is the first for which we have solid evidence of a northern kingdom called Israel omry and his descendants ruled during a perilous period in Israel's history as the kingdom was caught between the two great powers of Egypt to the southwest and the encroaching Assyrian Empire from the East om's successor Ahab joined a major anti- Assyrian Coalition that fought against shalmaneser III at the Battle of kakar in 8 53 BC although temporarily able to maintain independence from Assyria Israel soon found itself in conflict with its former aramean allies by the 830s BC Israel was paying tribute to the Assyrians something that's depicted on the famous black Obelisk of shalmaneser III which shows the Israelite King yahu bowing before the Assyrian Emperor from the end of Yu's reign in 814 BC to around 740 BC the Kingdom of Israel experienced varying degrees of autonomy even though the Assyrians continued to claim dominion over them and the other nearby Canaanite kingdoms this changed under the heavy-handed rule of the Assyrian King iglot Pazer III who reigned from 745 to 727 BC and forced both Israel and Judah to swear Allegiance and pay tribute to him after Tigo Pazer III's death his son shanzer I took the throne both Israel and Judah withheld their tribute from the new king such Defiance was unacceptable and led to a renewed campaign to reassert Assyrian authority over the kingdoms which culminated in the destruction of the Northern Kingdom of Israel and its capital Samaria the historical sources are unclear as to who delivered the final blow One Source a Babylonian Chronicle States The Following on the 25th day of the month Tibet shal menzer ascended the throne in Assyria and akad he ravaged Samaria the fifth year shanzer died in the month Tibet for 5 years shanzer ruled aad and Assyria on the 12th day of the month Tibet Sargon ascended the throne in Assyria Shel manzer the 5th either died or was killed and his brother Sargon II widely believed to have been a usurper became the new king of Assyria Sargon claimed credit for delivering the final Blow To The Kingdom of Israel providing detailed accounts in his Animals part of which read in the beginning of my reign when I took my seat on the Royal throne and was crowned with a lordly crown the samarians who agreed with another hostile King not to continue their slavery and not to deliver tribute and who started hostility I fought with them and completed their defeat 27,28 people who lived therein with their chariots I carried off as spoil 50 chariots for my Royal bodyguard guard I mustered from among them and the rest of them I settled in the midst of Assyria the city of Samaria I resettled and made it greater than before people of the lands conquered by my own hand I brought there and so the Kingdom of Israel came to an end the kingdom of Judah to the South fared better at least for a Time by avoiding direct conflict with Assyria Judah was spared the Empire's wrath during the 11 rebellions of the early 720s BC however about two decades later under King Hezekiah Judah along with several Phoenician and Philistine cities rebelled against Sargon II's son sakar in 701 BC sareb personally led a campaign to crush the opposition Al though the Assyrians raided and destroyed several Judean towns and cities including Lish they were unable to capture the capital Jerusalem despite besieging the city for some time the Assyrians eventually departed and headed back East towards Mesopotamia based on information from the Assyrian archives scholars believe that the retreat was prompted by unrest in Babylonia a region much closer to home and of Greater importance to the Empire than a few Canaanite States on its periphery eventually Judah submitted to sakare successor isar hadan and was added to the Assyrian network of vassals and tributary states which at the time also included the Canaanite cities and kingdoms of Ty biblos Gaza ashalon Ammon Edom and Moab several decades after the fall of the Neo Assyrian Empire in 586 BC Judah was conquered by the Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar II who destroyed Jerusalem and deported much of its population to Babylonia marking the beginning of what's known as the Babylonian captivity or exile for much of the Israelite population this Exile ended in 539 BC when the aamin Persian king Cyrus the Great conquered Babylon and within a year allowed those Israelites living in Babylonia to return home if they wished by then the land of Canaan had changed considerably and it would undergo even more transformations in the centuries to come but that's a story for another time like most cities of the Levant sidon has a very long history it all likely started in the fourth millennium BC during that time the site that would become sidon was little more than a fishing Village but its residents produced some fine clay pottery traces of which or at least a similar style have been found throughout parts of Southern Lebanon and Northern Israel we first hear mention of the name sidon or sidun as it's called in the ancient Canaanite language in Acadian sources from around 2200 BC these though tell us almost nothing about the city other than the fact that it existed there is evidence of at least correspondence between sidon and at least the government of the kings of the third dynasty of War since NEOS Sumerian seals have been discovered there however it's sidon's relationship with Egypt that is much better attested to to in both textual sources and the archaeological record like their Canaanite Neighbors in biblo antire the sidonians as the residents of sidon are called were a seafaring people who interacted and traded with the various inhabitants of the Eastern Mediterranean world including the Egyptians while the relationship between the two at least initially was primarily a commercial one during the late Bronze Age sidon was taken over by the Pharaohs of Egypt's New Kingdom and turned into a vassel state the city is mentioned several times in the famous amarna letters of the 14th century BC in those sidon serves as one of the pharaoh's many vassal States whose leaders are often caught up in the rather Petty Regional politics of the day it's not hard to see why the Egyptians and others wanted to control cities such as sidon it and its closest neighbors had become the most prosperous cities in the Eastern Mediterranean with all sorts of goods and resources passing through their ports including silver Timber olives precious stones marble textiles and a purplish red dye that would later become popular throughout the Greek speaking World many scholars also believe that the sidonians may have been the first of the Phoenician cities to have had trade contacts with the greek-speaking world Homer even mentions in The Iliad how Prince Paris of Troy brought back elaborately decorated robes from the land of sidon the accuracy of Homer's account can't be verified but archaeological evidence seems to confirm trade contacts between sidon and the mean Greek and aan World regardless the city was known in Antiquity for having some of the best metal Smiths and Weavers in the Eastern Mediterranean as sidon's Prosperity grew so too did its rivalry with nearby Ty in letters to the Pharaoh a prince of Ty ABI milki constantly accused the rulers of sidon of treachery against the Egyptian Crown he wrote Zima the ruler of the city of sidon has written daily to the Rebel aziru Son of ABD to concerning every word that he has heard from the land of Egypt the one who has raided the land of the king is the king of sidon sidon remained a part of Egypt's Empire in Canaan until the faithful late Bronze Age collaps around 1175 BC which saw the end of Egyptian domination in the region While most areas of the Levant seem to have succumbed to the roving bands of migrants collectively dubbed the sea peoples by Scholars Phoenician cities such as sidon and its neighbors Ty and bios survived without any destruction the exact reasons for this aren't known but one theory is that such cities which had been wealthy trade hubs for centuries simply may have paid off the sea peoples to leave them alone with Egypt out of the picture the we and commercial influence of cities such as sidon attracted the attention of the newest Growing Power in the region Assyria not even a century after the late Bronze Age collapse the Assyrian King tiglath Pazer I made his way to sidon around 1100 BC and along with nearby biblo and arvad added the city to ass Syria's list of tributary States however the Assyrian incursion into the area didn't last long and the sidonians stopped sending tribute to Assyria shortly after the end of Tigo Blazer's reign in 1076 BC sidon and The Phoenician city states came under Assyrian domination for a second time during the reign of the powerful King Asher nasar Paul II between 883 to 859 BC his anals record large amounts of tribute from sidon and other Phoenician cities it was an uneasy relationship to say the least and throughout the next Century the sidonians and others in the Levant constantly rebelled against their Assyrian overlords sidon was the focus of a number of military campaigns by later Assyrian Kings including sareb in 704 BC who reconquered and then replaced sidon's King in one of his inscriptions sakb tells us Luli king of sidon with the terror inspiring glamour of my lordship had overwhelmed fled far overseas and perished the awe inspiring Splendor of the weapon of Asher my Lord overwhelmed his strong cities such as great sidon and little sidon I installed ethbaal upon the throne to be their King and imposed upon Him tribute due to me as his Overlord to be paid annually without interruption and yet the sidonians would still not submit and so sarb's son and successor isar hadan decided to put an end to the city's ability to Rebel once and for all by not only destroying much of it and beheading its king Abdi milti but also by deporting most of its population to other parts of the Assyrian Empire and replacing them with new settlers from the East gradually what had been destroyed in sidon was rebuilt and the city began to prosper once again especially after the fall of the Assyrian Empire in 610 BC however in its ashes came the neo- Babylonian Empire whose most powerful King Nebuchadnezzar II conquered the city much like sarb had and exiled a portion of its population to Babylonia the city itself though was was largely spared since it was useful as one of babylon's few ports with access to the Mediterranean Sea in 539 BC sidon was absorbed into the Empire of the aamin Persian king Cyrus the Great after his conquest of Babylon unlike Assyrian and Babylonian rule the aamin had a rather hands-off approach when it came to running the city the territory under the city's jurisdiction was also expanded some have made the case that sidon received such preferential treatment because the Persians needed their ships and contacts with the Egyptians for their invasion of Egypt that took place under Cyrus's successor cisis II in 526 BC along with other Phoenician cities sidon's Navy was instrumental in the Persian king xerxis invasion of Greece in 480 BC which ultimately ended in disaster for the next 137 years sidon remained seemingly loyal to the Persian Crown but in 343 BC all hell broke loose according to the Greek historian diodorus culus sidon along with other cities in the region rebelled against the Persian king arar xerus iiii though tyer and arvad were also involved and it seems that the Egyptians may have instigated and aided the Revolt it was sidon's King tenis who acted as the rebellion's ring leader though initially he had some success tenes grew afraid when he heard that arter xerus was sending a force of perhaps 300,000 men along with 300 ships to subdue his Rebellion the actual number was probably far less but whatever it may have been it was enough for tenis to write a letter to the great King of Persia with an offer to surrender if his life and the City of sidon would be spared diodorus says that arter xerxis accepted the offer but had tenis killed and sidon burned anyway after hearing what had happened in sidon Ty and arvad surrendered without a fight and resubmitted to Persian rule under which they remained until 332 BC when Alexander of Macedon better known as Alexander the Great came came to Phoenicia the historian Aran writes that the sidonians surrendered their City to the Macedonian conqueror without a fight during the helenistic era and the wars that followed between Alexander's successors sidon was ruled at times by both the toic and saluca dynasties despite the back and forth between which Dynasty ruled over the city sidon became extremely prosperous during the helenistic era and world famous for its glassware other important and famous works from this period include the Alexander sarcophagus the lyan tomb and the sarcophagus of the crying women in 64 BC the city was brought into the Roman Republic by the great General pompy who granted sidon a considerable degree of autonomy during the days of the Roman Empire sidon reached new heights of prosperity but by then its Canaanite Phoenician identity had all but vanished like sidon and biblos tyer is a Canaanite or Phoenician City the term Phoenician was used by the Greeks when referring to the Canaanite peoples they interacted with and who primarily lived in cities along the Central Coast of the Eastern Mediterranean Sea in comparison to sidon and biblos Ty was established much later and although some scholars believe there are references to the settlement in tablets from The Archives of ebla dating to about 2700 BC this hasn't definitively been confirmed it's actually not until the late Bronze Age around 1500 BC that the city appears in text from ugarit and Egypt the ancient political entity that we know of as Ty was actually made up of two components the city of tyer itself which was on an island just two kilm off the coast of Canan and another part on the mainland itself called Usha which supplied TI with food and resources the Egyptians called Ty suru and during the New Kingdom era the city was one of Egypt's most important vassel states in the Levant it was also Al one of the wealthiest tyer appears several times in the well-known collection of diplomatic correspondents known as the amarna letters in one such letter the city's then ruler or Prince ABI milki writes to Pharaoh Otep IV better known as akatan to inform him of the alleged disloyalty of Egypt's other Canaanite vassels most notably the ruler of sidon Zima we actually briefly met both Abu milki and Zima in the previous program on sidon according to ABI milki sidon had not only sent men to cut off the city's food and water supply from Usha on the mainland but also planed to attack Ty with the help from Warlords associated with ABD aerta and his son aziru the mafia boss or pirate rulers who controlled the relatively Lawless land of amuru to the North in one of his letters to the Pharaoh ABI milki tells him the following furthermore since the departure of the troops of the king my Lord from me the ruler of the city of sidon does not let me or my men go down to the land to take wood supplies or to take water for drinking he killed one man and he took another 80 shekels tax for my men Zima the ruler of the city of sidon and the criminal aziru have [Music] taken though sidon and the Warlords of amuru pro to be Ty's great Regional Rivals the relationship with biblos was generally a much more cordial one in fact its longtime ruler Rib hadada was related at least through marriage though some also say by blood to the ruler and Prince of Ty though whether or not this individual was ABI milky can't be confirmed what we do know from riad's letters to akatan is that things got so bad in Ty that its people supposedly instigated by ABD aserta murdered their ruler who was also married to riad's Sister the letter from ribh hadada outlining this incident goes as follows I made a marriage alliance with the city of Ty they were in good relations with me behold they killed their City ruler with my sister and her children I had sent the daughters of my sister to Ty away from ABD aserta and they killed him with my sister and his house Ty ended up Surviving the political instability of the amarna period as well as attacks from hittite forces that sought to wrestle control of the region from Egypt the city remained a vasil of Egypt until the end of the events of the lake Bronze Age collapse like sidon and biblos the city seems to have remained unharmed during a time when most other major cities in the Eastern Mediterranean were being devastated by the ring bands of migrants and Marauders that historians conveniently call the sea peoples in fact after the Bronze Age and into the early Iron Age tire out shine cities such as sidon to become the most prosperous and influential of all the Phoenician cities by 900 BC it had trading links and colonies on the nearby island of Cyprus and was sending ships to explore and trade with the peoples of Northern Africa Sicily southern France and Spain just to name a few in many of these places the tyrian set up trading posts if not full-fledged colonies the most famous of which was Carthage today on the coast coast of Tunisia despite Ty's success and fame politically it and other Phoenician cities were subservient to Assyria after the 8th Century BC the Neo Assyrian Kings though didn't want to interrupt the lucrative trade that cities such as Ty engaged in so well especially since now they benefited from it and so as long as the rulers of Ty accepted Assyrian overlordship and paid the required tribute demanded of them they were granted a good deal of autonomy relative to other areas under Assyrian control however any refusal to meet their tribute obligations or attempts to resist Assyrian Authority was met with harsh punishments including the deportation of the local population Elsewhere for the most part the tyrians were too busy making money to join the rebellions of their neighbors and the tribute that they did offer to the Assyrians was sporadic and not too overbearing but around 700 BC when the Assyrian King sareb changed the rules and demanded regular annual tribute tyer along with other Phoenician cities rebelled in full force sareb took Usha but left the island of Ty alone since taking it over would have required a significant number of men that were needed to subdue rebellions El elsewhere such as in Lish and Jerusalem still war was bad for business and though Ty could rely somewhat on its overseas colonies and trading posts for support being cut off from the mainland especially Usha substantially hurt the city economically and so Ty's ruler a king named Bal made a treaty with sarb's son and successor isar hadan in it King Bal had to acknowledge that he was a saradan and ass Syria's loyal servant but in return he was given control of several ports including biblos AKO and door perhaps Ball's dignity was worth more to him than these lands because eventually he broke his oath of fty to isar hadan and joined forces with Egypt and its kushite pharaoh tahara to oust the Assyrians from the region B's betrayal was noted by isar hadan in an inscription in the course of my campaign I set up fortifications against Bal the king of Ty who trusted his friend tahara the king of kush and kept answering me with insolence I cut off the supply of food and water that sustained their lives but the Coalition proved no match for the Assyrian army and eventually isar hadan defeated all all of his Rivals by not only subduing the Phoenician Coast but also marching into Egypt and conquering it another one of his inscriptions States I conquered Ty which is in the midst of the sea and took away all of the cities and possessions of Bal its king who had trusted in tahara King of kush whether or not isar hadan actually conquered the island of is debated because just a few years later under Assyria next king Asher banipal the city rebelled yet again under the same King Bal this time though the Assyrians seem to not only have cut off Tire by land but blockaded it by sea as well Bal offered his allegiance to ashurbanipal and Assyria yet again and this time it might have been for good in an inscription ashurbanipal tells us his side of the story in my Third campaign I marched against Bal king of Ty who lives on an island amidst the sea because he did not heed my Royal order did not listen to my personal commands I surrounded him with routs seized his Communications on sea and land I thus intercepted and made scarce their food supply and forced them to submit to my yoke he brought his own daughter and the daughters of his brothers before me to do menial services at the same time he brought his son yahi milky who had not yet crossed the sea to greet me as my slave I had mercy upon him and returned him the son The Offspring of his loins when the Neo Assyrian Empire finally fell around 610 BC most if not all of its former territories in the Levant were taken over by the Neo Babylonian Empire according to the historian Josephus Ty withstood the assaults of the Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar II for 13 years eventually the two sides came to an agreement whereby Ty would be given some autonomy and be ruled by its own Kings in exchange for the tyrians providing ships for the Babylonian Navy when in 539 BC the Persian king Cyrus the Great conquered the neo-babylonian Empire's capital of Babylon Ty and the other Phoenician cities became part of the aamin Persian Empire for the most part the people of Ty remained loyal to the Persian king of kings the tyrian Navy also provided ships for nearly all of Persia's campaigns against Greece and other parts of the Mediterranean the one exception being during the reign of cisis II according to Herodotus cisis wanted to launch a campaign against the carthaginians but since Carthage had been founded by settlers from TY the tirian refused according to the ancient historian deodor culos Ty was part of a rebellion during the reign of arter xerxis III but resolutely stepped back into the ained fold once sidon whose King was the revolts leader was brutally suppressed tragedy struck Ty in 332 BC when Alexander of Macedonia came to phenia the historian Aran tells us then he proceeded towards Ty and on the way tyrian envoys met him sent by the community to say that Ty had decided to accept Alexander's orders however when Alexander wished to offer a sacrifice to Heracles in Ty's Great temple he was refused insulted and outraged Alexander vowed to take the city since in the past the island of Ty had been able to resist Invaders such as the Assyrians and Babylonians Ty's rulers probably assumed that they could also with stand in assault from Alexander how very wrong they were after what was reportedly a 7-month long blockade and Siege during which he had his men build a Causeway from Usha to the island Alexander finally entered Ty and killed many of its inhabitants the 30,000 or so tyrians who survived were sold into slavery after which Alexander was finally able to make his sacrifice eventually the city was rebuilt and became an important port during the salid era but by then Ty's Canaanite Phoenician identity had all but disappeared the city had been completely heniz by the time the Romans annexed it in 64 BC located about 60 km north of the Lebanese capital of Beirut what today the modern-day city of biblos was in Antiquity one of the oldest and most vibrant commercial ports in the ancient world and its story is a long one due to this we'll mostly focus on the city's bronze and early Iron Age history little was known about bios's early history until serious excavations were undertaken by French archaeologists between 1921 to 1924 the little knowledge of the ancient city that was known came mostly through literary commercial and diplomatic texts including the now famous amarna letters which we'll get to a bit later on in a Cadian and Egyptian text the city was called gbla while in ancient Hebrew it was known as gial its current and most well-known name biblos is derived from the Greek word buos meaning Papyrus scroll the French archaeologists who first excavated the most ancient parts of the city determined that the site had been inhabited since at least the sixth millennium BC it's at these deepest layers that archaeologists discovered the remains of pottery and rudimentary stamp seals though interesting discoveries such objects tell us nothing about the political history of what at the time must have been little more than a small village the simple life for the settlement's inhabitants who made their living by fishing and smallscale farming continued nearly unchanged for the next few Millennia though by 3500 BC it was clear that they had had at least some contact with the people of the urak culture of southern Mesopotamia as can be seen by the oric style stamp and cylinder seals that have been discovered in and around biblo however it's really around 3,000 BC that the settlement that would become the great city of biblos took shape and began to develop into a trade Emporium that connected the Levant with Anatolia Mesopotamia and most notably Egypt while records for the first two regions are scarce plenty of references to biblos or gbla as it was called appear in Egyptian Old Kingdom texts it's from biblos that cedar wood was loaded onto ships destined for Egypt around 2800 to 2700 BC large massive walls were erected around the city with at least two known Gates which Scholars call the sea gate and the land gate the most important building dating to this period was the Temple of the Goddess balat gabal AKA The Lady of biblos though in Ruins today the temple is believed to have been one of the first Monumental structures ever built in the land of ancient Canaan about 2 centuries later a second L-shaped Temple was built opposite to the Temple of bat gal both though were destroyed about 600 to 800 Years Later by Amorite Invaders however given bios's strategic location and Commercial importance the city and its religious institutions were rebuilt by the time of the mid- Bronze Age around 1600 BC the balat gabal complex now contained at least 26 obelisks in its Courtyard which Scholars are almost certain was due to Egyptian influence not only did the lucrative trade with Egypt resume but new commercial links with cit's minoan civilization were also opened up as can be seen by fragments of minoan Ceramics discovered in and around biblos as far as we know biblos was politically independent during this time but after 1550 BC the city which for Millennia already had commercial ties to the kingdom of the Nile became a vassel of the Pharaohs of Egypt's New Kingdom we know a great deal about this period due to many diplomatic and trade texts dating to this time especially the now famous collection of Royal correspondents known as the armana letters in which elos and its mayor King riada appear quite often along with biblos riada was also in charge of other towns that surrounded his City most of which were often under attack by men who answered to the warlord ABD aserta or his son aziru of the over 300 amarna letters 60 are attributed to rib hadada and are mostly addressed to Pharaoh akatan in these letters he informs the Pharaoh of the malevolent actions of other Regional actors against him and his City along with requesting aid from the Egyptian king to protect biblos from its many enemies in one of his letters rib hadada addresses the Pharaoh as follows May the lady of the city of biblos Grant strength to the the king my Lord at the feet of my Lord my son God seven times and seven times have I Fallen May the king know that it is well with the city of biblos the loyal handmaiden of the king but the hostility of the hairu troops against me is very Fierce so may the king my Lord not keep silent concerning the city of sumur lest everyone join the hipu troops very Fierce is the hostility against us so may the king not keep silent concerning his cities ribh hadada wrote many similar letters warning the king of the dangers to his City and requesting troop reinforcements but to no avail when he failed to get the attention of the Pharaoh he tried riding directly to atin's vizer to Haya the vizer the message of rib at your feet I have fallen May Amon the god of the Pharaoh your Lord give you honor in the presence of the king your lord look you are a wise man the king knows this and because of your wisdom the king sent you as commissioner why have you kept silent and not spoken to the king that he should send regular troops that they should take the city of sumor who is AB di aserta the slave the dog that he should take the land of the king for himself unfortunately riada never got the support from Egypt that he requested and eventually was forced to flee or perhaps turned over to the rulers of sidon by aziru the son of ABD aerta for the rest of the Bronze Age and perhaps du in part to a long-standing treaty between Egypt and the hittite empire biblos was able to prosper under Egyptian rule at least until the events of the late Bronze Age collapse now I know we've talked about these events in other programs including those regarding other Phoenician cities such as Ty and sidon so I won't go into the details here but like Ty and sidon all indications lead to the conclusion that beblo remained relatively unarmed during a time when most other major cities and the surrounding Countryside in the Eastern Mediterranean were being devastated by the roving bands of migrants and Marauders that historians call the sea peoples whether bios's rulers simply paid off the sea peoples to leave them alone hasn't been conclusively proven but regardless the city managed to survive which gave its enterprising population a great Advantage when the dust had settled [Music] biblo soon rocketed into the stratosphere as one of the wealthiest and most important commercial centers in the Eastern Mediterranean unfortunately few remains of the city from this period have been uncovered and so most of our knowledge about what was going on comes from the textual sources of others most notably Assyrian archives and inscriptions for example the Assyrian King tiglath Pazer the first who reigned between 1114 to 1076 BC reports receiving large amounts of tribute from bios's King the city also appears in the famous Egyptian story known as the tale of when amoon though the papy fragments we have date to about 1,000 BC the events of the story may have taken place a century earlier in the story an Egyptian merchant named when Amon is sent to the city of biblos in order to obtain its prized Cedarwood but upon arrival he's received with scorn bios's King tells him that if he wants to obtain the Cedarwood he'll have to pay some ungodly sum for what in the past had often been a gift for Egypt's temples and Pharaohs when nun ends up staying in the city for about a year before embarking back to Egypt but what happens afterward isn't known because the story's conclusion is missing similar to other Canaanite Phoenician city states biblos fell under ayrian domination after 870 BC which was around the time that the Neo Assyrian King ashern nasar Paul II conquered the city this though didn't sit well with several of the city's Kings who at times resisted their unwanted overlords most Assyrian Kings though who value Ed wealthy bios's contributions to the state treasury granted its rulers a great deal of autonomy and for the most part Assyrian rule provided a period of stability for the city that allowed it to prosper overall after the fall of the Neo Assyrian Empire around 610 BC biblos eventually came under Babylonian and then around 539 BC Persian rule there's a famous Stila from the Persian period with the dep of a king of biblos named yha milk where he's wearing Persian clothing and receiving blessings from the goddess balat though the Persians ruled over the city for about 200 years in 332 BC biblo submitted without resistance to Alexander of Macedonia also known as Alexander the Great and after his death would go on to become part of the salid Empire by then though 's Canaanite venician character was rapidly being replaced with an increasingly heniz one and by the time the Romans got there a few centuries later this unique identity had all but vanished so I hope you enjoyed this program and got to learn a little bit more about the ancient land of Canaan there's lots more on the way so be sure to subscribe thanks for watching I'd also like to thank the Channel's patrons for making videos like this possible these include but are certainly not limited to gr kick 69 Yap degra pasta frola Michael Lewis Daniel Allen Danny Vanek wanex TV Robert Morgan strobeck Frank Tim Lane Sebastian otar Korea Michael trudell leader Titan Micah G John scarberry Andrew Bowmer Connor Dolson chish David R Steven ball Gabe Monty Grimes France Robins Cyrus smir Dian asra Nimrod nearer hypnos San Brendan Redmond far dund shanji Jimmy darala anih deu gulistan deu share cam Farhad K and all of the Channel's patrons on patreon for helping to support this and all future content check out the benefits to being a patreon member and if you'd like to join feel free to click the link in the video 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