ANT/HIST 500

The Ancient City

Day 9

Canaan

Modern Byblos (Ancient Gubla)

Canaan Polity

• City-States

• Status of Canaan dependent upon Egypt

• Flourished during Middle Bronze Age, decline during Late Bronze age

Canaan Polity

Megiddo

Canaan Polity

Lachish

Canaan Polity

Tyre today

Canaan Polity

Canaan Polity

Excavations at Ashdod

Canaan Polity

Ashdod today

Canaan Economy

• Dependent upon location

• Coastal cities based on maritime trade

• All cities have some level of industrial production:

• Olive oil, wine, metalwork, textiles

Canaan Economy

• Middle Bronze Age Hyksos Period in Egypt

• Hyksos were Canaanite rulers

• Canaanite cities expanded under healthy trade economy with Egypt

• After Hyksos expulsion (ca. 1550 BC), Egypt rules Canaan directly decline of many Canaanite cities

Canaan Culture

Canaan Culture

Ugarit

Ugarit: El

Father of the gods and creator of all, El was the Canaanite high deity

Exodus 6

6:2 And God spake unto Moses, and said unto him, I am El: 6:3 And I appeared unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob, by the name of El Almighty, but by my name YHWH was I not known to them.

Ugarit: Asherah

Asherah, supreme Mother Goddess and wife of El.

“Tree of Life”

2 Kings 23

23:6 And he brought out the Asherah from the house of the LORD, without Jerusalem, unto the brook Kidron, and burned it at the brook Kidron, and stamped it small to powder, and cast the powder thereof upon the graves of the children of the people. 23:7 And he brake down the houses of the sodomites, that were by the house of the LORD, where the women wove hangings for Asherah.

Genesis 21

21:33 And Abraham planted a grove in Beersheba, and called there on

the name of the LORD, the everlasting God.

Ugarit: Asherah

Extra-Biblical Mention:

Kuntillet 'Ajrud: I have blessed you by YHVH of Samaria and His Asherah

Khirbet el-Qom: Blessed be Uriyahu by Yahweh and by his Asherah; from his enemies he saved him

Ugarit: Ba’alBa’al, the storm god. As bringer of the rains, Ba’al was associated with fertility.

1 Kings 18

18:17 And it came to pass, when Ahab saw Elijah, that Ahab said unto him, Art thou he that troubleth Israel? 18:18 And he answered, I have not troubled Israel; but thou, and thy father's house, in that ye have forsaken the commandments of the LORD, and thou hast followed Baalim. 18:19 Now therefore send, and gather to me all Israel unto mount Carmel, and the prophets of Baal four hundred and fifty, and the prophets of the groves four hundred, which eat at Jezebel's table. 18:20 So Ahab sent unto all the children of Israel, and gathered the prophets together unto mount Carmel. 18:21 And Elijah came unto all the people, and said, How long halt ye between two opinions? if the LORD be God, follow him: but if Baal, then follow him. And the people answered him not a word.

2 Kings 23

23:5 And he put down the idolatrous priests, whom the kings of Judah had ordained to burn incense in the high places in the cities of Judah, and in the places round about Jerusalem; them also that burned incense unto Baal, to the sun, and to the moon, and to the planets, and to all the host of heaven.

Ba’al Cycle

ElAsherahBa’al

Yamm: SeaMot: DeathAnat: Ba’al’s sister and wife

Ba’al CycleYamm demands that El give him Ba’al as a slave, and El agrees. Ba’al refuses and fights Yamm in his manifestation as Leviathan, the Sea Serpent, and kills him. Ba’al returns victorious to El, quite cocky, demanding a “house,” or temple. (El resides in a “tabernacle,” or tent). Anat and Asherah argue his case with El in their own styles.

Ba’al is granted a house, and decides he can do anything. He descends to the underworld to defeat Mot, but is defeated and eaten by him. Life on earth dies, and Anat seeks revenge against Mot. She slays Mot, chops him into little pieces, and spreads him across the land. El allows Ba’al to come back to life, symbolized as the return to life of the fields.

Ba’al=fertility and the return to life in autumnHis time of death is summer.

LeviathanIsaiah 27

27:1 In that day the LORD with his sore and great and strong sword shall punish leviathan the piercing serpent, even leviathan that crooked serpent; and he shall slay the dragon that is in the sea.

Job 4141:1 Canst thou draw out leviathan with an hook? or his tongue with a cord which thou lettest down? "Canst thou draw out leviathan with an hook? or his tongue with a cord?“ 41:2 Canst thou put an hook into his nose? or bore his jaw through with a thorn? 41:3 Will he make many supplications unto thee? will he speak soft words unto thee? 41:4 Will he make a covenant with thee? wilt thou take him for a servant for ever? 41:5 Wilt thou play with him as with a bird? or wilt thou bind him for thy maidens? 41:6 Shall the companions make a banquet of him? shall they part him among the merchants?

Psalm 74

74:14 Thou brakest the heads of leviathan in pieces, and gavest him to be meat to the people inhabiting the wilderness.

Psalm 104

104:24 O LORD, how manifold are thy works! in wisdom hast thou made them all: the earth is full of thy riches. 104:25 So is this great and wide sea, wherein are things creeping innumerable, both small and great beasts. 104:26 There go the ships: there is that leviathan, whom thou hast made to play therein. 104:27 These wait all upon thee; that thou mayest give them their meat in due season.

Canaan Environment

• Increased orientation toward Mediterranean Sea

• Global system of late Amarna period; Canaan important economically but bit player politically