The History of Ancient Syria and Palestine:

An Overview

NIELS PETER LEMCHE

IN ANTIQUITY THE INHABITANTS of Syria and Palestine never used any of the names known to us about their own countries. Nor did their neighboring countries, either Mesopotamia to the east or Egypt to the south, apply a single name for the area between those two centers of civilization. It is not until the Greek historian Herodotus (fifth century BeE) that we hear of "Syria" as well as "Palestine"; in his work the two names are used independently and in com­pounds such as the "Palestinian Syria," In Helle­nistic and Roman times, Syria and Palestine be­came the political names of well-defined provinces belonging to the Seleucid, Ptolemaic, and Roman empires,

The names are, however, older than Herodo­tus. Syria is a Greek derivative from Assyria, and Palestine the name originally associated with the Philistines, who inhabited the coastal plain in the southwestern part ofthat country. As it is unlikely that the Assyrians ever settled Syria in great numbers, or that the Philistines ever occupied more than a fraction of the area later to bear their name, it is obvious that the two names should be considered artificial terms, orig­inating among foreigners with only a slight and imprecise knowledge ofthe ethnic composition or political organization of Syria and Palestine proper. They were not ancient geographical or political terms.

The terminological problems can, however. be compared to some characteristics pertaining

to the geographical aspects ofthe Syro-Palestin­ian area. and are partially explained by the his­tory of Syria and Palestine. Geographically, the two regions cannot be considered a single unit. Historically. they were only unitedintoonepolit­ical entity by foreign powers. whereas their in­habitants never managed to achieve any kind of political unity comprising more than part of the total area. (See the map at' the end of this chapter.)

Nevertheless, a number of religious and cul­tural elements. as well as a social and political organization that were characteristic ofSyria and Palestine, make it reasonable to deal with this area in one essay. We may also observe that while the area was divided into a number of separate political segments, the population was extremely homogeneous. though not an ethnic unity.

The Written Sources In comparison with the ample documentation from Mesopotamia and Egypt. we possess few written sources for the study ofSyro-Palestinian history. It is also characteristic that a large part of the extant sources come not from Palestine or Syria but from other parts of the ancient Near East. Archaeological excavations during the twentieth century have made most of these sources available to us, but not until recently has Syria has kindled the curiosity of archaeolo­

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gists to the same degree as Egypt or Mesopota­mia. Although Palestine has witnessed enor­mous archaeological activity, no major archives have ever been found in the area. Moreover, until the late twentieth century, this activity cen­tered on the issue of"biblical archaeology," and excavators have sometimes exhibited more inter­est in comparing archaeological results to bibli­cal information than in presenting unbiased ex­planations of the archaeological evidence.

The Third Millennium As far as the Early Bronze Age (the third millennium) is concerned, most documents at our disposal come from Tell Mardikh in Syria, from the city then known as Ebla, which was an important political and cul­tural center. The discovery of the archives from

. Ebla in 1975 and from Tell Beydar (near Has­sake) in 1993 also illustrates the extent to which the recovery of textual remains is often a matter ofluck. The end ofEarly Bronze Age civilization in Syria is well documented by Mesopotamian sources. In contrast to the relative abundance of sources from Syria, written sources are totally lacking when it comes to the history ofPalestine in the third millennium.

The Second Millennium Documentation for Syria in the Middle Bronze Age (first half of the second millennium) comes almost exclusively from less important centers like Alalakh (Tell Atchana) in northwestern Syria, or from neigh­boring kingdoms like Mari (Tell Hariri) in upper Mesopotamia. The strongest Syrian power dur­ing this period, Aleppo (Halab), has never been excavated because it remains a living city; thus no texts have come to light from this place. De­tails about the last centuries of this age are pro­vided by Hittite sources.

Information about the history of Palestine in the first half of the second millennium can al­most exclusively be deduced from Egyptian sources, although most of these inscriptions are very brief. The end of the Middle Bronze Age in Palestine is often tied to the fortunes of the Hyksos, a people known from the Egyptian his­torical tradition.

The Late Bronze Age (the second half of the second millennium until about 12.(0) is probably the phase of the pre-Hellenistic history of Syria

and Palestine that is best known to us because of the amount and diversity of written sources that have survived~ Among these sources is the archive from Tell al-Amama (the site ofAkheta­ten) in Egypt This archive, which includes the correspondence between two pharaohs of the Eighteenth Dynasty and rulers of Asian cities and nations, may be the most important source of knowledge of Palestine under Egyptian rule. Other archives ofspecial interest were retrieved from Alalakh, Emar (Tell Meskene), and Ugarit (modern Ras Shamra) on the Syrian coast The imperial archive from the Hittite capital, Khat­tusha (modern Bogazkoy), is worth mentioning as an additional source. Assyrian and Babylonian documents pertaining to the history of Syria, though few in number, are also valuable. (See "Akhetaten: A Portrait in Art ofan Ancient Egyp­tian Capital" earlier in this volume.)

Documents from Palestine and Syria are al­most nonexistent when it comes to the transi­tional period between the Late Bronze Age and the Iron Age (circa 1200-lO00). Scattered in­formation about Palestine can be derived from Egyptian documents and inscriptions, while Assyrian texts can be of interest for the history of Syria in this period. Hebrew Scripture (Old Testament) narratives about Israel's history be­fore the monarchy are supposed to cover the same period. From a historian's point of view, however, these narratives are increasingly con­sidered unreliable, as their perspective was gov­erned by a theological orientation hundreds of years after the actual events.

The First Millennium In the first half of the first millennium, Syria and Palestine were again absorbed, first into the Assyrian and later into the Babylonian empire. Assyrian and Babylo­nian archives, therefore, provide important in­formation about Syro-Palestinian history in this period. Thesesources are supplemented byocca­sional inscriptions from Syria and Palestine, such as generally short royal commemorative in­scriptions, some treaty texts, or scattered exam­ples ofprivate letters often written on potsherds (called ostraca). The information about the fate ofthe small kingdoms ofIsrael and Judah, which is preserved in the Hebrew Bible in the books of Kings and in a number ofprophetic writings,

The History of Ancient Syria and Palestine

is also very important. Despite its outspoken reli­gious bias, the Hebrew Bible remains a valuable illustration ofthe situation ofAssyrian and Baby­lonian vassals. Moreover, because this informa­tion was not compiled by official sources, for example, by the scribes of the royal archives in Jerusalem and Samaria, but by private persons, it may present us with the view of the common man of Syria and Palestine who was experienc­ing the consequences of being enslaved by for­eign rulers.

With regard to the Persian and early Hellenis­tic periods (circa 550-300), Greek historians, such as Herodotus and Xenophon, also have plenty to say, though their information must al­ways be critically examined for what is reliable.

The Material Sources Until the late twentieth century archaeologists had almost exclusively focused on the big cities of Syria and Palestine, whereas ordinary towns, villages, or hamlets had only occasionally been excavated. The situation has now changed, espe­cially in Palestinian archaeology, and more and more small towns, humble settlements, and campsites presently receive attention from ar­chaeologists.

Whereas the previous mode ofarchaeological research was suited to reconstructing the history of a single city or a number of cities, the new strategy makes it additionally possible to recon­struct the history of whole regions and thus to study in detail the societal developments that may have involved not only the urban culture but also rural and marginal population areas.

Consequently, archaeology is able to produce evidence that may supplement written sources and thus provide a complementary angle on an­cient Syro-Palestinian history. It goes without saying that historical reconstruction may rely en­tirely on archaeology when written sources are either totally absent or deficient in quality. In the case of Syria and Palestine, this is certainly an important issue because large stretches ofthe history of this area are almost without written documentation.

Topography The Syro-Palestinian area cannot be considered a topographical unity; it includes many different

landscapes and natural environments. The north­eastern part ofthe country is mostly an extensive tableland, sloping down to the river basin in upper Mesopotamia. In the north the mountains of Asia Minor are prQminent, and in the west and southwest the borders are marked by a num­ber of mountain ranges: the Amanus as well as the Lebanon and <its projection, the Anti­Lebanon. In Palestine the plateau ends in a rift valley, which carves its way through the country to the south until it reaches the northern end of the Red Sea or the Gulf of CAqaba. The Syrian plateau becomes the mountains ofTransjordan, while toward the east, it gradually shifts from fertile land, suited for agri,culture or cattle breed­ing, to desert land. The western part of the area is occupied by a narrow coastal plain running from Cilicia in the north to the desert in northern Sinai. Here and there the coastal plain is inter­spersed and divided by protruding mountain ranges; in other places the mountains recede and the plain widens toward the east. The total area ofthis plain is limited, but it was to become the home of important cities and cultures, many situated at the natural harbors, including, from north to south, Ugarit (modem Ras Shamra), Ar­wad (modem Tartus), Byblos (modem Jubayl), Sidon, Tyre, and Acco (later Ptolemais).

Natural and Human Resources The Syro-Palestinian area has only a very lim­ited range of natural resources. Ithas no valuable stones or metals, and even more common metals like copper (which was essential for the produc­tion ofbronze utensils and weapons) are hardly found in this part ofwestern Asia. The areagener­ally lends itself to agriculture, though farming was almost exclusively based on rain while irriga­tion was hardly ever used except in a few spots, such as the oasis ofJericho in the Jordan Valley. The peasants of Syria and Palestine therefore depended on the vagaries ofthe rainfall: it could be abundant in some years, leading to a large crop yield, but almost missing in others, bring­ing famine and deprivation. Climatologists tell us that lack of rain is likely to occur in a cycle, about twice every decade. Should droughts fol­low in a succession of only two or three years, they could provoke serious societal upheavals, including political as weH as economic changes.

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The area produced mostly cereals (mainly bar­ley and wheat), some wine, and olive oil, the surplus ofwhich could be exported. Husbandry was also important and included the breeding of cattle as well as the tending of sheep and goats. Archaeology also reveals that pigs were raised in Syria and Palestine in antiquity. (See also "Animal Husbandry and Human Diet in the Ancient Near East" in Part 2, Vol. I.)

The environment ofSyria and Palestine, with its many different ecological zones, makes it profitable to adjust agriculture and husbandry to the diverse ecological niches. Accordingly, a variety of economic strategies were employed bythe local populations to diversify theirproduc­tion and to guarantee their survival. The food­producing segment of the population has often been divided into, on one hand, settled peasants and farmers tilling the land and, cn the other, pastoral nomads or bedouins exclusively en­gaged in the breeding of cattle. In fact, these occupations may be divided into a far larger num­ber of subtypes, including peasants with a lim­ited number ofanimals often placed in the hands of professional herdsmen, as well as nomads who also invest ~eir energy in agriculture. It should, however, be noted that the renowned bedouins of the modem Near East did not be­long to the social world of Syria and Palestine in antiquity, because the camel, the precondi­tion ofbedouin life that makes extended exploita­tion ofthe desert possible, was not domesticated in any great numbers before the Iron Age. Until the first millennium the desert was, accordingly, forbidding territory to ancient peoples.

Agriculturalists, who would normally have been 80 to go percent of the population, gener­ally lived in the great number of undefended villages and hamlets scattered over the area during most of its history, while nomads and herdsmen, often less than 5 to 10 percent of the population, normally frequented different campsites according to the season of the year.

A smaller segment ofthe population, onlyocca­sionally amounting to more than 10 percent, lived in the walled cities and towns ofSyria and Palestine. Although a large proportion ofthe city dwellers were engaged in agriculture, the city is better known as the main center ofproduction ofspecialized and refined goods, such as utensils and clothing. The city was also the home ofmer­

chants, soldiers, sailors, as well as administra­tors. Merchants owed their existence not to the local production ofmanufactured goods in Syria and Palestine, which was insignificantandgener­ally of low quality, but to the location of Syria and Palestine between the two great economic centers of that time: Mesopotamia and Egypt. This situation made large-scale transit trade be­tween Egypt and Mesopotamia economically feasible and a source of prosperity for the area. The transit trade was also bolstered by overseas ~arkets, which expanded appreciably in the first millennium, when Phoenician merchants estab­lished colonies throughout the Mediterranean world.

Tribe and State Two assumptions have distorted the modem view of near eastern society. First, it is often assumed that tribal life in Syria and Palestine is the business ofpastoral nomads or seminomads only. Second, it is also assumed that conflicts in the Near East can be traced back to a basic sociopolitical dichotomy that divides society into two kinds ofpopulations: the inhabitants of the cities, and the peasants and pastoral nomads.

Both assumptions are wrong. First, tribal orga­nization is present among herdsmen, agricultur­alists, and urban citizens. Second, in ancient Syria and Palestine some conflicts may have in­volved diverse social groups, such as villagers and city dwellers, while other conflicts arose within the same group, for example between peasants living in different villages, or the inhab­itants ofdifferent cities. When conflict arose be­tween a city and its countryside, it could often be traced back to the political control over the peasants and pastoralists that was exerted by bu­reaucratic members of the state administration, the king and his palace staff.

Since ancient times two political systems have been prominent in Syria and Palestine: decen­tralized tribal societies and centralized states. Contrary to what is often held bymodem investi­gators, the inhabitants ofSyriaand Palestine had to make up their minds whether they wanted to be reckoned as members ofa tribe or citizens ofa state. Although we get the impression that tribes and states may have existed in the same area and at the same time-as at Marl (nineteenth to

The History of Ancient Syria and Palestine

eighteenth centuries) or in early Israel (twelfth to eleventh centuries)-tribes as well as states were (and still are) political organizations that shared the same obligations; it was their duty to provide the maximum amount of safety and welfare for their members.

The power structures of tribes and states are, however, vastly different. The tribe is organized along kinship lines. Members of the tribes ac­quire status not because of individual accom­plishment, but primarily because of the positions within the tribe held by their families, lineages, or clans. Thus high-ranking tribal members usu­ally belong to one of the prestigious families. The political system ofa tribe may also be called decentralized because political authority is pri­marily divided among a number of important families, and it is not vested in a single person. The state, by contrast, is a highly centralized political organization, based on a bureaucratic system that accords status to its citizens ac­cording to their public or private function. We may say that tribal membership is acknowledged when individuals have a place in its genealogy, whereas state membership is obtained when peo­ple are placed on its tax rolL

The tribal societies ofSyria and Palestine have left no written documents, and, accordingly, the relationship between the two power structures, tribe and state, is documented mostly from state archives. The relationship between state and tribe may be illustrated from the royal archives ofMari, according to which the royal house origi­nated in one of the tribal groups of northern Syria (the Banu-Sim'al), only to fight their kins­men (the Banu-Yamina) soon afterward. More information is provided by Hebrew Scripture, which reports that the early kings of the petty state of Israel-such as Saul, Jeroboam-were all members of tribes, and their affiliation was duly recognized by the authors ofbiblical histori: cal literature. However, after a few generations in which kings fell to repeated coups d'etat, the references to the tribal backgrounds of the isra­elite kings disappear. Tribal affiliation no longer played a decisive role in royal accession. Far more important was the position of the king-to­be in the military hierarchy ofthe state ofIsraeL

The origins of the kings of Mari and Israel show that tribes may develop into states, usually when political control over a tribe is monopo­

lized by a single family or person-a chieftain. The history of the Near East provides plenty of cases illustrating this evolution from tribe to state. Important factors behiad this process are major political, economic, or environmental changes that involve. all of Syria and Pales­tine-forexample, political pressure on the local population exerted by foreign powers, the estab­lishment of international trade routes making military control over tribal land necessary, or periods ofdrought and famine that compel mem­bers of a tribe to seek refuge in places not so severely affected by the vagaries of the climate.

The development from tribe to state is, how­ever, not a one-way road. To the contrary, highly centralized states may also dissolve into decen­tralized tribes, if circumstances dictate. Such cases may be the intrusion of foreign powers on the local political arena leading to the destruc­tion of the local centralized administrative sys­tem, the breakdown of trade relations making livinginbig cities unprofitable, andnahiral catas­trophes that prevent the normal transfer of food to the city, forcing its inhabitants to seek survival elsewhere. Technically this process is called re­tribaUzation. It should, however, be noted that the evolution from tribe to state and vice versa was mostly gradual and lasted for generations, which sometimes makes it difficult to establish precise reasons for the transformation.

THE HISTORY OF SYRIA AND PALESTINE

The Early Bronze Age In the first half of the third millennium, Syria experienced the emergence of urban culture. This urbanization ofSyria followed in the wake of the blossoming city culture in Mesopotamia, reaching its peak when a great number ofcities and towns ofall sizes were founded everywhere on the Syrian plateau and in regions bordering the desert, places that were destined never again in antiquity to see city life.

In Palestine, city culture also became promi­nent during the third millennium. The urban culture of Palestine, which was far more modest in size than its counterpart in Syria, consisted mostly of walled small settlements that pep­

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pered the countryside as well as the northern part of the Negev Desert. Another center of ur­banization began to appear on the Mediterra­nean coast, where cities such as Byblos served Egyptian commercial activities in western Asia.

The Time ofEbla As far as we can tell from the single archive available to us, a major part of Syria was organized under the rule of one dominant city, Ebla, though its power never ex­tended so far to the south as to include the lesser towns of Palestine or maritime cities such as Byblos in the west. (See "Ebla: A Third-Millen­nium City-State in Ancient Syria" later in this volume.)

For about two centuries Ebla seems to have maintained its control over northern Syria. In this capacity, it counterbalanced the influence of the great Mesopotamian cities to the east, while controlling the transit trade through Syria and guaranteeing the merchants and trade caravans safe passage.

However, when ambitious kings of the Akkad Dynasty-first Sargon and then Naram-Sin-be­gan to expand the borders of their empire to include Syria. the political system of Syria itself was crushed under the onslaught from the east.

When Ebla lost its power, possibly to Naram­Sin, a period of cultural and economic decline began in Syria. The exact course of events is unknown to us. Maybe the foreign conquerors failed to control northern Syria, or local Syrian powers were unable to guarantee safe passage of merchandise and thus to maintain the trade routes passing through Syria. The Akkadian con­quest also triggered unforeseen demographic changes in Syria, which were soon to have seri­ous consequences in Mesopotamia as well. The foremost effect was that urban life in Syria al­most disappeared; it was replaced by life in modest, unwalled, and temporary settlements inhabited by migrant peasants and pastoralists. Permanent settlements seem to have been the exception to this rule.

The culture of this period of decline, which was to last for over a century, is best elucidated by conditions in Palestine, where archaeological excavations have been carried out most exten­sively, making it possible to uncover some of

the more general tendencies of the process that led to the destruction of urban civilization. In the greater part ofPalestine, settled life also dis­appeared and control of the area was taken over by peasants and pastoralists-moving from place to place.

In Palestine there was not, as far as we can tell, a political center like Ebla in Syria. A certain Egyptian interest in especially the southern part ofPale stine may be assumed because ofthe num­ber ofEgyptian artifacts found at archaeological sites in this area, though it seems certain that in the Early Bronze Age the Egyptians never occupied any part of Palestine. At the end of the Early Bronze Age, however, the Egyptian presence in Palestine faded, partly because of problems in Egypt itself and more unruly condi­tions in Syria and Palestine, and partly because the Egyptians chose to invest their commercial interests in other parts of western Asia, espe­cially along the Syro-Lebanese coast, where Byblos had already become a center ofEgyptian commercial activities. Byblos itself seems to have escaped the destruction and desolation at the end of this period.

Other parts ofnorthwestern Palestine, includ­ing areas of the coastal plain, were also appar­ently more or less unharmed by these events, to judge by the extent to which city life seems to have continued. As will become obvious below, the survival ofwhat were to become the Phoeni­cian cities of the second and first millennia is a recurrent phenomenon in other periods of turbu­lence and disaster in Syria and Palestine.

An "Amonte" Hegemony Scholars have of­ten considered the period that followed the fall ofEbla a dark age because ofthe regress ofurban­ized culture and the lack of written documents. But it would be equally correct to call it "the period of the Amorites." The Amorites were for­merly believed to be a foreign people who mi­grated to Syria at the end of the Early Bronze Age and destroyed the rich urban culture, first in Syria and shortly afterward in Palestine. They were also supposed to have invaded Mesopota­mia itself, causing serious disturbances there. (See also "Amorite Tribes and Nations of Sec­ond-Millennium Western Asia" later in this volume.)

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Modern scholars no longer assume massive migratory movements to explain change in antiq­uity, at least as far as the ancient Near East is concerned. From a logistical point of view such movements are unrealistic and lead to simplistic explanations for cultural changes. In the case of the Amorites, while a migratory theory about their origins cannot be totally disregarded, such a movement must be located not in remote coun­tries, but on the periphery ofsettled and central­ized Syria, where the forefathers ofthe Amorites lived for most of the period known as the Early Bronze Age.

From their home territories in Syria, the Amor­ites gradually infiltrated most parts of western Asia and were to become an important popula­tion element in the new states that emerged at the beginning ofthe second millennium in Meso­potamia as well as in Syria and Palestine. Thus Amorite personal names, especially those of Amorite rulers, are recorded by later sources ranging from southern Mesopotamia to Egypt. The name itself, uAmorite," is based on an Ak­kadian term, amurrU (Sumerian MAR.TU), possi­bly meaning "people of the west." It is thus ascribed from a Mesopotamian point ofview and refers to the origin of these people; it is hardly a genuine ethnic designation current among the Amorites themselves. We do not know by which name the Amorites referred to themselves, and it is impossible to say whether they saw them­selves as a specific people or nation.

We only know that this population must have been; homogeneous sociologically, and spoke a Semitic language that was different from the language of Ebla. The Amorite "language" was presumably the language-or better the amal­gam ofdialects-spoken in border areas ofSyria and Palestine already in the Early Bronze Age. Its origin is, however, shrouded in darkness.

The Middle Bronze Age The Middle Bronze Age civilization ofSyria was dominated by a flourishing urbanized culture. At the same time, most urban centers were the nuclei ofsmall states. The political organization has often been described as a city-state system, though this terminology may lead to some misun­derstanding, as it is borrowed from the classical world where itcovers organizations ofa political

structure vastly different from those found in near eastern states.

The Supremacy ofYamkhad Just as the Syr­ian society in the Early Bronze Age had been held together by the empire of Ebla in a kind of political network, the greater part of northern Syria in the Middle Bronze Age (circa 1800-1600) was united under the sway of Yamkhad, which was the official name ofthe state that had Aleppo (Halab) as its capital. Thus a letter from Mari (beginning of the eighteenth century) counts "twenty kings who follaw king Yarim-Lim of Yamkhad," while other kings have fewer vassals {see Table 1). This evidence indicates that the kings ofYamkhad were at that time the overlords of a number of petty kings and tribal leaders of Syria.

The area either directly controlled by Yam­khad or within its sphere of influence stretched from the kingdom of Mukish by the M~diterra­nean in the west to Emar (modem Meskene) on the banks of the Euphrates in the east, permit­ting its kings to keep a tight rein on the trade routes of Syria.

Not all Syrian cities belonged to the empire of Yamkhad. Among independent localities we may mention the city ofCar chern ish (Karkamish) on the Euphrates northeast of Aleppo, and far­ther to the south the city ofQatna (Tell Mishrife, near Hama), to which Mari authorities ascribed fifteen vassal states.

The history of Qatna, based on information in the Mari archives, provides a vivid impression ofa Syrian political center in this period. Qatna normally had excellent relations with the north­ern Mesopotamian kingdoms and was evidently linked to Mari by a direct trade route, thus en­abling trade caravans heading for the southwest­ern part of Syria to bypass Yamkhad. Already in the days of Shamshi-Adad I, the relations were formalized when the king ofQatna, Ishkhi-Adad, gave his daughter in marriage to the son of Shamshi-Adad, Yasmakh-Adad, king of MarL Other examples of Qatna's connections with Mari are known. Thus Qatna was the main sup­plier of horses for northern Mesopotamia, and the king of Qatna even helped Shamshi-Adad erect a stela by the Mediterranean Sea, thus per­mitting him to claim to have reached the "West­

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TABLE 1 Syro-Palestinian Rulers of the Middle and Late Bronze Ages

Yamkhad (Aleppo) Qatna Carchemish Alalakh AmufTU

Sumu-Epukh 1800

Yarim-Lim I Ishkhi-Adad Aplakhanda ca. 1790-1770 Yatar-Ami

Hammurabi [ Amutpiel Yarim-Lim ca. 1770-1750

1750 Abbael [

ca. 1750-1720 Yarim-Lim

Yarim-Lim II ca. 1720-1700

1700 Niqmepukh Ammitakum Irkabtum

1650 Yarim-Lim [II Hammurabill

1600 Sharrael (?) Abbael II

1550 Ilim-ilimma

1500 Idrimi Niqmepa

1450 Ilim-ilimma

1400 [tur-Adad Abdi-Ashirta

ca. 1400-1370 Aziru

ca. 1370-1335 1350

Telipinu Piyasshili Ari-Teshuh (=Sharri-Kushukh) ca. 1335-1332

Talmi-Sharruma Shakhuru-nuwa Duppi-Teshub ( = X-Sharruma?) ca. 1332-1300

1300 Bente-shina Ini-Teshub ca. 1300-1285;

ca. 1275-1251 Khalpa-ziti Shapili

ca. 1285-1276 1250

Talmi-Teshub Shaushga-muwa ca. 1250-1220

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ern Sea," After the death of Shamshi-Adad and the removal of his son from Mari, the new king of Mari, Zimri-Lim, renewed the relations with Qatna, but he also succeeded in creating an alli­ance between Yamkhad and Qatna, In this man­ner a politically stable situation developed in northern and central Syria that was to survive the demise of the kingdom of MaTi and the rising power of Hammurabi of Babylon. (See "Shamshi-Adad and Sons: The Rise and Fall of an Upper Mesopotamian Empire" earlier in this volume.)

Because tribal societies continued to exist and to demand at least freedom from interference by centralized powers, a number ofsocial problems faced the rulers of Syria. The MaTi documents testify to various such tribal groups, some of them easy for the state to handle, others ex­tremely unruly, such as the tribe or tribal coali­tion of the Banu-Yamina. The latter group is of special interest because in them we see a pasto­ral society that, in the course ofits yearly migra­tions, came into contact not only with the terri­tory of MaTi itself, but also with the territory of Yamkhad to the west, as well as other states in upper Mesopotamia. It is also possible that parts of the Banu-Yamina migrated to Palestine, later to become the Benjaminites of the Hebrew Bi­ble. The note in the book of Genesis (35:2.6), according to which Benjamin was born in Paddan-Aram (a late name covering part of the territory once controlled by the kings of MaTi), could be a reminiscence of this migration.

Hittites and Humans The end ofthe Middle Bronze Age in Syria and Palestine has little in common with the major changes that affected civilization in western Asia half a millennium earlier. No major destruction of settled life oc­curred, although from time to time local interrup:" tions and reductions of urban life were experi­enced.

The great Syrian power of the Middle Bronze Age, Yamkhad, survived unaffected by changing political circumstances among its neighbors to the north and east, although at the end of the seventeenth century it did experience a major setback when the Hittites conquered Aleppo, its capital, and established a short-lived hege­

mony over northern Syria. Before long the Hit­tite power vanished, and Yamkhad (or rather Aleppo) was able to reassume some ofits former grandeur.

The presence of a new political power must be considered a stabilizing factor in the life of northern Syria in this period. Perhaps already in the dark age following the breakdown of set­tled life at the end of the Early Bronze Age, Hurrian tribesmen from the mountain ranges in eastern Anatolia and in the Zagros had in6Jtrated the Syrian plateau as well as northern Mesopota­mia and established their presence allover the area. In many places they constituted a major population segment, such as in the kingdom of Mukish by the Mediterranean coast, a vassal state of the empire ofYamkhad, though Mukish continued to be ruled by Amorites. In other places the Hurrians managed to gain political control over the Amorite population and to estab­lish Hurrian kingdoms. It was, however-, the des­tiny of one Hurrian state to develop into one of the major powers of its time, the kingdom of Mitanni in upper Mesopotamia and eastern Syria. In its heyday Mitanni ruled almost all of northern and central Syria from its capital, Wasshukkani (possibly modern Tell al-Fakhar­iya), situated at a tributary of the Euphrates in northern Syria. Although the growth of Mitanni was preceded by the incursion of the Hittites and the weakening of the Amorite powers in western Syria, it effectively blocked the way of other foreign intruders on the Syrian scene, at least until the Mitannians clashed with Egyptian forces led by the pharaohs of the Eighteenth Dynasty. (See "The Kingdom of Mitanni in Sec­ond-Millennium Upper Mesopotamia" later in this volume.)

Palestine in the Middle Bronze Age The lit­tle we know of the political geography of Pales­tine in the Middle Bronze Age is based princi­pally on the scanty evidence from Egyptian sources such as the so-called Execration Texts, collections ofmostly very short inscriptions dat­ing back probably to the Twelfth Dynasty. The information gained from these inscriptions is, however, limited to the names of a number of Palestinian cities, some of which were to be­

1203

History and Culture

Official Correspondence from the Marl Archives In this first letter the king of Qatna, Ishkhi-Adad, writes an angry letter to lshme-Dagan, king ofAssyria. The letter was apparently intercepted at Marl whose king, Yasmakh-Adad, had good reasons to dampen anger on both sides: he was the brother of Ishme­Dagan, but also the son-in-law of Ishkhi-Adad. It is important to realize that the exchange ofgifts between rulers followed a meticulous convention inwhich one king could expect a fair exchange for the gifts he sent. (Horses worth 600 shekels of silver should have brought 100-140 pounds oftin, depending on the then current value of tin.) (See "Shamshi-Adad and Sons" earlier in this volume.)

Ishkhi-Adad is frustrated by the fact that when he offered horses to Ishme-Dagan, he got something in response, puny though it might be, and therefore has lost his right to be angry. Etiquette would have re­quired him to shut his mouth; but he could not.

This matter should not be talked about; yet I must say it now and vent my feelings. You are the great king. When you placed a request with me for two horses, I indeed conveyed them to you. As for you, you sent me twenty pounds of tin. Without argument, you were not acting justly toward me when you sent this paltry amount of tin to me. Had you sent nothing at all-by the god of my father-I would be angryl

Among us in Qatna, the price of such horses is ten pounds of silver; you, however, sent me twenty pounds of tinI What would the one who hears (of it) say? Could he deem us equal?

This house is your house. What is lacking in your house that a brother cannot ful611 the need of his equal? Had you not sent me any tin, I should not have J:>een in the least upset over it. Are you not the great king? Why have you done this? This house is your housel (Cited from G. Dossin, Archives rOllaies de Marl 5 [1952], no. 20)

Yasmakh-Adad, who ruled Marl, got this next letter from his servant Ussur-awassu. Itconcerns the illness ofBel tum, a princess ofQatna. who must only recently have become Marl's queen. As you read this, keep in mind that while the letter contains good news about Beltum's recovery. Ussur-awassu's primary goal is to blame someone else (indeed two others) for the illness (sunstroke) that Beltum needlessly contracted.

I remain respectfully aware that my lord has sent strict orders about Beltum's illness, "Make sure not to overlook anything'" In my case, however, I am no longer anxious about my lady, because her iilness is less dangerous now than ever previously; it is no longer as before.

On another matter: Are there no highborn elderly women in the palace who could serve as mentors to Bel­

tum 50 that, as it suits the occasion, they could speak for her or advise her? Now then, if there are four or five elderly women under Mubalsaga's control who know the palace's operation and who are fit to act as mentor to Beltum, my lord should have them sent to fill that role. They could give her advice or supervise her, as it suits the occasion.

About Beltum's nanny, among those who came from Qatna: were it that this woman had raised Beltum since her youth and knew her waysI When Beltum was leaving Qatna. this woman was singled out and was sent to us with Beltum to Marl; but she knows nothing about the palace's operation. Because {)f this unreliable woman who now acts as mentor to my lady, during the siesta, when the palace's gate bolts were drawn, (Beltum) had (the nanny) bring women singers out to Ishtar's temple for the lurarum ceremony. While in the "multicolor" court, Beltum got a sunstroke and has been ill ever since.

Now, however, my lord should not be distressed in the least; her illness is less dangerous now than ever previously.

After sending this note, I will await four more days and then send a full report to my Lord. (Cited from D. Charpin, Archives rollaies de Marl XXVI/z [1g88], no.~)

Bakhdi-Lim, prefect of the Marl palace, gives ad­vice to his king, Zimri-Lim. on how to perform during a public ceremony. The follOWing letter is not com­pletely preserved, and the 6nallines alone are quoted below. At issue is whether the king should ride a horse. choose to be lifted in a palanquin, or ride a mule. Hundreds ofyears later, even when horses had become abundant in Israel, its kings rode donkeys in official or cultic ceremonies.

I told my Lord the follOwing, "Now that the land of Yakhdun-Lim has reverted to my lord and because this land Is wearlng Ak1cadWn garb, my lord should give his majesty honor. Since you are king of the Khana tribes­men and you are, secondly, king ofAkkad (land), my lord ought not to riqe horses; rather, it is up{)n a palanquin or on mules that my lord ought to ride, and in this way he could give honor to his nuijesty." This is what I told my lord.

The city Marl, the palace, and the entire province is in good order. There is no neglect in protecting the city. My lord should begin his journey and arrive here quickly so that he can calm the land. Wherever the army is to go, it should come to Marl (first).

I have sent this letter ofmine to my lord on the [. . .] of the fourth month. (Cited from J.-R. Kupper, Archives rOllaies de Marl 6 [1954], no. 76)

(Annotations and translations by Jack M. Sasson)

1204

The History of Ancient Syria and Palestine

come famous urban centers such as Jerusalem and Shechem (modem Nablus), and their rulers (bearing Amorite names). Another important source is the Story ofSinuhe, which conveys the Egyptian impression of Palestine as a backward country with primitive and barbarous habits. Otherwise, Egyptian influence was conspicuous in Palestine in the Middle Bronze Age, for al­though it did not conquer Palestine, Egypt did . make significant raids through the region. None­theless, Egyptian interest in Palestine aimed at encouraging the peaceful development of com­merce and the free passage of its merchandise.

In this period Palestine was apparently subdi­vided into a great number ofsmall political units, each subordinated to the will of a local dynast residing in a city. These small states may, how­ever, have been united in a kind of federa­tion, in which the city of Hazor played the leading part. Hazor was not only the largest pre­Hellenistic city in Palestine, it was also the only Palestinian city mentioned in the documents from Mesopotamia (Mari). Hazor has also yielded a small number ofdocuments, all in Ak­kadian, including a couple of administrative records.

The history ofPalestine at the end ofthe Mid­dle Bronze Age was related to developments in neighboring Egypt.

The "Hyksos" According to later Egyptian tradition, a new people or nation called the Hyksos invaded Egypt from the northeast and conquered the country, subjecting it to bondage that lasted several generations. After having been dominated by foreign overlords, the first phru:aoh of the Eighteenth Dynasty finally de­stroyed the capital of the Hyksos rulers, Avaris (near modem Tell al-DabCa), and drove the Hyksos out of Egypt. After a short while the Egyptians, in pursuit of the Hyksos, advance<:I into western Asia to bring the homeland of the Hyksos under Egyptian rule.

Modem investigations have shown that this tradition of the Hyksos is based on historical facts, though the actual course of the Hyksos «invasion" has little in common with the late Egyptian historical tradition.

The Hyksos invasion of Lower Egypt was be­lieved to be a part ofthe great Hurrian migration into Syria, and the Hyksos themselves were

thought to be Hurrians, perhaps with an Indo­European substratum. Today scholars look in another direction to explain the establishment of Hyksos rule in parts of Egypt.

First and foremost it should be acknowledged that there is a conspicuous cultural continuity between Hyksos settlements in Egypt and the Amorite civilization ofPalestine, and this conti­nuity is likely to have included ethnic affinity. The origin of the Hyksos movement should thereforebe sought not among the Hurrian popu­lation of northern Syria but among the Amorite (or Canaanite) population of Palestine proper.

Egyptian documents suggest that the eastern border of Egypt was often penetrated by intrud­ers from western Asia, and we also possess picto­rial representations of Asiatic nomads crossing this border to trade in the Nile Delta. Thus it may be assumed that, {)ver the centuries, a large number of immigrants from western Asia had arrived in Egypt to settle there, at first in the eastern part of the Nile Delta and later in other parts of Lower Egypt. When, at the end of the Middle Kingdom, the political system in Egypt weakened, the Asiatics of the Delta, mostly of Amorite stock, were able to liberate themselves from their Egyptian overlords and to create a series of small states. There· is also reason to. believe that they succeeded in establishing a political umbrella organization with its center at the city of Avaris in Lower Egypt, which the Egyptian opponents identified as the main cen­ter of Hyksos power.

Relations between the Asiatic princes of Lower Egypt and their homeland continued, though we have no written sources that may in­form us about their exact nature. As it is, artifacts found in the Delta, as well as in southern Pales­tine, bear witness to an intensive traffic of goods from Palestine to the Delta and vice versa as well as a largely Palestinian material culture. It would, however, be premature to assume that there actually existed an Amorite empire cov­ering Palestine and Lower Egypt.

Nevertheless, when the pharaohs of the early Eighteenth Dynasty dissolved the political es­tablishment ofthe Hyksos in Lower Egypt, they soon went on to occupy the homeland of the Hyksos as well. In the course of the Egyptian occupation of Palestine, a number of urban cen­ters were demolished and, as a consequence,

1205

History and Culture

the Egyptian armies forced a major change in the political system in Palestine.

The Late Bronze Age: Syria Under Foreign Rule No interruption, intermediate period, or dark age developed at the end of the Middle Bronze Age. Actually, we might say that the division of Syro-Palestinian history into Middle and Late Bronze ages is principally a scholarly conven­tion. Almost all urban centers continued to exist, though not without problems or crises of their own; but, in general, the civilization of the Mid­dle Bronze Age survived the disturbances at the beginning of the Late Bronze Age. With this continuity, however, a number of new fea­tures were incorporated into the old cultural pattern.

Politically the history of Syria and Palestine changed in one very important aspect. In the Early and Middle Bronze ages, local centers such as Ebla and Yamkhad, and possibly Qatna and Hazor as well, emerged to control large areas. Such local centers were no longer to be prominent in the pre-Hellenistic history ofSyria and Palestine. From the middle of the second millennium and, in fact, until the twentieth cen­tury CE, Syria and Palestine were mostly con­trolled by foreign powers who either competed for supremacy over the whole territory or simply divided it between them; or else the area was subdivided into a number of local petty king­doms that were generally unstable and short­lived.

At the beginning of the Late Bronze Age, much ofSyria was ruled by the kings ofMitanni. The relatively stable conditions created by their rule were not to last forever, however. The Hit­tites, who, after their conquests in Syria and Mes­opotamia at the end ofthe seventeenth century, had retreated to their homeland in central Ana­tolia, were not to reenter the Syrian scene until the fourteenth century. To the east in Mesopota­mia no serious competitor for control of Syria had yet emerged.

The challenge to Mitannian overlordship of Syria came from another direction, namely Egypt. After having subdued Palestine during the reign of the first pharaohs of the New King­dom, the Egyptians pressed on to the Euphrates. Especially under the vigorous reign of Thut­

mose (Tuthmosis) III, the Egyptians made incur­sions into the sphere of Mitanni. But the end of the fifteenth century saw the Egyptians re­treating toward southern Syria, as the struggle between Egypt and Mitanni came to a peaceful end with the two great powers dividing Syria between them.

The reason this agreement was reached be­tween Egypt and Mitanni becomes clear as Soon as we look at Syria in the fourteenth century. The Hittites had once again laid claim to the area and, under the pressure of this renewed threat to their dominion, the two great powers, Egypt and Mitanni, thought it profitable to end their own struggles and unite in an alliance cemented by an interdynastic marriage that brought a princess from Mitanni to Egypt.

The peace was only temporary, however. Very soon war was again to interrupt the stability cre­ated by the Mitannian-Egyptian alliance. Dur­ing the reigns of King Shuppiluliuma I and his successors, the Hittite armies subdued Mitanni, while these forces at the same time pushed the Egyptians back to southern Syria. Palestine, how­ever, continued to be part of the Egyptian em­pire in Asia. This period ofstruggle was brought to an end when a new agreement was concluded between Egypt and Khatti, which divided Syria into two spheres of interest.

Just as the earlier agreement between Egypt and Mitanni was provoked by the threat from a third power, Khatti, the agreement between Egypt and Khatti was effected under pressure from the resurgent Assyria. Led by energetic rulers from Assur-uballit I onward, the Assyrians subdued what was left of Mitanni and became a major political force that could no longer be ignored by the existing great powers.

Numerous documents from a series of small states in Syria and Palestine give us a fair impres­sion of the political organization and everyday life in western Asia in the Late Bronze Age. In general, these small states were bound in vassalage to one of the great powers. Only occa­sionally did they have the opportunity to pursue an independent foreign policy; normally they simply had to submit to the will oftheir overlord. The internal affairs of all of these petty king­doms, were, however, in the hands of the local authorities. The center of the state was the city, and in its palace were accommodated both the political and the economic administration ..

1206

The History of Ancient Syria and Palestine

In population and territorial extent, the small states of Syria and Palestine varied enormously. TheSyrian states were far bigger than their Pales­tinian counterparts, though compared to those of Mesopotamia, Anatolia, or Egypt they were small and inconspicuous. Thus the kingdom of Mukish in northwestern Syria commanded a ter­ritory that did not amount to more than a few thousand square miles, with a population of hardly more than thirty-five thousand to forty thousand persons, including the nve thousand inhabitants of the capital (Alalakh) itself. South of Mukish the state of Ugarit may have been somewhat bigger, the city ofUgarit its.elfbeing twice as large as Alalakh. In comparison, the territory of a Palestinian state rarely exceeded an area ofmore than a few hundred square miles, with perhaps less than one-tenth the population of one of the Syrian states. Another difference between the Syrian and Palestinian states ofthis 'time was that most of the population of Syria lived in villages spread out allover the territory, whereas the Palestinian population almostexclu­sively lived inside their walled hometowns. Vil­lage culture seems to have been almost totally absent in Palestine during this period. Beyond the control of the state officials-or at least less dependent on the authorities ofthe states-vari­ous groups of pastoral nomads, herdsmen, or only partly settled peasants and cattle breeders were left more or less alone. Their domains were the mountain ranges, still partly wooded, and the arid zones along the fringe ofthe cultivable zone.

Many documents from the Late Bronze Age speak about another category of population, the khabiro (tIabiro, tIapiro). These khabiro consti­tuted a highly mobile social grouping of up­rooted people, refugees from other states, outlaws or their like, all of them outcasts who, for some reason, had given up settled life to seek survival in other parts of the Syro-Palestinian world. This social phenomenon, already known in the Middle Bronze Age, may never have encompassed more than a tiny fraction of the population, but the psychological impact oftheir presence appears very clearly in the Amarna cor­respondence, where the term khabiro is some­times used as an invective to defame the enemies of the established political order. The presence of the khabiro in Palestine has pro­voked enormous interest because ofthe possible

linkage with the ancestors of the Hebrews. Al­though this linkage cannot be totally disre­garded, an easy identification between the khabiro and the Hebrews faces many difficult­ies. In contrast to the khabiro, the biblical He­brews constituted a homogeneous people, a na­tion, not social outcasts.

Because of their geographical situation, some of the Syrian states were able, at least for the time being, to exert some sort ofpolitical control over their own territory and to move freely in the gray zone between the great powers by play­ing off one power against another. Thus the small state ofAmurru that emerged as a political force in western Syria in the fourteenth century was allowed some freedom ofaction because of its position on the border between the Hittite and Egyptian spheres of interest. The kings of Amurru were also able to benefit from the disor­der oftheir time, to the detriment oftheir Syrian neighbors. As soon as the general political situa­tion was resolved, however, the kings ofAmurru were forced to take sides. They sided with the Hittites and were firmly incorporated into the Hittite Empire.

It is characteristic of the Syro-Palestinian states of the Late Bronze Age that they com­manded very limited resources, human as well as material. The result was that, whenever they were left alone, these insignificant kingdoms were hardly able to cope with political crises, including massive popular movements or upris­ings. Furthermore, one source ofknowledge, the letters of the Amarna archive, illustrates clearly that the Syrian and Palestinian petty rulers were unable to act in unison. Indeed, the ruler ofone of the small states always seemed ready to take advantage of the situation if a neighboring king failed.

The archaeological evidence dating from this period is in harmony with the impression of the political history. Although archaeologists are hes­itant to speak of a cultural breakdown in the Late Bronze Age, they do maintain that as far as Palestine is concerned (the situation in Syria is less clear) the urbanized civilization was under pressure, and it is evident that in the course of the Late Bronze Age the general standard of living declined all over Palestine.

The end of the Late Bronze Age civilization was yet to come. Just after 1200 chaos struck the near eastern world. Within a relatively brief

1207

History and Culture

Official Correspondence from the Amarna Archives The following letter was written by a king of Jerusa­lem whose name cannot be deciphered with confi­dence-we will call him Abdi-Kheba. He writes to his overlord, the king of Egypt. to complain of being left at the mercy of any enemy. He asks for Egyptian support, especially in the form ofsoldiers ("archers"). Worth noting is the pitiful aside to the king's scribe: Abdi-Kheba is desperate lest his message fail to reach his lord.

Abdi-Kheba reports so balefully on the activities of people labeled khabiru (the pronunciation of the name is still in dispute) that as used here the term is no longer a social designation but a synonym for "enemies ofpharaoh." Whether or not khabirus were active around Jerusalem in Abdi-Kheha's time, his allusion to the term reinforces the commonality of the concept. implying anarchy and mayhem.

It is exactly this commonality that frustrates an easy identification of the khabirus with the biblical He­brews. Khabirus, in fact. were found across much of western Asia in the mid second millennium, whereas the Hebrews in the Bible are always Israelites or their ancestors living in or near Palestine. It is possible that the Hebrew consciousness of its past may represent a highly personalized and embroidered recollection of the social outcasts called khabirus in the Bronze Age.

Say to the king, my lord, my Sun: Thus Abdi-Kheba, your servant: At the feet ofthe king, my lord, I fan seven times and seven times (more). See, the king has placed his name where the Sun rises and where the Sun sets.

They have acted wickedly against me. See, I am not a governor, (but) I am an officer of the king, my lord. See,

period, the Hittite Empire was crushed under the burden of internal problems and pressure from external foes, especially in Anatolia itself.

The removal of the Hittites opened the way for a whole range of destabilizing influences. One such may have been the invasion of the "Sea Peoples." Although such a movement most certainly took place, with foreign invaders arriv­ing in ships, its dimensions may have been grossly overestimated, and it may not have hap­pened as suddenly as described, for example, by Egyptian sources. It would perhaps be more­correct to speak ofa gradual infiltration that may have lasted for decades, and which climaxed

I am the king's friend and the one who carries the tribute belonging to the king. Neither my father nor my mother but the king's strong arm alone is what placed me In the house of my father. [One line is mis.ring.}

When [. . .1 came to me, I placed ten slaves at 1rls disposal. Shuta, the king's commissioner, came to me and I placed at his disposal twenty-one women and eighty prisoners, a gift to the king, my lord.

Let the king attend to his landl The land of the king is lost. Everything has been taken away from me. I am at war, from Sheru to Gintikirmil. All governors live in peace; but against me there is war. 1 am treated as a khabiru and, because 1 am at war, I cannot come to face the king. I am like a ship in the midst of an ocean.

The strong arm ofthe king took (the lands of) Nakbrina and Kasi; but now the khabirus take the cities of the king. The king, my 1ord, has not one single governor. Everything is lost. See, when Turbazu was killed at SHu's gate-the king did nothing. See, when servants became khabirus and struCK (down) Zimredda ofLachish or when Yaptikh-Adda was murdered at the gate ofSilu-the king did nothing. Why did the king not force them to answer?

Let the king provide (for his country) and have his archers [march out] into his country I If there are no ar­chers this year, all the lands of the king will be lost. Has it been said to the king, my lord, "Now the land of the king is lost and all governors are lost?" If there will be no archers this year, let the king send his commissioner to take me together with (my) brothers, so that we could die in the presence of the king, our lord.

P.S. To the scribe of the king, my lord: Thus Abdi­Kheba, the slave. At your feet I fall. Carry the words [which I have sent} to the king [my lordl. [I am your] slave and your son.

(Annotations and translations by N. P. Lemche)

with a more massive onslaught just after lZOO.

(See "The 'Sea Peoples' and the Philistines of Ancient Palestine" later in this volume.)

These upheavals led to serious disturbances of settled life in most of Syria and Palestine. Some old cities simply disappeared never to emerge again. for example. Ugarit on the Medi­terranean coast or Emar in inner Syria. In other places scattered relics of the old system contin­ued; thus in northern Syria the city ofCarchem­ish, the center ofHittite administration in Syria, was ruled by a dynasty of Hittite princes who were able to survive until the eighth cen­tury.

1208

The History of Ancient Syria and Palestine

The Iron Age: From the Loss of Independence to the Persian Conquest

The history ofthe early part of the Iron Age, the period from circa 1200 to 1000, is inaccessible to us. Very few written remains have survived, and the documents of Egypt and Mesopotamia only occasionally refer to conditions in Syria and Pal­estine. The reconstruction of this period will, therefore, almost entirely depend on material remains. It may, however, sometimes be possi­ble to use traditions about the Early Iron Age contained in later sources.

Ifwe look at the general situation in Syria and Palestine, the conditions of life are comparable to those of a thousand years before, after the demise ofthe Early Bronze Age civilization. The decline of urban civilization continued for an­other two hundred years. It is easy to find evi­dence of a movement of population away from the cities and toward the countryside. This de­velopment is well illustrated by the archaeo­logical excavations and surveys that have been extensively carried out in Palestine, in the Beqa C Valley in Lebanon, and in Transjordan.

When written sources become more abundant after about 1000, making proper historical recon­structions feasible, we may discern two kinds of political aggregations in Syria and Palestine: city-states, organized similarly to the Syrian and Palestinian states of the Late Bronze Age; and larger scale states, having extensive territories with more than one major urban center. The first type, the city-state, was still predominant in Phoenicia (see Table 2), whereas the second type was represented by states like the Ara­maean kingdom of Damascus or the state of Is­rael in northern and central Palestine. The sec­ond new state in Palestine, the kingdom of Judah, which was situated in southern Palestine, may be considered an intermediate form; its capital, Jerusalem, was the administrative and political center, and Judah could thus be called a city-state. Other cities almost as big as Jerusa­lem, however, also belonged to the kingdom of Judah, a fact that made it more a territorial state than a city-state. The inhabitants ofthe kingdom were mostly tribesmen, the majority ofthem be­longing to the tribe ofJudah that gave its name to the state. From this perspective, Judah was also a tribal state, if not a nation-state.

Some new population elements appeared in Syriaand Palestine in the Iron Age, the remnants ofthe Sea Peoples and the Aramaeans. The first group is mostly known through the historical tradition in the Hebrew Bible. Sociologically, they seem to have constituted a tiny ruling class in the first millennium, with their residence in the coastal cities in southern and western Pales­tine, where they had created a league of city­states with a defensive pact.

The Aramaeans More important for the his­tory of Syria in this period were the Aramaeans. Their early history is known only through Assyr­ian sources, but it may have developed along lines not unlike the ones followed by the Arnor­ites a thousand years before. They most likely originated in the Late Bronze Age, in areas bor­dering the centralized states of Syria, and went on to take control ofthe territory formerly admin­istered by the centralized states. In the' first mil­lennium, the Aramaeans were found allover Syria, but also in Mesopotamia and other places. The development of the civilization of the Ara­maeans may be another example of the process of retribalization, leading at first to the dissolu­tion of settled life in centralized states, then to new emerging states with ruling dynasties that had their background in tribal societies whose origins were on the periphery of urban civiliza­tion. The tribal origin of these Aramaean states may be reflected in some of their names, which are sometimes preceded by the Semitic word bet (Akkadian bitu), "house," such as Beth­Rehob and Bit-Agusi (Tell RifaCat) in Syria, or Bit-Dakkuri and Bit-Yakin in lower Meso­potamia, and which may refer to the ruling tribe or family of these states. (See also "Aramaean Tribes and Nations ofFirst-Millennium Western Asia" later in this volume.)

Following the spread of the Aramaeans, their language (which presumably developed out of older dialects current in Syria) was to become the common language of western Asia. It re­mained in wide use until the Arab conquest in the seventh century CE, when it was superseded by Arabic. In remote or peripheral areas-like southern Palestine or Transjordan-Iocal Se­mitic languages, such as Hebrew or Moabite, survived the Aramaean expansion. Yet by the

1209

History and Culture

TABLE 2 Rulers of Phoenician City-States of the Middle and Late Bronze Ages

Sidon Ture Bub10s Damascus

2100 Ibdadi

1800 Abi-shemu I Yapi-shemu-abi I

ca. 1780 Yakin-EI ca. 1760

1750 Yantin-Ammu

ca. 1740 l1im-yapi (?) ca. 1720

1700 Abi-shemu II (?)

ca. 1700 Yapi-shemu-abi II (?)

ca. 1680 Akery ca. 1670

1650 1400

Rib-addi ca. 1370 Abi-milki ca. 1360

1350 Zimredda ca. 1350

1300 1250

Baal-bmg ca. 1230 lOOO

Abi-Baal Ahiram ca. lOOO (+ ?) Itto-Baal ca. 975 ( + ?)

Hiram I ca. 960 Yehimilk ca. 950 Rezon ca. 950 950

Baal-ezer ca. 930 Abi-Baal ca. 925

Abd-Ashtoret ca. 920 Eli-Baal ca. 915

900 Methusha-Ashtoret Shipit-Baal I ca. 900

ca. 900 Eth-Baal I ca. 880 Eth-Baal I ca. 880 Ben-Hadad I ca. 900

850 Baal-menzer Haza'el ca. 842

ca. 840 800 750 Ben-Hadad II ca. 810

Hiram II ca. 740 Shipit-Baal II ca. 740 Mattan II ca. 730 Rezin ca. 740

Luli ca. 705 Lull ca. 705

1210

The History of Ancient Syria and Palestine

TABLE 2 (Continued)

Sidon

700 Eth-Baal II (Tuba'lu)

ca. 700 650

Abdi-milkuti 600

550 Eshmun-azer I Tabnit I

500 Eshmun-azer II Bod-Ashtart Yatan-Milk

450

400

350 Tabnit II ca. 350

Tyre

Baa1 I ca. 660

Eth-Baal (?) ca. 573 Baal II 573-564 Yakin-Baalea. 562 Mattan III ca. 560 Hiram III ca. 540

Byblos Damascus

Uri-Milk I ca. 700 Milk-asapb ea. 670

Shipit-Baal III Uri-Milk II ca. 480 Yihar-Baal ca. 470

Yehaw-Milk ca. 450

El-paal ca. 360

Uzi-Baal ca. 345 Addir-Milk ca. 340 Ayin-EI (?) ca. 333

second half ofthe first millennium BCE, Aramaic became the language of common speech even in these places.

Israel and Judah Development in Palestine followed its own independent course, because this part of western Asia was occupied not by Aramaic-speaking tribesmen, but by local tribes who spoke Hebrew and who were to become the new political force in the Palestinian society.

In contrast to the social and political changes that appeared in Syria, the development in Pales­tine can be followed in more detail, at least as far as the historical tradition in the Hebrew Bible can be relied upon; although this is not always the case, it seems certain that in the early' Iron Age most of Palestine was inhabited by a num­ber of small tribes, which were united into a small state at the beginning of the first millen­

nium. According to the biblical tradition, the new state very soon developed into a major empire under the rule of a Judean lineage of tribal origin, the house of David. Thus the two kings David and Solomon are said to have reigned over Israel and Judah and over a terri­tory stretching from the Euphrates to the Egyp­tian border, including Transjordan and large parts ofSyria. This empire, the so-called United Monarchy, was short-lived. Already at the death of Solomon at the end of the tenth century, the state broke up into two independent petty king­doms-Israel and Judah-and most ofthe prov­inces in Syria and Transjordan were soon lost to local princes. (See Table 3.)

However, some research has questioned the very existence ofthe J udean empire. A growing number of biblical scholars doubts whether there was an empire ruled by David and Solo­mon. It seems more likely that the kingdom of

1211

History and Culture

TABLE 3 Kings of Israel and Judah

United Monarchy

before 1000 ca. 1000-960

Saul David Solomon ca. 960-932

Divided Monarchy

Israel Jeroboam I Nadab Baasha Elah Zimri Omri Ahab Ahaziah Jehoram (= Joram) Jehu Joahaz ( = Jehoahas) Jehoash (= Joash) Jeroboam II Zechariah Shallum Menahem Pekahiah Pekah Hoshea

Fall of Samaria

932-911 911-910 910-887 887-886 886 886-875 875-854 854-853 853-842 842-815 815-799 799-784 784-744 744 744 744-735 735-734 734-731 731-722 722

Judah Rehoboam Abijam

Asa Jehoshaphat Jehoram Ahaziah Athaliah Joash (= Jehoash) Amaziah Uzziah (=Azariah)

Jotham-Ahaz coregency

Hezekiah Manasseh Amon Josiah Jehoahaz Jehoiakim Jehoiachin Zedekiah

Fall ofJerusalem Babylonian Rule Persian Rule Edict ofCyrus

Ezra Nehemiah

931-915 915-913

913-873 873-849 849-842 842 842-837 836-797 797-769 769-741

741-726

726-697 697-642 640 640-609 609 609-598 598 598-587 587

539-332 538 457 (?) 445-425

Israel emerged in Palestine no earlier than at the tum of the tenth to ninth centuries, and that Judah probably arose at the tum of the ninth to eighth centuries. Only one of these states­Israel-was, during the short span of years covered by the dynasty of King Omri (circa 886-842), to become an important political force.

National or Territorial States The new states in Syria and Palestine have sometimes been called "national" states, in order to distin­guish them from the "territorial" states of the Bronze Age. A territorial stat-e governs a territory from which it extracts taxes, though its citizens would hardly consider themselves an ethnic or

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The History of Ancient Syria and Palestine

national unity. A national state of the Iron Age is supposed to be founded on an acknowledged, shared ethnic identity and to be held together by solidarity among the members ofone and the same ethnic group.

The theory ofthe emergence ofnational states in the Iron Age seems to be based on rather weak evidence. Although several new states of the first millennium could trace their origins back to some sort oftribal society, this was hardly a new situation. Presumably the same applies to the Syrian and Palestinian states ofthe Middle Bronze Age, though we know next to nothing about their origin. The fact is that after only a couple ofgenerations a political system had reap­peared in Syria and Palestine that was seemingly organized according to the same principles that had governed the states of the Bronze Age. The tribal chieftains turned into kings, -that is, admin­istrative leaders of territorial states.

The Period of Assyrian Domination The new states neversucceeded in promoting a politi­cal system that embraced such large segments of their society as had been the case in the Early and Middle Bronze ages. When the Neo-Assyr­ian Empire loomed over the Syrian arena, the independence of both Syria and Palestine was soon a thing of the past. Already in the ninth century the Assyrian supremacy became evi­dent, and in the next century all of Syria and Palestine were united under the sway of the Assyrians, either as vassal states ruled by local kings or as Assyrian provinces governed by As­syrian administrators.

In the latter case, the Assyrian occupation cre­ated a new administrative system by using not the local power structures but persons of their own choice. The Assyrians preferred to deport the members of the local elites in substantial numbers and to replace them with persons who had themselves been removed from other re­gions of the Assyrian Empire. Thus, according to the tradition in the Hebrew Bible (2 Kings 17), the people of the kingdom of Israel were deported to northern Mesopotamia after the As­syrian conquest ofSamaria in 722; the Assyrians replaced them with groups coming from south­ern Babylonia as well as Syria. This new popula­tion later came to be treated by their southern

neighbors, the Judeans, as religious outcasts, the ancestors ofthe Samaritans. Because oftheir for­eign origins, the Samaritans could not claim membership in the Jewish society of Palestine. (See also "Assyrian Rule ofConquered Territory in Ancient Western Asia~' earlier in this volume.)

In the Iron Age, the economy and culture of Syria and Palestine never reached the peak of the Middle Bronze Age, not even when united into one political entity by Assyrian occupants. The fate of the great city of Hazor gives us a glimpse at the situation in Palestine in the first part ofthe first millennium. Whereas in the Mid­dle and Late Bronze ages the built-up area of Hazor amounted to no less than 1So acres (72 hectares), in the Iron Age it was reduced to one­tenth of its former extent No other city in Pales­tine was as large as Hazor of the Bronze Age; most of them were tiny settlements, even when protected by imposing walls. To compare the relative size ofa major Palestinian city with that ofan Assyrian city, it should be noted that in its heyday Jerusalem's population hardly exceeded eighteen thousand (it was more than likely half this size), covering an area ofbetween 60 and 125 acres (24-50 hectares). In contrast, the enormous Assyrian capital ofNineveh (modem Tell Kuyun­jik, Nebi Yunus) covered an area of about 1,750 acres (700 hectares) with a population ofapproxi­mately 250,000.

The short duration ofthe Assyrian occupation may have contributed to the lack ofcultural prog­ress. The Assyrian domination was to last for less than a century and a half, and in this period no commercial system emerged comparable to the international system of trade that existed in the Bronze Age. The only sectors of Syria and Palestine that may have expanded during this period were the Phoenician ports in Lebanon. Most ofthe cities ofPhoenicia survived the tran­sition from Bronze Age to Iron Age. Because of their position on the coast their trade was not cut off, and they were able to continue their commercial enterprises overseas. Disturbances in inner Syria were less likely to affect their trade. Egypt had, after all, always been their most important partner, and Egypt also survived the upheavals ofthe transitional period compara­tively unharmed.

In the course ofthe ninth and eighth centuries the Phoenician cities became incorporated into

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Hist{)ry-and Culture

the Assyrian Empire. In all probability, how­ever, the political changes in Syria hardly af­fected them seriously. To the contrary, they expanded overseas and were able to found colo­nies in several places: in Sicily, on the coast of North Africa (Carthage), even in southern France (Marseilles) and Spain (Tartessus)~ (See also «The Phoenicians" later in this volume.)

The Chaldean Conquest The Assyrian Em­pire reached its maximum extent in western Asia at the end of the eighth century, when all of Syro-Palestine was safely in Assyrian hands. In the early seventh century, Assyrian armies crossed the Palestinian-Egyptian border, subdu­ing Egypt for a short span of years. Soon after, the Assyrian Empire itself fell to attacks from a coalition of new powers, including Babylon, Media, and Lydia. At the tum of the seventh to sixth centuries, no traces remained of the for­merly dominant power of western Asia.

Syria and Palestine were left as the prey of one of the major powers that emerged after the fall of the Assyrian Empire. This renewed pro­cess of submission to a foreign power can be followed in some detail in Babylonian and bibli­cal sources. In the south, Egyptian pharaohs had entered the Asian scene on a few isolated occa­sions, presumably with the intention of re­gaining Egypt's old empire and the control it had enjoyed during the New Kingdom. In gen­eral their attempts met with little success; this situation was not to change when Egyptian ar­mies struck northward following the fall of the Assyrian capital, Nineveh, in 612.

The history of Syria and Palestine in this pe­riod is well elucidated by Mesopotamian and biblical sources. The latter especially allow us a fair impression of events at the tum of the seventh to sixth centuries. In Palestine the now­independent petty kingdom of Jerusalem (Ju­dah) tried to block the Egyptian advance, but without success. The Judean king Josiah lost his life at Megiddo in consequence.

Josiah's decision to resist the Egyptians testi­fies to an awakening ,of political aspirations among those now freed from the Assyrian yoke. It thus seems clearthatJ osiah tried to unite Pales­tine under his dominion and to create a compre­hensive state in western Asia. Yet his tragic fate

shows that these aspirations had no future. Once again Syria and Palestine had become the battle­field for Egyptian and Mesopotamian armies. By the early sixth century (597) the whole of Pales­tine, including Judah and Jerusalem, was tempo­rarily occupied by the Babylonians and forced to acknowledge Babylonian supremacy. After another ten years (587), Judah revolted against its Babylonian overlord, and as a consequence Jerusalem was destroyed and the state ofJudah dissolved, to be ruled in the future by Babylo­nian governors. A major part of the population of the kingdom of}udah was taken into exile in Babylonia.

Because of the lack of archaeological investi­gations, it is impossible to estimate the amount of destruction wrought upon Syrian society. In Palestine we may, however, speak of a major cata"Strophe that almost destroyed the Iron Age society and reduced its centers to ruins. Not only the capital itself but urban life as such experi­enced a serious setback on a scale not seen since the end of the Late Bronze Age. Although the Babylonians may have lightened the burdens placed by the earlier J udean kings on the peas­ants living in the countryside, the lack ofproper political organization in Palestine left the coun­try at the mercy of foreign intruders as well as local brigands. Thus incorporation into the Baby­lonian Empire did not contribute to the coun­try's prosperity. To the contrary the Babylonians left a political vacuum in Palestine that was to survive the end of their occupation.

From the Persian to the Greek Conquest The Babylonian Empire was a short-lived one, and by the middle of the sixth century it had already begun to crumble because the star ofthe Persian kingdom, to the east of Mesopotamia, was rising. After the Persian conquest of Baby­lon in 539, the history ofSyria changed its course again. Already in the Late Bronze Age it had become apparent that the small states of Syria and Palestine were no longer able to establish more comprehensive political unions. And after the Persian conquest not even the small states governed by local Syro-Palestinian rulers were allowed to survive. Here and there a short-lived petty state might be in a position to emerge, like

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The History of Ancient Syria and Palestine

the Hasmonean-Herodian state in Palestine in the second and first centuries BCE, but such mod­est and ephemeral political aggregations were only exceptions to the rule. From then on, Syria and Palestine were ruled by foreign governors acting on behalf of kings or emperors who most of the time resided far away from the region.

The Persian destruction of the Babylonian Empire in the second half of the sixth century created a new political unity, never before ex­perienced in western Asia. The entire territory of Syria and Palestine was combined into one Persian province or "satrapy," ruled by a gover­nor or "satrap." Instead of local petty kings or princes, a satrap's subordinates were entrusted with the administration of part of the satrapy, just as the satrap himself was appointed by the «Great King" to govern the province on his behalf.

In Palestine the political setbacks -of the sev­enth and sixth centuries had caused a collapse ofurbanized civilization. Nevertheless, a certain rise in living standards may have followed the incorporation into the Persian Empire. Archaeol­ogists have noticed some improvement ofsettle­ment conditions in the Persian period, although it would be wrong to call the population wealthy. The same can be said about Syria; and here, to a greater extent, the internationalization oftrade relations may have stimulated an economic im­provement.

The period from 539 until the Greek conquest in the years following 332. seems generally to have been peaceful, as far as the center of the empire is concerned. The periphery was prob­ably more exposed to random hazards. For ex­ample, Arab tribesmen, already known from Assyrian sources, maintained a steady pressure on the southern borders of the Persian Empire; especially in Transjordan they succeeded in cre­ating autonomous or quasi-autonomous political entities, the most famous being the Nabataean kingdom, with its renowned capital Petra, in southern Transjordan and Palestine.

After the Macedonians led by Alexander the Great had conquered Egypt and portions of western and central Asia, the internationaliza­tion ofSyria and Palestine and their involvement in worldwide political and economic systems went far beyond what had been experienced un­der Persian rule. Subsequently, Syria and Pales­

tine were divided between two Greek spheres ofinterest-the Seleucid and Ptolemaic empires (in fact, a renewal of the old competition be­tween Mesopotamia and Egypt, but both now under Greek rulers). Nevertheless, this division did not impede the rise of general prosperity, and a marked increase in urban life followed. N ow the great cities ofwestern Asia reappeared, but on a scale never seen previously. Also in Palestine the urbanization went far beyond the peaks of the Middle Bronze Age.

The Syro-Palestinian area experienced di­verse fortunes under Roman, and later Arab, domination, though itdid not regain its indepen­dence until the twentieth century.

ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION

An overview of the history of Syria and Pales­tine, covering a span ofmore than two millennia, should uncover certain characteristic features that may be traced back to circumstances pecu­liar to this area. It is the aim of this section to probe into underlying factors that may have been decisive for the course of history.

The inhabitants of Syria and Palestine were distributed among a number of rather small states, and it was the exception ifthe total popula­tion of a single state surpassed fifty thousand. Obviously, the limited size ofthe population as well as the narrow bounds of a Syro-Palestinian state must have created problems whenever the region needed to defend itself. The resources of such states were certainly less than adequate to cope with large-scale changes, whether natural or human.

One of the recurring themes in Syro-Palestin­ian history is the balance between center and periphery, the center being the city and the state administration, which was located in the cities, whereas the periphery was mostly inhabited by a population over which the officials ofthe state could exert only limited control. The periphery was, so to speak, the area of tribal life.

It is characteristic that whenever we witness a thriving culture and a high standard of living for the inhabitants of Syria and Palestine, we also find a centralized political authority able to

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History and Culture

ANATOLIA

SY RI A

400km

200mi

EGYPT WESTERN ASIA IN THE

BRONZE AND IRON AGES 30·

E

administer the area under its control. It is also certain that whenever such control failed, unsta· ble conditions prevailed and urbanized culture regressed. When centralized political authori­ties were able to govern Syria or Palestine, the administration was never imposed by small polit­ical entities; the control over the territory was invariably in the hands ofsome kind ofsuprare· gional political power. Such power structures could be sited within the Syro·Palestinian com­munity. or they might be foreign imperial forces that reduced Syria and Palestine to provincial status.

Twice the collapse of a centralized political system was followed by so-called dark ages, namely, at the end of the Early Bronze Age and at the end ofthe Late Bronze Age. It is, however, remarkable that the latter instance was not the final occasion when Syria and Palestine were hit by a population crisis that destroyed urban culture and favored the reemergence of tribal societies. The same cycle reappeared after the Turkish conquest in the sixteenth century CEo

Between the sixteenth and the nineteenth centu­ries, Turkish mismanagement prevailed, and un­der these circumstances village culture was

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The History of Ancient Syria and Palestine

reduced by more than 50 percent; at the same time a severe crisis struck the cities of the Near East. The details of this development, which occurred because ofTurkey' s lack of interest in its near eastern possessions, are well illustrated by Turkish sources and can be studied in detail. It is incorrect to make use of this experience as the sole explanation of the large-scale regres­sions of urban culture that occurred in the Near East in antiquity, but the Turkish domination of Syria and Palestine may illustrate what coold have happened.

However, it is evident that there is some sort ofconnection between govemmentand the .gen­eral conditions of life in the Near East. When Naram-Sin attacked Ebla, he destroyed a polit­ical power system that was able to check the tribesmen living on the fringe ofSyrian society. Shortly after the demise of the hegemony of Ebla, the Amorites took over, not as intruders from the outside world but as a people already acquainted with the territory. In this environ­ment, undisturbed by central authorities, they were able to exert pressure on the settled popula­tion, the former citizens of Ebla and its depen­dents. Retribalization-that is, joining up with the Amorite tribesmen-seems to have been the easiest way for nontribal members of the Syrian society to survive.

The same applies to the situation a thousand years later, when the population ofSyria became "Aramaic." Undisturbed by local or foreign polit­ical forces, the tribesmen were able to exert pres­sure on the settled sectors ofSyriaand Palestine, a pressure that may have turned settled life in the villages into a nightmare and made life in the cities impossible to sustain. Retribalization was the obvious escape for both ordinary people and the states of Syria and Palestine, and the outcome of this process was the appearance of tribal kingdoms in Syria and Palestine at the beginning of the first millennium.

In conclusion, Syria and Palestine were never politically autonomous for any length of time. The power structures as well as the distribution of the population always encouraged major po­litical powers to meddle in the affairs of Syria and Palestine. Progress was evident when the power structures were centralized, and decline followed as soon as the centralized system col­lapsed.

Other factors may have contributed to these developments, for example, climatic changes at the end of the Early Bronze Age, or the break­down of international trade at the end of the Late Bronze Age. Migrantgroups-nomads, refu­gees, outlawed persons, or "Sea Peoples" -may also have caused severe disturbances to the civi­lizations of Syria and Palestine. Centralized au­thorities normally knew how to handle such problems; but, of course, when such authorities did not exist, Qrdinary people had to see to their own survival, though the outcome might have been that the society around them dissolved into general chaos.

BmLIOGRAPHY

General Introductions The Cambridge Ancient History, vols. l.l-z.z, edited by 1. E. S. EDWARDS, C. J. GADD, N. G. L. HAMMOND, and E. SOLLBERGER (:p-d ed. 1970-1975), a comprehensive historical introduction from prehistoriC times to the Bronze Age, however dated in parts; The Cambridge Ancient History, vols.3.1-a, edited by J. BOARDMAN,

1. E. S. EDWARDS, N. G. L. HAMMOND, and E. SOLL­

BERGER (znd ed. IgSZ-I991), the continuation of the above-mentioned work, this covers the period until the sixth century. See volumes z-6 of the series Fischer Weltgeschichte (1g6s-1s67): vol. Z-4, DieAlt­orientaUschen Reiche, edited by E. CASSIN, J. BO'I"l'ERO,

and J. VERGOUTl'ER (lg6s-1s67; English translation, The Near East: The Early Civilizations, translated by R. F. TANNENBAUM, Delacorte World History z [1s67]); vol. 5, Griechen und Perser, edited by H. BENGSTON,

Die Mittelmeerwelt im Altertum 1 (1g6s); vol. 6, Der Hellenismus und der Au/stieg Roms, edited by p. GRlMAL, Die Mittelmeerwelt im Altertum z (1g6s); these volumes provide excellent historical deSCrip­tion, in the tradition of classical European historical scholarship (dated in parts). w. HELCK, Die Bezie­hungen Agyptens zu Vorderasien im 3. und z. Jahr­tausend v. Chr. (1g6z; znd ed. 1971), a comprehensive evaluation of Egypt's relations to western Asia, now partly dated; Kulturgeschichte des alten Vorcierasien, edited by H. KLENGEL (1gBg), a valuable study, also intended for the general reader; MARIO LlVERANI,

Antico Oriente: Storia, socleta, economia (1g88), the most comprehensive general introduction to the subject.

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History and Culture

The Sources: Written Document. Ancient Near Eastern Texts Relating to the OldTesta­ment, edited by JAMES B. PRITCHARD (3I'd ed. 1969), is a useful, but topically limited and now dated collec­tion of texts from most of the ancient Near East; WIL­

LIAM L. MORAN, The Amama Letters (1992), up-to-date translation of perhaps the most important collection of texts relating to the history of Syria and Palestine in the Late Bronze Age.

Archaeology No comprehensive description of the archaeology of Syria exists. For Palestine, see AMIHAI MA.ZAR, Archae­ology of the Land of the Bible, 10,000-586 BCE (1990), the best overview of Palestinian archaeology in­tended for the general reader; and HELGA WEIPPERT,

Palilstina in vorhellenistischer Zeit (1g88), an indis­pensable reference for scholars.

The Landscape YEHUDA KARMON, Israel: A Regional Geography (1971), a useful short introduction to the geography of Pales­tine/Israel; EUGEN WIRTH, Syrien: Eine geographische Landeskunde (1971), an overview of the Syrian land­scape.

The Early Bronze Age GIORGIO BUCCELLATJ, The Amorites of the Ur III Pe­riod (1966), a useful evaluation of the problem of the Amorites; PAOLO MATTHIAE, Ebla, un impero ritrovato (1977, 2nd ed. 1989), a work written by the archaeolo­gist who discovered Ebla.

The Middle and Late Bronze Ages HORST KLENGEL, Geschichte Syriens im 2. Jahrtausend v.u.Z. 1-3 (1965-1970), a comprehensive overview of all sources known at the time of publication; MARIO

LlVERANI, Prestige and Interest: International Rela­tions in the Near East ca. 1600-1100 BC (1990), tries to go back to the sources in evaluating the reactions of the people involved in the events of the Late Bronze Age; OSWALD LORETZ, Habiru-Hebriler(Ig84), a recent and comprehensive evaluation ofthe khabiru problem; JOHN VAN SETERS, The Hybos: A New Inves­tigation (1966), initiated the revised view of the Hyksos.

The Iron Age to the Period of the Pef'8ian Empire K. T. ANDERSEN, "Noch einmal: Die Chronologie der KOnige von Israel und Juda," Scandinavian Journal of the Old Testament 1 (1989), the chronology of the kings of Israel and Judah in this essay follow the proposals preseAted here; GIORGIO BUCCELLATI, Ci­Ues and Nations of Ancient Syria (1967), introduces the distinction between "territorial" and "national" states; ROBERT B. COOTE and KEITH w. WHtTELAM, The Emergence of Early Israel in Historical Perspective (1g87), operates with a general socioeconomic model for Syrio-Palestinian history, based on international trade; TRUDE DOTHAN, The Philistines and Their Ma­terial Culture (1g82), the standard work on the Phil­istines; ISRAEL FINKELSTEIN, The Archaeology of the Israelite Settlement (lg88), an archaeological overview of demographic changes at the beginning of the Iron Age; DAVID W. JAMIESON-DRAKE, Scribes and Schools in Monarchic Judah (1991), pmvides new evidence for the history of the kingdom of Ju­dah; DONALD B. HARDEN, The Phoenicians (1962), a general introduction to the subject; A. LEMAiRE, "Ha­za~H de Damas, roi d'Aram," in Marchands. diplo­mates, et empereurs: Etudes sur la civilisation mesopotamienne offertes aPaul Garelli, edited by D. CHARPIN and F. JOANNtS (1991). NIELS PETER LEMCHE,

Early Israel: Anthropological and Historical Studies on the Israelite Society Before the Monarchy (1g85), a comprehensive overview of traditional near eastern society, and his Ancient Israel: A New History of Israelite SOCiety (1g88), a presentation of problems involved in the study ofancient Israel; LEON MARFOE,

"The Integrative Transformation: Patterns of Socio­political Organization in Southern Syria," Bulletin of the American Schools ofOriental Research 234 (1979), an excellent review of social and demographic changes in one restricted part of southern Lebanon; J. MAXWELL MILLER and JOHN H. HAYES, A History of Ancient Israel and Judah (1g86), a comprehensive in­terpretation, written by North American scholars; WAYNE T. PITARD, Ancient Damascus (1g87), a recent review of the history of the Aramaeans; J. ALBERTO

SOGGIN, A History of Israel: From the Beginnings to the Bar Kochba Revolt, AD 135 (1g84), one of the best general histories of ancient Israel.

SEE ALSO Chronology: Issues and Problems (Part 5, Vol. II); Assyrian Rule of Conquered Territory in Ancient Western Asia (Part 5, Vol. II); The Literatures of Canaan, Ancient Israel, and Phoenicia: An Overview (Part 9, Vol. IV); The Historiography of the Ancient Near East (Part 9, Vol. IV); and Art and Architecture in Canaan and Ancient Israel (Part 10, Vol. IV).

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