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Antiquity

The Ancient Levant: Phoenicia and Israel

Phoenician maritime trade and the history of ancient Israel and the Hebrew world.

Wikimedia Commons · Matson Photo Service (1936) · Public domain

60-Second Review

Express review

A condensed, point-by-point summary of the module, for reviewing right before a test or exam.

  1. The Land of Canaan: Shared Geography and Origins. Phoenicians and Israelites both descended from Canaanite culture after the Bronze Age collapse of 1200 BCE.
  2. Phoenician City-States: Byblos, Tyre, Sidon, and the Alphabet. Independent city-states like Tyre and Byblos built Mediterranean trade on cedar, purple dye, and their own alphabet.
  3. Phoenician Colonization and Carthage. Phoenician colonists founded Carthage and a web of Mediterranean colonies built on metal and maritime trade.
  4. From the Patriarchs to the Judges: The Origins of Israel. Genesis, the Exodus, and the conquest of Canaan remain debated founding traditions behind the rise of Israel.
  5. The United Monarchy and the Alliance with Hiram of Tyre. David and Solomon built the united monarchy and Jerusalem's Temple with the help of Hiram I of Tyre.
  6. Divided Kingdoms Under Assyrian and Babylonian Pressure. Assyria destroyed Israel in 722 BCE and Babylon destroyed Judah in 587 BCE, as Phoenicia paid the same tribute.
  7. Second Temple Judaism: Persian Restoration to the Hasmonean Kingdom. Persian restoration, Hellenistic rule, and the Maccabean revolt shaped Second Temple Judaism.
  8. Rome, the Destruction of the Temple, and the Diaspora. Rome destroyed the Second Temple in 70 CE, scattering Jews into a diaspora that preserved the Levant's dual legacy.

This module continues after "Ancient Africa" in the syllabus. If you haven't reviewed it yet, it may help set the context.

Key points

Visual module map

1The Land of Canaan: Shared Geography and Origins
2Phoenician Colonization and Carthage
3The United Monarchy and the Alliance with Hiram of Tyre
4Divided Kingdoms Under Assyrian and Babylonian Pressure
5Rome, the Destruction of the Temple, and the Diaspora

Alternative visual view: a simplified sequence of some of the module's key points, in their order within the syllabus.

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Final test

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Time Attack

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Chronological Order

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Further reading

Bibliography and cited sources used to create this module.

  • María Eugenia Aubet, The Phoenicians and the West: Politics, Colonies and Trade.
  • Sabatino Moscati (ed.), The Phoenicians.
  • Flavius Josephus, Jewish Antiquities.
  • Flavius Josephus, Against Apion.
  • Israel Finkelstein and Neil Asher Silberman, The Bible Unearthed: Archaeology's New Vision of Ancient Israel and the Origin of Its Sacred Texts.
  • Herodotus, Histories.
  • The Hebrew Bible (Tanakh), Books of Kings and Chronicles.
  • Amihai Mazar, Archaeology of the Land of the Bible, 10,000-586 B.C.E.
  • UNESCO, Byblos, World Heritage List, available at whc.unesco.org.