The prehistory of the Levant includes the various cultural
changes that occurred, as revealed by archaeological evidence, prior to
recorded traditions in the area of the Levant. Archaeological evidence suggests that Homo sapiens and other hominid species originated in Africa (see hominid dispersal) and that one of the routes taken to colonize Eurasia was through the Sinai Peninsula desert and the Levant, which means that this is one of the most important and most occupied locations in the history of the Earth.
Not only have many cultures and traditions of humans lived here, but also many species of the genus Homo. In addition, this region is one of the centers for the development of agriculture.
Impact of location, climate, routes
Geographically
the area is divided between a coastal plain, hill country to the east
and the Jordan Valley joining the Sea of Galilee to the Dead Sea.
Rainfall decreases from the north to the south, with the result that the
northern region of Israel has generally been more economically
developed than the southern one of Judah.
At the latest from the Neolithic period onwards, the area's location at the center of three trade routes linking three continents made it the meeting place for religious and cultural influences from Egypt, Syria, Mesopotamia, and Asia Minor:
The area seems to have suffered from acute periods of desiccation,
and reduced rainfall which has influenced the relative importance of
settled versus nomadic ways of living. The cycle seems to have been
repeated a number of times during which a reduced rainfall increases
periods of fallow, with farmers spending increasing amounts of time with
their flocks and away from cultivation. Eventually they revert to fully
nomadic cultures, which, when rainfall increases settle around
important sources of water and begin to spend increasing amounts of time
on cultivation. The increased prosperity leads to a revival of
inter-regional and eventually international trade. The growth of
villages rapidly proceeds to increased prosperity of market towns and
city states, which attract the attention of neighbouring great powers,
who may invade to capture control of regional trade networks and
possibilities for tribute and taxation. Warfare leads to opening the
region to pandemics, with resultant depopulation, overuse of fragile soils and a reversion to nomadic pastoralism.
Palaeolithic period (1,850,000 - 20,000 years ago)
Lower Paleolithic period (1.85 million – 200,000 years ago)
The earliest traces of the human occupation in the Levant are documented in Ubeidiya in the Jordan Valley of the Southern Levant (modern-day Israel). The site was dated to c. 1.4 million years ago, but further research has fixed its chronological context to 1.5–1.2 million years ago. The site yielded stone tools typical of the Acheulean industry which appears in East Africa as early as c. 1.76 million years ago. An earlier site is found in Dmanisi, Georgia, dated to 1.85–1.78 million years ago suggest the existence of other sites in the Levant which are yet to be found. Stone tools of the Oldowan industry, preceding the Acheulian, were found in the Negev and Syrian
deserts and support the presence of pre-Acheulian cultures in the
Levantine corridor, but their chronological context cannot be
determined.
Ubeidiya - Early Acheulian (c. 1.5 – 1.2 million years ago)
Ubeidiya is an open site that existed alongside the extinct Lake Ubeidiya whose shores were inhabited by over a hundred Asian and African animal species including mammals (such as Giraffe, Elephant, Deer and Pelorovis),
birds, reptiles, amphibians and mollusks. Some of these animals have
been hunted by hominins who inhabited the site as evident in cut marks
observed on the fossilized bones. The stone tools found in Ubeidiya
include handaxes,
picks, chopping tools and spheroids. These tools have been attested to
the Early Acheulian industry. The tools show preference for specific
rock types such as basalt, limestone and flint
for specific tool types. This implies a sophisticated understanding of
raw materials by the hominins who located and selected them for
production. Other stone tool assemblages in the Levant have been
attested to the Early Acheulian, but they lack sufficient dating
evidence to allow comparison with Ubeidiya's finds. These sites include Abbassieh near the Nile, Evron Quarry and Zihor in Israel and Al-Lataminah in Syria.
Gesher Benot Ya'akov - Large Flake Acheulian (c. 790,000 – 650,000 years ago)
North of Ubeidiya is the important site of Gesher Benot Ya'akov ("Daughters of Jacob Bridge" – GBW) dated to slightly after c. 790,000 years ago. The stone tool assemblage belongs to the "Large Flake" stage of the Acheulian, testifying to an advance knapping
technique. GBY provides information on many aspects of the life of its
inhabitants: Many large mammal bones were found at the site, primarily
elephants that were hunted and butchered by the early humans. Nuts and
tools used to crack them, as well as fish bones, were collected. The
earliest wooden artifact - a plank with evidence of polishing - was
found at the site, as well as one of the earliest traces of fire use. In
some of the layers, the organization of living space was observed, with
certain activities limited to specific areas at the site.
The late stage of the Acheulian industry is observed in thousands of
sites and find spots in the Middle East, though only a few were
excavated. Most of the sites did not yield enough datable evidence. The
site at Lake Ram in the Golan Heights was dated based on the basalt flows below and above to an unknown timespan between c. 800,000–233,000 years ago. More accurate dates from Ma'ayan Baruch and the Revadim Quarry in Israel provide the timeframe of c. 500,000–400,000 years ago. Late Acheulian sites and finds are found spread all across the regions of the Levant, including desert regions in modern-day Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Saudi Arabia, primarily associated with oases, as well as the coastal plains and rift valleys of Israel, Lebanon
and Syria. This distribution of sites in various regions of different
conditions indicates either a more suitable climate in this period (the Chibanian stage of the Pleistocene)
or alternatively better human adapting skills. The earliest cave sites
also appear in this stage. Unlike the earlier Acheulian industries in
the Levant, flint is the primary material used for tool making, with the
handaxe being the primary tool. The toolmakers developed different
variants of handaxes different in shape and function, which replaced
other tools such as cleavers. Some of the most significant assemblages
of stone tools are found in Nadaouiyeh (in central Syria), Tabun, Um Qatafa
and Ma'ayan Baruch (in Israel). These sites yield an enormous amount of
stone tools, reaching several thousands. An important discovery from
Lake Ram is a stone pebble
with evidence of artificial shaping and polishing, which resembles the
body of a woman and thus serves as one of the earliest figurines known.
The Epipalaeolithic period (c. 20,000 – c. 9,500 cal. BCE; also known as Mesolithic period) is characterized by significant cultural variability and wide spread of the microlithic technologies. Beginning with the appearance of the Kebaran culture
(18,000–12,500 BCE) a microlithic toolkit was associated with the
appearance of the bow and arrow into the area. Kebaran shows affinities
with the earlier Helwan phase
in the Egyptian Fayyum, and may be associated with a movement of people
across the Sinai associated with the climatic warming after the Late
Glacial Maxima of 20,000 BCE. Kebaran affiliated cultures spread as far
as Southern Turkey. The latest part of the period (c. 12,500 – c. 9,500 cal. BCE) is the time of flourishing of the Natufian culture and development of sedentism among the hunter-gatherers.
This culture existed from about 13,000 to 9,800 BCE
in the Levant. Numerous archaeological excavations have led to a
relatively well defined understanding of these people. Two of the most
significant aspects of this culture were their large community sizes and
their sedentary lifestyles. Although the Late Natufian experienced a slight reversal in this trend (possibly a result of the cold period known as the Younger Dryas)
as their community size shrank and they became more nomadic, it is
believed that this culture continued through and was the foundation for
the Neolithic Revolution.
Neolithic period
Pre-Pottery and Pottery Neolithic
A flint arrowhead from the Neolithic period that was created by the Yarmukian culture that was discovered in the Sha'ar HaGolan area
In addition, the Levant in the Neolithic (and later, in the Chalcolithic) was involved in large scale, far reaching trade.
Chalcolithic period
Trade on an impressive scale and covering large distances continued during the Chalcolithic (c. 4500–3300 BCE). Obsidian found in the Chalcolithic levels at Gilat, Israel have had their origins traced via elemental analysis to three sources in Southern Anatolia: Hotamis Dağ, Göllü Dağ, and as far east as Nemrut Dağ,
500 km (310 mi) east of the other two sources. This is indicative of a
very large trade circle reaching as far as the Northern Fertile Crescent
at these three Anatolian sites.
The Ghassulian period created the basis of the Mediterranean economy which has characterized the area ever since. A Chalcolithic culture, the Ghassulian economy was a mixed agricultural system consisting of extensive cultivation of grains (wheat and barley), intensive horticulture of vegetable crops, commercial production of vines and olives, and a combination of transhumance and nomadic pastoralism. The Ghassulian culture, according to Juris Zarins, developed out of the earlier Munhata phase of what he calls the "circum Arabian nomadic pastoral complex", probably associated with the first appearance of Semites in this area.
Early and Middle Bronze Age
Anthropoid coffins that were discovered in Deir el-Balah from the Late Bronze Age. The items are part of the permanent display at the Israel Museum
The urban development of Canaan lagged considerably behind that of Egypt and Mesopotamia and even that of Syria, where from 3,500 BCE a sizable city developed at Hamoukar. This city, which was conquered, probably by people coming from the Southern Iraqi city of Uruk, saw the first connections between Syria and Southern Iraq that some have suggested lie behind the patriarchal traditions. Urban development again began culminating in Early Bronze Age sites like Ebla, which by 2,300 BCE, was incorporated once again into the Empire of Sargon, and then Naram-Sin of Akkad (Biblical Accad). The archives of Ebla show reference to a number of Biblical sites, including Hazor, Jerusalem, and a number of people have claimed, also to Sodom and Gomorrah, mentioned in the patriarchal records. The collapse of the Akkadian Empire, saw the arrival of peoples using Khirbet Kerak Ware pottery, coming originally from the Zagros Mountains, east of the Tigris. It is suspected by some Ur seals that this event marks the arrival in Syria and Palestine of the Hurrians, people later known in the Biblical tradition possibly as Horites.
The following Middle Bronze Age period was initiated by the arrival of "Amorites" from Syria in Southern Iraq, an event which people like Albright (above) associated with the arrival of Abraham's family in Ur.
This period saw the pinnacle of urban development in the area of Syria
and Palestine. Archaeologists show that the chief state at this time
was the city of Hazor, which may have been the capital of the region of Israel. This is also the period in which Semites began to appear in larger numbers in the Nile delta region of Egypt.
According to the Hebrew Bible, a "United Monarchy" (consisting of Israel and Judah) existed as early as the 11th century BCE, under the reigns of Saul, David, and Solomon; the country later would have split into two separate kingdoms: Israel, containing the cities of Shechem and Samaria in the north, and Judah (containing Jerusalem and the Jewish Temple) in the south. The historicity of the United Monarchy is debated as there are no archaeological remains
of it that are accepted as consensus, but historians and archaeologists
agree that Israel and Judah existed as separate kingdoms by c. 900 BCEand c. 850 BCE, respectively.
Archaeological remains during that time does however, include Shoshenq I
of the 22nd Dynasty of Egypt invading the Levant around 930-925 BCE,
conquering many cities and settlements. Unlike the United Monarchy,
archaeological evidence of the conquest have been found in various sites
in the Levant. However, the 22nd Dynasty did not directly annex the
Levant following the conquest and brought the Levant back into Egyptian
domination for unknown reasons. It was theorized by Israel Finkelstein that Shoshenq I invaded the Levant in order to prevent the formation of a unified state under the Israelites, thus forming the basis of the biblical story of Jeroboam's Revolt.
The eastern Mediterranean seaboard – the Levant – stretches 400 miles north to south from the Taurus Mountains to the Sinai Peninsula, and 70 to 100 miles east to west between the sea and the Arabian Desert.
The coastal plain of the southern Levant, broad in the south and
narrowing to the north, is backed in its southernmost portion by a zone
of foothills, the Shfela; like the plain this narrows as it goes northwards, ending in the promontory of Mount Carmel. East of the plain and the Shfela is a mountainous ridge, the "hill country of Judea" in the south, the "hill country of Ephraim" north of that, then Galilee and Mount Lebanon. To the east again lie the steep-sided valley occupied by the Jordan River, the Dead Sea, and the wadi of the Arabah, which continues down to the eastern arm of the Red Sea.
Beyond the plateau is the Syrian desert, separating the Levant from
Mesopotamia. To the southwest is Egypt, to the northeast Mesopotamia.
The location and geographical characteristics of the narrow Levant made
the area a battleground among the powerful entities that surrounded it.
Canaan
in the Late Bronze Age was a shadow of what it had been centuries
earlier: many cities were abandoned, others shrank in size, and the
total settled population was probably not much more than a hundred
thousand.
Settlement was concentrated in cities along the coastal plain and along
major communication routes; the central and northern hill country which
would later become the biblical kingdom of Israel was only sparsely
inhabited although letters from the Egyptian archives indicate that Jerusalem was already a Canaanite city-state recognising Egyptian overlordship. Politically and culturally it was dominated by Egypt,
each city under its own ruler, constantly at odds with its neighbours,
and appealing to the Egyptians to adjudicate their differences.
The Merneptah Stele. While alternative translations exist, the majority of biblical archeologists translate a set of hieroglyphs as "Israel", representing the first instance of the name Israel in the historical record.
The Canaanite city state system broke down during the Late Bronze Age collapse, and Canaanite culture was then gradually absorbed into those of the Philistines, Phoenicians and Israelites. The process was gradual and a strong Egyptian
presence continued into the 12th century BCE, and, while some Canaanite
cities were destroyed, others continued to exist in Iron Age I.
The name "Israel" first appears in the Merneptah Stele c. 1208 BCE: "Israel is laid waste and his seed is no more."
This "Israel" was a cultural and probably political entity, well enough
established for the Egyptians to perceive it as a possible challenge,
but an ethnic group rather than an organised state.
Iron Age I (1150–950 BCE)
Archaeologist
Paula McNutt says: "It is probably… during Iron Age I [that] a
population began to identify itself as 'Israelite'," differentiating
itself from its neighbours via prohibitions on intermarriage, an emphasis on family history and genealogy, and religion.
In the Late Bronze Age there were no more than about 25 villages in the
highlands, but this increased to over 300 by the end of Iron Age I,
while the settled population doubled from 20,000 to 40,000. The villages were more numerous and larger in the north, and probably shared the highlands with pastoralnomads, who left no remains.
Archaeologists and historians attempting to trace the origins of these
villagers have found it impossible to identify any distinctive features
that could define them as specifically Israelite – collared-rim jars and four-room houses have been identified outside the highlands and thus cannot be used to distinguish Israelite sites,
and while the pottery of the highland villages is far more limited than
that of lowland Canaanite sites, it develops typologically out of
Canaanite pottery that came before. Israel Finkelstein
proposed that the oval or circular layout that distinguishes some of
the earliest highland sites, and the notable absence of pig bones from
hill sites, could be taken as markers of ethnicity, but others have
cautioned that these can be a "common-sense" adaptation to highland life
and not necessarily revelatory of origins.
Other Aramaean sites also demonstrate a contemporary absence of pig
remains at that time, unlike earlier Canaanite and later Philistine
excavations.
A reconstructed Israelite house, 10th–7th century BCE. Eretz Israel Museum, Tel Aviv.
In The Bible Unearthed
(2001), Finkelstein and Silberman summarised recent studies. They
described how, up until 1967, the Israelite heartland in the highlands
of western Palestine was virtually an archaeological terra incognita.
Since then, intensive surveys have examined the traditional territories
of the tribes of Judah, Benjamin, Ephraim, and Manasseh. These surveys
have revealed the sudden emergence of a new culture contrasting with the
Philistine and Canaanite societies existing in the Land of Israel earlier during Iron Age I.
This new culture is characterised by a lack of pork remains (whereas
pork formed 20% of the Philistine diet in places), by an abandonment of
the Philistine/Canaanite custom of having highly decorated pottery, and
by the practice of circumcision. The Israelite ethnic identity had
originated, not from the Exodus and a subsequent conquest, but from a transformation of the existing Canaanite-Philistine cultures.
These surveys revolutionized the
study of early Israel. The discovery of the remains of a dense network
of highland villages – all apparently established within the span of
few generations – indicated that a dramatic social transformation had
taken place in the central hill country of Canaan around 1200 BCE. There
was no sign of violent invasion or even the infiltration of a clearly
defined ethnic group. Instead, it seemed to be a revolution in
lifestyle. In the formerly sparsely populated highlands from the Judean
hills in the south to the hills of Samaria in the north, far from the
Canaanite cities that were in the process of collapse and
disintegration, about two-hundred fifty hilltop communities suddenly
sprang up. Here were the first Israelites.
Modern scholars therefore see Israel arising peacefully and internally from existing people in the highlands of Canaan.
Extensive archaeological excavations have provided a picture of
Israelite society during the early Iron Age period. The archaeological
evidence indicates a society of village-like centres, but with more
limited resources and a small population. During this period, Israelites
lived primarily in small villages, the largest of which had populations
of up to 300 or 400.
Their villages were built on hilltops. Their houses were built in
clusters around a common courtyard. They built three- or four-room
houses out of mudbrick with a stone foundation and sometimes with a
second story made of wood. The inhabitants lived by farming and herding.
They built terraces to farm on hillsides, planting various crops and
maintaining orchards. The villages were largely economically
self-sufficient and economic interchange was prevalent. According to the
Bible, prior to the rise of the Israelite monarchy the early Israelites
were led by the Biblical judges,
or chieftains who served as military leaders in times of crisis.
Scholars are divided over the historicity of this account. However, it
is likely that regional chiefdoms and polities provided security. The
small villages were unwalled but were likely subjects of the major town
in the area. Writing was known and available for recording, even at
small sites.
According to Israel Finkelstein, after an emergent and large polity was suddenly formed based on the Gibeon-Gibeah plateau and destroyed by Shoshenq I, the biblical Shishak, in the 10th century BCE, a return to small city-states was prevalent in the Southern Levant, but between 950 and 900 BCE another large polity emerged in the northern highlands with its capital eventually at Tirzah, that can be considered the precursor of the Kingdom of Israel. The Kingdom of Israel was consolidated as an important regional power by the first half of the 9th century BCE, before falling to the Neo-Assyrian Empire in 722 BCE, and the Kingdom of Judah began to flourish in the second half of the 9th century BCE.
Model of Levantine four-roomed house from circa 900 BCE
Unusually favourable climatic conditions in the first two centuries
of Iron Age II brought about an expansion of population, settlements and
trade throughout the region. In the central highlands this resulted in unification in a kingdom with the city of Samaria as its capital, possibly by the second half of the 10th century BCE when an inscription of the Egyptian pharaoh Shoshenq I records a series of campaigns directed at the area. Israel had clearly emerged in the first half of the 9th century BCE, this is attested when the Assyrian king Shalmaneser III names "Ahab the Israelite" among his enemies at the battle of Qarqar (853 BCE). At this time Israel was apparently engaged in a three-way contest with Damascus and Tyre for control of the Jezreel Valley and Galilee in the north, and with Moab, Ammon and Aram Damascus in the east for control of Gilead; the Mesha Stele (c. 830 BCE), left by a king of Moab, celebrates his success in throwing off the oppression of the "House of Omri" (i.e., Israel). It bears what is generally thought to be the earliest extra-biblical reference to the name Yahweh. A century later Israel came into increasing conflict with the expanding Neo-Assyrian Empire,
which first split its territory into several smaller units and then
destroyed its capital, Samaria (722 BCE). Both the biblical and Assyrian
sources speak of a massive deportation of people from Israel and their
replacement with settlers from other parts of the empire – such population exchanges
were an established part of Assyrian imperial policy, a means of
breaking the old power structure – and the former Israel never again
became an independent political entity.
Judah emerged as an operational kingdom somewhat later than Israel, during the second half of 9th century BCE, but the subject is one of considerable controversy.
There are indications that during the 10th and 9th centuries BCE, the
southern highlands had been divided between a number of centres, none
with clear primacy. During the reign of Hezekiah, between c. 715 and 686 BCE, a notable increase in the power of the Judean state can be observed. This is reflected in archaeological sites and findings, such as the Broad Wall; a defensive city wall in Jerusalem; and the Siloam tunnel, an aqueduct designed to provide Jerusalem with water during an impending siege by the Neo-Assyrian Empire led by Sennacherib; and the Siloam inscription, a lintel inscription found over the doorway of a tomb, has been ascribed to comptroller Shebna. LMLK seals
on storage jar handles, excavated from strata in and around that formed
by Sennacherib's destruction, appear to have been used throughout
Sennacherib's 29-year reign, along with bullae from sealed documents, some that belonged to Hezekiah himself and others that name his servants.
"To Hezekiah, son of Ahaz, king of Judah" – royal seal found at the Ophel excavations in Jerusalem
Archaeological records indicate that the Kingdom of Israel was fairly
prosperous. The late Iron Age saw an increase in urban development in
Israel. Whereas previously the Israelites had lived mainly in small and
unfortified settlements, the rise of the Kingdom of Israel saw the
growth of cities and the construction of palaces, large royal
enclosures, and fortifications with walls and gates. Israel initially
had to invest significant resources into defense as it was subjected to
regular Aramean
incursions and attacks, but after the Arameans were subjugated by the
Assyrians and Israel could afford to put less resources into defending
its territory, its architectural infrastructure grew dramatically.
Extensive fortifications were built around cities such as Dan, Megiddo, and Hazor,
including monumental and multi-towered city walls and multi-gate entry
systems. Israel's economy was based on multiple industries. It had the
largest olive oil production centers in the region, using at least two
different types of olive oil presses, and also had a significant wine
industry, with wine presses constructed next to vineyards. By contrast,
the Kingdom of Judah was significantly less advanced. Some scholars
believe it was no more than a small tribal entity limited to Jerusalem
and its immediate surroundings. In the 10th and early 9th centuries BCE,
the territory of Judah appears to have been sparsely populated, limited
to small and mostly unfortified settlements. The status of Jerusalem in
the 10th century BCE is a major subject of debate among scholars.
Jerusalem does not show evidence of significant Israelite residential
activity until the 9th century BCE. On the other hand, significant
administrative structures such as the Stepped Stone Structure and Large Stone Structure,
which originally formed part of one structure, contain material culture
from earlier than that. The ruins of a significant Judahite military
fortress, Tel Arad, have also been found in the Negev, and a collection
of military orders found there suggest literacy was present throughout
the ranks of the Judahite army. This suggests that literacy was not
limited to a tiny elite, indicating the presence of a substantial
educational infrastructure in Judah.
In
the 7th century Jerusalem grew to contain a population many times
greater than earlier and achieved clear dominance over its neighbours.
This occurred at the same time that Israel was being destroyed by the
Neo-Assyrian Empire, and was probably the result of a cooperative
arrangement with the Assyrians to establish Judah as an Assyrian vassal state controlling the valuable olive industry. Judah prospered as a vassal state (despite a disastrous rebellion against Sennacherib), but in the last half of the 7th century BCE, Assyria suddenly collapsed, and the ensuing competition between Egypt and the Neo-Babylonian Empire for control of the land led to the destruction of Judah in a series of campaigns between 597 and 582.
Babylonian Judah suffered a steep decline in both economy and population
and lost the Negev, the Shephelah, and part of the Judean hill country,
including Hebron, to encroachments from Edom and other neighbours. Jerusalem, while probably not totally abandoned, was much smaller than previously, and the town of Mizpah in Benjamin in the relatively unscathed northern section of the kingdom became the capital of the new Babylonian province of Yehud Medinata. (This was standard Babylonian practice: when the Philistine city of Ashkalon
was conquered in 604, the political, religious and economic elite [but
not the bulk of the population] was banished and the administrative
centre shifted to a new location). There is also a strong probability that for most or all of the period the temple at Bethel
in Benjamin replaced that at Jerusalem, boosting the prestige of
Bethel's priests (the Aaronites) against those of Jerusalem (the
Zadokites), now in exile in Babylon.
The Babylonian conquest entailed not just the destruction of
Jerusalem and its temple, but the liquidation of the entire
infrastructure which had sustained Judah for centuries. The most significant casualty was the state ideology of "Zion theology," the idea that the god of Israel had chosen Jerusalem for his dwelling-place and that the Davidic dynasty would reign there forever.
The fall of the city and the end of Davidic kingship forced the leaders
of the exile community – kings, priests, scribes and prophets – to
reformulate the concepts of community, faith and politics. The exile community in Babylon thus became the source of significant portions of the Hebrew Bible: Isaiah 40–55; Ezekiel; the final version of Jeremiah; the work of the hypothesized priestly source in the Pentateuch; and the final form of the history of Israel from Deuteronomy to 2 Kings.
Theologically, the Babylonian exiles were responsible for the doctrines
of individual responsibility and universalism (the concept that one god
controls the entire world) and for the increased emphasis on purity and
holiness.
Most significantly, the trauma of the exile experience led to the
development of a strong sense of Hebrew identity distinct from other
peoples, with increased emphasis on symbols such as circumcision and Sabbath-observance to sustain that distinction.
Hans M. Barstad
writes that the concentration of the biblical literature on the
experience of the exiles in Babylon disguises that the great majority of
the population remained in Judah; for them, life after the fall of
Jerusalem probably went on much as it had before.
It may even have improved, as they were rewarded with the land and
property of the deportees, much to the anger of the community of exiles
remaining in Babylon. Conversely, Avraham Faust's
writes that archaeological and demographic surveys show that the
population of Judah was significantly reduced to barely 10% of what it
had been in the time before the Exile.
The assassination around 582 of the Babylonian governor by a
disaffected member of the former royal House of David provoked a
Babylonian crackdown, possibly reflected in the Book of Lamentations, but the situation seems to have soon stabilised again.
Nevertheless, those unwalled cities and towns that remained were
subject to slave raids by the Phoenicians and intervention in their
internal affairs by Samaritans, Arabs, and Ammonites.
When Babylon fell to the founder and king of Achaemenid Empire, Cyrus the Great in 539 BCE, Judah (or Yehud medinata, the "province of Yehud") became an administrative division within the Achaemenid Empire. Cyrus was succeeded as king by Cambyses,
who added Egypt to the empire, incidentally transforming Yehud and the
Philistine plain into an important frontier zone. His death in 522 was
followed by a period of turmoil until Darius the Great
seized the throne in about 521. Darius introduced a reform of the
administrative arrangements of the empire including the collection,
codification and administration of local law codes, and it is reasonable
to suppose that this policy lay behind the redaction of the Jewish Torah.
After 404 the Persians lost control of Egypt, which became Persia's
main rival outside Europe, causing the Persian authorities to tighten
their administrative control over Yehud and the rest of the Levant. Egypt was eventually reconquered, but soon afterward Persia fell to Alexander the Great, ushering in the Hellenistic period in the Levant.
Silver coin (gerah) minted in the Persian province of Yehud, dated c. 375–332 BCE. Obv: Bearded head wearing crown, possibly representing the Persian Great King. Rev: Falcon facing, head right, with wings spread; Paleo-HebrewYHD to right.
Yehud's population over the entire period was probably never more
than about 30,000 and that of Jerusalem no more than about 1,500, most
of them connected in some way to the Temple. According to the biblical history, one of the first acts of Cyrus,
the Persian conqueror of Babylon, was to commission Jewish exiles to
return to Jerusalem and rebuild their Temple, a task which they are said
to have completed c. 515.
Yet it was probably not until the middle of the next century, at the
earliest, that Jerusalem again became the capital of Judah. The Persians may have experimented initially with ruling Yehud as a Davidic client-kingdom under descendants of Jehoiachin, but by the mid–5th century BCE, Yehud had become, in practice, a theocracy, ruled by hereditary high priests,
with a Persian-appointed governor, frequently Jewish, charged with
keeping order and seeing that taxes (tribute) were collected and paid. According to the biblical history, Ezra and Nehemiah
arrived in Jerusalem in the middle of the 5th century BCE, the former
empowered by the Persian king to enforce the Torah, the latter holding
the status of governor with a royal commission to restore Jerusalem's
walls.
The biblical history mentions tension between the returnees and those
who had remained in Yehud, the returnees rebuffing the attempt of the
"peoples of the land" to participate in the rebuilding of the Temple;
this attitude was based partly on the exclusivism that the exiles had
developed while in Babylon and, probably, also partly on disputes over
property. During the 5th century BCE, Ezra and Nehemiah attempted to re-integrate these rival factions into a united and ritually pure society, inspired by the prophecies of Ezekiel and his followers.
The Persian era, and especially the period between 538 and
400 BCE, laid the foundations for the unified Judaic religion and the
beginning of a scriptural canon.
Other important landmarks in this period include the replacement of
Hebrew as the everyday language of Judah by Aramaic (although Hebrew
continued to be used for religious and literary purposes)
and Darius's reform of the empire's bureaucracy, which may have led to
extensive revisions and reorganizations of the Jewish Torah.
The Israel of the Persian period consisted of descendants of the
inhabitants of the old kingdom of Judah, returnees from the Babylonian
exile community, Mesopotamians who had joined them or had been exiled
themselves to Samaria at a far earlier period, Samaritans, and others.
The beginning of the Hellenistic Period is marked by the conquest of Alexander the Great
(333 BCE). When Alexander died in 323, he had no heirs that were able
to take his place as ruler of his empire, so his generals divided the
empire among themselves. Ptolemy I asserted himself as the ruler of Egypt in 322 and seized Yehud Medinata in 320, but his successors lost it in 198 to the Seleucids of Syria. At first, relations between Seleucids and Jews were cordial, but the attempt of Antiochus IV Epiphanes (174–163) to impose Hellenic cults on Judea sparked the Maccabean Revolt that ended in the expulsion of the Seleucids and the establishment of an independent Jewish kingdom under the Hasmonean dynasty. Some modern commentators see this period also as a civil war between orthodox and hellenized Jews.
Hasmonean kings attempted to revive the Judah described in the Bible: a
Jewish monarchy ruled from Jerusalem and including all territories once
ruled by David and Solomon. In order to carry out this project, the Hasmoneans forcibly converted one-time Moabites, Edomites, and Ammonites to Judaism, as well as the lost kingdom of Israel. Some scholars argue that the Hasmonean dynasty institutionalized the final Jewish biblical canon.
Ptolemaic rule
Ptolemy
I took control of Egypt in 322 BCE after the death of Alexander the
Great. He also took control of Yehud Medinata in 320 because he was very
aware that it was a great place from which to attack Egypt and was also
a great defensive position. However, there were others who also had
their eyes on that area. Another former general, Antigonus Monophthalmus, had driven out the satrap
of Babylon, Seleucus, in 317 and continued on towards the Levant.
Seleucus found refuge with Ptolemy and they both rallied troops against
Antigonus' son Demetrius,
since Antigonus had retreated back to Asia Minor. Demetrius was
defeated at the battle of Gaza and Ptolemy regained control of Yehud
Medinata. However, not soon after this Antigonus came back and forced
Ptolemy to retreat back to Egypt. This went on until the Battle of Ipsus
in 301 where Seleucus' armies defeated Antigonus. Seleucus was given
the areas of Syria and Palestine, but Ptolemy would not give up those
lands, causing the Syrian Wars
between the Ptolemies and Seleucids. Not much is known about the
happenings of those in Yehud Medinata from the time of Alexander's death
until the Battle of Ipsus due to the frequent battles.
At first, the Jews were content with Ptolemy's rule over them. His
reign brought them peace and economic stability. He also allowed them to
keep their religious practices, so long as they paid their taxes and
didn't rebel. After Ptolemy I came Ptolemy II Philadelphus,
who was able to keep the territory of Yehud Medinata and brought the
dynasty to the peak of its power. He was victorious in both the first
and second Syrian Wars, but after trying to end the conflict with the
Seleucids by arranging a marriage between his daughter Berenice and the
Seleucid king Antiochus II, he died. The arranged marriage did not work
and Berenice, Antiochus, and their child were killed from an order of
Antiochus' former wife. This was one of the reasons for the third Syrian
War. Before all of this, Ptolemy II fought and defeated the Nabataeans.
In order to enforce his hold on them, he reinforced many cities in
Palestine and built new ones. As a result of this, more Greeks and
Macedonians moved to those new cities and brought over their customs and
culture, or Hellenism. The Ptolemaic Rule also gave rise to 'tax
farmers'. These were the bigger farmers who collected the high taxes of
the smaller farmers. These farmers made a lot of money off of this, but
it also put a rift between the aristocracy and everyone else. During the
end of the Third Syrian War, the high priest Onias II would not pay the tax to the Ptolemy III Euergetes. It is thought that this shows a turning point in the Jew's support of the Ptolemies.
The Fourth and Fifth Syrian Wars marked the end of the Ptolemaic
control of Palestine. Both of these wars hurt Palestine more than the
previous three. That and the combination of the ineffective rulers Ptolemy IV Philopater and Ptolemy V and the might of the large Seleucid army ended the century-long rule of the Ptolemaic Dynasty over Palestine.
Seleucid rule and the Maccabean Revolt
Coins used in the Seleucid Empire during the Maccabean Revolt
The Seleucid Rule of the Holy Land began in 198 BCE under Antiochus III.
He, like the Ptolemies, let the Jews keep their religion and customs
and even went so far as to encourage the rebuilding of the temple and
city after they welcomed him so warmly into Jerusalem.
However, Antiochus owed the Romans a great deal of money. In order to
raise this money, he decided to rob a temple. The people at the temple
of Bel in Elam were not pleased, so they killed Antiochus and everyone
helping him in 187 BCE. He was succeeded by his son Seleucus IV Philopater. He simply defended the area from Ptolemy V before being murdered by his minister in 175. His brother Antiochus IV Epiphanes took his place. Before he killed the king, the minister Heliodorus had tried to steal the treasures from the temple in Jerusalem. He was informed of this by a rival of the current High Priest Onias III.
Heliodorus was not allowed into the temple, but it required Onias to go
explain to the king why one of his ministers was denied access
somewhere. In his absence, his rivals put up a new high priest. Onias'
brother Jason (a Hellenized version of Joshua) took his place.
Now with Jason as high priest and Antiochus IV as king, many Jews
adopted Hellenistic ways. Some of these ways, as stated in the Book of 1
Maccabees, were the building of a gymnasium, finding ways to hide their
circumcision, and just generally not abiding by the holy covenant. This led to the beginning of the Maccabean Revolt.
According to the Book of Maccabees, many Jews were not happy with
the way Hellenism had spread into Judea. Some of these Jews were
Mattathias and his sons.
Mattathias refused to offer sacrifice when the king told him to. He
killed a Jew who was going to do so as well as the king's
representative. Because of this, Mattathias and his sons had to flee.
This marks the true beginning of the Maccabean Revolt. Judas Maccabeus
became the leader of the rebels. He proved to be a successful general,
defeating an army led by Apollonius. They started to catch the attention
of King Antiochus IV in 165, who told his chancellor to put an end to
the revolt. The chancellor, Lysias,
sent three generals to do just that, but they were all defeated by the
Maccabees. Soon after, Lysias went himself but, according to 1 and 2
Maccabees he was defeated. There is evidence to show that it was not
that simple and that there was negotiation, but Lysias still left. After
the death of Antiochus IV in 164, his son, Antiochus V,
gave the Jews religious freedom. Lysias claimed to be his regent.
Around this time was the re-dedication of the temple. During the siege
of the Acra, one of Judas' brothers, Eleazor, was killed. The Maccabees
had to retreat back to Jerusalem, where they should have been beaten
badly. However, Lysias had to pull out because of a contradiction of who
was to be regent for Antiochus V. Shortly after, both were killed by Demetrius I Soter who became the new king. The new high priest, Alcimus, had come to Jerusalem with the company of an army led by Bacchides. A group of scribes called the Hasideans asked him for his word that he would not harm anyone. He agreed, but killed sixty of them.
Around this time Judas was able to make a treaty with the Romans. Soon
after this, Judas was killed in Jerusalem fighting Bacchides' army. His
brother Jonathan
succeeded him. For eight years, Jonathan didn't do much. However, in
153 the Seleucid Empire started to face some problems. Jonathan used
this chance to exchange his services of troops for Demetrius so that he
could take back Jerusalem. He was appointed high priest by Alexander Balas
for the same thing. When conflicts between Egypt and the Seleucids
arose, Jonathan occupied the Acra. As conflicts over the throne arose,
he completely took control of the Acra. But in 142 he was killed. His brother Simon took his place.
Simon was nominated for the title of high priest, general, and leader
by a "great assembly". He reached out to Rome to have them guarantee
that Judea would be an independent land. Antiochus VII
wanted the cities of Gadara, Joppa, and the Acra back. He also wanted a
very large tribute. Simon only wanted to pay a fraction of that for
only two of the cities, so Antiochus sent his general Cendebaeus to
attack. The general was killed and the army fled. Simon and two of his
sons were killed in a plot to overthrow the Hasmoneans. His last
remaining son, John Hyrcanus,
was supposed to be killed as well, but he was informed of the plan and
rushed to Jerusalem to keep it safe. Hyrcanus had many issues to deal
with as the new high priest. Antiochus invaded Judea and besieged
Jerusalem in 134 BCE. Due to lack of food, Hyrcanus had to make a deal
with Antiochus. He had to pay a large sum of money, tear down the walls
of the city, acknowledge Seleucid power over Judea, and help the
Seleucids fight against the Parthians.
Hyrcanus agreed to this, but the war against the Parthians didn't work
and Antiochus died in 128. Hyrcanus was able to take back Judea and keep
his power. John Hyrcanus also kept good relations with the Roman and
the Egyptians, owing to the large number of Jews living there, and
conquered Transjordan, Samaria, and Idumea (also known as Edom). Aristobulus I
was the first Hasmonean priest-king. He defied his father's wishes that
his mother should take over the government and instead had her and all
of his brothers except for one thrown in prison. The one not thrown in
prison was later killed on his orders. The most significant thing he did
during his one-year-reign was conquer most of Galilee. After his death, he was succeeded by his brother Alexander Jannaeus,
who was only concerned with power and conquest. He also married his
brother's widow, showing little respect for Jewish law. His first
conquest was Ptolemais. The people called to Ptolemy IX for aid, as he
was in Cyprus. However, it was his mother, Cleopatra III, who came to
help Alexander and not her son. Alexander was not a popular ruler. This
caused a civil war in Jerusalem that lasted for six years. After
Alexander Jannaeus' death, his widow became ruler, but not high priest.
The end of the Hasmonean Dynasty was in 63 when the Romans came at the
request of the current priest-king Aristobulus II and his competitor
Hyrcanus II. In 63 BCE the Roman general Pompey
conquered Jerusalem and the Romans put Hyrcanus II up as high priest,
but Judea became a client-kingdom of Rome. The dynasty came to an end in
40 BCE when Herod was crowned king of Judah by the Romans. With their
help, Herod had seized Jerusalem by 37.
Modern reconstruction of what the Second Temple would have looked like after its renovation during the reign of Herod I
Religion
Henotheism
Henotheism is the act of worshipping a single god, without denying the existence of other deities. Many scholars believe that before monotheism
in ancient Israel, there came a transitional period; in this
transitional period many followers of the Israelite religion worshiped
the god Yahweh, but did not deny the existence of other deities accepted
throughout the region. Henotheistic worship was not uncommon in the Ancient Near East, many Iron Age nation states worshipped an elevated national god which was nonetheless only part of a wider pantheon; examples include Chemosh in Moab, Qos in Edom, Milkom in Ammon, and Ashur in Assyria.
Canaanite religion syncretized elements from neighboring cultures, largely from Mesopotamian religious traditions.
Using Canaanite religion as a base was natural due to the fact that the
Canaanite culture inhabited the same region prior to the emergence of
Israelite culture. Israelite religion was no exception, as during the transitional period, Yahweh and El were syncretized in the Israelite pantheon.
El already occupied a reasonably important place in the Israelite
religion. Even the name "Israel" is based on the name El, rather than
Yahweh.
It was this initial harmonization of Israelite and Canaanite religious
thought that lead to Yahweh gradually absorbing several characteristics
from Canaanite deities, in turn strengthening his own position as an
all-powerful "One." Even still, monotheism in the region of ancient
Israel and Judah did not take hold overnight, and during the
intermediate stages most people are believed to have remained
henotheistic.
El,
the Canaanite creator deity, Megiddo, Stratum VII, Late Bronze II,
1400–1200 BC, bronze with gold leaf – Oriental Institute Museum,
University of Chicago – DSC07734 The Canaanite god El, who may have been
the precursor to the Israelite god Yahweh.
During this intermediate period of henotheism many families worshiped
different gods. Religion was very much centered around the family, as
opposed to the community. The region of Israel and Judah was sparsely
populated during the time of Moses. As such many different areas
worshiped different gods, due to social isolation.
It was not until later on in Israelite history that people started to
worship Yahweh alone and fully convert to monotheistic values. That
switch occurred with the growth of power and influence of the Israelite
kingdom and its rulers. Further details of this are contained in the
Iron Age Yahwism section below. Evidence from the Bible suggests that
henotheism did exist: "They [the Hebrews] went and served alien gods and
paid homage to them, gods of whom they had no experience and whom he
[Yahweh] did not allot to them" (Deut. 29.26). Many believe that this
quote demonstrates that the early Israelite kingdom followed traditions
similar to ancient Mesopotamia, where each major urban center had a
supreme god. Each culture embraced their patron god but did not deny the
existence of other cultures' patron gods. In Assyria, the patron god
was Ashur, and in ancient Israel, it was Yahweh; however, both Israelite
and Assyrian cultures recognized each other's deities during this
period.
Some scholars have used the Bible as evidence to argue that most of the people alive during the events recounted in the Hebrew Bible,
including Moses, were most likely henotheists. There are many quotes
from the Hebrew Bible that are used to support this view. One such
quote from Jewish tradition is the first commandment which in its
entirety reads "I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land
of Egypt, out of the house of bondage: You shall have no other gods
before me."
This quote does not deny the existence of other gods; it merely states
that Jews should consider Yahweh or God the supreme god, incomparable to
other supernatural beings. Some scholars attribute the concept of
angels and demons found in Judaism and Christianity to the tradition of
henotheism. Instead of completely getting rid of the concept of other
supernatural beings, these religions changed former deities into angels
and demons.
Yahweh became the supreme god governing angels, demons and humans, with
angels and demons considered more powerful than the average human. This
tradition of believing in multiple forms of supernatural beings is
attributed by many to the traditions of ancient Mesopotamia and Canaan
and their pantheons of gods. Earlier influences from Mesopotamia and
Canaan were important in creating the foundation of Israelite religion
consistent with the Kingdoms of ancient Israel and Judah, and have left
lasting impacts on some of the biggest and most widespread religions in
our world today.
The religion of the Israelites of Iron Age I, like the Ancient Canaanite religion from which it evolved and other religions of the ancient Near East, was based on a cult of ancestors and worship of family gods (the "gods of the fathers"). With the emergence of the monarchy at the beginning of Iron Age II the kings promoted their family god, Yahweh, as the god of the kingdom, but beyond the royal court, religion continued to be both polytheistic and family-centered. The major deities were not numerous – El, Asherah, and Yahweh, with Baal as a fourth god, and perhaps Shamash (the sun) in the early period. At an early stage El and Yahweh became fused and Asherah did not continue as a separate state cult, although she continued to be popular at a community level until Persian times.
Yahweh, the national god of both Israel and Judah, seems to have originated in Edom and Midian in southern Canaan and may have been brought to Israel by the Kenites and Midianites at an early stage.
There is a general consensus among scholars that the first formative
event in the emergence of the distinctive religion described in the
Bible was triggered by the destruction of Israel by Assyria in c.
722 BCE. Refugees from the northern kingdom fled to Judah, bringing with
them laws and a prophetic tradition of Yahweh. This religion was
subsequently adopted by the landowners of Judah, who in 640 BCE placed
the eight-year-old Josiah
on the throne. Judah at this time was a vassal state of Assyria, but
Assyrian power collapsed in the 630s, and around 622 Josiah and his
supporters launched a bid for independence expressed as loyalty to "Yahweh alone".
Prophecy
In both Israel and Judah, prophets had taken on significant religious
and political significance. It is particularly well-known thanks to the
prophetic books ("Nevi'im") of the Hebrew Bible.
Nearly all of the prophets mentioned in the biblical texts are men, and
although they did not necessarily write the prophetic texts, they are
undoubtedly the source of those texts. Amos and Hoshea were written in the first half of the 8th century, the First Isaiah ("Proto-Isaiah") a little later, Jeremiah and Ezekiel during the fall of Judah and the early years of the Babylonian captivity, Daniel
during the Exile, the Second Isaiah ("Deutero-Isaiah") between the end
of the Exile and the start of the post-exilic period, etc.
Prophecy was widespread in the Ancient Near East, as shown by records from Assyria and Mari.
Gods communicated with humans (men or women) in order to convey a
message meant both specifically for the king and more broadly for the
subjects of the kingdom. In some instances, the king requested that the
prophet receive a divine message. The context of this function's
performance in the Bible is unclear; prophets can be found alone or in
groups, at the royal court or in temples (as is most common in other
regions of the Near East).
The prophets featured in the biblical accounts were messengers of Yahweh. In the kingdom of Israel, they competed with Ba'al-related prophets.
They serve as diviners, and because of their special relationship with
Yahweh, they are also said to possess miraculous powers: the Bible
records instances of prophets curing the sick, raising the dead,
multiplying bread and oil, and bringing rain after a drought.
The prophets of Yahweh from the time of the monarchy have two
main messages for the king: to make sure he only worships Yahweh, and to
make sure he looks out for the people, especially the least fortunate
(the widow and the orphan). The prophets were sometimes supporters of
the king's initiatives and his advisors; at other times, they were
fierce opponents.
They frequently had harsh criticism for how the populace lived. The
prophets undoubtedly had a stronger social role than the temple priests,
who are a part of the elite group.
The role of the prophets in shaping Yahwism and Monotheism is not
clear. Although it has frequently been argued that the prophets were
merely intermediaries for the wishes of the Yahwist elites of the court
and the Temple, it is possible that they were instrumental in the
development and spread of monotheism.
According to the Deuteronomists,
as scholars call these Judean nationalists, the treaty with Yahweh
would enable Israel's god to preserve both the city and the king in
return for the people's worship and obedience. The destruction of
Jerusalem, its Temple, and the Davidic dynasty by Babylon in 587/586 BCE
was deeply traumatic and led to revisions of the national mythos during the Babylonian exile. This revision was expressed in the Deuteronomistic history, the books of Joshua, Judges, Samuel and Kings,
which interpreted the Babylonian destruction as divinely-ordained
punishment for the failure of Israel's kings to worship Yahweh to the
exclusion of all other deities.
Magdala stone, discovered in the ancient city of Magdala. Two ancient synagogues dated to the 1st-century CE were unearthed in Magdala
The Second Temple period (520 BCE – 70 CE) differed in significant ways from what had gone before. Strict monotheism emerged among the priests of the Temple establishment during the seventh and sixth centuries BCE, as did beliefs regarding angels and demons. At this time, circumcision, dietary laws, and Sabbath-observance gained more significance as symbols of Jewish identity, and the institution of the synagogue
became increasingly important, and most of the biblical literature,
including the Torah, was substantially revised during this time.
Administrative and judicial structure
"To Hezekiah, son of Ahaz, king of Judah" – royal seal found at the Ophel excavations in Jerusalem
As was customary in the ancient Near East, a king (Hebrew: מלך, romanized: melekh) ruled over the kingdoms of Israel and Judah. The national god Yahweh, who selects those to rule his realm and his people, is depicted in the Hebrew Bible
as having a hand in the establishment of the royal institution. In this
sense, the true king is God, and the king serves as his earthly envoy
and is tasked with ruling his realm. In some Psalms
that appear to be related to the coronation of kings, they are referred
to as "sons of Yahweh". The kings actually had to succeed one another
according to a dynastic principle, even though the succession was
occasionally decided through coups d'état. The coronation seemed to take place in a sacred place, and was marked by the anointing of the king who then becomes the "anointed one (māšîaḥ ,the origin of the word Messiah)
of Yahweh"; the end of the ritual seems marked by an acclamation by the
people (or at least their representatives, the Elders), followed by a
banquet.
The Bible's descriptions of the lists of dignitaries from the
reigns of David and Solomon show that the king is supported by a group
of high dignitaries. Those include the chief of the army (Hebrew: שר הצבא, romanized: śar haṣṣābā), the great scribe (Hebrew: שר הצבא, romanized: śar haṣṣābā) who was in charge of the management of the royal chancellery, the herald (Hebrew: מזכיר, romanized: mazkîr), as well as the high priest (Hebrew: כהן הגדול, romanized: kōhēn hāggādôl) and the master of the palace (Hebrew: על הבית, סוכן, romanized: ʿal-habbayit, sōkēn),
who has a function of stewardship of the household of the king at the
beginning and seems to become a real prime minister of Judah during the
later periods. The attributions of most of these dignitaries remain
debated, as illustrated in particular by the much-discussed case of the
“king's friend” mentioned under Solomon.
Language and literature
A writing system unique to the Israelites emerged from the Phoenician alphabet around the 10th century. This system is today known as the Paleo-Hebrew alphabet. Consonantal in nature, this abjad contains twenty-two letters. The language spoken during this period was Biblical Hebrew, an ancient variant of Hebrew, a Northwest Semitic language related to Phoenician and Aramaic. As evidenced by ancient inscriptions, dialect variations existed, particularly between the northern Kingdom of Israel ("Israelian Hebrew") and the South (Judah). The biblical texts are predominantly written in the Judahite dialect.
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