Ancient Israelites and Their Neighbors by Marian Broida

It’s part of a structure called the Citadel, first erected by King Herod about 2,000 years ago and rebuilt several times since. In modern Jerusalem, an ancient tower catches the sun. The Mediterranean Sea during the Iron Age: places mentioned in this book The Bible sometimes just calls them Canaanites. We don’t know the names of all these groups. Its inhabitants included the Jebusites (JEB-yoo-sites), Horvites, Amorites, and others. It included Lebanon to the north, parts of modern Syria and Jordan, and Israel and the Palestinian territories.Īncient Canaan was a region, not a country. In these inscriptions, ancient Canaan was much bigger than modern Israel.

But ancient writings on stone or clay give a different meaning to the name Canaan. Where Was the Land of Canaan?įrom synagogue or church, you may think of Canaan as the home of the ancient Israelite people-a country perhaps the size of modern Israel and the Palestinian territories combined. Their cultures are described in this book. These three ancient groups-the Israelites, Phoenicians, and Philistines-shared the land once called Canaan during a time known as the Iron Age. Canaanites called the Phoenicians (fo-NEE-shuns) took advantage of the weakening empires and began to create their own. Philistines (FILL-iss-teens) settled on Canaan’s southern coast, while Israelites (IZ-ray-e-lites) built small villages on its sparsely settled hills. New people entered ancient lands, among them the land of Canaan (KAY-nan or Ke-NA-an) in western Asia. Mighty empires buckled as shiploads of invaders attacked their coasts. About 3,200 years ago, huge changes occurred in lands around the eastern Mediterranean Sea.

Ancient Israelites and Their Neighbors by Marian Broida