ANTHIST 500

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ANT/HIST 500

• The Ancient City
• Day 9

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Canaan
Modern Byblos (Ancient Gubla)
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Canaan Polity

• City-States
• Status of Canaan dependent upon Egypt
• Flourished during Middle Bronze Age, decline
  during Late Bronze age

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Canaan Polity
Megiddo
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Canaan Polity
Lachish
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Canaan Polity
Tyre today
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Canaan Polity
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Canaan Polity
Excavations at Ashdod
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Canaan Polity
Ashdod today
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Canaan Economy

• Dependent upon location
• Coastal cities based on maritime trade
• All cities have some level of industrial
  production
• Olive oil, wine, metalwork, textiles

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Canaan Economy

• Middle Bronze Age ? Hyksos Period in Egypt
• Hyksos were Canaanite rulers
• Canaanite cities expanded under healthy trade
  economy with Egypt
• After Hyksos expulsion (ca. 1550 BC), Egypt rules
  Canaan directly ? decline of many Canaanite cities

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Canaan Culture
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Canaan Culture
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Ugarit
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Ugarit El
Father of the gods and creator of all, El was the
Canaanite high deity Exodus 6 62 And God spake
unto Moses, and said unto him, I am El 63 And I
appeared unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto
Jacob, by the name of El Almighty, but by my name
YHWH was I not known to them.
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Ugarit Asherah
Asherah, supreme Mother Goddess and wife of
El. Tree of Life 2 Kings 23 236 And he
brought out the Asherah from the house of the
LORD, without Jerusalem, unto the brook Kidron,
and burned it at the brook Kidron, and stamped it
small to powder, and cast the powder thereof upon
the graves of the children of the people. 237
And he brake down the houses of the sodomites,
that were by the house of the LORD, where the
women wove hangings for Asherah. Genesis
21 2133 And Abraham planted a grove in
Beersheba, and called there on the name of the
LORD, the everlasting God.
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Ugarit Asherah
Extra-Biblical Mention Kuntillet 'Ajrud I have
blessed you by YHVH of Samaria and His Asherah
Khirbet el-Qom Blessed be Uriyahu by Yahweh
and by his Asherah from his enemies he saved him
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Ugarit Baal
Baal, the storm god. As bringer of the rains,
Baal was associated with fertility. 1 Kings
18 1817 And it came to pass, when Ahab saw
Elijah, that Ahab said unto him, Art thou he that
troubleth Israel? 1818 And he answered, I have
not troubled Israel but thou, and thy father's
house, in that ye have forsaken the commandments
of the LORD, and thou hast followed Baalim. 1819
Now therefore send, and gather to me all Israel
unto mount Carmel, and the prophets of Baal four
hundred and fifty, and the prophets of the groves
four hundred, which eat at Jezebel's table. 1820
So Ahab sent unto all the children of Israel, and
gathered the prophets together unto mount Carmel.
1821 And Elijah came unto all the people, and
said, How long halt ye between two opinions? if
the LORD be God, follow him but if Baal, then
follow him. And the people answered him not a
word. 2 Kings 23 235 And he put down the
idolatrous priests, whom the kings of Judah had
ordained to burn incense in the high places in
the cities of Judah, and in the places round
about Jerusalem them also that burned incense
unto Baal, to the sun, and to the moon, and to
the planets, and to all the host of heaven.
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Baal Cycle
El Asherah Baal Yamm Sea Mot Death Anat
Baals sister and wife
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Baal Cycle
Yamm demands that El give him Baal as a slave,
and El agrees. Baal refuses and fights Yamm in
his manifestation as Leviathan, the Sea Serpent,
and kills him. Baal returns victorious to El,
quite cocky, demanding a house, or temple. (El
resides in a tabernacle, or tent). Anat and
Asherah argue his case with El in their own
styles. Baal is granted a house, and decides he
can do anything. He descends to the underworld
to defeat Mot, but is defeated and eaten by him.
Life on earth dies, and Anat seeks revenge
against Mot. She slays Mot, chops him into
little pieces, and spreads him across the land.
El allows Baal to come back to life, symbolized
as the return to life of the fields. Baalfertil
ity and the return to life in autumn His time of
death is summer.
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Leviathan
Isaiah 27 271 In that day the LORD with his
sore and great and strong sword shall punish
leviathan the piercing serpent, even leviathan
that crooked serpent and he shall slay the
dragon that is in the sea. Job 41 411 Canst
thou draw out leviathan with an hook? or his
tongue with a cord which thou lettest down?
"Canst thou draw out leviathan with an hook? or
his tongue with a cord? 412 Canst thou put an
hook into his nose? or bore his jaw through with
a thorn? 413 Will he make many supplications
unto thee? will he speak soft words unto thee?
414 Will he make a covenant with thee? wilt thou
take him for a servant for ever? 415 Wilt thou
play with him as with a bird? or wilt thou bind
him for thy maidens? 416 Shall the companions
make a banquet of him? shall they part him among
the merchants? Psalm 74 7414 Thou brakest the
heads of leviathan in pieces, and gavest him to
be meat to the people inhabiting the wilderness.
Psalm 104 10424 O LORD, how manifold are thy
works! in wisdom hast thou made them all the
earth is full of thy riches. 10425 So is this
great and wide sea, wherein are things creeping
innumerable, both small and great beasts. 10426
There go the ships there is that leviathan, whom
thou hast made to play therein. 10427 These wait
all upon thee that thou mayest give them their
meat in due season.
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Canaan Environment

• Increased orientation toward Mediterranean Sea
• Global system of late Amarna period Canaan
  important economically but bit player politically