Synopsis: The growing power of the Israelites and Arameans is reflected in the construction of new temples to Yahweh in Jerusalem and Hadad-Rammon in Damascus. A resurgent Egypt – under increasing influence of the Libyan Meshwesh – begins to eye its former Levantine holdings. “And […]
Tag: Hamath
Episode C11 – The House of David
Synopsis: In the latter half of the 11th century BC, southern Syria witnessed the increasing prominence of semi-nomadic Semitic peoples – including the Edomites, Moabites, Ammonites and Israelites. “Kings came, they fought, the kings of Canaan fought. At Taanach, by the waters of Megiddo, they […]
Episode C9 – Horse to Horse, Army to Army
Synopsis: In the mid-11th century BC, the Hittite kingdoms of northern Syria are joined by others– in the Philistine pentapolis, the Amuq plain and the region of Classical Cilicia – with ties to the former Mycenaean Greeks. The Phoenician cities of the Levantine coast begin […]
Episode C5 – The Sea Peoples
Synopsis: The Sea Peoples cut a swath of devastation across the Levant before their final confrontation with the pharaoh Ramesses III of Egypt. The Hittite Great King Suppiluliuma II abandons the capital of Hattusas before its final destruction. “Regarding what you wrote me before: ‘Enemy […]
Episode 16 – The Assyrian
“And Pul, the King of Assyria, came against the land.” – II Kings, 15:19 In 745 BC, Tiglath-pileser III reformed the administrative and military structure of the Neo-Assyrian Empire, and led the armies of Assur in a virtually-unbroken string of regional conquests. Series References and […]
Episode 15 – Holding Action
During the first half of the eighth century BC, Egypt, Babylonia and Assyria all struggled against the forces of entropy and decline. In the absence of the Aramean threat, Israel and Judah resumed their perpetual struggle. Urartu expanded its regional influence at the expense of […]
Episode 10 – Picking Up The Pieces
At the dawn of the first millennium BC, the collapse of the great Near Eastern powers allowed the cultures of Canaan to flourish. While the Phoenicians embarked on a bold new era of maritime expansion, the Hebrews and Arameans carved out new Iron Age kingdoms […]