1.
Seleucid Empire
–
Seleucus received Babylonia and, from there, expanded his dominions to include much of Alexanders near eastern territories. At the height of its power, it included central Anatolia, Persia, the Levant, Mesopotamia, and what is now Kuwait, Afghanistan, and parts of Pakistan and Turkmenistan. The Seleucid Empire was a center of Hellenistic culture that maintained the preeminence of Greek customs where a Greek political elite dominated. The Greek population of the cities who formed the dominant elite were reinforced by immigration from Greece, Seleucid expansion into Anatolia and Greece was abruptly halted after decisive defeats at the hands of the Roman army. Their attempts to defeat their old enemy Ptolemaic Egypt were frustrated by Roman demands, contemporary sources, such as a loyalist degree from Ilium, in Greek language define the Seleucid state both as an empire and as a kingdom. Similarly, Seleucid rulers were described as kings in Babylonia and he refers to either Alexander Balas or Alexander II Zabinas as a ruler. Alexander, who conquered the Persian Empire under its last Achaemenid dynast, Darius III, died young in 323 BC. Alexanders generals jostled for supremacy over parts of his empire, Ptolemy, a former general and the satrap of Egypt, was the first to challenge the new system, this led to the demise of Perdiccas. Ptolemys revolt led to a new subdivision of the empire with the Partition of Triparadisus in 320 BC, Seleucus, who had been Commander-in-Chief of the Companion cavalry and appointed first or court chiliarch received Babylonia and, from that point, continued to expand his dominions ruthlessly. Seleucus established himself in Babylon in 312 BC, the used as the foundation date of the Seleucid Empire. The whole region from Phrygia to the Indus was subject to Seleucus, but Seleucus Nicator gave them to Sandrocottus in consequence of a marriage contract, and received in return five hundred elephants. Following his and Lysimachus victory over Antigonus Monophthalmus at the decisive Battle of Ipsus in 301 BC, Seleucus took control over eastern Anatolia, in the latter area, he founded a new capital at Antioch on the Orontes, a city he named after his father. An alternative capital was established at Seleucia on the Tigris, north of Babylon, Seleucuss empire reached its greatest extent following his defeat of his erstwhile ally, Lysimachus, at Corupedion in 281 BC, after which Seleucus expanded his control to encompass western Anatolia. He hoped further to take control of Lysimachuss lands in Europe – primarily Thrace and even Macedonia itself, nevertheless, even before Seleucus death, it was difficult to assert control over the vast eastern domains of the Seleucids. Seleucus invaded the Punjab region of India in 305 BC, confronting Chandragupta Maurya and it is said that Chandragupta fielded an army of 600,000 men and 9,000 war elephants. Archaeologically, concrete indications of Mauryan rule, such as the inscriptions of the Edicts of Ashoka, are known as far as Kandahar in southern Afghanistan and it is generally thought that Chandragupta married Seleucuss daughter, or a Macedonian princess, a gift from Seleucus to formalize an alliance. In a return gesture, Chandragupta sent 500 war elephants, an asset which would play a decisive role at the Battle of Ipsus in 301 BC. In addition to this treaty, Seleucus dispatched an ambassador, Megasthenes, to Chandragupta, Megasthenes wrote detailed descriptions of India and Chandraguptas reign, which have been partly preserved to us through Diodorus Siculus
2.
Roman Republic
–
It was during this period that Romes control expanded from the citys immediate surroundings to hegemony over the entire Mediterranean world. During the first two centuries of its existence, the Roman Republic expanded through a combination of conquest and alliance, by the following century, it included North Africa, most of the Iberian Peninsula, and what is now southern France. Two centuries after that, towards the end of the 1st century BC, it included the rest of modern France, Greece, and much of the eastern Mediterranean. By this time, internal tensions led to a series of wars, culminating with the assassination of Julius Caesar. The exact date of transition can be a matter of interpretation, Roman government was headed by two consuls, elected annually by the citizens and advised by a senate composed of appointed magistrates. Over time, the laws that gave exclusive rights to Romes highest offices were repealed or weakened. The leaders of the Republic developed a tradition and morality requiring public service and patronage in peace and war, making military. Many of Romes legal and legislative structures can still be observed throughout Europe and much of the world in modern nation states, the exact causes and motivations for Romes military conflicts and expansions during the republic are subject to wide debate. While they can be seen as motivated by outright aggression and imperialism and they argue that Romes expansion was driven by short-term defensive and inter-state factors, and the new contingencies that these decisions created. In its early history, as Rome successfully defended itself against foreign threats in central and then northern Italy, with some important exceptions, successful wars in early republican Rome generally led not to annexation or military occupation, but to the restoration of the way things were. But the defeated city would be weakened and thus able to resist Romanizing influences. It was also able to defend itself against its non-Roman enemies. It was, therefore, more likely to seek an alliance of protection with Rome and this growing coalition expanded the potential enemies that Rome might face, and moved Rome closer to confrontation with major powers. The result was more alliance-seeking, on the part of both the Roman confederacy and city-states seeking membership within that confederacy. While there were exceptions to this, it was not until after the Second Punic War that these alliances started to harden into something more like an empire and this shift mainly took place in parts of the west, such as the southern Italian towns that sided with Hannibal. In contrast, Roman expansion into Spain and Gaul occurred as a mix of alliance-seeking, in the 2nd century BC, Roman involvement in the Greek east remained a matter of alliance-seeking, but this time in the face of major powers that could rival Rome. This had some important similarities to the events in Italy centuries earlier, with some major exceptions of outright military rule, the Roman Republic remained an alliance of independent city-states and kingdoms until it transitioned into the Roman Empire. It was not until the time of the Roman Empire that the entire Roman world was organized into provinces under explicit Roman control
3.
Parthian Empire
–
The Parthian Empire, also known as the Arsacid Empire, was a major Iranian political and cultural power in ancient Iran and Iraq. Mithridates I of Parthia greatly expanded the empire by seizing Media and Mesopotamia from the Seleucids, at its height, the Parthian Empire stretched from the northern reaches of the Euphrates, in what is now central-eastern Turkey, to eastern Iran. The empire, located on the Silk Road trade route between the Roman Empire in the Mediterranean Basin and the Han Empire of China, became a center of trade and commerce. The Parthians largely adopted the art, architecture, religious beliefs, and royal insignia of their culturally heterogeneous empire, which encompassed Persian, Hellenistic, and regional cultures. For about the first half of its existence, the Arsacid court adopted elements of Greek culture, the court did appoint a small number of satraps, largely outside Iran, but these satrapies were smaller and less powerful than the Achaemenid potentates. With the expansion of Arsacid power, the seat of government shifted from Nisa to Ctesiphon along the Tigris. The earliest enemies of the Parthians were the Seleucids in the west, however, as Parthia expanded westward, they came into conflict with the Kingdom of Armenia, and eventually the late Roman Republic. Rome and Parthia competed with other to establish the kings of Armenia as their subordinate clients. The Parthians soundly defeated Marcus Licinius Crassus at the Battle of Carrhae in 53 BC, however, Mark Antony led a counterattack against Parthia, although his successes were generally achieved in his absence, under the leadership of his lieutenant Ventidius. Also, various Roman emperors or their appointed generals invaded Mesopotamia in the course of the several Roman-Parthian Wars which ensued during the few centuries. The Romans captured the cities of Seleucia and Ctesiphon on multiple occasions during these conflicts, native Parthian sources, written in Parthian, Greek and other languages, are scarce when compared to Sassanid and even earlier Achaemenid sources. These include mainly Greek and Roman histories, but also Chinese histories, Parthian artwork is viewed by historians as a valid source for understanding aspects of society and culture that are otherwise absent in textual sources. The Parni most likely spoke an eastern Iranian language, in contrast to the northwestern Iranian language spoken at the time in Parthia, the latter was a northeastern province, first under the Achaemenid, and then the Seleucid empires. Why the Arsacid court retroactively chose 247 BC as the first year of the Arsacid era is uncertain, Bivar concludes that this was the year the Seleucids lost control of Parthia to Andragoras, the appointed satrap who rebelled against them. Hence, Arsaces I backdated his regnal years to the moment when Seleucid control over Parthia ceased, however, Vesta Sarkhosh Curtis asserts that this was simply the year Arsaces was made chief of the Parni tribe. It is unclear who immediately succeeded Arsaces I, Bivar and Katouzian affirm that it was his brother Tiridates I of Parthia, who in turn was succeeded by his son Arsaces II of Parthia in 211 BC. Yet Curtis and Brosius state that Arsaces II was the successor of Arsaces I, with Curtis claiming the succession took place in 211 BC. Bivar insists that 138 BC, the last regnal year of Mithridates I, is the first precisely established regnal date of Parthian history, due to these and other discrepancies, Bivar outlines two distinct royal chronologies accepted by historians
4.
Biblical Hebrew
–
The term Hebrew was not used for the language in the Bible, which was referred to as Canaanite or Judahite, but the name was used in Greek and Mishnaic Hebrew texts. Biblical Hebrew is attested from about the 10th century BCE, and persisted through and beyond the Second Temple period, Biblical Hebrew eventually developed into Mishnaic Hebrew, which was spoken until the second century CE. There is also evidence of regional dialectal variation, including differences between Biblical Hebrew as spoken in the northern Kingdom of Israel and in the southern Kingdom of Judah. Biblical Hebrew has been written with a number of different writing systems, the Hebrews adopted the Phoenician alphabet around the 12th century BCE, which developed into the Paleo-Hebrew alphabet. This was retained by the Samaritans, who use the descendent Samaritan alphabet to this day, however, the Aramaic alphabet gradually displaced the Paleo-Hebrew alphabet for the Jews, and it became the source for the modern Hebrew alphabet. All of these scripts were lacking letters to represent all of the sounds of Biblical Hebrew, though these sounds are reflected in Greek and these scripts originally only indicated consonants, but certain letters, known by the Latin term matres lectionis, became increasingly used to mark vowels. In the Middle Ages, various systems of diacritics were developed to mark the vowels in Hebrew manuscripts, of these, Biblical Hebrew possessed a series of emphatic consonants whose precise articulation is disputed, likely ejective or pharyngealized. Earlier Biblical Hebrew possessed three consonants which did not have their own letters in the system, but over time they merged with other consonants. The stop consonants developed fricative allophones under the influence of Aramaic, the pharyngeal and glottal consonants underwent weakening in some regional dialects, as reflected in the modern Samaritan Hebrew reading tradition. Biblical Hebrew had a typical Semitic morphology with nonconcatenative morphology, arranging Semitic roots into patterns to form words, Biblical Hebrew distinguished two genders, three numbers. Verbs were marked for voice and mood, and had two conjugations which may have indicated aspect and/or tense, the tense or aspect of verbs was also influenced by the conjugation ו, in the so-called waw-consecutive construction. Default word order was verb–subject–object, and verbs inflected for the number, gender, pronominal suffixes could be appended to verbs or nouns, and nouns had special construct states for use in possessive constructions. The earliest written sources refer to Biblical Hebrew by the name of the land in which it was spoken, the Hebrew Bible also shows that the language was called יהודית Judaean, Judahite. In the Hellenistic period Greek writings use the names Hebraios, Hebraïsti, Jews also began referring to Hebrew as לשון הקדש the Holy Tongue in Mishnaic Hebrew. The term Classical Hebrew may include all pre-medieval dialects of Hebrew, including Mishnaic Hebrew, the term Biblical Hebrew refers to pre-Mishnaic dialects. The archeological record for the prehistory of Biblical Hebrew is far more complete than the record of Biblical Hebrew itself, Early Northwest Semitic materials are attested from 2350 BCE to 1200 BCE, the end of the Bronze Age. Hebrew developed during the half of the second millennium BCE between the Jordan and the Mediterranean Sea, an area known as Canaan. The earliest Hebrew writing yet discovered was found at Khirbet Qeiyafa, the kingdom of Israel was destroyed by the Assyrians in 722 BCE
5.
Old Aramaic language
–
Old Aramaic refers to the earliest stage of the Aramaic language, considered to give way to Middle Aramaic by the 3rd century. After the fall of the Achaemenid Empire, local vernaculars became increasingly prominent, fanning the divergence of an Aramaic dialect continuum, Ancient Aramaic refers to the earliest known period of the language, from its origin until it becomes the lingua franca of the Fertile Crescent and Bahrain. It was the language of the Aramaean city-states of Damascus, Hamath, there are inscriptions that evidence the earliest use of the language, dating from the 10th century BCE. The inscriptions are mostly diplomatic documents between Aramaean city-states, the alphabet of Aramaic then seems to be based on Phoenician, and there is a unity in the written language. It seems that in time, a more refined alphabet, suited to the needs of the language, distinctive royal inscriptions at Samal have led to some scholars suggesting a distinctive Samalian or Yaudic variant of Old Aramaic. From 700 BCE, the language began to spread in all directions, different dialects emerged in Assyria, Babylonia, the Levant and Egypt. However, the Akkadian-influenced Aramaic of Assyria, and then Babylon, as described in 2 Kings 18,26, Hezekiah, king of Judah, negotiates with Assyrian ambassadors in Aramaic so that the common people would not understand. Around 600 BCE, Adon, a Canaanite king, used Aramaic to write to the Egyptian Pharaoh, chaldee or Chaldean Aramaic used to be common terms for the Aramaic of the Chaldean dynasty of Babylonia. It was used to describe Biblical Aramaic, which was, however and it is not to be confused with the modern language Chaldean Neo-Aramaic. The first old Aramaic inscription to be found in Europe was the Carpentras stele, frye reclassifies Imperial Aramaic as the lingua franca of the Achaemenid territories, suggesting then that the Achaemenid-era use of Aramaic was more pervasive than generally thought. For centuries after the fall of the Achaemenid Empire, Imperial Aramaic or a similar dialect would remain an influence on the various native Iranian languages, Aramaic script and, as ideograms, Aramaic vocabulary would survive as the essential characteristics of the Pahlavi writing system. One of the largest collections of Imperial Aramaic texts is that of the Persepolis fortification tablets, many of the extant documents witnessing to this form of Aramaic come from Egypt, Elephantine in particular. Of them, the best known is the Wisdom of Ahiqar, Achaemenid Aramaic is sufficiently uniform that it is often difficult to know where any particular example of the language was written. Only careful examination reveals the occasional loanword from a local language, a group of thirty Aramaic documents from Bactria has been discovered, and an analysis was published in November 2006. The texts, which were rendered on leather, reflect the use of Aramaic in the 4th century BC Achaemenid administration of Bactria and Sogdiana. Old Aramaic and Biblical Hebrew both form part of the group of Northwest Semitic languages, and during antiquity, there may still have been substantial mutual intelligibility. In the Pesahim, Tractate 87b, Hanina bar Hama said that God sent the exiled Jews to Babylon because language is akin to the Leshon Hakodesh, the conquest by Alexander the Great did not destroy the unity of Aramaic language and literature immediately. Aramaic that bears a close resemblance to that of the 5th century BC can be found right up to the early 2nd century BCE
6.
Koine Greek
–
It was based mainly on Attic and related Ionic speech forms, with various admixtures brought about through dialect levelling with other varieties. Koine Greek displayed a wide spectrum of different styles, ranging from more conservative literary forms to the vernaculars of the time. As the dominant language of the Byzantine Empire, it developed further into Medieval Greek, Koine Greek remained the court language of the Byzantine Empire until its dissolution in 1453, while Medieval and eventually Modern Greek were the everyday language. Literary Koine was the medium of much of post-classical Greek literary and scholarly writing, such as the works of Plutarch, Koine is also the language of the Christian New Testament, of the Septuagint, and of most early Christian theological writing by the Church Fathers. In this context, Koine Greek is also known as Biblical, New Testament and it continues to be used as the liturgical language of services in the Greek Orthodox Church. The word koinē is the Greek word for common, and is understood as referring to the common dialect. The word is pronounced /kɔɪˈneɪ/, /ˈkɔɪneɪ/ or /kiːˈniː/ in US English, the pronunciation of the word in Koine gradually changed from Greek pronunciation, to Greek pronunciation. Its pronunciation in Modern Greek is, the term was applied in several different senses by ancient scholars. Others chose to refer to Koine as the Alexandrian dialect or the dialect of Alexandria, the former was often used by modern classicists. Koine Greek arose as a dialect within the armies of Alexander the Great. Under the leadership of Macedon, their newly formed common variety was spoken from the Ptolemaic Kingdom of Egypt to the Seleucid Empire of Mesopotamia and it replaced existing ancient Greek dialects with an everyday form that people anywhere could understand. The passage into the period, known as Medieval Greek. The post-Classical period of Greek thus refers to the creation and evolution of Koine Greek throughout the entire Hellenistic, the linguistic roots of the Common Greek dialect had been unclear since ancient times. During the Hellenistic period, most scholars thought of Koine as the result of the mixture of the four main Ancient Greek dialects, ἡ ἐκ τῶν τεττάρων συνεστῶσα. The view accepted by most scholars today was given by the Greek linguist Georgios Hatzidakis, who showed that, despite the composition of the Four, the stable nucleus of Koine Greek is Attic. In other words, Koine Greek can be regarded as Attic with the admixture of elements especially from Ionic, the degree of importance of the non-Attic linguistic elements on Koine can vary depending on the region of the Hellenistic World. The literary Koine of the Hellenistic age resembles Attic in such a degree that it is mentioned as Common Attic. Koine Greek was therefore considered a form of Greek which was not worthy of attention
7.
High Priest of Israel
–
High Priest was the title of the chief religious official of Judaism from the early post-Exilic times until the destruction of the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem in 70 CE. This tradition came to an end in the 2nd century BCE during the rule of the Hasmoneans, when the position was occupied by other priestly families. Aaron, though he is but rarely called the great priest, being simply designated as ha-kohen, was the first incumbent of the office. The succession was to be one of his sons, and was to remain in his own family. If he had no son, the office devolved upon the next of age. In the time of Eli, however, the passed to the collateral branch of Ithamar. But King Solomon is reported to have deposed the High Priest Abiathar, and to have appointed Zadok, a descendant of Eleazar, in his stead. After the Exile, the succession seems to have been, at first, in a line from father to son. Antiochus IV Epiphanes for instance, deposed Onias III in favor of Jason, Herod the Great nominated no less than six high priests, Archelaus, two. The Roman legate Quirinius and his successors exercised the right of appointment, as did Agrippa I, Herod of Chalcis, even the people occasionally elected candidates to the office. The age of eligibility for the office is not fixed in the Law, aristobulus, however, was only seventeen when appointed by Herod, but the son of Onias III was too young to succeed his father. The age a Levite entered the priesthood was 30 years of age, legitimacy of birth was essential, hence the care in the keeping of the genealogical records and the distrust of one whose mother had been captured in war. The high priest had to abstain from ritual defilement and he may marry only an Israelite virgin. In Ezekiel 44,22 this restriction is extended to all kohanim, according to Josephus, birth on foreign soil was not a disqualification, but the disqualifications of Leviticus 21,17 et seq. applied to the high priest as well as to other priests. The Torah provides for specific vestments to be worn by the priests when they are ministering in the Tabernacle, And you shall make holy garments for Aaron your brother, for dignity and these garments are described in detail in Exodus 28, Exodus 39 and Leviticus 8. The high priest wore eight holy garments, of these, four were of the same type worn by all priests, and four were unique to the Kohen Gadol. That of the High Priest was embroidered, those of the priests were plain, Priestly sash, that of the High Priest was of fine linen with embroidered work in blue and purple and scarlet, those worn by the priests were of white, twined linen. It was fastened to the Ephod On the front of the turban was a golden plate inscribed with the words, the High Priest, like all priests, would minister barefoot when he was serving in the Temple
8.
Basileus
–
Basileus is a Greek term and title that has signified various types of monarchs in history. In the English-speaking world it is perhaps most widely understood to mean king or emperor. The title was used by the Byzantine emperors, and has a history of use by sovereigns and other persons of authority in ancient Greece. The feminine forms are basilissa, basileia, basilis, or the archaic basilinna, the etymology of basileus is unclear. The Mycenaean form was *gʷasileus, denoting some sort of official or local chieftain. Its hypothetical earlier Proto-Greek form would be *gʷatileus, most linguists assume that it is a non-Greek word that was adopted by Bronze Age Greeks from a pre-existing linguistic Pre-Greek substrate of the Eastern Mediterranean. Schindler argues for an innovation of the -eus inflection type from Indo-European material rather than a Mediterranean loan. The first written instance of this word is found on the clay tablets discovered in excavations of Mycenaean palaces originally destroyed by fire. The word basileus is written as qa-si-re-u and its meaning was chieftain. Here the initial letter q- represents the PIE labiovelar consonant */gʷ/, linear B uses the same glyph for /l/ and /r/, now uniformly written with a Latin r by convention. Linear B only depicts syllables of single vowel or consonant-vowel form, the word can be contrasted with wanax, another word used more specifically for king and usually meaning High King or overlord. With the collapse of Mycenaean society, the position of wanax ceases to be mentioned, in the works of Homer wanax appears, in the form ánax, mostly in descriptions of Zeus and of very few human monarchs, most notably Agamemnon. Otherwise the term survived almost exclusively as a component in compound personal names and is still in use in Modern Greek in the description of the anáktoron/anáktora, most of the Greek leaders in Homers works are described as basileís, which is conventionally rendered in English as kings. However, an accurate translation may be princes or chieftains, which would better reflect conditions in Greek society in Homers time. Agamemnon tries to give orders to Achilles among many others, while another serves as his charioteer. His will, however, is not to be automatically obeyed, a study by Robert Drews has demonstrated that even at the apex of Geometric and Archaic Greek society, basileus does not automatically translate to king. In a number of authority was exercised by a college of basileis drawn from a particular clan or group. However, basileus could also be applied to the leaders of tribal states, like those of the Arcadians
9.
Simon Thassi
–
Simon Maccabeus was the second son of Mattathias and thus a member of the Hasmonean family. Though the name Thassi has a connotation of the Wise, the Director, the Guide, the Man of Counsel, and he took a prominent part in the Jewish revolt against the Seleucid Empire led by his brothers, Judas Maccabaeus and Jonathan Maccabaeus. At Hadid he blocked the advance of the treacherous Trypho, who was attempting to enter the country, since Trypho could gain nothing by force, he demanded a ransom for Jonathan and the surrender of Jonathans sons as hostages. Although Simon was fully aware that Trypho would deceive him, he acceded to demands, so that the people might see that he had done everything possible for his brother. Jonathan was nevertheless treacherously assassinated, and the hostages were not returned, Simon thus became the sole leader of the people. As the opponent of Trypho, Simon had every reason to side with Demetrius II. to whom he sent a deputation requesting freedom from taxation for the country, the fact that his request was granted implied the recognition of the political independence of Judea. He became the first prince of the Hebrew Hasmonean Dynasty and he reigned from 142 to 135 BCE. Recognition of the new dynasty by the Roman Republic was accorded by the Senate about 139 BCE, Simon made the Jewish people semi-independent of the Seleucid Empire. In February 135 BCE, he was assassinated at the instigation of his son-in-law and rival Ptolemy, Simon was followed by his third son, John Hyrcanus, whose two elder brothers, Mattathias and Judah, had been murdered, together with their father. List of Hasmonean and Herodian rulers
10.
John Hyrcanus
–
John Hyrcanus /hərˈkeɪnəs/ was a Hasmonean leader and Jewish High Priest of the 2nd century BCE. In rabbinic literature he is referred to by the epithet. Josephus explains in The Jewish War that John was also known as Hyrcanus, John was not present at a banquet at which his father and his two brothers were murdered, purportedly by his brother-in-law, Ptolemy, son of Abubus. He attained to his fathers offices, that of high priest. Josephus said that John Hyrcanus had five sons but named only four in his histories, Judah Aristobulus I, Antigonus I, Alexander Jannai, during the first year of Hyrcanus’ reign, he faced a serious challenge to independent Judean rule from the Seleucid Empire. Antiochus VII Sidetes marched into Judea, pillaged the countryside and laid a siege on Jerusalem. The prolonged siege caused Hyrcanus to remove any Judean from the city who could not assist with the defense effort and these refugees were not allowed to pass through Antiochus’ lines, becoming trapped in the middle of a chaotic siege. With a humanitarian crisis on his hands, Hyrcanus re-admitted his estranged Jerusalemites when the festival of Sukkot arrived, afterwards, due to food shortages in Jerusalem, Hyrcanus negotiated a truce with Antiochus. These terms were a blow to Hyrcanus, who had to loot the tomb of David to pay the 3000 talents. Following the Seleucid siege, Judea faced tough economic times which were magnified by taxes to the Seleucids enforced by Antiochus, furthermore, Hyrcanus was forced to accompany Antiochus on his eastern campaign in 130 BCE. Hyrcanus probably would have functioned as the commander of a Jewish company in the campaign. This enforced absence probably caused a loss of support for the inexperienced Hyrcanus among the Judean population, Judeans in the countryside were especially disillusioned with Hyrcanus after Antiochus’ army plundered their land. Furthermore, Hyrcanus driving out the population of Jerusalem during the siege also probably caused resentment against him. The action of looting the Tomb of David violated his obligations as High Priest, therefore, at a very early point in his thirty-one year reign of Judea, Hyrcanus had lost the support of Judeans in various cultural sectors. The Jerusalemites, the countryside Judeans and the religious leadership probably doubted the future of Judea under Hyrcanus, however, in 128 BCE Antiochus VII was killed in battle against Parthia. What followed was an era of conquest led by Hyrcanus that marked the point of Judea as the most significant power in the Levant. John Hyrcanus was able to take advantage of unrest in Seleucia to assert Judean independence, in 130 BCE Demetrius II returned from exile in Hyrcania to take control of Seleucia. However, transition of power made it difficult for Demetrius to assert control over Judea, furthermore, the Seleucid Empire itself fell apart into smaller principalities
11.
Aristobulus I
–
He was the eldest of the five sons of John Hyrcanus, the previous leader. Aristobulus was not only just the first king from the Hasmonean lineage, the Pharisees began a massive rebellion, but Aristobulus died before any attempt to depose of him could occur. According to the directions of John Hyrcanus, the country after his death was to be placed in the hands of his wife, Aristobulus did not approve of his fathers wishes, instead, he seized the crown with the support of his brother Antigonus. Much of the Galilee region was annexed by Aristobulus, however, the terrain made campaigning difficult against the Galilee inhabitants. In the end, Aristobulus would eventually conquer much of the territory from them, the Golan region was also taken during the campaign and Mount Hermon as well. The conquered inhabitants were forced to accept the Jewish faith, primarily, Aristobuluss feeble health gradually lead his remaining reign under the control of a clique, at the head of which stood Queen Alexandra Salome, his wife. When he showed signs of disease, the queen conspired to murder Antigonus and she deceived the king with suggestions that Antigonus was attempting to overthrow him by force. Salome then convinced Antigonus that his king wished to see his new armor, Antigonus was killed by Aristobuluss guards before he could get close to his brother. Days later, Aristobulus died from pain and internal bleeding from an unknown disease, the queen released the younger brothers from prison, placing Alexander Jannaeus on the throne. Archaeological findings in eastern Galilee and lower Golan reveal massive ethnic changes in the area just before, during, the first mint of Hasmonean coins didnt begin until the leadership of John Hyrcanus. Like his father, Judah Aristobulus only minted his coins with the title of the high priesthood and it wasnt until Alexander Jannaeus that both the roles of kingship and the high priesthood were minted onto coins. The majority of Judahs coins were found in the regions of Galilee and the Golan, primary, majority of them come from his actual reign, while a small amount of these coins were minted after. 1 Maccabees 2 Maccabees Antigonus II Judas Maccabeus Maccabean Revolt Simon Thassi Jewish Encyclopedia Aristobulus I Catholic Online The Machabees
12.
Alexander Jannaeus
–
To see other rulers related or affiliated with Alexander Jannaeus, see List of Hasmonean and Herodian rulers Alexander Jannaeus was the second Hasmonean king of Judaea from 103 to 76 BC. A son of John Hyrcanus, he inherited the throne from his brother Aristobulus I, from his conquests to expand the kingdom to a bloody civil war, Alexanders reign has been generalized as cruel and oppressive with never ending conflict. Although Josephus and other refer to him by the name of Alexander Yannai. Alexander Jannaeus was the son of John Hyrcanus, by his second wife. When Aristobulus I, Hyrcanus son by his first wife, became king, Aristobulus died after a reign of one year. Upon his death, his widow, Salome Alexandra had Alexander, like his father Alexander also served as the high priest. This raised the ire of the Rabbis who insisted that two offices should not be combined. This incident led the king to turn against the pharisees and persecute them until his death, Alexanders first expedition was against the city of Ptolemais. While Alexander went forward to siege the city, Zoilus, ruler of the coastal city Dora, Alexanders Hasmonean army quickly defeated Zoiluss forces with little trouble. Ptolemais and Zoilus then requested aid from Ptolemy IX Lathyros, who had been cast out by his mother Cleopatra III, Ptolemy founded a kingdom in Cyprus after being cast out by his mother. The situation at Ptolemais was seized as an opportunity by Ptolemy to possibly gain a stronghold, when Alexander formed an alliance with Ptolemy, Ptolemy in good gesture, handed over Ptolemais, Zoilus, Dora, and Stratons Tower to Alexander. As soon as Ptolemy learned of Alexanders scheme, he invaded the Galilee region capturing Asochis, Ptolemy also initiated an attack upon Sepphoris but failed. Alexander might easily have lost his crown and Judea its independence as the result of battle, had it not been for the assistance extended by Egypt. Cleopatras two Jewish generals, Helkias and Ananias, persuaded the queen of the dangers of allowing her banished son Ptolemy to remain victorious, as a result, Ptolemy was forced to withdraw to Cyprus, and Alexander was saved. The Egyptian army withdrawn, Alexander found his hands free, Alexander captured Gadara and the strong fortress Amathus in the Transjordan region, but, in an ambush set for him by Theodorus, ruler of Amathus, he lost the battle. Alexander was more successful in his expedition against the Hellenized coastal cities, capturing Raphia, finally, in 96 BC Jannaeus outlasted the inhabitants of Gaza in a year-long siege, which he occupied through treachery, and gave up to be pillaged and burned by his soldiery. This victory gained Judean control over the Mediterranean outlet for the Nabatean trade routes, the Judean Civil War initially began after the conquest of Gaza by Jannaeus around 99 BC. Due to Jannaeuss victory at Gaza, the Nabatean kingdom no longer controlled their main route to the Mediterranean Sea at Gaza
13.
Salome Alexandra
–
Salome Alexandra or Alexandra of Jerusalem, was one of only two women to rule over Judea. Her personal genealogy is not given by Josephus, rabbinical sources designate the Sage Simeon b. If this is meant literally and is true, she was the daughter of Setah Bar Yossei, Salome Alexandras oldest son by Alexander Jannaeus was Hyrcanus II who fought his younger brother Aristobulus II in the 60s BC over the Jewish High Priesthood. According to the Jewish Encyclopedia, Alexandra was instrumental in arranging the assassination of her brother-in-law, Antigonus, upon the death of Aristobulus in 103 BCE, Aristobulus widow freed his half-brother, Alexander Jannaeus, who had been held in prison. Alexandra does not seem to have been able to prevent the persecution of that sect by her husband. According to archaeologist Kenneth Atkinson, “There are also passages in the Talmud that say, during her husband’s reign, that she protected Pharisees and hid Pharisees from his wrath. ”Nevertheless, the married life of the royal pair seems to have ended cordially, on his deathbed Alexander entrusted the government, not to his sons. Her next concern was to open negotiations with the leaders of the Pharisees, having been given assurances as to her future policy, they declared themselves ready to give Alexanders remains the obsequies due to a monarch. By this step she avoided any public affront to the dead king and this might have been attended with dangerous results to the Hasmonean dynasty. Alexandra received the reins of government at Jannaeus camp before Ragaba, Alexandra managed to secure assent to a Hasmonean monarchy from the Pharisees, who had suffered intense misery under Alexander and became Judeas ruling class. The Pharisees, who had suffered intense misery under Alexander, now not only a tolerated section of the community. Alexandra installed as high priest her eldest son, Hyrcanus II a man wholly after the heart of the Pharisees and this body had hitherto been, as it were, a house of lords, the members of which belonged to the highest rabbinical court. From this time it became a court for the administration of justice and religious matters. The Sadducees were moved to petition the queen for protection against the ruling party, Alexandra, who desired to avoid all party conflict, removed the Sadducees from Jerusalem, assigning certain fortified towns for their residence. As well, she did not abstain from actual warfare, she sent her son Aristobulus with an army to besiege Damascus, the expedition was reportedly without result. Nevertheless, the last days of her reign were tumultuous and her son Aristobulus endeavored to seize the government, and succeeded her after her death. Rabbinical sources still further magnify the prosperity which Judea enjoyed under Alexandra, the fertility of the soil was so great that the grains of wheat grew as large as kidney beans, oats as large as olives, and lentils as large as gold denarii. The sages collected specimens of these grains and preserved them to future generations the reward of obedience to the Law. Shlomtzion, derived from the name, is sometimes used as a female first name in contemporary Israel
14.
Hyrcanus II
–
John Hyrcanus II /hərˈkeɪnəs/, a member of the Hasmonean dynasty, was for a long time the Jewish High Priest in the 1st century BCE. He was also briefly King of Judea 67–66 BCE and then the ethnarch of Judea probably 47–40 BCE, Hyrcanus was the eldest son of Alexander Jannaeus, King and High Priest, and Alexandra Salome. After the death of Alexander in 76 BC, his widow succeeded to the rule of Judea, Alexander had numerous conflicts with the Pharisees. So Hyrcanus was believed to be supported by the Sadducees, especially later in his tenure, when Salome died in 67 BC, she named Hyrcanus as successor to the Kingship as well. Hyrcanus had scarcely reigned three months when his younger brother Aristobulus II rose in rebellion, Hyrcanus advanced against him at the head of his mercenaries and his followers. The brothers met in battle near Jericho and many of Hyrcanus soldiers went over to Aristobulus II, Hyrcanus took refuge in the citadel of Jerusalem, but the capture of the Temple by Aristobulus II compelled Hyrcanus to surrender. A peace was concluded, according to the terms of which Hyrcanus was to renounce the throne and the office of high priest. This agreement however did not last, as Hyrcanus feared that Aristobulus was planning his death, such fears were furthered by Hyrcanus adviser Antipater the Idumean. According to Josephus, Antipater aimed at controlling Judea by putting the weak Hyrcanus back onto the throne. Hyrcanus took refuge with Aretas III, King of the Nabataeans, the Nabataeans advanced toward Jerusalem with an army of 50,000, took the city and besieged the Temple where Aristobulus had taken refuge for several months. During this civil war, the Roman general Pompey defeated the Kingdoms of Pontus and he sent his deputy Marcus Aemilius Scaurus to take possession of Seleucid Syria. As the Hasmoneans were allies of the Romans, both brothers appealed to Scaurus, each endeavoring by gifts and promises to win him over to his side, Scaurus, moved by a gift of 400 talents, decided in favor of Aristobulus and ordered Aretas to withdraw his army. During his retreat, the Nabateans suffered a defeat at the hands of Aristobulus. When Pompey arrived in Syria in 63 BC, both brothers and a party that desired the removal of the entire dynasty, sent their delegates to Pompey. He favoured Hyrcanus over Aristobulus, deeming the elder, weaker brother a more reliable ally of the Roman Empire. Aristobulus, suspicious of Pompey, entrenched himself in the fortress of Alexandrium, however, since many of his followers were unwilling to open the gates, the Romans besieged and captured the city by force, badly damaging city and temple. Aristobulus was taken to Rome a prisoner and Hyrcanus restored, around 63 BCE, Hyrcanus was restored to his position as High Priest but not to the Kingship. Political authority rested with the Romans whose interests were represented by Antipater, in 47 BC, Julius Caesar restored some political authority to Hyrcanus by appointing him ethnarch
15.
Aristobulus II
–
Aristobulus II /ˌærᵻstəˈbjuːləs/ was the Jewish High Priest and King of Judea,66 BC to 63 BC, from the Hasmonean Dynasty. Aristobulus was the son of Alexander Jannaeus, King and High Priest. After the death of Alexander in 76 BC, his widow succeeded to the rule of Judea, when Salome died in 67 BC, Hyrcanus succeeded to the kingship as well. Aristobulus shared his fathers views on religion and politics. He entertained designs upon the throne, even during the life of his mother and he courted the nobles and military party by constituting himself the patron of the Sadducees and bringing their cause before the queen. The queen sought to direct his military zeal outside Judea, and sent him against Ptolemy Mennæi and he left Jerusalem secretly and betook himself to his friends, who controlled the largest number of fortified places, with the intention of making war against his aged mother. But the queen died at the moment, and he immediately turned his weapons against his brother Hyrcanus. Hyrcanus seemed to be sympathetic to the Sadducees just like his father Alexander Jannaeus, Aristobulus rebelled against his elder brother. Because of this conflict, the Pharisees seemed to be in a position at this time. Hyrcanus advanced against Aristobulus at the head of his mercenaries and his followers, the brothers met in battle near Jericho and many of Hyrcanus soldiers went over to Aristobulus, and thereby gave the latter the victory. Hyrcanus took refuge in the citadel of Jerusalem, but the capture of the Temple by Aristobulus compelled Hyrcanus to surrender. A peace was concluded, according to the terms of which Hyrcanus was to renounce the throne and the office of high priest. This agreement however did not last, as Antipater convinced Hyrcanus that Aristobulus was planning his death and to take refuge with Aretas III, the Nabataeans advanced toward Jerusalem with an army of 50,000 and besieged the city for several months. During this civil war, the Roman general Pompey defeated the Kingdoms of Pontus and he sent his deputy Marcus Aemilius Scaurus to take possession of Seleucid Syria. As the Hasmoneans were allies of the Romans, both brothers appealed to Scaurus, each endeavoring by gifts and promises to win him over to his side, Scaurus, moved by a gift of 400 talents, decided in favor of Aristobulus and ordered Aretas to withdraw his army. During his retreat, the Nabateans suffered a defeat at the hands of Aristobulus. When Pompey arrived in Syria in 63 BC, both brothers and a party that desired the removal of the entire dynasty, sent their delegates to Pompey. He favoured Hyrcanus II over Aristobulus II, deeming the elder, weaker brother a more reliable ally of the Roman Empire, Pompey defeated the Jewish armies in multiple battles, and took the fortresses of Judea
16.
Antigonus II Mattathias
–
Antigonus II Mattathias, also known as Antigonus the Hasmonean was the last Hasmonean king of Judea. He was the son of King Aristobulus II of Judea, in 37 BCE Herod handed him over to the Romans for execution, after Antigonuss three-year reign during which he led the Jews fierce struggle for independence against the Romans. Antigonus the Hasmonean was the son of Aristobulus II. He escaped and returned to Judea in 57 BCE, despite an unsuccessful attempt to oppose the Roman forces there, the senate released him, but he refused to surrender his dynastic rights. He visited Julius Cæsar, who was in Syria in 47, in 42, he attempted to seize the government of Judea by force with the assistance of his brother-in-law, Ptolemy Mennei but was defeated by Herod. The excessive taxation wrung from the people to pay for the extravagances of Antony, Antigonus gained the adherence of both the aristocratic class in Jerusalem and the leaders of the Pharisees. The Parthians, who invaded Syria in 40 BCE, preferred to see an anti-Roman ruler on the throne of Judea, when Antigonus promised them large sums of gold and five hundred female slaves besides, they put a troop of five hundred warriors at his disposal. Hyrcanus was sent to Babylon after suffering the mutilation of his ears, in 40 BCE Antigonus was officially proclaimed king and high priest by the Parthians. His three-year reign was a continuous struggle, Herod succeeded in having himself declared king of Judea by Rome. On Herods return from Rome in 39 BCE he opened a campaign against Antigonus, in the spring of 38 BCE, Herod wrested control of the province of Galilee and eventually all of Judea as far as Jerusalem. Due to the approach of winter, Herod postponed his siege of Jerusalem, where Antigonus, Herod was held off for 3–5 months but the Romans did eventually capture the city, however, the supporters of Antigonus fought until the Romans reached the inner courtyard of the Temple. Antigonus was taken to Antioch and executed, ending Hasmonean rule, josephus states that Marc Antony beheaded Antigonus (Antiquities, XV1,2. In his Life of Antony, Plutarch claims that Antony had Antigonus beheaded, biblical scholar Gregory Doudna proposed in 2013 that Antigonus II Mattathias was the figure known as the Wicked Priest in the Qumran Scrolls. According to Doudna, Antigonus was the underlying the Wicked Priest of Pesher Habakkuk, and the doomed ruler of Pesher Nahum. List of Hasmonean and Herodian rulers Antigonus entry in historical sourcebook by Mahlon H. Smith
17.
Sanhedrin
–
The Sanhedrin was an assembly of twenty-three to seventy-one men appointed in every city in the Land of Israel. Judges in ancient Israel were the leaders and Teachers of the nation of Israel. The Mishnah arrives at the number based on an exegetical derivation. The minimum size of a community is 10 men, one more is required to achieve a majority, but a simple majority cannot convict, and so an additional judge is required. Finally, a court should not have a number of judges to prevent deadlocks. This court dealt with religious matters. The Great Sanhedrin was made up of a Nasi, who functioned as head or representing president, but was not a member of the court, an Av Beit Din, the chief of the court, and sixty-nine general members. In the Second Temple period, the Great Sanhedrin met in the Hall of Hewn Stones in the Temple in Jerusalem, the court convened every day except festivals and Shabbat. In the late 3rd century, to persecution, its authoritative decisions were issued under the name of Beit HaMidrash. Historically, the last binding decision of the Great Sanhedrin appeared in 358 CE, the Great Sanhedrin was dissolved after continued persecution by the Eastern Roman Empire and aspiring Christendom. Over the centuries, there have been attempts to revive the institution, such as the Grand Sanhedrin convened by Napoleon Bonaparte and modern attempts in Israel. The Hasmonean court in the Land of Israel, presided over by Alexander Jannaeus, king of Judea until 76 BCE, the exact nature of this early Sanhedrin is not clear. It may have been a body of sages or priests, or a political, legislative, only after the destruction of the Second Temple was the Sanhedrin made up only of sages. In the Second Temple period, the Great Sanhedrin met in the Hall of Hewn Stones in the Temple in Jerusalem, the court convened every day except festivals and Shabbat. After the destruction of the Second Temple in 70, the Sanhedrin was re-established in Yavneh with reduced authority, the seat of the Patriarchate moved to Usha under the presidency of Gamaliel II in 80 CE. In 116 it moved back to Yavneh, and then back to Usha. Rabbinic texts indicate that following the Bar Kokhba revolt, southern Galilee became the seat of learning in the Land of Israel. This region was the location of the court of the Patriarch which was situated first at Usha, then at Bet Shearim, later at Sepphoris and finally at Tiberias
18.
Hellenistic period
–
It is often considered a period of transition, sometimes even of decadence or degeneration, compared to the enlightenment of the Greek Classical era. The Hellenistic period saw the rise of New Comedy, Alexandrian poetry, the Septuagint, Greek science was advanced by the works of the mathematician Euclid and the polymath Archimedes. The religious sphere expanded to include new gods such as the Greco-Egyptian Serapis, eastern deities such as Attis and Cybele, the Hellenistic period was characterized by a new wave of Greek colonization which established Greek cities and kingdoms in Asia and Africa. This resulted in the export of Greek culture and language to new realms. Equally, however, these new kingdoms were influenced by the cultures, adopting local practices where beneficial, necessary. Hellenistic culture thus represents a fusion of the Ancient Greek world with that of the Near East, Middle East and this mixture gave rise to a common Attic-based Greek dialect, known as Koine Greek, which became the lingua franca through the Hellenistic world. Scholars and historians are divided as to what event signals the end of the Hellenistic era, Hellenistic is distinguished from Hellenic in that the first encompasses the entire sphere of direct ancient Greek influence, while the latter refers to Greece itself. The word originated from the German term hellenistisch, from Ancient Greek Ἑλληνιστής, from Ἑλλάς, Hellenistic is a modern word and a 19th-century concept, the idea of a Hellenistic period did not exist in Ancient Greece. Although words related in form or meaning, e. g, the major issue with the term Hellenistic lies in its convenience, as the spread of Greek culture was not the generalized phenomenon that the term implies. Some areas of the world were more affected by Greek influences than others. The Greek population and the population did not always mix, the Greeks moved and brought their own culture. While a few fragments exist, there is no surviving historical work which dates to the hundred years following Alexanders death. The works of the major Hellenistic historians Hieronymus of Cardia, Duris of Samos, the earliest and most credible surviving source for the Hellenistic period is Polybius of Megalopolis, a statesman of the Achaean League until 168 BC when he was forced to go to Rome as a hostage. His Histories eventually grew to a length of forty books, covering the years 220 to 167 BC, another important source, Plutarchs Parallel Lives though more preoccupied with issues of personal character and morality, outlines the history of important Hellenistic figures. Appian of Alexandria wrote a history of the Roman empire that includes information of some Hellenistic kingdoms, other sources include Justins epitome of Pompeius Trogus Historiae Philipicae and a summary of Arrians Events after Alexander, by Photios I of Constantinople. Lesser supplementary sources include Curtius Rufus, Pausanias, Pliny, in the field of philosophy, Diogenes Laertius Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers is the main source. Ancient Greece had traditionally been a collection of fiercely independent city-states. After the Peloponnesian War, Greece had fallen under a Spartan hegemony, in which Sparta was pre-eminent but not all-powerful
19.
Hasmonean coinage
–
Hasmonean coinage are the coins minted by the Hasmonean kings. Only bronze coins in various denominations have found, the smallest being a prutah or a half prutah. Two Roman silver denarii are associated with the Hasmoneans, one has the inscription BACCIUS JUDAEAS, both show a man thought to be Yehuda Aristobolus bowing before a camel with a palm branch in his hand. The Hebrew inscriptions found on Hasmonean coins are, Yehochanan Kohen Gadol Chever Hayehudim, Yehochanan Kohen Gadol Rosh Chever Hayehudim. Malka Aleksandros Matityahu Kohen Gadol Chever Hayehudim, mattityah The era of Hashmonean rule lasted for 103 years. It was founded by High Priest Simon son of Matityahu, thereafter followed Yehuda Aristobolus, Salome Alexandra, Alexander Yannai and then feuding brothers Hyrcanus II and Aristobulus. The last Hashmonean king was Aristobuluss son Matityahu Antigonus, in 138BCE the Seleucid King Antiochus VII Sidetes published a royal decree, granting Simon Maccabaeus the right to mint his own coinage. Alexander Jannaeus, king of Judea from, son of John Hyrcanus, inherited the throne from his brother Aristobulus, Antigonus the Hasmonean was the son of King Aristobulus II of Judea. Obv, Menorah with Greek inscription BASILEWS ANTIGONOY. Rev, Showbread Table with Hebrew inscription Matityahu HaKohen. ]]Obv, Double cornucopia with ancient Hebrew script, reading Matityahu Kohen Gadol Chever Hayehudim. Rev, Greek inscription, reading BASILEWS ANTIGONOY
20.
Coele-Syria
–
Coele-Syria, Coele Syria, Coelesyria, also rendered as Coelosyria and Celesyria, otherwise Hollow Syria, was a region of Syria in classical antiquity. It probably derived from the Aramaic for all of the region of Syria, the area now forms part of the modern nations of Lebanon, Syria and Israel. It is widely accepted that the term Coele is a transcription of Aramaic kul, meaning all, the first and only official use of the term was during the period of Seleucid rule of the region, between c.200 BCE and 64 BCE. This usage was adopted by Strabo and the Books of the Maccabees, however, Greek writers such as Agatharchides and Polemon of Athens used the term Palestine to refer to the region during this period, which was a term originally given circa 450 BCE by Herodotus. Later during the Roman Period c.350 CE, Eunapius wrote that the capital of Coele-Syria was the Seleucid city of Antioch, north of the Eleutherus. According to Polybius, a officer of the Ptolemaic Empire named Ptolemy Thrasea, having fought in the 217 BCE Battle of Raphia. Antiochus gave him the title Strategos and Archiereus of Coele-Syria and Phoenicia, some scholars speculate that this title may have been used previously by the Ptolemies, but no direct evidence exists to support this. The region was disputed between the Seleucid dynasty and the Ptolemaic dynasty during the Syrian Wars, alexander the Greats general Ptolemy first occupied Coele-Syria in 318 BC. However, when Ptolemy joined the coalition against Antigonus I Monophthalmus in 313 BC, in 312 BC Seleucus I Nicator, defeated Demetrius, the son of Antigonus, in the Battle of Gaza which again allowed Ptolemy to occupy Coele-Syria. In 302 BC, Ptolemy joined a new coalition against Antigonus and reoccupied Coele-Syria and he was only to return when Antigonus had been defeated at Ipsus in 301 BC. Coele-Syria was assigned to Seleucus, by the victors of Ipsus, the later Seleucids were not to be so understanding, resulting in the century of Syrian Wars between the Ptolemies and Seleucids. The Battle of Panium in 200 BC, during the Fifth Syrian War, was the decisive battle between the two sides in ending Ptolemaic control over the region. The 171–168 BC conflicts over Coele-Syria, between Antiochus IV Epiphanes and Ptolemy VI Philometor, are discussed in Livy’s The History of Rome from its Foundation, Seleucid control over the area of Judea began diminishing with the eruption of the Maccabean Revolt in 165 BC. With Seleucid troops being involved in warfare on the Parthian front, despite attempts of Seleucid rulers to regain territories, the conquests of Pompey in 64 BC were a decisive blow to them, and Syria became part of the Roman Republic. Under the Macedonian kings, Upper Syria was divided into four parts which were named after their capitals, later in the Roman Pompeian era, the province was divided into nine districts. Yet, it was often comprehended as the country as far as Egypt. Circa 323 BCE Laomedon of Mytilene takes control of Coele-Syria, circa 323 BCE The Periplus of Pseudo-Scylax lists several cities on the Palestinian coast that are incorporated into Coele-Syria. In the Wars of the Diadochi, Coele-Syria came under the control of Antigonus I Monophthalmus, then in 301 BCE, Ptolemy I Soter exploited events surrounding the Battle of Ipsus to take control of the region
21.
Herodian kingdom
–
The Herodian kingdom of Judaea was a client state of the Roman Republic from 37 BCE, when Herod the Great was appointed King of the Jews by the Roman Senate. When Herod died in 4 BCE, the kingdom was divided among his sons into the Herodian Tetrarchy, the first intervention of Rome in the region dates from 63 BCE, following the end of the Third Mithridatic War, when Rome created the province of Syria. After the defeat of Mithridates VI of Pontus, Pompey sacked Jerusalem in 63 BCE, the Hasmonean Queen, Salome Alexandra, had recently died and her sons, Hyrcanus II and Aristobulus II, turned against each other in a civil war. In 63 BCE, Aristobulus was besieged in Jerusalem by his brothers armies and he sent an envoy to Marcus Aemilius Scaurus, Pompeys representative in the area. Aristobulus offered a bribe to be rescued, which Pompey promptly accepted. Afterwards, Aristobulus accused Scaurus of extortion, since Scaurus was Pompeys brother in law and protégée, the general retaliated by putting Hyrcanus in charge of the kingdom as Prince and High Priest. When Pompey was defeated by Julius Caesar, Hyrcanus was succeeded by his courtier Antipater the Idumaean, in 57-55 BCE, Aulus Gabinius, proconsul of Syria, split the former Hasmonean Kingdom into five districts of Sanhedrin/Synedrion. The Parthian army crossed the Euphrates and Labienus was able to entice Mark Antonys Roman garrisons around Syria to rally to his cause, the Parthians split their army, and under Pacorus conquered the Levant from the Phoenician coast through the Land of Israel, Antigonus. Roused the Parthians to invade Syria and Palestine, the Jews eagerly rose in support of the scion of the Maccabean house, when Phasael and Hyrcanus II set out on an embassy to the Parthians, the Parthians instead captured them. Antigonus, who was present, cut off Hyrcanuss ears to make him unsuitable for the High Priesthood, Antigonus, whose Hebrew name was Mattathias, bore the double title of king and High Priest for only three years. He had not disposed of Herod, who fled into exile, Herod was designated King of the Jews by the Roman Senate in 40 BCE, Antony then resolved to get made king of the Jews. Told that it was for their advantage in the Parthian war that Herod should be king, Antony also made a feast for Herod on the first day of his reign. The struggle thereafter lasted for years, as the main Roman forces were occupied with defeating the Parthians and had few additional resources to use to support Herod. After the Parthian defeat, Herod was victorious over his rival in 37 BCE, Antigonus was delivered to Antony and executed shortly thereafter, bringing about the end of the Hasmonean rule over Israel. Under his enterprise, such projects as the Masada fortress, the Herodion, during King Herods reign the last representatives of the Hasmoneans were eliminated. Antigonus was not, however, the last Hasmonean, the fate of the remaining male members of the family under Herod was not a happy one. Aristobulus III, grandson of Aristobulus II through his elder son Alexander, was made high priest. His sister, Mariamne was married to Herod, but fell victim to his notorious jealousy and her sons by Herod, Aristobulus IV and Alexander, were in their adulthood also executed by their father
22.
Israel
–
Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in the Middle East, on the southeastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea and the northern shore of the Red Sea. The country contains geographically diverse features within its small area. Israels economy and technology center is Tel Aviv, while its seat of government and proclaimed capital is Jerusalem, in 1947, the United Nations adopted a Partition Plan for Mandatory Palestine recommending the creation of independent Arab and Jewish states and an internationalized Jerusalem. The plan was accepted by the Jewish Agency for Palestine, next year, the Jewish Agency declared the establishment of a Jewish state in Eretz Israel, to be known as the State of Israel. Israel has since fought several wars with neighboring Arab states, in the course of which it has occupied territories including the West Bank, Golan Heights and it extended its laws to the Golan Heights and East Jerusalem, but not the West Bank. Israels occupation of the Palestinian territories is the worlds longest military occupation in modern times, efforts to resolve the Israeli–Palestinian conflict have not resulted in peace. However, peace treaties between Israel and both Egypt and Jordan have successfully been signed, the population of Israel, as defined by the Israel Central Bureau of Statistics, was estimated in 2017 to be 8,671,100 people. It is the worlds only Jewish-majority state, with 74. 8% being designated as Jewish, the countrys second largest group of citizens are Arabs, at 20. 8%. The great majority of Israeli Arabs are Sunni Muslims, including significant numbers of semi-settled Negev Bedouins, other minorities include Arameans, Armenians, Assyrians, Black Hebrew Israelites, Circassians, Maronites and Samaritans. Israel also hosts a significant population of foreign workers and asylum seekers from Africa and Asia, including illegal migrants from Sudan, Eritrea. In its Basic Laws, Israel defines itself as a Jewish, Israel is a representative democracy with a parliamentary system, proportional representation and universal suffrage. The prime minister is head of government and the Knesset is the legislature, Israel is a developed country and an OECD member, with the 35th-largest economy in the world by nominal gross domestic product as of 2016. The country benefits from a skilled workforce and is among the most educated countries in the world with one of the highest percentage of its citizens holding a tertiary education degree. The country has the highest standard of living in the Middle East and the third highest in Asia, in the early weeks of independence, the government chose the term Israeli to denote a citizen of Israel, with the formal announcement made by Minister of Foreign Affairs Moshe Sharett. The names Land of Israel and Children of Israel have historically used to refer to the biblical Kingdom of Israel. The name Israel in these phrases refers to the patriarch Jacob who, jacobs twelve sons became the ancestors of the Israelites, also known as the Twelve Tribes of Israel or Children of Israel. The earliest known artifact to mention the word Israel as a collective is the Merneptah Stele of ancient Egypt. The area is known as the Holy Land, being holy for all Abrahamic religions including Judaism, Christianity, Islam
23.
West Bank
–
The West Bank shares boundaries to the west, north, and south with Israel, and to the east, across the Jordan River, with Jordan. The West Bank also contains a significant section of the western Dead Sea shore, the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, has a land area of 5,640 km2 plus a water area of 220 km2, consisting of the northwest quarter of the Dead Sea. As of July 2015 it has an population of 2,785,366 Palestinians, and approximately 371,000 Israeli settlers. The international community considers Israeli settlements in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, illegal under international law and this annexation was recognized only by Britain, Iraq and Pakistan. The term was chosen to differentiate the west bank of the River Jordan from the east bank of this river, the neo-Latin name Cisjordan or Cis-Jordan is the usual name for the territory in the Romance languages and Hungarian. The name West Bank, however, has become the standard usage for this entity in English. The analogous Transjordan has historically used to designate the region now roughly comprising the state of Jordan. From 1517 through 1917, the now known as the West Bank was under Ottoman rule as part of the provinces of Syria. At the 1920 San Remo conference, the victorious Allied powers allocated the area to the British Mandate of Palestine, the San Remo Resolution adopted on 25 April 1920 incorporated the Balfour Declaration of 1917. It and Article 22 of the Covenant of the League of Nations were the basic documents upon which the British Mandate for Palestine was constructed. Faced with the determination of Emir Abdullah to unify Arab lands under the Hashemite banner, the West Bank area, was conquered by Jordan during the 1948 war with the new state of Israel. In 1947, it was designated as part of a proposed Arab state by the United Nations partition plan for Palestine. 1949 Armistice Agreements defined the boundary between Israel and Jordan. In 1950, Transjordan annexed the area west of the Jordan River, naming it West Bank or Cisjordan, Jordan ruled over the West Bank from 1948 until 1967. Jordans annexation was never recognized by the international community, with the exception of the United Kingdom. King Abdullah of Jordan had been crowned King of Jerusalem by the Coptic Bishop on 15 November 1948. and granted Palestinian Arabs in the West Bank, in June 1967, the West Bank and East Jerusalem were captured by Israel as a result of the Six-Day War. With the exception of East Jerusalem and the former Israeli-Jordanian no mans land, the Israeli settlements were, on the other hand, administered subsequently as Judea and Samaria Area directly by Israel. Since the 1993 Oslo Accords, the Palestinian Authority officially controls a geographically non-contiguous territory comprising approx, 11% of the West Bank which remains subject to Israeli incursions
24.
Gaza Strip
–
Gaza, together with the West Bank, comprise the Palestinian territories claimed by the Palestinians as the State of Palestine. The territories of Gaza and the West Bank are separated from each other by Israeli territory, both fall under the jurisdiction of the Palestinian Authority, but Gaza has since June 2007 been governed by Hamas, a Palestinian Islamic organization which came to power in free elections in 2006. It has been placed under an Israeli and U. S. -led international economic, the territory is 41 kilometers long, and from 6 to 12 kilometers wide, with a total area of 365 square kilometers. With around 1.85 million Palestinians on some 362 square kilometers, an extensive Israeli buffer zone within the Strip renders much land off-limits to Gazas Palestinians. Gaza has a population growth rate of 2. 91%, the 13th highest in the world. The population is expected to increase to 2.1 million in 2020, by that time, Gaza may be rendered unliveable, if present trends continue. Due to the Israeli and Egyptian border closures and the Israeli sea and air blockade, Sunni Muslims make up the predominant part of the Palestinian population in the Gaza Strip. Israel maintains direct control over Gaza and indirect control over life within Gaza, it controls Gazas air and maritime space. It reserves the right to enter Gaza at will with its military, Gaza is dependent on Israel for its water, electricity, telecommunications, and other utilities. When Hamas won the Palestinian legislative election,2006, Fatah refused to join the proposed coalition, when this collapsed under joint Israeli and United States pressure, the Palestinian Authority instituted a non-Hamas government in the West Bank while Hamas formed a government on its own in Gaza. Further economic sanctions were imposed by Israel and the European Quartet against Hamas, a brief civil war between the two groups had broken out in Gaza when, apparently under a U. S. -backed plan, Fatah contested Hamas’s administration. Hamas emerged the victor and expelled Fatah-allied officials and members of the PAs security apparatus from the Strip, since 2007, the Gaza Strip has been de facto governed by Hamas, which claims to represent the Palestinian National Authority and the Palestinian people. Israel maintains direct control over Gaza and indirect control over life within Gaza, it controls Gazas air and maritime space. It reserves the right to enter Gaza at will with its military, Gaza is dependent on Israel for its water, electricity, telecommunications, and other utilities. The Gaza Strip acquired its current northern and eastern boundaries at the cessation of fighting in the 1948 war, article V of the Agreement declared that the demarcation line was not to be an international border. At first the Gaza Strip was officially administered by the All-Palestine Government, All-Palestine in the Gaza Strip was managed under the military authority of Egypt, functioning as a puppet state, until it officially merged into the United Arab Republic and dissolved in 1959. From the time of the dissolution of the All-Palestine Government until 1967, Israel captured the Gaza Strip from Egypt in the Six-Day War in 1967. In 2005, Israel withdrew from the Gaza Strip under their unilateral disengagement plan, in July 2007, after winning the 2006 Palestinian legislative election, Hamas became the elected government
25.
Jordan
–
Jordan, officially The Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, is an Arab kingdom in Western Asia, on the East Bank of the Jordan River. Jordan is bordered by Saudi Arabia to the east and south, Iraq to the north-east, Syria to the north, Israel, Palestine and the Dead Sea to the west, Jordan is strategically located at the crossroads of Asia, Africa and Europe. The capital, Amman, is Jordans most populous city as well as the countrys economic, what is now Jordan has been inhabited by humans since the Paleolithic period. Three stable kingdoms emerged there at the end of the Bronze Age, Ammon, Moab, later rulers include the Nabataean Kingdom, the Roman Empire, and the Ottoman Empire. After the Great Arab Revolt against the Ottomans in 1916 during World War I, the Emirate of Transjordan was established in 1921 by the then Emir Abdullah I and became a British protectorate. In 1946, Jordan became an independent state known as The Hashemite Kingdom of Transjordan. Jordan captured the West Bank, which it later lost in 1967, during the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, Jordan is a founding member of the Arab League and the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, and is one of two Arab states to have signed a peace treaty with Israel. The country is a monarchy, but the king holds wide executive and legislative powers. Jordan is a relatively-small, semi-arid, almost-landlocked country with a population numbering at 9.5 million, Sunni Islam, practiced by around 92% of the population, is the dominant religion in Jordan. It coexists with an indigenous Christian minority, Jordan is considered to be among the safest of Arab countries in the Middle East, and has avoided long-term terrorism and instability. The kingdom is also a refuge to thousands of Iraqi Christians fleeing the Islamic State, while Jordan continues to accept refugees, the recent large influx from Syria placed substantial strain on national resources and infrastructure. Jordan is classified as a country of high human development with a middle income economy. The Jordanian economy, one of the smallest economies in the region, is attractive to foreign investors based upon a skilled workforce, the country is a major tourist destination, and also attracts medical tourism due to its well developed health sector. Nonetheless, a lack of resources, large flow of refugees. Jordan is named after the Jordan River, where Jesus is said to have been baptized, the origin of the rivers name is debated, but the most common explanation is that it derives from the word yarad, found in Hebrew, Aramaic, and other Semitic languages. Others regard the name as having an Indo-Aryan origin, combining the words yor and don, another theory is that it is from the Arabic root word wrd, as in people coming to a major source of water. The name Jordan appears in an ancient Egyptian papyrus called Papyrus Anastasi I, the lands of modern-day Jordan were historically called Transjordan, meaning beyond the Jordan River. The name was Arabized into Al-Urdunn during the Muslim conquest of the Levant, during crusader rule, it was called Oultrejordain
26.
Lebanon
–
Lebanon, officially known as the Lebanese Republic, is a sovereign state in Western Asia. It is bordered by Syria to the north and east and Israel to the south, Lebanons location at the crossroads of the Mediterranean Basin and the Arabian hinterland facilitated its rich history and shaped a cultural identity of religious and ethnic diversity. At just 10,452 km2, it is the smallest recognized country on the entire mainland Asian continent, the earliest evidence of civilization in Lebanon dates back more than seven thousand years, predating recorded history. Lebanon was the home of the Canaanites/Phoenicians and their kingdoms, a culture that flourished for over a thousand years. In 64 BC, the region came under the rule of the Roman Empire, in the Mount Lebanon range a monastic tradition known as the Maronite Church was established. As the Arab Muslims conquered the region, the Maronites held onto their religion, however, a new religious group, the Druze, established themselves in Mount Lebanon as well, generating a religious divide that has lasted for centuries. During the Crusades, the Maronites re-established contact with the Roman Catholic Church, the ties they established with the Latins have influenced the region into the modern era. The region eventually was ruled by the Ottoman Empire from 1516 to 1918, following the collapse of the empire after World War I, the five provinces that constitute modern Lebanon came under the French Mandate of Lebanon. The French expanded the borders of the Mount Lebanon Governorate, which was populated by Maronites and Druze. Lebanon gained independence in 1943, establishing confessionalism, a unique, foreign troops withdrew completely from Lebanon on 31 December 1946. Lebanon has been a member of the Organisation internationale de la francophonie since 1973, despite its small size, the country has developed a well-known culture and has been highly influential in the Arab world. Before the Lebanese Civil War, the experienced a period of relative calm and renowned prosperity, driven by tourism, agriculture, commerce. At the end of the war, there were efforts to revive the economy. In spite of troubles, Lebanon has the highest Human Development Index and GDP per capita in the Arab world. The name of Mount Lebanon originates from the Phoenician root lbn meaning white, occurrences of the name have been found in different Middle Bronze Age texts from the library of Ebla, and three of the twelve tablets of the Epic of Gilgamesh. The name is recorded in Ancient Egyptian as Rmnn, where R stood for Canaanite L, the name occurs nearly 70 times in the Hebrew Bible, as לְבָנוֹן. The borders of contemporary Lebanon are a product of the Treaty of Sèvres of 1920 and its territory was the core of the Bronze Age Phoenician city-states. After the 7th-century Muslim conquest of the Levant, it was part of the Rashidun, Umyayad, Abbasid Seljuk, with the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire, Greater Lebanon fell under French mandate in 1920, and gained independence under president Bechara El Khoury in 1943
27.
Syria
–
Syrias capital and largest city is Damascus. Religious groups include Sunnis, Christians, Alawites, Druze, Mandeans, Shiites, Salafis, Sunni Arabs make up the largest religious group in Syria. Its capital Damascus and largest city Aleppo are among the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world, in the Islamic era, Damascus was the seat of the Umayyad Caliphate and a provincial capital of the Mamluk Sultanate in Egypt. The post-independence period was tumultuous, and a number of military coups. In 1958, Syria entered a union with Egypt called the United Arab Republic. Syria was under Emergency Law from 1963 to 2011, effectively suspending most constitutional protections for citizens, Bashar al-Assad has been president since 2000 and was preceded by his father Hafez al-Assad, who was in office from 1970 to 2000. Mainstream modern academic opinion strongly favours the argument that the Greek word is related to the cognate Ἀσσυρία, Assyria, in the past, others believed that it was derived from Siryon, the name that the Sidonians gave to Mount Hermon. However, the discovery of the inscription in 2000 seems to support the theory that the term Syria derives from Assyria. The area designated by the word has changed over time, since approximately 10,000 BC, Syria was one of centers of Neolithic culture where agriculture and cattle breeding appeared for the first time in the world. The following Neolithic period is represented by houses of Mureybet culture. At the time of the pre-pottery Neolithic, people used vessels made of stone, gyps, finds of obsidian tools from Anatolia are evidences of early trade relations. Cities of Hamoukar and Emar played an important role during the late Neolithic, archaeologists have demonstrated that civilization in Syria was one of the most ancient on earth, perhaps preceded by only those of Mesopotamia. The earliest recorded indigenous civilisation in the region was the Kingdom of Ebla near present-day Idlib, gifts from Pharaohs, found during excavations, confirm Eblas contact with Egypt. One of the earliest written texts from Syria is an agreement between Vizier Ibrium of Ebla and an ambiguous kingdom called Abarsal c.2300 BC. The Northwest Semitic language of the Amorites is the earliest attested of the Canaanite languages, Mari reemerged during this period, and saw renewed prosperity until conquered by Hammurabi of Babylon. Ugarit also arose during this time, circa 1800 BC, close to modern Latakia, Ugaritic was a Semitic language loosely related to the Canaanite languages, and developed the Ugaritic alphabet. The Ugarites kingdom survived until its destruction at the hands of the marauding Indo-European Sea Peoples in the 12th century BC, Yamhad was described in the tablets of Mari as the mightiest state in the near east and as having more vassals than Hammurabi of Babylon. Yamhad imposed its authority over Alalakh, Qatna, the Hurrians states, the army of Yamhad campaigned as far away as Dēr on the border of Elam
28.
Egypt
–
Egypt, officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia by a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. Egypt is a Mediterranean country bordered by the Gaza Strip and Israel to the northeast, the Gulf of Aqaba to the east, the Red Sea to the east and south, Sudan to the south, and Libya to the west. Across the Gulf of Aqaba lies Jordan, and across from the Sinai Peninsula lies Saudi Arabia, although Jordan and it is the worlds only contiguous Afrasian nation. Egypt has among the longest histories of any country, emerging as one of the worlds first nation states in the tenth millennium BC. Considered a cradle of civilisation, Ancient Egypt experienced some of the earliest developments of writing, agriculture, urbanisation, organised religion and central government. One of the earliest centres of Christianity, Egypt was Islamised in the century and remains a predominantly Muslim country. With over 92 million inhabitants, Egypt is the most populous country in North Africa and the Arab world, the third-most populous in Africa, and the fifteenth-most populous in the world. The great majority of its people live near the banks of the Nile River, an area of about 40,000 square kilometres, the large regions of the Sahara desert, which constitute most of Egypts territory, are sparsely inhabited. About half of Egypts residents live in areas, with most spread across the densely populated centres of greater Cairo, Alexandria. Modern Egypt is considered to be a regional and middle power, with significant cultural, political, and military influence in North Africa, the Middle East and the Muslim world. Egypts economy is one of the largest and most diversified in the Middle East, Egypt is a member of the United Nations, Non-Aligned Movement, Arab League, African Union, and Organisation of Islamic Cooperation. Miṣr is the Classical Quranic Arabic and modern name of Egypt. The name is of Semitic origin, directly cognate with other Semitic words for Egypt such as the Hebrew מִצְרַיִם, the oldest attestation of this name for Egypt is the Akkadian
29.
History of Israel
–
The History of Israel encompasses the Jewish history in the Land of Israel, as well as the history of the modern State of Israel. Modern Israel and the West Bank are roughly located on the site of the ancient kingdoms of Israel and it is the birthplace of the Hebrew language and of the Abrahamic religions, and contains sites sacred to Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Samaritanism, Druze and Baháí Faith. Although coming under the sway of various empires and home to a variety of ethnicities, the area became increasingly Christian after the 3rd century and then largely Muslim following the 7th century conquest and until the middle of the 20th century. A Jewish national movement, Zionism, emerged in the late-19th century, Israeli independence in 1948 was marked by massive migration of Jews from both Europe and the Muslim countries to Israel, and of Arabs from Israel, followed by the extensive Arab–Israeli conflict. About 43% of the worlds Jews live in Israel today, the largest Jewish community in the world, since about 1970, the United States has become the principal ally of Israel. In 1979 an uneasy Egypt–Israel Peace Treaty was signed, based on the Camp David Accords, in 1993, Israel signed Oslo I Accord with the Palestine Liberation Organization, followed by establishment of the Palestinian National Authority and in 1994 Israel–Jordan peace treaty was signed. Despite efforts to finalize the agreement, the conflict continues to play a major role in Israeli and international political, social. The economy of Israel was initially primarily socialist and the country dominated by social democratic parties until the 1970s, since then the Israeli economy has gradually moved to capitalism and a free market economy, partially retaining the social welfare system. Between 2.6 and 0.9 million years ago, at least four episodes of dispersal from Africa to the Levant are known. The oldest evidence of humans in the territory of modern Israel. The flint tool artifacts have been discovered at Yiron, the oldest stone tools found anywhere outside Africa, other groups include 1.4 million years old Acheulean industry, the Bizat Ruhama group and Gesher Bnot Yaakov. Other notable Paleolithic sites include caves Qesem and Manot, the oldest fossils of anatomically modern humans found outside Africa are the Skhul and Qafzeh hominids, who lived in northern Israel 120,000 years ago. Around 10th millennium BCE, the Natufian culture existed in the area, during the 2nd millennium BCE, Canaan, part of which later became known as Israel, was dominated by the New Kingdom of Egypt from c.1550 to c. The first record of the name Israel occurs in the Merneptah stele, erected for Egyptian Pharaoh Merneptah c.1209 BCE, Israel is laid waste and his seed is not. William G. Dever sees this Israel in the highlands as a cultural and probably political entity. Ancestors of the Israelites may have included Semites native to Canaan, the first use of grapheme-based writing originated in the area, probably among Canaanite peoples resident in Egypt. All modern alphabetical writing systems are descended from this writing, written evidence of the use of Classical Hebrew exists from about 1000 BCE. It was written using the Paleo-Hebrew alphabet, villages had populations of up to 300 or 400, which lived by farming and herding, and were largely self-sufficient, economic interchange was prevalent
30.
History of ancient Israel and Judah
–
Israel and Judah were related Iron Age kingdoms of the ancient Levant. The Kingdom of Israel emerged as an important local power by the 10th century BCE before falling to the Neo-Assyrian Empire in 722 BCE and this, the last nominally independent Judean kingdom, came to an end in 63 BCE with its conquest by Pompey of Rome. East of the plain and the Shephelah is a ridge, the hill country of Judah in the south, the hill country of Ephraim north of that, then Galilee. To the east again lie the valley occupied by the Jordan River, the Dead Sea, and the wadi of the Arabah. 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 entities that surrounded it. 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 Canaanite city-state system broke down at the end of the Late Bronze period, the name Israel first appears in the stele of the Egyptian pharaoh Merneptah c.1209 BCE, Israel is laid waste and his seed is no more. In the Late Bronze Age there were no more than about 25 villages in the highlands, the villages were more numerous and larger in the north, and probably shared the highlands with pastoral nomads, who left no remains. Other Aramaean sites also demonstrate a contemporary absence of pig remains at that time, unlike earlier Canaanite, in The Bible Unearthed, 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 emergence of a new culture contrasting with the Philistine. This new culture is characterised by a lack of remains, by an abandonment of the Philistine/Canaanite custom of having highly decorated pottery. The Israelite ethnic identity had originated, not from the Exodus and a subsequent conquest and these surveys revolutionized the study of early Israel. 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. From then on, over a period of hundreds of years until after the return of the exiles from Babylon, after the period of Ezra there is no more biblical record of them. The Hebrew language, a dialect of Canaanite, became the language of the hill country, modern scholars therefore see Israel arising peacefully and internally from existing people in the highlands of Canaan. 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
31.
Natufian culture
–
The Epipaleolithic Natufian culture /nəˈtuːfiən/ existed from around 12,500 to 9,500 BC in the Levant, a region in the Eastern Mediterranean. It was unusual in that it supported a sedentary or semi-sedentary population even before the introduction of agriculture, the Natufian communities may be the ancestors of the builders of the first Neolithic settlements of the region, which may have been the earliest in the world. Natufians founded Jericho which may be the oldest city in the world, some evidence suggests deliberate cultivation of cereals, specifically rye, by the Natufian culture, at Tell Abu Hureyra, the site of earliest evidence of agriculture in the world. Generally, though, Natufians exploited wild cereals, Dorothy Garrod coined the term Natufian based on her excavations at Shuqba cave in Wadi an-Natuf, in the western Judean Mountains. The Natufian culture was discovered by British archaeologist Dorothy Garrod during her excavations of Shuqba cave in the Judaean Hills, prior to the 1930s, the majority of archaeological work taking place in Palestine was biblical archaeology focused on historic periods, and little was known about the regions prehistory. She discovered a layer sandwiched between the Upper Palaeolithic and Bronze Age deposits characterised by the presence of microliths. She identified this with the Mesolithic, a period between the Palaeolithic and the Neolithic which was well represented in Europe but had not yet been found in the Near East. A year later, when she discovered similar material at el-Wad Terrace, Garrod suggested the name the Natufian culture, as early as 1931, both Garrod and Neuville drew attention to the presence of stone sickles in Natufian assemblages and the possibility that this represented very early agriculture. Radiocarbon dating places this culture from the terminal Pleistocene to the beginning of the Holocene. The period is split into two subperiods, Early Natufian and Late Natufian. The Late Natufian most likely occurred in tandem with the Younger Dryas, the Natufian developed in the same region as the earlier Kebaran industry. It is generally seen as a successor, which evolved out of elements within that preceding culture, more generally there has been discussion of the similarities of these cultures with those found in coastal North Africa. In fact, Weiss et al. have shown that the earliest known usage of plants was in the Levant 23,000 years ago at the Ohalo II site. Loring Brace cross-analysed the craniometric traits of Natufian specimens with those of ancient and modern groups from the Near East, Africa. Settlements occur in the belt where oak and Pistacia species dominated. The underbrush of this woodland was grass with high frequencies of grain. The habitations of the Natufian are semi-subterranean, often with a dry-stone foundation, the superstructure was probably made of brushwood. No traces of mudbrick have been found, which became common in the following Pre-Pottery Neolithic A, the round houses have a diameter between three and six meters, and they contain a central round or subrectangular fireplace
32.
Prehistory of the Levant
–
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. Not only have many cultures and traditions of humans lived here, in addition, this region is one of the centers for the development of agriculture. The lithic assemblages relate to the Early Acheulian culture, later Acheulian sites include Gesher Benot Yaakov, Tabun Cave and others dated to the time span of ca. This layer contains the worlds first signs of domesticated dogs and controlled usage of fire, the Middle Palaeolithic period is represented in the Levant by the Mousterian culture, known from numerous sites through the region. The chronological subdivision of the Mousterian is based on the sequence of the Tabun Cave. Middle Paleolithic human remains include both the Neanderthals, and anatomically modern humans from Jebel Qafzeh and Skhul Cave, the Upper Palaeolithic period is dated in the Levant to ca. Epi-Palaeolithic period is characterized by significant cultural variability and wide spread of the microlithic technologies, beginning with the appearance of the Kebaran culture a microlithic toolkit was associated with the appearance of the bow and arrow into the area. Kebaran affiliated cultures spread as far as Southern Turkey, the latest part of the period 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, a lot of archaeological excavations of this culture creates a relatively well defined understanding of these people. One of the most significant aspects of this Culture was their large community sizes, the Neolithic period is traditionally divided to the Pre-Pottery and Pottery phases. PPNA developed from the earlier Natufian cultures of the area, in addition, the Levant in the Neolithic and Chalcolithic was involved in large scale, far reaching trade. This is indicative of a large trade circle reaching as far as the Northern Fertile Crescent at Nemrut Dağ. The Ghassulian period created the basis of the Mediterranean economy which has characterised the area ever since, 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 region of Israel has generally been more economically developed than the southern one of Judah. A Hill Route, travelling through the Negev, Kadesh Barnea, to Hebron and Jerusalem, and thence north to Samaria, Shechem, Shiloh, Beth Shean and Hazor, and thence to Kadesh and Damascus. The Kings Highway, travelling north from Eilat, east of the Jordan through Amman to Damascus, 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. Eventually they revert to fully nomadic cultures, which, when rainfall increases settle around important sources of water, the increased prosperity leads to a revival of inter-regional and eventually international trade. Warfare leads to opening the region to pandemics, with resultant depopulation, overuse of fragile soils, 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
33.
Canaan
–
Canaan was a Semitic-speaking region in the Ancient Near East during the late 2nd millennium BC. The name Canaan occurs commonly in the Hebrew Bible, in particular, the references in Genesis 10 and Numbers 34 define the Land of Canaan as extending from Lebanon southward to the Brook of Egypt and eastward to the Jordan River Valley. References to Canaan in the Bible are usually backward-looking, referring to a region that had something else. The term Canaanites serves as an ethnic catch-all term covering various indigenous populations—both settled, the Amarna Letters and other cuneiform documents use Kinaḫḫu, while other sources of the Egyptian New Kingdom mention numerous military campaigns conducted in Ka-na-na. Canaan had significant geopolitical importance in the Late Bronze Age Amarna period as the area where the spheres of interest of the Egyptian, Hittite, Mitanni and Assyrian Empires converged. Much of the knowledge about Canaan stems from archaeological excavation in this area at sites such as Tel Hazor, Tel Megiddo. The English term Canaan comes from the Hebrew כנען, via Greek Χαναάν Khanaan and it appears as KUR ki-na-ah-na in the Amarna letters, and knʿn is found on coins from Phoenicia in the last half of the 1st millennium. It first occurs in Greek in the writings of Hecataeus as Khna, scholars connect the name Canaan with knʿn, Kanaan, the general Northwest Semitic name for this region. An early explanation derives the term from the Semitic root knʿ to be low, humble, purple cloth became a renowned Canaanite export commodity which is mentioned in Exodus. The dyes may have named after their place of origin. The purple cloth of Tyre in Phoenicia was well known far, however, according to Robert Drews, Speisers proposal has generally been abandoned. The Late Bronze Age state of Ugarit is considered quintessentially Canaanite archaeologically, Jonathan Tubb states that the term ga-na-na may provide a third millennium reference to Canaanite while at the same time stating that the first certain reference is in the 18th century BC. See Ebla-Biblical controversy for further details, Mari letters A letter from Mutu-bisir to Shamshi-Adad I of the Old Assyrian Empire has been translated, It is in Rahisum that the brigands and the Canaanites are situated. It was found in 1973 in the ruins of Mari, an Assyrian outpost at that time in Syria, additional unpublished references to Kinahnum in the Mari letters refer to the same episode. Alalakh texts A reference to Ammiya being in the land of Canaan is found on the Statue of Idrimi from Alalakh in modern Syria. After a popular uprising against his rule, Idrimi was forced into exile with his mothers relatives to seek refuge in the land of Canaan, the other references in the Alalakh texts are, AT154 AT181, A list of Apiru people with their origins. All are towns, except for Canaan AT188, A list of Muskenu people with their origins, the letters are written in the official and diplomatic East Semitic Akkadian language of Assyria and Babylonia, though Canaanitish words and idioms are also in evidence. May the king ask Yanhamu about these matters, may the king ask his commissioner, who is familiar with Canaan EA151, Letter from Abimilku to the Pharaoh, The king, my lord wrote to me, write to me what you have heard from Canaan
34.
Israelites
–
The Israelites were a Semitic-speaking people of the ancient Near East, who inhabited a part of Canaan during the tribal and monarchic periods. The ancient Israelites are considered to be an outgrowth of the indigenous Canaanite populations that inhabited the Southern Levant, Syria, ancient Israel. In the period of the monarchy it was only used to refer to the inhabitants of the northern kingdom. The Israelites were also known as the Hebrews and the Twelve Tribes of Israel, the Jews are named after and also descended from the southern Israelite Kingdom of Judah, particularly the tribes of Judah, Benjamin and partially Levi. The word Jews is found in 2 Kings, Chronicles, and in passages in the Book of Jeremiah, the Book of Zechariah. The Kingdom of Israel, often called the Northern Kingdom of Israel, contained all the tribes except for the tribes of Judah, following its conquest by Assyria, these ten tribes were allegedly dispersed and lost to history, and they are henceforth known as the Ten Lost Tribes. Jewish tradition holds that Samaria was so named because the mountainous terrain was used to keep Guard for incoming enemy attacks. According to Samaritan tradition, however, the Samaritan ethnonym is not derived from the region of Samaria, thus, according to Samaritan tradition, the region was named Samaria after them, not vice versa. In Modern Hebrew, the Samaritans are called Shomronim, while in Samaritan Hebrew they call themselves Shamerim, in Judaism, an Israelite is, broadly speaking, a lay member of the Jewish ethnoreligious group, as opposed to the priestly orders of Kohanim and Levites. In texts of Jewish law such as the Mishnah and Gemara, the term יהודי, meaning Jew, is rarely used, Samaritans commonly refer to themselves and to Jews collectively as Israelites, and they describe themselves as the Israelite Samaritans. The name Israel first appears in the Hebrew Bible in Genesis 32,29, the Hebrew Bible etymologizes the name as from yisra to prevail over or to struggle/wrestle with, and el, God, the divine. The name Israel first appears in non-biblical sources c.1209 BCE, the inscription is very brief and says simply, Israel is laid waste and his seed is not. The inscription refers to a people, not to an individual or a nation-state, in modern Hebrew, bnei yisrael can denote the Jewish people at any time in history, it is typically used to emphasize Jewish religious identity. From the period of the Mishna the term Yisrael acquired a narrower meaning of Jews of legitimate birth other than Levites. In modern Hebrew this contrasts with the term Yisraeli, a citizen of the modern State of Israel, the term Hebrew has Eber as an eponymous ancestor. It is used synonymously with Israelites, or as a term for historical speakers of the Hebrew language in general. Today, Jews and Samaritans both recognize each other as communities with an authentic Israelite origin, the terms Jews and Samaritans largely replaced the title Children of Israel as the commonly used ethnonym for each respective community. The name Yahweh, the god of the later Israelites, may indicate connections with the region of Mount Seir in Edom, the Canaanites were also the first people, as far as is known, to have used an alphabet
35.
Kingdom of Israel (united monarchy)
–
The United Monarchy is the name given to the Israelite kingdom of Israel and Judah, during the reigns of Saul, David and Solomon, as depicted in the Hebrew Bible. This is traditionally dated between 1050 and 930 BCE, modern historians are divided on the historicity of the United Monarchy as described in the Bible. There is no evidence of a united Kingdom of Judah. According to standard source criticism, a number of source texts were spliced together to produce the current books of Samuel. The most prominent in the parts of the first book are the pro-monarchical source. In identifying these two sources, two separate accounts can be reconstructed, the anti-monarchical source describes Samuel to have thoroughly routed the Philistines, yet begrudgingly accepting that the people demanded a ruler, and thus appointing Saul by cleromancy. Textual critics also point to disparities in the account of Davids rise to power as indicative of separate threads being merged later to create an age of a united monarchy. David is thought by scholars to have been a ruler in Judah while Israel, comparatively immense, modern archaeology also supports this view. Most scholars believe the Books of Samuel exhibit too many anachronisms to have been a contemporary account, for example, there is mention of later armor, use of camels, cavalry, and iron picks and axes. According to the Book of Judges, the Israelite tribes previously lived as a confederation under ad hoc charismatic leaders called Judges. Abimelech was the first to be declared king by the men of Shechem and the house of Millo, and reigned over Israel for three years before he was killed during the Battle of Thebez. The Bible treats the notion of kingship as having been an anathema at the time, it being seen as one man put in a position of reverence and power, which in their faith was reserved for God. According to the Second Book of Samuel, due to his disobedience to God, Sauls reign was curtailed, the Masoretic Text says that Saul ruled for only two years. The Bible portrays Saul as having died in battle against the Philistines, Sauls heir, Ishbaal, took over rulership of Israel but, according to Samuel, ruled for only two years before he was assassinated. David, who had become king of Judah only, ended the conspiracy, a number of textual critics and biblical scholars have suggested that David was actually responsible for the assassination, and Davids innocence was a later invention to legitimize his actions. Israel rebels, according to Samuel, and appoints Davids son Absalom as their new king, the Bible then describes Israel as taking over Judah and ultimately forcing David into exile east of the Jordan. This section of the text, and the bulk of the remainder of the Books of Samuel, is thought by textual critics to belong to a single large source known as the Court History of David. Israel and Judah are portrayed in this source as quite distinct kingdoms, eventually, according to the Book of Samuel, David launches a counter-attack, and wins, although with the loss of Absalom
36.
Kingdom of Israel (Samaria)
–
According to the Hebrew Bible, the Kingdom of Israel was one of two successor states to the former United Kingdom of Israel and Judah. Historians often refer to the Kingdom of Israel as the Northern Kingdom or as the Kingdom of Samaria to differentiate it from the Southern Kingdom of Judah, the Kingdom of Israel existed roughly from 930 BCE until 720 BCE, when it was conquered by the Neo-Assyrian Empire. The major cities of the kingdom were Shechem, Tirzah, in the Hebrew Bible, the Kingdom of Israel has been referred to as the House of Joseph. It is also referenced as Ephraim, the tribe whose territory housed the capital cities. It has also referred to as Israel in Samaria. According to the Hebrew Bible, the territory of the Kingdom of Israel comprised the territories of the tribes of Zebulun, Issachar, Asher, Naphtali, Dan, Manasseh, Ephraim, Reuben and its capital was Samaria according to the Book of Isaiah. The United Kingdom of Israel and Judah is said to have existed from about 1030 to about 930 BCE and it was a union of all the twelve Israelite tribes living in the area that presently approximates modern Israel and the Palestinian territories. After the death of Solomon in about 931 BCE, all the Israelite tribes except for Judah and Benjamin refused to accept Rehoboam, the rebellion against Rehoboam arose after he refused to lighten the burden of taxation and services that his father had imposed on his subjects. Jeroboam, who was not of the Davidic line, was sent for from Egypt by the malcontents, the Tribe of Ephraim and all Israel raised the old cry, Every man to his tents, O Israel. Rehoboam fled to Jerusalem, and in 930 BCE, Jeroboam was proclaimed king over all Israel at Shechem, after the revolt at Shechem at first only the tribe of Judah remained loyal to the house of David. But very soon after the tribe of Benjamin joined Judah, the northern kingdom continued to be called the Kingdom of Israel or Israel, while the southern kingdom was called the kingdom of Judah. 2 Chronicles 15,9 also says that members of the tribes of Ephraim, Manasseh, both Eusebius and Josephus place the division in 997 BCE – lunar dates of Venus can be mistaken as 64 years later. Shechem was the first capital of the Kingdom of Israel, King Omri built his capital in Samaria, which continued as such until the destruction of the Kingdom by the Assyrians. Thus, around 720 BCE, after two centuries, the kingdom of the ten tribes came to an end, for the first sixty years, the kings of Judah tried to re-establish their authority over the northern kingdom, and there was perpetual war between them. For the following eighty years, there was no war between them, and, for the most part, they were in friendly alliance, co-operating against their common enemies. The conflict between Israel and Judah was resolved when Jehoshaphat, King of Judah, allied himself with the house of Ahab through marriage, later, Jehosophats son and successor, Jehoram of Judah, married Ahabs daughter Athaliah, cementing the alliance. However, the sons of Ahab were slaughtered by Jehu following his coup détat around 840 BCE, in c.732 BCE, Pekah of Israel, while allied with Rezin, king of Aram, threatened Jerusalem. Ahaz, king of Judah, appealed to Tiglath-Pileser III, the king of Assyria, people from these tribes including the Reubenite leader, were taken captive and resettled in the region of the Khabur River system
37.
Kingdom of Judah
–
The Kingdom of Judah was an Iron Age kingdom of the Southern Levant. The Hebrew Bible depicts it as the successor to a United Monarchy, in the 10th and early 9th centuries BCE the territory of Judah appears to have been sparsely populated, limited to small rural settlements, most of them unfortified. Significant academic debate exists around the character of the Kingdom of Judah, archaeologists of the minimalist school doubt the extent of the Kingdom of Judah as depicted in the Bible. Around 1990–2010, an important group of archaeologists and biblical scholars formed the view that the actual Kingdom of Judah bore little resemblance to the portrait of a powerful monarchy. These scholars say the kingdom was no more than a tribal entity. Other archaeologists say that the identification of Khirbet Qeiyafa as an Israelite settlement is uncertain, the status of Jerusalem in the 10th century BCE is a major subject of debate. The oldest part of Jerusalem and its urban core is the City of David. However, unique structures such as the Stepped Stone Structure and the Large Stone Structure. According to the Hebrew Bible, the kingdom of Judah resulted from the break-up of the United kingdom of Israel after the tribes refused to accept Rehoboam. At first, only the tribe of Judah remained loyal to the house of David, the two kingdoms, Judah in the south and Israel in the north, coexisted uneasily after the split until the destruction of the Kingdom of Israel by Assyria in c. 722/721. The major theme of the Hebrew Bibles narrative is the loyalty of Judah, and especially its kings, to Yahweh, which it states is the God of Israel. Accordingly, all the kings of Israel and almost all the kings of Judah were bad, which in terms of Biblical narrative means that they failed to enforce monotheism. Of the good kings, Hezekiah is noted for his efforts at stamping out idolatry, for the first sixty years, the kings of Judah tried to re-establish their authority over the northern kingdom, and there was perpetual war between them. Israel and Judah were in a state of war throughout Rehoboams seventeen-year reign, Rehoboam built elaborate defenses and strongholds, along with fortified cities. In the fifth year of Rehoboams reign, Shishak, pharaoh of Egypt, brought a huge army, in the sack of Jerusalem, Rehoboam gave them all of the treasures out of the temple as a tribute and Judah became a vassal state of Egypt. Rehoboams son and successor, Abijah of Judah continued his fathers efforts to bring Israel under his control and he fought the Battle of Mount Zemaraim against Jeroboam of Israel and was victorious with a heavy loss of life on the Israel side. The Bible does not state whether Zerah was a pharaoh or a general of the army, the Ethiopians were pursued all the way to Gerar, in the coastal plain, where they stopped out of sheer exhaustion. The resulting peace kept Judah free from Egyptian incursions until the time of Josiah some centuries later, in his 36th year, Asa was confronted by Baasha of Israel, who built a fortress at Ramah on the border, less than ten miles from Jerusalem
38.
Second Temple period
–
Jewish history is the history of the Jews, and their religion and culture, as it developed and interacted with other peoples, religions and cultures. The Jewish diaspora began with the Assyrian conquest and continued on a larger scale with the Babylonian conquest. Jews were also widespread throughout the Roman Empire, and this carried on to an extent in the period of Byzantine rule in the central. In 638 CE the Byzantine Empire lost control of the Levant, the Arab Islamic Empire under Caliph Omar conquered Jerusalem and the lands of Mesopotamia, Syria, Palestine and Egypt. The Golden Age of Jewish culture in Spain coincided with the Middle Ages in Europe, during that time, Jews were generally accepted in society and Jewish religious, cultural, and economic life blossomed. During the Classical Ottoman period, the Jews, together with most other communities of the empire, in the 17th century, there were many significant Jewish populations in Western Europe. During the period of the European Renaissance and Enlightenment, significant changes occurred within the Jewish community, Jews began in the 18th century to campaign for emancipation from restrictive laws and integration into the wider European society. During the 1870s and 1880s the Jewish population in Europe began to actively discuss immigration back to Israel. The Zionist movement was founded officially in 1884, meanwhile, the Jews of Europe and the United States gained success in the fields of science, culture and the economy. Among those generally considered the most famous were scientist Albert Einstein, a large number of Nobel Prize winners at this time were Jewish, as is still the case. In 1933, with the rise to power of Adolf Hitler and the Nazi party in Germany, economic crises, racial anti-Semitic laws, and a fear of an upcoming war led many Jews to flee from Europe to Palestine, to the United States and to the Soviet Union. In 1939 World War II began and until 1941 Hitler occupied almost all of Europe and this genocide, in which approximately six million Jews were methodically exterminated, is known as The Holocaust or Shoah. In Poland, three million Jews were killed in gas chambers in all concentration camps combined, with one million at the Auschwitz concentration camp alone, in 1945 the Jewish resistance organizations in Palestine unified and established the Jewish Resistance Movement. The movement began attacking the British authority, David Ben-Gurion proclaimed on May 14,1948, the establishment of a Jewish state in Eretz Israel to be known as the State of Israel. Immediately afterwards all neighbouring Arab states attacked, yet the newly formed IDF resisted, in 1949 the war ended and the state of Israel started building the state and absorbing massive waves of hundreds of thousands of Jews from all over the world. Today, Israel is a democracy with a population of over 8 million people. The largest Jewish communities are in Israel and the United States, with communities in France, Argentina, Russia, United Kingdom, Australia, Canada. For statistics related to modern Jewish demographics see Jewish population, ‹See Tfd› The history of the early Jews, and their neighbors, centers on the Fertile Crescent and east coast of the Mediterranean Sea
39.
Yehud Medinata
–
The area of Yehud Medinata corresponded to the previous Babylonian province with the same name, formed after the fall of the kingdom of Judah to the Neo-Babylonian Empire. Yehud Medinata continued to exist for two centuries, until being incorporated into the Hellenistic empires following the conquests of Alexander the Great. There is not complete agreement on the chronology of the Babylonian and Persian periods, the table is used in this article. The probable date for his mission is 458 BCE, but it is possible that it took place in 397 BCE, the revolt failed, and in 597 BCE, many Judahites, including the prophet Ezekiel, were exiled to Babylon. A few years later, Judah revolted yet again, in 589 Nebuchadnezzar again besieged Jerusalem, and many Jews fled to Moab, Ammon, Edom and other countries to seek refuge. The city fell after an 18-month siege and Nebuchadnezzar again pillaged and destroyed Jerusalem, the former kingdom of Judah then became a Babylonian province Yehud, with Gedaliah, a native Judahite, as governor. According to Miller and Hayes, the province included the towns of Bethel in the north, Mizpah, Jericho in the east, Jerusalem, Beth-Zur in the west, the administrative centre of the province was Mizpah. On hearing of the appointment, the Jews that had taken refuge in surrounding countries returned to Judah, however, before long, Gedaliah was assassinated by a member of the former royal house, and the Babylonian garrison was killed, triggering a mass movement of refugees to Egypt. In Egypt, the refugees settled in Migdol, Tahpanhes, Noph, and Pathros, the numbers deported to Babylon or who made their way to Egypt and the remnant that remained in Yehud province and in surrounding countries are subject to academic debate. The Book of Jeremiah reports that a total of 4600 were exiled to Babylon, the Book of Kings also suggests that it was 8000. Israel Finkelstein, a prominent archaeologist, suggests that the 4600 represented the heads of households and 8000 was the total, Jeremiah also hints that an equivalent number may have fled to Egypt. Given such figures, Finkelstein suggests that three fourths of the Judahite population had remained in Judah, in 539 BCE, Babylon fell to the Persians. That event is dated securely from non-biblical sources, in his first year, Cyrus the Great decreed that the deportees in Babylon could return to Yehud and rebuild the Temple. Led by Zerubbabel,42,360 exiles returned to Yehud, according to Book of Ezra, Jeshua and Zerubbabel were frustrated in their efforts to rebuild the Temple by the enmity of the people of the land and the opposition of the governor of Beyond-the-River. The Book of Ezra dates Ezras arrival in Jerusalem to the year of Artaxerxes. Its position in the narrative implies that he was Artaxerxes I in which case the year was 458 BCE, Ezra, a scholar of the commandments of Yahweh, was commissioned by Artaxerxes to rebuild the Temple and enforce the laws of Moses in Beyond-the-River. Ezra led a party of exiles back to Yehud, where he found that Jews had intermarried with the peoples of the land. He succeeded in doing so but encountered resistance from the people of the land
40.
Herodian dynasty
–
The Herodian Dynasty was a Judean dynasty of Idumaean/Edomite descent. The Herodian dynasty began with Herod the Great, who assumed the throne of Judea, with Roman support and his kingdom lasted until his death in 4 BCE, when it was divided between his sons as a Tetrarchy, which lasted for about 10 years. During the time of the Hasmonean ruler John Hyrcanus, Judea conquered Edom, the Edomites were gradually integrated into the Judean nation, and some of them reached high-ranking positions. In the days of Alexander Jannaeus, Edomite Antipas, was appointed governor of Edom, julius Caesar appointed Antipater to be procurator of Judea in 47 BCE and he appointed his sons Phasael and Herod to be governors of Jerusalem and Galilee respectively. Antipater was murdered in 43 BCE, however, his sons managed to hold the reins of power and were elevated to the rank of tetrarchs in 41 BCE by Mark Anthony. In 40 BCE, the Parthians invaded the eastern Roman provinces, in Judea, the Hasmonean dynasty was restored under king Antigonus as a pro-Parthian monarch. Herod the Great, the son of Antipater the Idumean and Cypros, after convincing the Roman Senate of his sincere intentions in favor of Romans he eventually was announced as king of the Jews by the Roman Senate. Despite his announcement as king of the whole of Judea, Herod did not fully conquer it until 37 BCE, Herod ruled Judea until 4 BCE, at his death his kingdom was divided among his three sons as a tetrarchy. Herod Archelaus, son of Herod and Malthace the Samaritan, was given the part of the kingdom, Judea proper, Edom. He ruled for ten years until 6 CE, when he was banished to Vienne in Gaul, where—according to Dion Cassius Cocceianus, 27—he lived for the remainder of his days. Herod Philip I, son of Herod and his fifth wife Cleopatra of Jerusalem, was given jurisdiction over the northeast part of his fathers kingdom, he ruled there until his death in 34 CE. Herod Antipas, another son of Herod and Malthace, was ruler of the Galilee and Perea. Herod Antipas is probably the person referenced in the Christian New Testament Gospels, playing a role in the death of John the Baptist, in 41 CE, Emperor Claudius added to his territory the parts of Iudea province, that previously belonged to Herod Archelaus. Thus Agrippa I practically re-united his grandfathers kingdom under his rule, Agrippa Is son Agrippa II was appointed King and ruler of the northern parts of his fathers kingdom. He was the last of the Herodians, and with his death in c.92 CE the dynasty was extinct, in addition, Aristobulus of Chalcis of the Herodian dynasty was tetrarch of Chalcis and king of Armenia Minor. His father, Herod of Chalcis ruled as king of Chalcis earlier, such portrayals were still in folk memory in William Shakespeares time, for Hamlet instructs the players not to out-Herod Herod
41.
Herodian Tetrarchy
–
The Herodian Tetrarchy was formed following the death of Herod the Great in 4 BCE, when his kingdom was divided between his sons as an inheritance. However, other parts of the Herodian Tetrarchy continued to function under Herodians, thus, Philip the Tetrarch ruled Batanea, with Trachonitis, as well as Auranitis until 34 CE, while Herod Antipas ruled Galilee and Perea until 39 CE. At the time of his death, Herod ruled over most of the South Western Levant, Antipas was not Herods first choice of heir. That honor fell to Aristobulus and Alexander, Herods sons by the Hasmonean princess Mariamne, during his fatal illness in 4 BCE, Herod had yet another change of heart about the succession. Philip was to receive Gaulanitis, Batanaea, Trachonitis and Auranitis, because of Judeas status as a Roman client kingdom, Herods plans for the succession had to be ratified by Augustus. The three heirs of Herod therefore travelled to Rome to make their claims, Antipas arguing he ought to inherit the whole kingdom, Archelaus had, however, to be content with the title of ethnarch rather than king. Herod Antipas, Archelaus’ brother, became Tetrarch of Galilee and Perea, Philip I, Herod’s son by his fifth wife Cleopatra of Jerusalem, became Tetrarch of the northern part of Herod’s kingdom. A number of these refer to the same places, found now in modern-day Syria. In a turbulent period of history, the rule of the tetrarchs was relatively uneventful, the most trouble fell to Archelaus, who was faced with sedition by the Pharisees at the beginning of his reign, and crushed it with great severity. After ruling for 10 years he was removed by the emperor Augustus in 6 CE, following complaints about his cruelty and he was replaced by a Roman prefect, and his territory re-organized as the Roman province of Iudaea. Philip ruled Ituraea and Trachonitis as a tetrarch until his death in 34 CE when his territories became part of the Roman province of Syria. Agrippa arranged for Chalcis to be handed over to his brother Herod, with this acquisition, a Herodian Kingdom of the Jews was nominally re-established until 44 CE though there is no indication that status as a province was suspended. The word Tetrarch suggests four rulers, however Josephus, in the context of describing Herod’s legacy and he refers to Archelaus, who had one half of that which had been subject to Herod, and for Philip and Antipas the other half, divided into two parts. On the other hand, Luke the Evangelist refers to Lysanias, tetrarch of Abilene, in his list of rulers at the time of John the Baptist, alongside Pontius Pilate, Herod, Josephus reference to one half the kingdom may signify that Archelaus was ruler of two quarters. Or it may be that Josephus, in describing the inheritances of Herods sons, omitted to mention Lysanias, or his predecessor, as they were not Herodians. It is the view of W. Smith, referring to Abilene, that Abilene, or part of it, was subject to Herod before his death, and held by Lysanias as a tetrarchate from him. The territory was returned later to the Herodians, the first part by Caligula to Herod Agrippa I, Herodian dynasty This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain, Easton, Matthew George. This article incorporates text from a now in the public domain, Smith, William
42.
Judea (Roman province)
–
It was named after Herod Archelauss Tetrarchy of Judea, but the Roman province encompassed a much larger territory. The name Judea was derived from the Kingdom of Judah of the 6th century BCE, Judea province was the scene of unrest at its founding in 6 CE during the Census of Quirinius and several wars were fought in its history, known as the Jewish–Roman wars. The first intervention of Rome in the dates from 63 BCE, following the end of the Third Mithridatic War. After the defeat of Mithridates VI of Pontus, Pompey sacked Jerusalem and established Hasmonean prince Hyrcanus II as Ethnarch and High Priest, a later appointment by Julius Caesar was Antipater the Idumaean, also known as Antipas, as the first Roman Procurator. Herod the Great, Antipaters son, was designated King of the Jews by the Roman Senate in 40 BCE and he did not gain military control until 37 BCE. During his reign the last representatives of the Hasmoneans were eliminated, and he died in 4 BCE, and his kingdom was divided mostly among three of his sons, who became tetrarchs. One of these tetrarchies was Judea corresponding to the territory of the historic Judea, plus Samaria, Herods son Herod Archelaus, ruled Judea so badly that he was dismissed in 6 CE by the Roman emperor Augustus, after an appeal from his own population. Another, Herod Antipas, ruled as tetrarch of Galilee and Perea from 4 BCE to 39 CE, the third tetrarch, Herods son Philip, ruled over the northeastern part of his fathers kingdom. In 6 CE Archelaus tetrachy came under direct Roman administration, even though Iudaea is simply derived from the Latin for Judea, many historians use it to distinguish the Roman province from the previous territory and history. Iudaea province did not initially include Galilee, Gaulanitis, nor Peraea or the Decapolis, the capital was at Caesarea, not Jerusalem. Quirinius became Legate of Syria and conducted the first Roman tax census of Syria and Iudaea, pontius Pilate, whose name was recorded in the Pilate Stone, was one of these prefects, from 26 to 36 CE. Still, Jews living in the province maintained some form of independence and could judge offenders by their own laws, including capital offences, until c.28 CE. The Province of Judea, during the late 2nd Temple period was divided into five conclaves, or administrative districts, 1) Jerusalem, 2) Gadara, 3) Amathus, 4) Jericho. Caiaphas was one of the appointed High Priests of Herods Temple, both were deposed by the Syrian Legate Lucius Vitellius in 36 CE. The Crisis under Caligula has been proposed as the first open break between Rome and the Jews and he elevated Iudaeass procurator whom he trusted to imperial governing status because the imperial legate of Syria was not sympathetic to the Judeans. Following Agrippas death in 44 CE, the returned to direct Roman control, incorporating Agrippas personal territories of Galilee and Peraea. Nevertheless, Agrippas son, Agrippa II was designated King of the Jews in 48 and he was the seventh and last of the Herodians. From 70 CE until 135 CE, Iudaeas rebelliousness required a governing Roman legate capable of commanding legions
43.
History of Jerusalem during the Middle Ages
–
After this, the city remained a backwater of the late medieval Muslim empires and would not again exceed a population of 10,000 until the 16th century. It was passed back and forth through various Muslim factions until decidedly conquered by the Ottomans in 1517, Jerusalem reached a peak in size and population at the end of the Second Temple Period, The city covered two square kilometers and had a population of 200,000. In the five following the Bar Kokhba revolt in the 2nd century. During the 4th century, the Roman Emperor Constantine I constructed Christian sites in Jerusalem such as the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. In 800, Charlemagne enlarged Probus hospital and added a library to it, from the days of Constantine until the Arab conquest in 638, despite intensive lobbying by Judeo-Byzantines, Jews were forbidden to enter the city. Following the Arab capture of Jerusalem, the Jews were allowed back into the city by Muslim rulers such as Umar ibn al-Khattab, during the 8th to 11th centuries, Jerusalems prominence gradually diminished as the Arab powers in the region jockeyed for control. The city was one of the Arab Caliphates first conquests in 638, Umar chose to pray some distance from the church, so as not to endanger its status as a Christian temple. Fifty-five years later, the Mosque of Omar was constructed on the site where he prayed, after fall of Jerusalem, Umar permitted Jews to practice their religion freely and live in Jerusalem. Sixty years later, the Umayyad Dynasty caliph Abd al-Malik commissioned and completed the construction of the Dome of the Rock over the Foundation Stone on Jerusalems Temple Mount. Although the Quran does not mention the name Jerusalem, the hadith specify that it was from Jerusalem that Muhammad ascended to heaven in the Night Journey, or Isra, Al-Malik built the octagonal and gold-sheeted Dome over the location from which Muhammad was believed to have ascended into heaven. The Al-Aqsa Mosque was also nearby, again in honor of the story of the Night Journey. Jerusalem under Muslim rule did not achieve the political or cultural status enjoyed by the capitals Damascus, Baghdad, the Emperor Charlemagne started the precedent of Western European influence in the region under various treaties with the Caliphs establishing Frankish protection for pilgrims. With the decline of the Carolingian Empire in the early 10th century, however, the recovered Byzantines filled this void and as the Empire expanded under the Byzantine Crusades, Christians were again allowed to pilgrimage to Jerusalem. According to Rabbi Elijah of Chelm, German Jews lived in Jerusalem during the 11th century, the story is told that a German-speaking Palestinian Jew saved the life of a young German man surnamed Dolberger. So when the knights of the First Crusade came to besiege Jerusalem, one of Dolberger’s family members who was among them rescued Jews in Palestine and carried them back to Worms to repay the favor. Further evidence of German communities in the city comes in the form of halakic questions sent from Germany to Jerusalem during the second half of the 11th century. As the Byzantine borders expanded into the Levant in the early 11th century, the Egyptian Fatimid Caliph Al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah ordered the destruction of all churches throughout Al-Islam starting with the churches in Jerusalem. In 1070–71, the Turkic emir Atsiz ibn Uvaq al-Khwarizmi besieged and captured the city and he therefore besieged the city again, and on recapturing it, slaughtered an estimated 3,000 of the rebel inhabitants, including those who had taken shelter in the Al-Aqsa Mosque
44.
Syria Palaestina
–
Syria Palaestina was a Roman province between 135 and about 390. It was established by the merger of Roman Syria and Roman Judaea, shortly after 193, the northern regions were split off as Syria Coele in the north and Phoenice in the south, and the province Syria Palaestina was reduced to Judea. The earliest numismatic evidence for the name Syria Palaestina comes from the period of emperor Marcus Aurelius, Syria was an early Roman province, annexed to the Roman Republic in 64 BC by Pompey in the Third Mithridatic War, following the defeat of Armenian King Tigranes the Great. Following the partition of the Herodian Kingdom into tetrarchies in 6 AD, it was absorbed into Roman provinces, with Roman Syria annexing Iturea. The Roman province of Judea incorporated the regions of Judea, Samaria, and Idumea and it was named after Herod Archelauss Tetrarchy of Judea, but the Roman province encompassed a much larger territory. H. Ben-Sasson, had been the capital of the region beginning in 6 AD. Judea province was the scene of unrest at its founding in 6 AD during the Census of Quirinius and several wars were fought in its history, the Temple was destroyed in 70 as part of the Great Jewish Revolt resulting in the institution of the Fiscus Judaicus. Disturbances followed throughout the region during the Kitos War in 117–118, between 132–135, Simon Bar Kokhba led a revolt against the Roman Empire, controlling parts of Judea but seemingly not Jerusalem, for three years. As a result, Hadrian sent Sextus Julius Severus to the region, after crushing the Bar Kokhba revolt, the Roman Emperor Hadrian applied the name Syria Palestina to the entire region, that had formerly included Judea province. The city of Aelia Capitolina was built by the emperor Hadrian on the ruins of Jerusalem, the capital of the enlarged province remained in Antiochia. In 193, the province of Syria-Coele was split from Syria Palaestina, in the 3rd century, Syrians even reached for imperial power, with the Severan dynasty. Syria was of strategic importance during the Crisis of the Third Century. Beginning in 212, Palmyras trade diminished as the Sassanids occupied the mouth of the Tigris, in 232, the Syrian Legion rebelled against the Roman Empire, but the uprising went unsuccessful. Septimius Odaenathus, a Prince of the Aramean state of Palmyra, was appointed by Valerian as the governor of the province of Syria Palaestina. After Valerian was captured by the Sassanids in 260, and died in captivity in Bishapur, Odaenathus campaigned as far as Ctesiphon for revenge, when Odaenathus was assassinated by his nephew Maconius, his wife Septimia Zenobia took power, ruling Palmyra on behalf of her son, Vabalathus. Zenobia rebelled against Roman authority with the help of Cassius Longinus and took over Bosra and lands as far to the west as Egypt, next, she took Antioch and large sections of Asia Minor to the north. In 272, the Roman Emperor Aurelian finally restored Roman control and Palmyra was besieged and sacked, Aurelian captured Zenobia, bringing her back to Rome. He paraded her in chains in the presence of the senator Marcellus Petrus Nutenus, but allowed her to retire to a villa in Tibur
45.
Diocese of the East
–
The Diocese of the East was a diocese of the later Roman Empire, incorporating the provinces of the western Middle East, between the Mediterranean Sea and Mesopotamia. Its capital was at Antioch, and its governor had the title of comes Orientis instead of the ordinary vicarius. The diocese was established after the reforms of Diocletian, and was subordinate to the prefecture of the East. The last creation of a new province dated in the reign of Justinian I, when Theodorias, at about the same time, Cyprus was split off and became part of a new super-province, the quaestura exercitus. The entire area of the diocese came under Sassanid Persian occupation in the 610s and 620s. From the old provinces of the Diocese of the East, only Isauria and parts of the two Cilicias remained under Byzantine rule, grouped under the new Anatolic Theme
46.
Palaestina Prima
–
Palæstina Prima or Palaestina I was a Byzantine province from 390, until the 7th century. It was lost to the Sassanid Empire in 614, but was re-annexed in 628, despite Christian domination, through 4th and 5th centuries Samaritans developed a semi-autonomy in the hill country of Samaria, a move which gradually escalated into a series of open revolts. The four major Samaritan Revolts during this period caused an extinction of the Samaritan community. In the late 6th century, Byzantines and their Christian Ghassanid allies took an upper hand in the struggle. In 614, Palaestina Prima and Palaestina Secunda were conquered by a joint Sassanid, the event shocked the Christian society, as many of its churches were destroyed and the True Cross taken by the Persians to Ctesiphon. After withdrawal of the Persian troops and the subsequent surrender of the local Jewish rebels, Byzantine control of the province was again and irreversibly lost in 636, during the Muslim conquest of Syria. The province of Palaestina Prima included a mixed Greek and Aramaic-speaking population, with Greek, Samaritans were the second dominant group, which populated most of the hill country of Samaria, numbering around one million in the 4th and 5th centuries. Minorities of Jews, Christian Ghassanids and Nabateans were present as well, Jews formed a majority in the neighbouring Palaestina Secunda, while the Ghassanids and Nabateans inhabited the Arabian desert to the south and east. Most of the Jews of prior Antiquity, however, had been exiled to Babylon after wars with the Romans, depending on the time, either a notable Roman or Persian military presence would be noted. Arianism and other forms of Christianity found themselves in an environment as well. Variants of the Mosaic religion were still at large from the 4th until the 6th centuries, practiced by communities of Samaritans. However, with the decline of the Samaritan and Jewish populations through war and by conversion the 6th and 7th century, by the late Byzantine period fewer synagogues could be found and many were destroyed in violent events. The city of Hebron is notable in being one of the last Jewish cities remaining, ancient episcopal sees of the Roman province of Palaestina Prima listed in the Annuario Pontificio as titular sees, Palaestina Secunda Palestina Salutaris Coele-Syria Iudaea Province
47.
Palaestina Secunda
–
Palæstina Secunda or Palaestina II was a Byzantine province from 390, until its conquest by the Muslim armies in 634-636. Palaestina Secunda, a part of the Diocese of the East, roughly comprised the Galilee, Yizrael Valley, Bet Shean Valley and southern part of the Golan plateau, the major cities of the province were Scythopolis, Capernaum and Nazareth. In the 5th and 6th centuries, Byzantines and their Christian Ghassanid allies took a role in suppressing the Samaritan Revolts in neighbouring Palaestina Prima. By the 6th century Christian Ghassanids formed a Byzantine vassal confederacy with a capital on the Golan, in 614, both Palaestina Prima and Palaestina Secunda were conquered by a joint Sasanian-Jewish army. The leader of the Jewish rebels was Benjamin of Tiberias, a man of wealth according to Middle Aged sources, and by Nehemiah ben Hushiel. The event came as shock to the Christian society, as many of its churches were destroyed according to Christian sources of that period, after withdrawal of the Persian troops and the afterward surrender of the local Jewish rebels, the area was shortly reannexed into Byzantium in 628 CE. Byzantine control of the province was again and irreversibly lost in 636 and it was later roughly reorganized as Jund al-Urdunn military district of Bilad al-Sham province of the Rashidun Caliphate. Prior to the 6th century, the province of Palaestina Secunda largely included Jews, as well as a mixed Greek and Aramaic-speaking population, who were mostly practicing Christianity. North-Eastern parts of the province were also inhabited by pagan Itureans, in the early 7th century, the province experienced a significant demographic collapse due to the consequences of the Byzantine-Persian war and the Jewish rebellion. The province of Palaestina Secunda was a center of Judaism through the 4th and 5th centuries. The primary Jewish authority, the Sanhedrin, existed in Tiberias until the early 5th century, the last Nasi of the Sanhedrin was Gamaliel VI, who died in 425. After his death, the Byzantine Emperor Theodosius did not allow for a successor, the conversion of Constantine set in motion events that restored Palestine as a major theater in the development of the Christian church, as it had not been since 70. Only a few Minim had lived in few Galilean towns such as Sepphoris, less successfully, imperial policy tried to encourage Jews to convert to Christianity by offering protection and rewards. Eventually, as a result of Christian settlement in the vicinities of Nazareth and Capernaum and Tabgha, small minority of pagans - whether non-Christian Romans and Hellenists or Itureans had been populating the province during early Byzantine rule
Israel portal
Hart, John Henry Arthur (1911). "Asmoneus". In Chisholm, Hugh. Encyclopædia Britannica. 2 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 763.
Hart, John Henry Arthur (1911). "