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Canaan is an ancient term for a region encompassing present-day
Israel, the
Palestinian Territories,
Lebanon and
Jordan, plus adjoining coastal lands and parts of
Egypt and
Syria. In the
Hebrew Bible, the "Land of Canaan" extends from
Lebanon southward across
Gaza to the "
Brook of Egypt" and eastward to the
Jordan Valley, thus including modern
Israel and the
Palestinian Territories. This southern area included various
ethnic groups. The
Amarna Letters found in
Ancient Egypt mention Canaan (
Akkadian:
Kinaḫḫu) in connection with Gaza and other cities along the
Phoenician coast and into Upper
Galilee. Many earlier Egyptian sources also make mention of numerous campaigns conducted in
Ka-na-na, just inside
Asia.
Various Canaanite sites have been excavated by archaeologists. Canaanites spoke
Canaanite languages, closely related to other
West Semitic languages. Canaanites are mentioned in the
Bible,
Mesopotamian and
Ancient Egyptian texts. Although the residents of ancient
Ugarit in modern Syria don't seem to have considered themselves Canaanite, and didn't speak a Canaanite language (but
one that was closely related), archaeologists have considered the site, which was rediscovered in
1928, as quintessentially Canaanite. Much of the modern knowledge about the Canaanites stems from
excavation in this area. It is generally thought that they originally migrated from the
Arabian Peninsula, as that's the most generally accepted
Semitic urheimat. More recently
Juris Zarins has suggested that Canaanite culture developed in situ from the Circum Arabian Nomadic Pastoral Complex, which in turn developed from a fusion of
Harifian hunter gatherers with
PPNB farming cultures, practicing animal domestication, during the
6,200 BC climatic crisis.
Nomenclature
The name
Canaan is mentioned frequently in the Bible. It refers to parts or all of the region between the
Jordan River and the
Mediterranean Sea in antiquity It is also sometimes used interchangeably with the
Land of Israel,
Zion, the
Holy Land or the
Promised Land.
Canaan predates the name
Land of Israel but describes the same land . The classical
Jewish view, as explained by Schweid, is that "Canaan" is the geographical name; the renaming as "Israel" prior to its conquest by the
people of Israel marks its sanctification, the origin of the
Holy Land concept . The province of
Judaea was later renamed
Palestina by the Romans following the
Bar Kokhba revolt in the
2nd century AD. In the Bible and elsewhere,
Zion originally meant the region around
Jerusalem but, because of the importance of this city, came to designate the whole of the land, as for example in the naming of
Zionism.
Etymology
The English name Canaan comes from the (
Hebrew:, via the
Greek: whence
Latin . The Hebrew name
Canaan is of obscure origins, with one possibility being the non-Semitic
Hurrian "Knaa" or
Akkadian Kinahhu, referring to the rich purple dye produced from the
murex snail. The first known references appear in the
2nd millennium BC, possibly from Hurrian sources in the
Mesopotamian city of
Nuzi.
Another etymology is straightforward. "Can" means low as "Aram"
(External Link
) means high. A straightforward meaning of Canaan is "lowland." This was first applied to the lowland or classical
Phoenicia, mainly Sidon, then by extension to the whole region.
(External Link)
A third possibility is that Canaan derives from the Semitic root
*k-n- meaning "to be subdued" . This meaning is supported by the story contained in the Bible. The Bible attributes the name to Canaan', the son of
Ham and the grandson of
Noah, whose offspring correspond to the names of various ethnic groups in the land of Canaan, listed in the "
Table of Nations", where
Sidon is named as his firstborn son, to be subdued by the descendents of Shem.
The eponym Ham
(External Link) merely means "Hot" or "Red" in Hebrew or Canaanite, although it may have been derived initially from the
Egyptian word
Kemet (KMT), a word applied to the land along the
Nile. Some authors reason that the attribution was made because the Canaanite coast but not the interior was under Egyptian domination for several centuries.
Canaan in the Hebrew Bible
The
Hebrew Bible lists borders for the land of Canaan. Numbers 34:2 includes the phrase "the land of Canaan as defined by its borders." The borders are
then delineated in Numbers 34:3-12.
John N. Oswalt notes that "Canaan consists of the land west of the Jordan and is distinguished from the area east of the Jordan." Oswalt then goes on to say that in Scripture Canaan "takes on a theological character" as "the land which is God's gift" and "the place of abundance".
Canaan in Mesopotamian inscriptions
Certain scholars of the
Eblaite material (dated 2350 BC) from the archive of
Tell Mardikh see the oldest reference to Canaanites in the ethnic name
ga-na-na which provides a third millennium reference to the name Canaan.
Canaan is mentioned in a document from the
18th century BC found in the ruins of
Mari, a former
Sumerian outpost in Syria, located along the Middle
Euphrates. Apparently Canaan at this time existed as a distinct political entity (probably a loose confederation of city-states). A letter from this time complains about certain
"thieves and Canaanites (for example Kinahhu)" causing trouble in the town of Rahisum.
Tablets found in the
Mesopotamian city of
Nuzi use the term
Kinahnu ("Canaan") as a synonym for red or purple dye, produced from
murex shells on the Mediterranean coast, apparently a renowned Canaanite export commodity. The dyes were likely named after their place of origin (much as "
champagne" is both a product, and the name of the region where it's produced). The name '
Phoenicia' is connected with the Greek word for "purple", apparently referring to the same product, but it's difficult to state with certainty whether the Greek word came from the name, or
vice versa. The purple cloth of
Tyre in Phoenicia was well known far and wide and long associated with royalty.
Anne Killebrew has shown how cities such as
Jerusalem were large and important walled settlements in the
Middle Bronze IIB and Iron Age IIC periods (ca. 1800-1550 and 720-586 BC), but that during the intervening
Late Bronze (LB) and
Iron Age I and IIA/B Ages sites like
Jerusalem were small and relatively insignificant and unfortified towns.
References to Canaanites are also found throughout the
Amarna letters of Pharaoh
Akenaton circa 1350 BC, and a reference to the
"land of Canaan" is found on the statue of
Idrimi of
Alalakh in modern Syria. After a popular uprising against his rule, Idrimi was forced into exile with his mother's relatives to seek refuge in "the land of Canaan", where he stayed, preparing for an eventual attack to recover his city. Texts from
Ugarit also refer to an individual Canaanite (
*kn'ny), suggesting that the people of Ugarit, contrary to much modern opinion, considered themselves to be non-Canaanite.
Archaeological excavations of a number of sites, later identified as Canaanite, show that prosperity of the region reached its apogee during this Middle
Bronze Age period, under leadership of the city of
Hazor, at least nominally tributary to Egypt for much of the period. In the north, the cities of
Yamkhad and
Qatna were
hegemons of important
confederacies, and it would appear that Biblical Hazor was the chief city of another important
coalition in the south. In the early Late Bronze Age, Canaanite confederacies were centred on
Megiddo and
Kadesh, before again being brought into the
Egyptian Empire.
Early Development of Canaanite Civilization
The urban development of Canaan lagged considerably behind that of Egypt and Mesopotamia and even Syria, where from ca. 3500 BC a sizable city developed at
Hamoukar. This city, which was colonised, probably by people coming from
Uruk, perhaps saw the first connections between Syria and Southern Mesopotamia that were repeated throughout history. Urban development again began, culminating in the
Early Bronze Age development of sites like
Ebla, which by ca. 2300 BC was incorporated once again into the
Akkadian empire of
Sargon the Great and
Naram-Sin of
Akkad (Biblical Accad). Sumerian references to the
Mar.tu ("tent dwellers" - considered to be
Amorite) country West of the Euphrates date from even earlier than Sargon, at least to the reign of
Enshakushanna of Uruk. The archives of Ebla show reference to a number of Biblical sites, including
Hazor,
Jerusalem, and as a number of people have claimed, to
Sodom and Gomorrah mentioned in Genesis as well. The collapse of the Akkadian Empire saw the arrival of peoples using Khirbet Kerak Ware pottery, coming originally from the
Zagros Mountains, east of the
Tigris. It is suspected by some that this event marks the arrival in Syria and Canaan of the
Hurrians, possibly the people later known in the Biblical tradition as
Horites.
John Brightand
William F. Albright have suggested that contact during the early Isin-Larsa period of Amorite states lies behind the Abraham stories of the patriarchal traditions. However, since the critiques of Jon Van Seters and Thomas L. Thompson, these views have failed to find a consensus.
Today it's thought that Canaanite civilization is a response to long periods of stable climate interrupted by short periods of
climate change. During these periods, Canaanites profited from their intermediary position between the ancient civilisations of the Middle East —
Ancient Egypt,
Mesopotamia and
Minoan Crete — to become city states of merchant princes along the coast, with small kingdoms specializing in agricultural products in the interior. This polarity, between coastal towns and agrarian hinterland, was illustrated in Canaanite mythology by the struggle between the storm god, variously called
Teshub (
Hurrian) or
Ba'al Hadad (
Aramaean) and
Ya'a, Yaw, Yahu or Yam, god of the sea and rivers. Small walled market towns characterized early Canaanite civilization surrounded by peasant farmers growing a range of local
horticultural products, along with commercial growing of
olives,
grapes for
wine, and
pistachios, surrounded by extensive
grain cropping, predominantly
wheat and
barley. Harvest in early summer was a season when
transhumance nomadism was practiced — shepherds staying with their flocks during the wet season and returning to graze them on the harvested stubble, closer to water supplies in the summer. Evidence of this cycle of agriculture is found in the
Gezer Calendar and in the Biblical cycle of the year.
Periods of rapid climate change generally saw a collapse of this mixed Mediterranean farming system; commercial production was replaced with
subsistence agriculural foodstuffs; and transhumance
pastoralism became a year-round nomadic pastoral activity, whilst tribal groups wandered in a circular pattern north to the Euphrates, or south to the Egyptian delta with their flocks. During the periods of the collapse of
Akkad and the
First Intermediary Period in Egypt, the Hyksos invasions and the end of the Middle Bronze Age in Babylonia, and the Late Bronze Age collapse, trade through the Canaanite area would dwindle, as Egypt and Mesopotamia withdrew into their isolation. When the climates stabilized, trade would resume firstly along the coast in the area of the
Philistine and
Phoenician cities. The Philistines, while an integral part of the Canaanite milieu, don't seem to have been ethnically homogenous with the Canaanites; the
Hurrians,
Hittites,
Aramaeans,
Moabites, and
Ammonites are also considered distinct from generic Canaanites or Amorites, in scholarship or in tradition (although in the Biblical Book of Nations,
"Heth", (Hittites) are a son of Canaan). As markets redeveloped, new trade routes that would avoid the heavy tariffs of the coast would develop from
Kadesh Barnea, through
Hebron,
Lachish,
Jerusalem,
Bethel,
Samaria,
Shechem,
Shiloh through
Galilee to
Jezreel,
Hazor and
Megiddo. Secondary Canaanite cities would develop in this region. Further economic development would see the creation of a third trade route from
Eilath,
Timna,
Edom (
Seir),
Moab,
Ammon and thence to
Damascus and
Palmyra. Earlier states (for example the Philistines and
Tyrians in the case of
Judah and
Israel, for the second route, and Judah and Israel for the third route) tried generally unsuccessfully to control the interior trade.
Eventually, the prosperity of this trade would attract more powerful regional neighbors, such as
Ancient Egypt,
Assyria, the
Babylonians,
Persians,
Ancient Greeks and
Romans, who would attempt to control the Canaanites politically, levying tribute, taxes and tariffs. Often in such periods, thorough overgrazing would result in a climatic collapse and a repeat of the cycle (eg.
PPNB,
Ghassulian,
Uruk, and the
Bronze Age cycles already mentioned). The fall of later Canaanite civilization occurred with the incorporation of the area into the Greco-Roman world (as
Iudaea province), and after
Byzantine times, into the
Arab,
Ottoman and
Abbasid Caliphates.
Aramaic, one of the two
lingua francas of Canaanite civilization, is still spoken in a number of small
Syrian villages, whilst
Phoenician Canaanite disappeared as a spoken language in about 100 AD.
Egyptian Canaan
During the
2nd millennium BC,
Ancient Egyptian texts use the term
Canaan to refer to an Egyptian province, whose boundaries generally corroborate the definition of Canaan found in the
Hebrew Bible, bounded to the west by the
Mediterranean Sea, to the north in the vicinity of
Hamath in Syria, to the east by the
Jordan Valley, and to the south by a line extended from the
Dead Sea to around
Gaza . Nevertheless, the Egyptian and Hebrew uses of the term are not identical: the Egyptian texts also identify the coastal city of
Qadesh in Syria near Turkey as part of the "Land of Canaan", so that the Egyptian usage seems to refer to the entire
levantine coast of the Mediterranean Sea, making it a synonym of another Egyptian term for this coastland,
Retenu.
There is uncertainty about whether the name
Canaan refers to a specific ethnic group wherever they live, the homeland of this ethnic group, or a region under the control of this ethnic group, or perhaps any of the three.
At the end of what is referred to as the
Middle Kingdom era of Egypt, was a breakdown in centralised power, the assertion of independence by various
nomarchs and the assumption of power in the Delta by
Pharaohs of the 17th Dynasty. Around
1674 BC, these rulers, whom the Egyptians referred to as "rulers of foreign lands" (Egyptian, ), hence "
Hyksos" (Greek), came to control
Lower Egypt (northern Egypt), evidently leaving Canaan an ethnically diverse land.
Among the migrant tribes who appear to have settled in the region were the
Amorites. In the
Old Testament, we find
Amorites mentioned in the
Table of Peoples (Gen. 10:16-18a). Evidently, the Amorites played a significant role in the early history of Canaan. In Gen. 14:7
f., Josh. 10:5
f., Deut. 1:19
f., 27, 44, we find them located in the southern mountain country, while in Num. 21:13, Josh. 9:10, 24:8, 12, etc., we hear of two great Amorite kings residing at
Heshbon and
Ashtaroth, east of the Jordan. However, in other passages such as Gen. 15:16, 48:22, Josh. 24:15, Judg. 1:34, etc., the name
Amorite is regarded as synonymous with "Canaanite" — only "Amorite" is never used for the population on the coast.
In Egyptian inscriptions
Amar and
Amurru are applied strictly to the more northerly mountain region east of Phoenicia, extending to the
Orontes. In the Akkadian Empire, as early as
Naram-Sin's reign (ca. 2240 BC),
Amurru was called one of the "four quarters" surrounding Sumer, along with
Subartu,
Akkad, and
Elam, and Amorite dynasties also came to dominate in Mesopotamia, including at Babylon and Isin. Later on,
Amurru became the
Assyrian term for the interior of south as well as for northerly Canaan. At this time the Canaanite area seemed divided between two confederacies, one centred upon
Megiddo in the
Jezreel Valley, the second on the more northerly city of
Kadesh on the
Orontes River.
In the centuries preceding the appearance of the Biblical Hebrews, Canaan and
Syria became tributary to the Egyptian
Pharaohs, although domination by the sovereign wasn't so strong as to prevent frequent local rebellions and inter-city struggles. Under
Thutmose III (
1479–
1426 BC) and
Amenhotep II (
1427–
1400 BC), the regular presence of the strong hand of the Egyptian ruler and his armies kept the Syrians and Canaanites sufficiently loyal. Nevertheless, Thutmose III reported a new and troubling element in the population.
Habiru or (in Egyptian) 'Apiru, are reported for the first time. These seem to have been
mercenaries,
brigands or
outlaws, who may have at one time led a settled life, but with bad-luck or due to the force of circumstances, contributed a rootless element of the population, prepared to hire themselves to whichever local mayor or princeling prepared to undertake their support. Although Habiru (a
Sumerian ideogram glossed as "brigand" in
Akkadian), and sometimes
[[Habiru|]] (an Akkadian word) had been reported in Mesopotamia from the reign of
Shulgi of
Ur III, their appearance in Canaan appears to have been due to the arrival of a new state in Northern Mesopotamia based upon
Maryannu aristocracy of horse drawn
charioteers, associated with the
Indo-Aryan rulers of the
Hurrians, known as
Mitanni. The Habiru seem to have been more a social class than any ethnic group. One analysis shows that the majority were, however, Hurrian, though there were a number of Semites and even some Kassite adventurers amongst their number. The reign of
Amenhotep III, as a result wasn't quite so tranquil for the Asiatic province, as Habiru/'Apiru contributed to greater political instability. It is believed that turbulent chiefs began to seek their opportunities, though as a rule couldn't find them without the help of a neighboring king. The boldest of the disaffected nobles was
Aziru, son of
Abdi-Ashirta, a prince of Amurru, who even before the death of Amenhotep III, endeavoured to extend his power into the plain of
Damascus.
Akizzi, governor of
Katna-(
Qatna?) (near
Hamath), reported this to the Pharaoh, who seems to have sought to frustrate his attempts. In the next reign, however, both father and son caused infinite trouble to loyal servants of Egypt like
Rib-Addi, governor of
Gubla (Gebal), not the least through transferring loyalty from the Egyptian crown to that of the expanding neighbouring
Hittites under
Suppiluliuma I.
Egyptian power in Canaan thus suffered a major setback when the
Hittites (or
Hatti) advanced into Syria in the reign of Amenhotep III, and became even more threatening in that of his successor, displacing the Amurru and prompting a resumption of Semitic migration. Abd-Ashirta and his son Aziru, at first afraid of the Hittites, afterwards made a treaty with their king, and joining with other external powers, attacked the districts remaining loyal to Egypt. In vain did Rib-Addi send touching appeals for aid to the distant Pharaoh, who was far too engaged in his religious innovations to attend to such messages.
In the el
Amarna letters (~1350 BC) sent by governors and princes of Canaan to their Egyptian overlord
Akhenaten (Amenhotep IV) in the
14th century BC — commonly known as the
Tel-el-Amarna tablets — we find, beside
Amar and Amurru (Amorites), the two forms Kinahhi and Kinahni, corresponding to Kena' and
Kena'an respectively, and including Syria in its widest extent, as
Eduard Meyer has shown. The letters are written in the official and diplomatic
Akkadian language, though "Canaanitish" words and idioms are also in evidence.
In the El
Amarna letters(~1350 BC), we meet with the Habiri in northern Syria.
Itakkama wrote thus to the Pharaoh,
» "Behold,
Namyawaza has surrendered all the cities of the king, my lord to the in the land of
Kadesh and in
Ubi. But I'll go, and if thy gods and thy sun go before me, I'll bring back the cities to the king, my lord, from the Habiri, to show myself subject to him; and I'll expel the ."
Similarly
Zimrida, king of
Sidon- (named 'Siduna'), declared, "All my cities which the king has given into my hand, have come into the hand of the Habiri." The king of
Jerusalem,
Abdi-Heba, reported to the Pharaoh,
» "If (Egyptian) troops come this year, lands and princes will remain to the king, my lord; but if troops come not, these lands and princes won't remain to the king, my lord."
Abdi-heba's principle trouble arose from persons called
Iilkili and the sons of
Labaya, who are said to have entered into a treasonable league with the Habiri. Apparently this restless warrior found his death at the siege of
Gina. All these princes, however, maligned each other in their letters to the Pharaoh, and protested their own innocence of traitorous intentions. Namyawaza, for instance, whom Itakkama (see above) accused of disloyalty, wrote thus to the Pharaoh,
» "Behold, I and my warriors and my chariots, together with my brethren and my, and my
Suti ?9 are at the disposal of the (royal) troops to go whithersoever the king, my lord, commands."
Just after the Amarna period a new problem arose which was to trouble the Egyptian control of Canaan. Pharaoh Horemhab campaigned against
Shasu (Egyptian = "wanderers") or living in
nomadic pastoralist tribes, who had moved across the
Jordan to threaten Egyptian trade through
Galilee and
Jezreel.
Seti I (ca.
1290 BC) is said to have conquered these
Shasu, Semitic nomads living just south and east of the
Dead Sea, from the fortress of Taru (Shtir?) to "
Ka-n-'-na". After the near collapse of the
Battle of Kadesh,
Rameses II had to campaign vigorously in Canaan to maintain Egyptian power. Egyptian forces penetrated into
Moab and
Ammon, where a permanent fortress garrison (Called simply "Rameses") was established. After the collapse of the Levant under the so called "
Peoples of the Sea"
Ramesses III (ca.
1194 BC) is said to have built a temple to the god
Amen in "
Ka-n-'-na." This geographic name probably meant all of western
Syria and Canaan, with Raphia, "the (first) city of the
Ka-n-'-na,", on the southwest boundary toward the desert. Some
archaeologists have proposed that Egyptian records of the
13th century BC are early written reports of a
monotheistic belief in
Yahweh noted among the nomadic Shasu. Evidently, belief in Yahweh had arisen among these nomadic peoples. By the reign of King
Josiah (
around 650 BC). Yahweh had displaced the polytheistic family of "
El" as the principle God amongst those living in the high country of Israel and Judah.
Some believe the "Habiru" signified generally all the nomadic tribes known as "Hebrews." and particularly the early Israelites, who sought to appropriate the fertile region for themselves, but the term was rarely used to describe the
Shasu. Whether the term may also include other related peoples such as the
Moabites,
Ammonites and
Edomites is uncertain. It may not be an
ethnonym at all; see the
Habiru article for details.
Biblical Canaanites
The part of the book of
Genesis in the
Hebrew Bible often called the
Table of Nations describes the Canaanites as being descended from an ancestor called Canaan (
Knaan), saying :
Canaan is the father of Sidon, his firstborn; and of the Hittites, Jebusites, Amorites, Girgashites, Hivites, Arkites, Sinites, Arvadites, Zemarites, and Hamathites. Later the Canaanite clans scattered, and the borders of Canaan reached [acrossthe Mediterranean coast] from Sidon toward Gerar as far as Gaza, and then [inlandaround the Jordan Valley] toward Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah and Zeboiim, as far as Lasha.
The Biblical scholar,
Richard Friedman, argues that this part of
Genesis showing the origin of the Canaanites was written by the hypothetical
Priestly Source.
The
Sidon whom the Table identifies as the firstborn son of Canaan has the same name as that of the coastal city of Sidon, in Lebanon. This city dominated the
Phoenician coast, and may have enjoyed hegemony over a number of ethnic groups, who are said to belong to the "Land of Canaan".
Similarly, Canaanite populations are said to have inhabited:
During the Canaanite Period of the
Archaeology of Israel, the cities of Canaan were ruled by vassals of the
Egyptian Empire. The Table of Nations calls Canaan the "son of Ham", whose ethnicities, for example Egypt ("Mitzrayim"), are associated with Africa .
A Biblical story involving Canaan seems to refer to the ancient discovery of the
cultivation of
grapes around 4000 BC around the area of
Ararat, which is associated with
Noah. After the Flood,
Noah planted a vineyard, made wine but became drunk. While intoxicated, an
incident occurred involving him and his youngest son,
Ham. Afterward, Noah cursed Ham's son Canaan (but not Ham, for reasons that are not stated) to a life of servitude (a possible pun on the Hebrew word
"Can" meaning serviteur). He is to serve his brothers (who were not cursed either due to the respect they exhibited towards their inebriated father) and also his uncles
Shem and
Japheth . Noah's curse is typically interpreted to apply to the descendants of the mentioned figures. "Shem" includes the
Israelites,
Moabites, and
Ammonites, who dominated the Canaanite inland areas around the Jordan Valley.
The Canaanites are said to have been one of seven regional ethnic divisions or "nations" driven out before the
Israelites following the
Exodus. Specifically, the other nations include the
Hittites, the
Girgashites, the
Amorites, the
Perizzites, the
Hivites, and the
Jebusites .
According to the
Book of Jubilees, the Israelite conquest of Canaan, and the curse, are attributed to Canaan's steadfast refusal to join his elder brothers in Ham's allotment beyond the Nile, and instead "squatting" on the eastern shores of the Mediterranean, within the inheritance delineated for Shem.
The Bible describes God cautioning the Israelites against the sexual idolatry of the Canaanites and their
fertility cult . Thus the Land of the Canaanites, defined as including these seven groups, was deemed suitable for conquest by the Israelites partly on moral grounds . One of the
613 mitzvot (precisely n. 596) prescribes that no inhabitants of the cities of six Canaanite nations, the same as mentioned in 7:1, minus the Girgashites, were to be left alive.
By the time of the Second Temple, "Canaanite" in Hebrew had come to be not an ethnic designation, so much as a general synonym for "merchant", as it's interpreted in, for example, .
Historical context
It has been argued that the Israelites were themselves Canaanites, and that "historical Israel", as distinct from "literary" or "Biblical Israel" was a subset of Canaanite culture . "Canaan" when used in this sense refers to the entire
Ancient Near Eastern
Levant down to about 100 AD, including the kingdoms of Israel and Judah. For example, Mark Smith in "The Early History of God: Yahweh and Other Deities of Ancient Israel" states "Despite the long regnant model that the 'Canaanites' and Israelites were people of fundamentally different culture, archaeological data now casts doubt on this view. The material culture of the region exhibits numerous common points between Israelites and 'Canaanites' in the Iron I period (ca. 1200-1000 BC). The record would suggest that the Israelite culture largely overlapped with and derived from 'Canaanite' culture... In short, Israelite culture was largely Canaanite in nature. Given the information available, one can't maintain a radical cultural separation between Canaanites and Israelites for the Iron I period." (pp6-7).
Unlike
Mesopotamia or
Ancient Egypt, where documentation exists that's rich and varied, the documentation about Canaan is very sparse. The only sources that come from inside the region are from Syria - with Bronze Age cuneiform archives of
Ebla,
Mari,
Alalakh and
Ugarit.
Iron Age materials are even more scarce, as writing then was mostly on papyrus, of which, unlike Egypt, none of which has survived the humid climates of the most populous parts of the region.
The material of the Bible can't be ignored historically, but ever since the ground-breaking publication of
Thomas L. Thompson's 1974 monumental and painstaking study "Historicity of the Patriarchal Narratives", has established a backbone for epigraphers, archaeologists and Old Testament scholars that can't be ignored, any debate on the historicity of the Canaanites as presented in Genesis has to take into account that the Biblical narratives represent a compilation of many individual sources of information, and according to
Biblical minimalism, the process of editing these sources into a coherent narrative can't have occurred at the earliest before the 7th or possibly the 6th century BC. (this assertion is widely disputed by both conservative scholars, however). The writers or editors of these Biblical texts had access to a very wide variety of source materials, most of which were contemporary or near contemporary with the time of writing. These included religious and literary texts, songs, geographic and topographical information, traditional folk legends, propaganda and annalistic and chronological information of specific events. This material had an unknown and generally variable credibility . The intention of the writers wasn't to produce an objective modern historical account, but instead to present a rationalisation for the theological and genealogical emergence of the monotheistic entity called Israel, bound in a specific covenant with a single divinity. Genesis was never intended to be a manual for archaeological excavation, as the anachronisms were of no concern to its contemporary audience, for whom the texts had meaning.
Names of Canaanite kings or other figures mentioned in historiography or known through archaeology
Confirmed archaeologically
Ebrium, king of Ebla
Ibbi-Sipish, his son, king of Ebla
Ili-ilimma, father of Idrimi, king of Halab
Idrimi, king of Alalakh
Ammittamru I of Ugarit (Amarna letters)
Niqmaddu II of Ugarit (Amarna letters) (1349 - 1315 BC)
Arhalba of Ugarit (1315-1313 BC}
Niqmepa of Ugarit (1313-1260 BC}
Ammittamru II of Ugarit (1260 - 1235 BC)
Ibiranu of Ugarit (1235 - 1220 BC)
Ammurapi of Ugarit (1215 -1185 BC)
Aziru, ruler of Amurru (Amarna letters)
Labaya, lord of Shechem (Amarna letters)
Abdikheba, mayor of Jerusalem (Amarna letters)
Šuwardata, mayor of Qiltu (Amarna letters)
Biblical Characters
Canaan, son of Ham (Gen. 10:6)
Sidon, son of Canaan (Gen. 10:15)
Heth, firstborn son of Canaan (Gen. 10:15)
Cronos (Ilus), founder of Byblos according to Sanchuniathon
Mamre, an Amorite chieftain (Gen. 13:18)
Makamaron, king of Canaan (Jubilees 46:6)
Sihon, king of Amorites (Deut 1:4)
Og, king of Bashan (Deut 1:4)
Adonizedek, king of Jerusalem (Josh. 10:1)
Debir, king of Eglon (Josh. 10:3)
Jabin, name of two kings of Hazor (Josh. 11:1; Judges 5:6)
Rulers of Tyre
Abibaal 990 - 978 BC
Hiram I 978 - 944 BC
Baal-Eser I (Balbazer I) 944 - 927 BC
Abdastratus 927 - 918 BC
Methusastartus 918 - 906 BC
Astarymus 906 - 897 BC
Phelles 897 - 896 BC
Eshbaal I 896 - 863 BC
Baal-Eser II (Balbazer II) 863 - 829 BC
Mattan I 829 - 820 BC
Pygmalion 820 - 774 BC
Eshbaal II 750 - 739 BC
Hiram II 739 - 730 BC
Mattan II 730 - 729 BC
Elulaios 729 - 694 BC
Abd Melqart 694 - 680 BC
Baal I 680 - 660 BC
Tyre may have been under control of Assyria and/or Egypt for 70 years
Eshbaal III 591 - 573 BC — Carthage became independent of Tyre in 574 BC
Baal II 573 - 564 BC (under Babylonian overlords)
Yakinbaal 564 BC
Chelbes 564 - 563 BC
Abbar 563 - 562 BC
Mattan III and Ger Ashthari 562 - 556 BC
Baal-Eser III 556 - 555 BC
Mahar-Baal 555 - 551 BC
Hiram III 551 - 532 BC
Mattan III (under Persian Control)
Boulomenus
Abdemon c.420 - 411 BC
Phoenician Canaanites
Early on the Canaanites acquired fame as traders across a wide area beyond the Near East. There are occasional instances in the Hebrew Bible where "Canaanite" is used as a synonym for "merchant" — presumably indicating the aspect of Canaanite culture that the authors found most familiar. The term was derived from the place name, because so many merchants described themselves as Canaanites.
One of Canaan's most famous exports was a much sought-after purple dye, derived from two species of Murex sea snails found along the east Mediterranean coast and worn proudly by figures from ancient kings to modern popes.
Between ca. 1200–1100 BC, most of southern Canaan was settled, and according to the Bible conquered, by the Israelites, while the northern areas were taken over by Arameans. The remaining area still under clear Canaanite control, is referred to by its Greek name, "Phoenicia" (meaning "purple", in reference to the land's famous dye).
Much later, in the 6th century BC, Hecataeus of Miletus affirms that Phoenicia was formerly called χνα, a name that Philo of Byblos subsequently adopted into his mythology as his eponym for the Phoenicians: "Khna who was afterwards called Phoinix". Quoting fragments attributed to Sanchuniathon, he relates that Byblos, Berytus and Tyre were among the first cities ever built, under the rule of the mythical Cronus, and credits the inhabitants with developing fishing, hunting, agriculture, shipbuiding and writing.
St. Augustine also mentions that one of the terms the seafaring Phoenicians called their homeland was "Canaan." This is further confirmed by coins of the city of Laodicea by the Lebanon, that bear the legend, "Of Laodicea, a metropolis in Canaan"; these coins are dated to the reign of Antiochus IV (175–164 BC) and his successors.
The first of many Canaanites who emigrated seaward finally settled in Carthage, and St. Augustine adds that the country people near Hippo, presumably Punic in origin, still called themselves Chanani in his day.
Further Information
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