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Canaan or '''Knáan''' ( Hebrew כְּנַעַן, Arabic کنعان, Septuagint Greek Χανααν) is an ancient term for a region roughly corresponding to present-day Israel / Palestine including the West Bank , western Jordan , southern and coastal Syria and Lebanon continuing up to the border of modern Turkey .. Various Canaanite sites have been excavated by archaeologists, most notably the Canaanite town of Ugarit , which was rediscovered in 1928 . Much of the modern knowledge about the Canaanites stems from excavation in this area. Etymology In linguistic terms, ''Canaanite'' refers to the common ancestor of closely related Semitic Languages including Hebrew , and Ugaritic , and was the first language to use a Semitic Alphabet , from which the others derived their scripts; see Canaanite Languages . The name ''Canaan'' is of obscure origins, with one possibility being the non-Semitic Hurrian ''Kinahhu'', meaning "blue cloth" The first known references appear in the 3rd Millennium BC , possibly from Hurrian sources in the Mesopotamian city of Nuzi . The Biblical explanation is that it derives from Canaan, the son of Ham and the grandson of Noah , whose offspring correspond to the names of Canaanite tribes in Gen. 10 . (see below) Nowadays, Canaanite can describe anything pertaining to Canaan; especially its culture, its languages and its inhabitants. Phoenician Canaan 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 Sea Snails found along the east Mediterranean coast and worn proudly by figures from ancient kings to modern popes. Between ca. 1200 BC - 1100 BC , most of southern Canaan was conquered by 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 refernce to the land's famous dye). Much later, in the ". 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 BC - 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. Canaan in Mesopotamian inscriptions Canaan is mentioned in a document from the 18th Century BC found in the ruins of Mari , a former Sumer ian outpost in Syria. Apparently Canaan at this time existed as a distinct political entity (probably a loose confederation of city-states). Soon after this, the great empire-builder and law-giver Hammurabi ( 1728 BC - 1686 BC ), first king of a united Babylonia , extended Babylonian influence over Canaan and Syria. E. Schrader (Cuneiform Inscriptions and the Old Testament, vol II (1888), pp 299ff) associated Hammurabi with the Amraphel of ''Genesis'', but according to The Oxford Companion to the Bible this view has been largely abandoned in recent years. Tablets found in the Mesopotamian city of Nuzi use the term ''Kinahnu'' ("Canaan") as a synonym for red or purple dye, 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 is produced). The purple cloth of Tyre in Phoenicia was well known far and wide. Archaeological excavations of a number of sites later identified as Canaanite, show that propserity of the region reached its apogee during this Middle Bronze Age 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. Egyptian Canaan During the 2nd Millennium BC the name ''Kan'an'', favoured in Egyptian usage, was used for a province of the Egyptian empire bounded on the west by the Mediterranean Sea , on the north by the Pass Of Hamath in southern Lebanon, on the east by the Jordan Valley and on the south by a line extended from the Dead Sea to the Gaza area. This region corresponds closely to the description given in the Hebrew Bible , in ''Numbers'' 34.1–12. 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 the Hekt Kasut, 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 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 . 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 Pharaoh s, although domination by the sovereign power was not so strong as to prevent frequent local rebellions and inter-city struggles. Under Thutmose III ( 1479 BC - 1426 BC ) and Amenhotep II ( 1427 BC - 1400 BC ), the regular presence of the strong hand of the Egyptian ruler and his armies kept the Syrians and Canaanites sufficiently loyal. The reign of Amenhotep III , however, was not quite so tranquil for the Asiatic province. It is believed that turbulent chiefs began to seek their opportunities, though as a rule, could not find them without the help of a neighboring king. The boldest of the disaffected nobles was Aziru , son of Abd-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 (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. It is related that Abd-Ashirta, and his son Aziru, at first afraid of the Hittites, were afterwards clever enough to make 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 language Babylonia n/ Akkadian , though "Canaanitish" words and idioms are also in evidence. Seti I (ca. 1290 BC ) is said to have conquered the ''Shasu'', Arabian nomads living just south and east of the Dead Sea , from the fortress of Taru (Shtir?) to the "''Ka-n-'-na''", and Ramesses III (ca. 1194 BC ) is said to have built a temple to the god Amen in the "''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 Archaeologist s 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. (See pages 128 and 236 of the book ''Who Were the Early Israelites?'' by archaeologist William G. Dever (William B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., Grand Rapids, MI, 2003). Evidently, belief in Yahweh displaced polytheistic beliefs that had arisen among the early Hebrews, during and after the reign of King Josiah ( Around 650 BC ), according to that book, and also according to archaeologists Neil A. Silberman and Israel Finkelstein , in ''The Bible Unearthed'' (Simon and Schuster, New York, 2001). Most interesting is the mention of troublesome groups called sometimes ''SA-GAZ'' (a Sumerian ideogram glossed as "brigand" in Akkadian ), and sometimes '' Habiri '' (an Akkadian word). These Habiri are believed by some to signify generally all the nomadic tribes known as "Hebrews", and particularly the early Israelites, who sought to appropriate the fertile region for themselves. The term may also include other related peoples such as the Moabites , Ammonites and Edomites , or may not be an Ethnonym at all; see the Habiru article for details. 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 SA-GAZ in the land of Kadesh and in Ubi . But I will go, and if thy gods and thy sun go before me, I will bring back the cities to the king, my lord, from the Habiri, to show myself subject to him; and I will expel the SA-GAZ." Similarly Zimrida, king of Sidon , 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 will not 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 SA-GAZ, and my Suti ?9 are at the disposal of the (royal) troops to go whithersoever the king, my lord, commands"; El Amarna letter, EA 189. Biblical Canaanites Canaan first appears in the Bible as an individual person, in a parenthetical remark at the end of Genesis 9:18 that "Ham is the father of Canaan." After the Flood, Noah planted a vineyard, made wine and became drunk. While he was intoxicated an Incident occurred involving him and his youngest son, Ham . Afterward Noah cursed Canaan (but not Ham, for reasons that are not stated) to a life of servitude. He is to serve his brothers (who were not cursed either) and also his uncles Shem and Japheth . (Gen. 9:20-27) Noah's curse is typically interpreted to apply to the descendents of the mentioned figures. In the following chapter (sometimes referred to as The Table Of Nations ) Canaan is included among the four sons of Ham, and identified as the father of Sidon , Heth , and the Jebusites , Amorites , Girgasites , Hivites , Arkites , Sinites , Arvadites , Zemarites and Hamathites . The ''Canaanites'' or ''Kna'anim'' (כנענים, . Other passages describe regional ethnic divisions, of which the Canaanites were the coastal component. The seven Canaanite nations mentioned are the Hittites , the Girgashites , the Amorites , the Canaanites, the Perizzites , the Hivites and the Jebusites . Canaanite populations are said to inhabit:
The Bible indicates that God cautioned the Israelites against the sexual depravities of the Canaanites and their , prescribes that no inhabitants of the cities of six Canaanite nations, the same as mentioned in 7:1, minus the Girgashites, are to be left alive. Canaanite Kings
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