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Canaan [i] [1] [2] was a Semitic-speaking civilization and region of the Southern Levant in the Ancient Near East during the late 2nd millennium BC.Canaan had significant geopolitical importance in the Late Bronze Age Amarna Period (14th century BC) as the area where the spheres of interest of the Egyptian, Hittite, Mitanni, and Assyrian Empires converged or overlapped.
This territory, known as the Levant, is roughly the areas of modern-day Israel, Palestine, Lebanon, western Jordan, and western Syria. Canaan's firstborn son was Sidon, who shares his name with the Phoenician city of Sidon in present-day Lebanon. [5] His second son was Heth. Canaan's descendants, according to the Hebrew Bible, include: Sidonians
'the heap (of ruins)'; Douay–Rheims: Hai) was a city in Canaan, mentioned in the Hebrew Bible. According to the Book of Joshua, it was conquered by the Israelites, headed by Joshua, during their conquest of Canaan. [1] The Ai's ruins are commonly thought to be in the modern-day archeological site of Et-Tell.
While a number of biblical place names like Jerusalem, Athens, Damascus, Alexandria, Babylon and Rome have been used for centuries, some have changed over the years. Many place names in the Land of Israel, Holy Land and Palestine are Arabised forms of ancient Hebrew and Canaanite place-names used during biblical times [1] [2] [3] or later Aramaic or Greek formations.
It is thought that the similarity of this name to its modern forms indicates that it was originally a settlement of Canaanites who shared a Semitic cultural and linguistic heritage with the later arrivals. [23] Laḫmu was the Akkadian god of fertility, [24] worshipped by the Canaanites as Leḥem.
The Canaanites are archaeologically attested in the Middle Bronze Age (2100–1550 BCE). [20] There were probably independent or semi-independent city-states. Cities were often surrounded by massive earthworks, resulting in the archaeological mounds, or 'tells' common in the region today.
Kadesh was the chief site of encampment for the Israelites during their wandering in the Zin Desert (Deuteronomy 1:46), as well as the place from which the Israelite spies were sent to Canaan (Numbers 13:1–26). The first failed attempt to capture Canaan was made from Kadesh (Numbers 14:40–45).
Jericho's name in Modern Hebrew, Yeriẖo, is generally thought to derive from the Canaanite word rēḥ ' fragrant ', but other theories hold that it originates in the Canaanite word Yaraḥ ' moon ' or the name of the lunar deity Yarikh, for whom the city was an early centre of worship.