Canaan

Canaan was an ancient Semitic-speaking civilization and region of the Southern Levant 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. Much of present-day knowledge about Canaan stems from 20th century archaeological excavations in this area at sites such as Tel Hazor, Tel Megiddo, En Esur, and Gezer.

thumb|upright=1.5|Cuneiform clay tablets from the Amorite Kingdom of Mari, 1st half of the 2nd millennium BC The Amorites () were an ancient Northwest Semitic-speaking Bronze Age people who emerged from western Mesopotamia. Initially appearing in Sumerian records , they expanded and ruled most of the Levant and Mesopotamia, and parts of Egypt, from the 21st century BC to the start of the 16th century BC.

thumb|Moses leads the Israelites across the [[Red Sea while pursued by Pharaoh. Fresco from the Dura-Europos synagogue in Syria, 244–256 CE]]

The Hyksos (; Egyptian ḥqꜣ(w)-ḫꜣswt, Egyptological pronunciation: heqau khasut, "ruler(s) of foreign lands"), in modern Egyptology, are the kings of the Fifteenth Dynasty of Egypt (fl. c. 1650–1550 BC). Their seat of power was the city of Avaris in the Nile Delta, from where they ruled over Lower Egypt and Middle Egypt up to Cusae.

battle between Egyptians and Hittites fought in 1274 BCE

land which, according to the Hebrew Bible, was promised by God to Abraham and his descendants

thumb|Map of Jebus based on the Biblical account: visible is the Valley of Hinnom (Gehenna), [[Kidron Valley, Ein Rogel, Araunah's threshing-floor and the Citadel of Zion. (Townsend MacCoun, 1899)]]

group of ancient Semitic religions

Yahwism, also known as the Israelite religion, was the ancient Semitic religion of ancient Israel and Judah and the ethnic religion of the Israelites. The Israelite religion was a derivative of the Canaanite religion and a polytheistic religion that had a pantheon with various gods and goddesses. The primary deity of the religion and the head of the pantheon was Yahweh, the national god of the kingdoms of Judah and Israel. The majority of scholars hold that the goddess Asherah was the consort of Yahweh, though some scholars disagree. Below this divine pair were secondary gods and goddesses, su

REDIRECT Canaan

aspect of history

thumb|Map of Mesopotamia during the kingdom of Shamshi-Adad I showing the location of Suhum, the homeland of Suteans The Suteans (Akkadian: Sutī’ū, possibly from Amorite: Šetī’u) were a nomadic Semitic people who lived throughout the Levant, Canaan, and Mesopotamia, specifically in the region of Suhum, during the Old Babylonian period. They were famous in Semitic epic poetry for being fierce nomadic warriors, and like the ʿApiru, traditionally worked as mercenaries. The Suteans spoke the Sutean language, an unattested language proposed to be related to either Aramaic or Arabic. They may have b

Girgashites () are one of the tribes who had invaded the land of Canaan as mentioned in Gen. 15:21; Deut. 7:1; Josh. 3:10; Neh. 9:8. The Girgashites are also known as the fifth ethnic group that descended from Canaan (Gen. 10:16; i Chron. 1:14). Although the Girgashites are not referred to in the narrative of the wars of conquests, and their locality is not stated, they are named by Joshua among the peoples the Israelites dispossessed (24:11). The Jerusalem Talmud claims that they migrated to North Africa prior to the Israelites entering the land.

ethnic group mentioned in the Hebrew Bible

alt=Blank topographic map of Western Asia. |thumb|199x199px|Map of Western Asia Retjenu (rṯnw; Reṯenu, Retenu), later known as Khor, was the Ancient Egyptian name for the wider Syrian region, where the Semitic-speaking Canaanites lived. Retjenu was located between the region north of the Sinai Desert and south of the Taurus Mountains in southern Anatolia. The term Retjenu was used to refer to this geographical area since the Middle Kingdom (c. 2000–1700 BCE). The geographical areas of Retjenu were defined during the New Kingdom (c. 1550–1069 BCE) and considered to have been a collection of sma

thumb|Syrian Desert, where Ahlamu nomads were active The Ahlamu, or Aḫlamū, were a group or designation of Semitic semi-nomads. Their habitat was west of the Euphrates between the mouth of the Khabur and Palmyra.

Djahi, Djahy or Tjahi (Egyptian: ḏhj, ḏꜣhy) was the Egyptian designation for southern Retjenu, the Ancient Egyptian name for the wider Syrian region.

thumb|The leader of the Aamu in the painting is a man described as "Abisha the Hyksos"(, Heqa-khasut for "Hyksos").Tomb of [[Khnumhotep II, circa 1900 BCE.]] Aamu () was a name used to designate West Asians in ancient Egypt. It is often translated as "Western Asiatic", but it might refer specifically to Canaanites or Amorites. The Egyptologist and linguist Thomas Schneider states that ꜥꜣm was attested as early as the Sixth Dynasty of Egypt and is likely a loanword from early Semitic term drmj, "inhabitant of the south (of Palestine)".