History of The Southern Levant - Iron Age (1200–332 BCE)

Iron Age (1200–332 BCE)

The Iron Age is usually divided into Iron Ages I and II, although sometimes the Persian period is called Iron Age III.

Iron Age I (1200-1000 BCE) saw major changes in the region. The Canaanite cities of the southern plain, roughly from Mount Carmel to the Egyptian border, were settled by the Sea Peoples, probably of Aegean background: their arrival seems to have been violent, but they quickly adopted Canaanite culture, including Canaanite language and religion. To the north of Mount Carmel the Canaanite cities continued without major disruption, developing into the Phoenician civilisation. This period also saw a rapid growth of population in the previously unsettled highland and Transjordan regions: the settlers were overwhelmingly Canaanite in culture, but may have included a more or less sizable proportion of local nomads.

In Iron Age II (1000-586 BCE) the Phoenician and Philistinian city-states were joined by new kingdoms emerging in the central highlands (Israel and Judah), the eastern region on the far side of the Jordan/Dead Sea (Ammon and Moab), and the south (Edom), all sharing roots in the earlier Canaanite civilisation. From the 8th century onwards these kingdoms and city-states came under increasing pressure from the far larger and more powerful Assyrian and then Babylonian empires, and by the time the conquests of Alexander the Great ushered in the Classical period Palestine (its Greek name) had been absorbed into the world-empire of Achaemenid Persia.