A LAND OF ANCIENT CIVILIZATIONS

The region that is now Palestine and Israel has been settled and ruled by many ancient cultures and peoples. 

LET'S LEARN ABOUT THEM!

Canaanites

  • Canaanites were the people of a land called “Canaan.” This ancient land may have included parts of modern-day Palestine, Israel, Lebanon, Syria, and Jordan.

  • Canaanites worshiped over 200 different gods.

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  • The Phoenicians were a people of Canaanite origin. They were famous for their alphabet, purple cloth, and ships.

  • The world’s oldest translated sentence was written by Canaanites on a comb. What were they writing about? Trying to get rid of head lice!

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Israelites

  • The Israelites lived in part of Canaan during the Iron Age and established the Kingdom of Israel.
     
  • Their kingdom later split into two: the Kingdom of Israel to the north and the Kingdom of Judah to the south.

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  • The Israelites worshiped one God and recorded their stories, songs, laws, and beliefs in the Hebrew Bible or Tanakh. The first five books of this text are called the Torah.

  • The Temple of Jerusalem was the center of the kingdom’s cultural and religious life. Centuries later, it was destroyed twice: once by the Babylonians and another time by the Romans.

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Philistines

  • The Philistines lived in Canaan during the Iron Age in a region called Philistia.

  • They largely settled in cities near the coast, and records suggest they may have been seafaring people.

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  • The Philistines worshiped many different gods that shared similarities with the Canaanite gods.

  • Historians believe the word Palestine comes from the word Philistia.

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