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CANAAN, CANAANITES

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Originally appearing in Volume V05, Page 142 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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CANAAN, CANAANITES . These See also:geographical and ethnic terms have a shifting reference, which doubtless arises out of the migrations of the tribes to which the See also:term " Canaanites belongs. Thus in Josh. v. 1 the term seems to be applied to a See also:population on the See also:coast of the Mediterranean, and in Josh. xi. 3, Num. xiii. 29 (cf. also Gen. xiii. 12) not only to these, but to a See also:people in the See also:Jordan Valley. In Isa. See also:xxiii. 11 it seems to be used of See also:Phoenicia, and in Zeph. ii. 5 (where, however, the See also:text is disputed) of Philistia. Most often it is applied comprehensively to the population of the entire See also:west Jordan See also:land and its pre-Israelitish inhabitants. This usage is characteristic of the writer called the Yahwist (J); see e.g.

Gen. xii. 5, xxxiii. 18; Ex. xv. 15; Num. xxxiii. 51; Josh. xxii. 9; Judg. iii. 1; Ps. cvi. 38, and elsewhere. It was also, as See also:

Augustine tells us,' a usage of the Phoenicians to See also:call their land " Canaan." This is confirmed by coins of the See also:city of See also:Laodicea by the See also:Lebanon, which See also:bear the See also:legend, " Of Laodicea, a See also:metropolis in Canaan "; these coins are datedunder See also:Antiochus IV. (17 5-164B.C.), and his successors, See also:Greek writers, too, tell us a fact of much See also:interest, viz. that the See also:original name of Phoenicia was xva, i.e. Kelm, a See also:short, See also:collateral See also:form of See also:Kena'an or Kan'an. The form Kan'an is favoured by the See also:Egyptian usage.

Seti I. is said to have conquered the Shasu, or Arabian nomads, from the fortress of See also:

Tarn (Shur?) to " the Ka-n-'-na," and See also:Rameses III. to have built a See also:temple to the See also:god See also:Amen in " the Ka-n-'-na." By this geographical name is probably meant all western See also:Syria and See also:Palestine with Raphia—" the (first) city of the Ka-n-'-na "—for the See also:south-west boundary towards the See also:desert.' In the letters sent by See also:governors and princes of Palestine to their Egyptian overlord'—commonly known as the Tel-el-Amarna tablets—we find the two forms Kinahhi and Kinahna, corresponding to Kena` and Kena'an respectively, and See also:standing, as Ed. See also:Meyer has shown, for Syria in its widest extent. On the name " Canaan" Winckler remarks,4 "There is at See also:present no prospect of an etymological explanation." From the fact that Egyptian (though not See also:Hebrew) See also:scribes constantly prefix the See also:article, we may suppose that it originally meant " the See also:country of the Canaanites," just as the Hebrew phrase " the Lebanon " may originally have meant " the See also:highlands of the Libnites "; and we are thus permitted to See also:group the term " Canaan " with See also:clan-names such as Achan, Akan, Jaakan, Anak (generally with the article prefixed), See also:Kain, Kenan. Nor are scholars more unanimous with regard to the region where the terms " Canaanite " and " Canaan " arose. It may be true that the term Kinahhi in the Amarna letters corresponds to Syria and Palestine in their entirety. But this does not prove that the terms " Canaanite " and " Canaan " arose in that region, for they are presumably much older than the Amarna tablets. Let us refer at this point to a document in See also:Genesis which is perhaps hardly estimated at its true value, the so-called Table of Peoples in Gen. x. Here we find " Canaan " included among the four sons of See also:Ham. If See also:Cush in v. 6 really means See also:Ethiopia, and M-s-r-i-m See also:Egypt, and Put the Libyans, and if Ham is really a Hebraized form of the old Egyptian name for Egypt, Kam-t (See also:black),' the passage is puzzling in the extreme. But if, as has recently been suggested,s Cush, M-s-r-i-m, and Put are in See also:north See also:Arabia, and IJani is the short for Yarham or Yerahme'el (see 1 Chr. ii. 25-27, 42), a north Arabian name intimately associated with See also:Caleb, all becomes clear, and Canaan in particular is shown to be an Arabian name.

Now it is no See also:

mere See also:hypothesis that beginning Enarratio in See also:Psalm civ. a W. M. See also:Muller, Asien and See also:Europa, p. 205. 3 The letters are written in the See also:official and See also:diplomatic language—Babylonian, though " Canaanitish " words and idioms are not wanting. ' See also:Die Keilinschriften and das Alte Testament, p. 181. These explanations are endorsed by See also:Driver (Genesis,on Gen. x.). e See the relevant articles in Ency. Bib. and See also:Cheyne's Genesis and See also:Exodus. from about 4000 B.c.l a See also:wave of Semitic See also:migration poured out of Arabia, and flooded Babylonia certainly, and possibly, more or less, Syria and Palestine also. Also that between 2800 and 2600 Inc. a second wave from Arabia took the same course, covering not only Babylonia, but also Syria and Palestine and probably also Egypt (the See also:Hyksos).

It is soon after this that we meet with the See also:

great See also:empire-builder and civilizer, Khammurabi (2267-2213), the first See also:king of a See also:united Babylonia. It is noteworthy that the first See also:part of his name is identical with the name of the See also:father of Canaan in Genesis (Ham or Kham), indicating his Arabian origin.2 It was he, too, who restored the See also:ancient supremacy of Babylonia over Syria and Palestine, and so prevented the Babylonizing of these countries from coming to an abrupt end. We now understand how the Phoenicians, whose ancestors arrived in the second Semitic migration, came to call their land " Canaan." They had in fact the best right to do so. The first of the Canaanite immigrants were driven seawards by the masses which followed them. They settled in Phoenicia, and in after times became so great in See also:commerce that " Canaanite "became a See also:common Hebrew term for " See also:merchant " (e.g. Isa. xxiii. 8). It is a plausible theory that in the conventional See also:language of their See also:inscriptions they preserved a number of geographical and religious phrases which, for them, had no clear meaning, and belonged properly to the land of their distant ancestors, Arabia.3 For their own traditions as to their origin see PHOENICIA; we cannot venture to reject these altogether. The masses of immigrants which followed them may have See also:borne the name of See also:Amorites. A few words on this designation must here be given. Both within and without Palestine the name was famous. First, as regards the Old Testament.

We find " the Amorite (a collective term) mentioned in the Table of Peoples (Gen. x. 16-18a) among other tribal names, the exact original reference of which had probably been forgotten. No one in fact would gather from this and parallel passages how important a part was played by the Amorites in the See also:

early See also:history of Palestine. In Gen. xiv. 7 f., josh. x. 5 f., Dent. i. 19 if., 27, 44 we-find them located in the See also:southern See also:mountain country, while in Num. xxi. 13, 21 f., Josh.ii.xo, o, See also:xxiv.8, I2,&c. we hear of two great Amorite See also:kings, residing respectively at Heshbon and Ashtaroth on the See also:east of the Jordan. Quite different, however, is the view taken in Gen. xv. 16, xlviii. 22, Josh.xxiv.15, Judg. i. 34, Am, ii.9, 10, &C., where the name of Amorite is synonymous with " Canaanite," except that " Amorite " is never used for the population on the west.

Next, as to the extra-Biblical See also:

evidence. In the Egyptian inscriptions and in the Amarna tablets Amar and Amurru have a more limited meaning, being applied to the mountain-region east of Phoenicia, extending to the See also:Orontes. Later on, Amurru became the See also:Assyrian term for the interior of south as well as north Palestine, and at a still more See also:recent See also:period the term " the land of Hatti " (conventionally =See also:Hittites) displaced " Amurru so far as north Palestine is concerned (see HITTITEs). Thus the Phoenicians and the Amorites belong to the first See also:stage of the second great Arabian migration, In the See also:interval preceding the second stage Syria with Palestine became an .Egyptian dependency, though the links' with the See also:sovereign See also:power were not so strong as to prevent frequent See also:local rebellions. Under Thothmes III. and Amen-hotep II. the pressure of a strong See also:hand kept the Syrians and Canaanites sufficiently loyal to the Pharaohs. The reign of Amen-hotep III., however, was not quite so tranquil for the See also:Asiatic See also:province. Turbulent chiefs began to seek their opportunities, though as a See also:rule they did not find them because they could not obtain the help of a neighbouring king.' The boldest of the disaffected was Aziru, son of Abd- 1 For the grounds of these See also:dates see Winckler, Gesch. Isr. i. 127 f. See also:Paton, Early Hist. of Syria and Palestine (1902), pp. 6-8, 25-18. 2 It is true the Babylonians themselves interpreted the name differently (5 R.

44 a b 21), kimta rapashtum, " wide See also:

family." That, however, is only a natural protest against what we may call Canaan-ism or Arabism. 2 See Cheyne, Genesis and Exodus (on Gen. i. 26), and cf. G. A. See also:Cooke, N. Sem. Inscriptions (e.g. pp. 30-40, on Eshmunazar's inscription). ' See Amarna Letters, Winckler's edition, No. 7.10 ashirta, a See also:prince of Amurru, who even before the See also:death of Amenhotep III. endeavoured to extend his power into the See also:plain of See also:Damascus. Akizzi, See also:governor of Katna (near Horns or Hamath), reported this to the See also:Pharaoh who seems to have frustrated the See also:attempt.

In the next reign, however, both father and son caused See also:

infinite trouble to loyal servants of Egypt like See also:Rib-Addi, governor of Gubla (Gebal). It was, first, the advance of the Hatti (Hittites) into Syria, which began in the See also:time of Amen-hotep III., but became far more threatening in that of his successor, and next, the resumption of the second Arabian migration, which most seriously undermined the Egyptian power in See also:Asia. Of the former we cannot speak here (see HITTITES), except so far as to remark the Abd-Ashirta and his son Aziru, though at first afraid of the Uatti, was after-wards See also:clever enough to make a treaty with their king, and, with other See also:external See also:powers, to attack the districts which remained loyal to Egypt. In vain did Rib-Addi send touching appeals for aid to the distant Pharaoh, who was far too much engaged in his religious innovations to attend to such messages. What most interests us is the mention of troublesomeinvaderscalledsometimes sa-See also:gas (a Babylonian ideogram meaning " robber "), sometimes I:iabiri. Who are these Habiri? Not, as was at first thought by some, specially the Israelites, but all those tribes of land-hungry nomads (" See also:Hebrews ") who were attracted by the See also:wealth and luxury of the settled regions, and sought to appropriate it for themselves. Among these we may include not only the Israelites or tribes which afterwards became Israelitish, but the Moabites, See also:Ammonites and Edomites. We meet with the Ijabiri in north Syria. Itakkama writes thus to the Pharaoh,5 " Behold, Namyawaza has surrendered all the cities of the king, my See also:lord, to the SA-GAS in the land of Kadesh and in Ubi. But I will go, and if thy gods and thy See also: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-GAS." Similarly Zimrida, king of See also:Sidon, declares, " All my cities which the king has given into my hand, have come into the hand of the Habiri." 6 Nor had Palestine any See also:immunity from the Arabian invaders. The king of See also:Jerusalem, Abd-Hiba, the second part of whose name has been thought to represent the Hebrew Yahweh,' reports thus to the Pharaoh, " If (Egyptian) troops come this See also: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.$ Abd-Hiba's See also:chief trouble arose from persons called Milkili and the sons of Lapaya, who are said to have entered into a See also:treason-able See also:league with the Habiri.

Apparently this restless See also:

warrior found his death at the See also:siege of Gina.9 All these princes, however, malign each other in their letters to the Pharaoh, and protest their own innocence of traitorous intentions. Namyawaza, for instance, whom Itakkama (see above) accuses of disloyalty, writes thus to the Pharaoh, " Behold, I and my warriors and my chariots, together with my brethren and my SA-GAS, and my See also:Sail? are at the disposal of the(royal) trdops,to go whithersoever the king, my lord, commands."11 This See also:petty prince, therefore, See also:sees n9, harm in having a See also:band of Arabians for his See also:garrison, as indeed See also:Hezekiah See also:long afterwards had his Urbi to help him against See also:Sennacherib;. From the same period we have recently derived fresh and important evidence as to pre-Israelitish Palestine. As soon as the material gathered is large enough to be thoroughly classified and critically examined, a true history of early Palestine will be within measurable distance. At present, there are five places whence the new evidence has been obtained: z. Tell-el-Hasy, generally identified with the See also:Lachish of the Old Testament. Excavations were made here in 189o-1892 by See also:Flinders See also:Petrie and See also:Bliss., 2. See also:Gezer,pilausiblyidebtified with the Gezer ofKings ix. 16. Here R. A. S.

Macalister began excavating in 1902. 3. Tell-es-Safy, possibly the See also:

Gath of the Old Testament, 6 m.frem See also:Eleutheropolis. Here F. J. Bliss and R. A. S. Macalister made 6 Op. cit. No. 146. 6' Op. cit.

No. 147. 1 Johns, Assyrian Deeds, iii. p. 16. 6 Amarna Letters, No. 18o (xi. 20-24). 9 Ibid. No, 164 (xi. 1s-i8). 10 Nomads of the Syrian desert. u Amarna Letters, i\10., 144 (xi.

24-32). some discoveries in 1899-19oo. A See also:

complete examination of the site, however, was impossible. 4. Tell-el-Mutasellim, near Lejjun (Megiddo-Legio). See also:Schumacher began working here in 1903 for the See also:German Palestine Society. 5. Taannek, on the south of the plain of Esdraelon. Here Prof. See also:Ernst Sellin of See also:Vienna was able to do much in a short time (1902-1904). It may be mentioned here that on the first of these sites a See also:cuneiform tablet belonging to the Amarna See also:series was discovered; at Gezer, a See also:deed of See also:sale; at Tell-el-Hasy the remains of a Babylonian See also:stele, three See also:seals, and three cylinders with Babylonian mythological representations; at Tell-el-Mutasellim, a See also:seal bearing a Babylonian legend, and at Taannek, twelve tablets and fragments of tablets were found near the fragments of the terra-See also:cotta See also:box in which they were stored. It is a remarkable fact that the kings or chiefs of the neighbourhood should have used Babylonian cuneiform in their own official See also:correspondence.

But much beside tablets has been found on these sites; See also:

primitive sanctuaries, for instance. The splendid See also:alignment of monoliths at Gezer is described in detail in P.E.F. Quart. Statement, See also:January 1903, p. 23, and See also:July 1903, p. 219. There is See also:reason, as Macalister thinks, to believe that it is the result of a See also:gradual development, beginning with two small pillars, and gradually enlarging by later additions. There is a smaller one at Tell-es-Safy. The Semitic cult of sacred standing stones is thus proved to be of great antiquity; Sellin's discoveries at Taannek and those of Bliss at Tell-es-Safy fully confirm this. See also:Rock-hewn altars have also been found, illustrating the See also:prohibition in Ex. xx. 25, 26, and numerous jars with the skeletons of infants. We cannot doubt that the sacrificing of See also:children was practised on a large See also:scale among the Canaanites.

Their chief deity was Ashtart (See also:

Astarte), the goddess of fertility. Numerous images of her have been found, but none of the god See also:Baal. The types of the divine form vary in the different places. The other images which have been found represent Egyptian deities. We must not, however, infer that there was a large Egyptian See also:element in the Canaanitish See also:Pantheon. What the images do prove is the large amount of intercourse between Egypt and Canaan, and the presence of Egyptians in the subject country. See the Tell-el-Amarna Letters, ed. by Winckler, with See also:translation (1896) ; the reports of Macalister in the See also:Pal. Expl. Fund Statements from 1903 onwards; Sellin's See also:report of excavations at Tell Ta'annek; also H. W. See also:Hogg, " Recent Assyriology," &c., in Inaugural Lectures ed. by Prof. A.

S. Peake (See also:

Manchester University, 1905). On Biblical questions, see See also:Dillmann's commentaries and the See also:Bible dictionaries. See further articles PALESTINE; See also:JEWS. (T. K.

End of Article: CANAAN, CANAANITES

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