Israel and the Geography and History 
of the Ancient Near East



I.     Geography

A.     Topography of Palestine
The Coastal Plain
The Central Highlands/Central Hill Country		 The Jordan Rift/Great Rift Valley
Transjordan/The Transjordanian Highlands

B.     Cities to Locate
Ur
Haran
Hazor
Qumran		 Shechem
Samaria
Jerusalem

 

II.    History

    A.     The origins of Israel

    1.     The Hebrews/Israelites/Jews and the land of Canaan/Israel/Palestine
    2.     The gods and the One God (Henotheism to Monotheism)

    B.     Major Powers in the Ancient Near East and their influence on Israel

    1.     Egypt
    2.     Hittites
    3.     Three Mesopotamian Empires: Assyria, Babylonia, Persia

      a.     Assyria
      b.     Babylonia
      c.     Persia
4.     The Greeks (Macedonians)
5.     The Romans
    C.     Ten Major Periods in the history of Ancient Israel
      1.     Patriarchal Period (Abraham, etc.) (perhaps c. 1850-1700 BCE)
      2.     Mosaic Period (perhaps c. 1250-1200 BCE)
      3.     Period of the Judges (perhaps c. 1200-1020 BCE)
      4.     The United Kingdom (c. 1020-922 BCE)
      5.     The Divided Kingdom (c. 922-721 BCE)
      6.     The Judean Period (c. 721-587)
      7.     The Babylonian Exile (c. 587-538 BCE)
      8.     The Persian Period (c. 538-333 BCE)
      9.     The Hellenistic Period (c. 333-63 BCE)
              a.     Direct Greek Rule
              b.     The Hasmonearn Period
      10.   The Roman Period (63 BCE-135 CE)


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