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Today, the ancient Canaanites are known mainly through the lens of the Bible, but they predate the Kingdom of Israel and played a major role in the history of the ancient Near East. Although the people of the ancient Levant (roughly equivalent to the modern nation-states of Israel, Palestine, Lebanon, and southern Syria) are today collectively referred to as Canaanites and the land they inhabited Canaan, based on the biblical accounts, they were several different peoples who shared cultural and linguistic traits but never had a central government. By the time of the Late Bronze Age (ca. 1500-1200 BC), the Canaanites began to play an increasingly important role in the political and cultural history of the Near East in a variety of different ways. The Canaanite kingdoms were subordinate to the more powerful Egyptian and Hittite empires, plying them with much needed resources, but also playing the role of buffer zone and sometimes instigator when it suited their purposes. The Canaanites also influenced the region through their language and religion, which spread throughout the Near East and from the Bronze Age into the Iron Age.

Much of the modern knowledge and nomenclature of the ancient Canaanites is derived from the ancient Egyptians, who were in many ways students of ethnography. Beginning in Egypt’s Middle Kingdom (ca. 2050-1710 BC), the Egyptians referred to the entire Levant, the homeland of the Canaanites, as “Retenu.” <ref> Kuhrt, Amélie. <i> The Ancient Near East: c. 3000-330 BC.</i> (London: Routledge, 2010), p. 313</ref> Later, in the New Kingdom (ca. 1550-1075 BC), in addition to the term Retenu, the Egyptians referred to parts of the Levant as “Djay” <ref> Faulkner, Raymond O. <i> A Concise Dictionary of Middle Egyptian.</i> (Oxford: Griffith Institute, 1999), p. 319</ref> and often the Canaanite people with the pejorative “vile Asiatics.” In diplomatic letters exchanged by the more powerful kingdoms of the Bronze Age Near East, the Canaanites and their land were often called “Kinahni,” <ref> Kuhrt, p. 318</ref> which may be the origin of the word Canaanite.

Although the Canaanites developed relatively sophisticated city-states, they never had a centralized Canaanite government, which was exploited by both the Hittites and Egyptians in the Late Bronze Age. Each Canaanite state was based around a fortified, sizable city that was controlled by a prince or king, <ref> Kuhrt, p. 318</ref> but the true powers in the region were the Hittites and Egyptians.

[[File: Near_East_1400_BCE.png|300px|thumbnail|left|Map of the Ancient Near East in 1400 BC: Most of the Canaanite Lands Are Controlled by Egypt, but the Far North Is under Mitanni Rule, which would later Become Hittite Rule]]

The Canaanites became part of the power struggle between the so-called Great Powers of the Near East when the Egyptian king, Thutmose III (ruled ca. 1479-1425 BC), conquered the region. Numerous hieroglyphic texts from Egypt document seventeen military campaigns that Thutmose III conducted into the Levant, first to conquer the Canaanites and later as punitive expeditions against recalcitrant city-states. <ref> Kuhrt, p. 317</ref> One text describes how the Egyptian king set the terms of Canaan’s occupation with the other great powers of Hatti, Mitanni, and Babylon (Naharin).

Amurru was another important Canaanite city in the northern Levant that became a contested state and part of the buffer zone between the Egyptian and Hittite empires. The first important ruler of Amurru was King Abdi-ashirta, who pledged his fealty to the Egyptians in the fourteenth century BC. Abdi-ashirta’s son Aziru, though, changed sides and gave his support to the Hittites, which was not uncommon in the Late Bronze Age. <ref> Kitchen, Kenneth A. <i> On the Reliability of the Old Testament.</i> (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Williams B. Eerdmans Publishing, 2003), p. 166</ref> Although the Canaanites were never strong enough militarily to resist the greater Near Eastern powers, they often played the powers against each other in order to enhance their own situations – for instance, if the Hittites offered Amurru less onerous tribute requirements they could abandon the Egyptians and pledge fealty to the Hittites. <ref> Kuhrt, p. 236</ref> The Canaanites may have been militarily weak, but they were not powerless or without agency in the constant power struggles of the Bronze Age Near East.

[[File: Ball.jpg|300px|thumbnail|left|Statue of the Primary Canaanite God, Baal]]

[[File: Anath.png|300px|thumbnail|Right|Statue of the Canaanite Goddess of War and Fertility, Anath]]

Just as Inanna/Ishtar spread to the Levant and was transformed into Anath by the Canaanites, the Canaanite gods and goddesses were adopted by and evolved with other peoples. In the early Iron Age, the Phoenicians accepted Baal as their primary god and later took his worship with them to Carthage. Likewise, although the Iron Age Israelites primarily worshipped Yahweh, I Kings tells of how the King of Israel, Ahab (ruled 885-850 BC), married a Phoenician woman and converted to Baal worship. Finally, the goddess Astarte, which was an Egyptianized version of Anath, became a popular in Egypt during the Late Bronze Age.

The ancient Canaanites did not wield the military or diplomatic power of other peoples in the ancient Near East, but they nonetheless still played a major role in the historical development of the region. The Canaanites’ role as vassals to the Egyptians and Hittites was important because they served as a buffer zone between the two powerful states and also sometimes as an instigator of conflicts. Perhaps the most profound influence the Canaanites had on the history of the ancient Near East was cultural, particularly in the realm of language and religion because their form of writing, as well as some of their deities, were adopted by other peoples. Truly, the Canaanites an extremely crucial role in the historical process of the the Bronze Age Near East.

[[Category: Ancient History]] [[Category: Bronze Age History]] [[Category: Near East History]] [[Category: Late Bronze Age]]