Where is Canaan located?

Where is Canaan located?

Canaan is considered a historical region with a Semitic language that was formed in the ancient Near East, and today it constitutes Palestine, Lebanon, and Syria. The region, and in the period from the seventh century BC until the fourth century BC, the Canaanites established many new Canaanite colonies that stretched from the western Mediterranean to the borders of the Atlantic coasts.

Canaanite origins

The Canaanites go back to Semitic origins, where the people of Canaan resided in southern Syria and in Palestine, and they completely tightened their grip on it, which led to calling it the land of Canaan, or the country of Canaan, and Arab historians considered them from the Amalekites, as many theories appeared about the origin of the Canaanites, and The most prominent of these theories: the theory of Khazal Al-Majidi, which is represented in the fact that the Canaanites migrated from the Arabian Peninsula, but this theory is contradicted by the discovery of many ancient Canaanite cities more than the ancient Canaanite cities in the Arabian Peninsula, and the biggest evidence for this is the Canaanite city of Jericho, which is the oldest city ​​in history.

As for Strabo, he believes that the origin of the Canaanites is from the coasts of the Arabian Gulf, because of the similarity between the names of the cities of those ancient regions with the names of the cities of Canaan in the Levant region, and it is likely that the Gulf cities are older than others, as the Canaanites migrated after that to the Levant, and Ibn Hayyan says They are from the Harran region, and their kings are the Nemarda.

Recent studies have shown that the Canaanites were among the first Semitic peoples to settle in the Middle East after they came from Africa by passing through Egypt, and that was after the Ghassulin civilization was destroyed in Palestine three thousand three hundred years ago BC.

The Egyptian invasion of the land of Canaan

Egypt invaded the country of Canaan in the fourteenth century BC, during the sixteenth Egyptian dynasty, and this colonization continued for twelve centuries, and Weni was the leader of the Egyptians at the time, and it was said that his army reached a few tens of thousands.

The reason behind this invasion is due to the threat of Egypt's commercial interests in the Levant region, and the beginning of the Egyptian attack in 1468 AD was in the Battle of Megiddo, in which the Egyptian army was victorious, and the battle leader was Thutmose III, and the Battle of Megiddo is the first of Thutmose's war campaigns, while the army that fought was formed The Egyptians formed an alliance consisting of 350 Canaanite states, but the prince of the alliance that brought him together was the prince of Kadesh, known as Ali Al-Asi, and the Canaanites surrendered after the siege of the city of Megiddo for seven months.

Religious rituals of the Canaanites

• Washing and cleansing: The process of washing among the Canaanites was carried out by four things, namely: water, as their belief stipulated the necessity of daily washing, in addition to the necessity of washing after war, and oil, and kings used it most of the time, so that the king bathed before he came to power, and the fire that is considered from They have great means of purification, and they were used to purify sacrifices and pray.
• Drumming: It is a purification ritual used to drive away evil spirits.
• Feasts: Among the feasts that the Canaanites held were the feast of Adoniat, the feast of Al-Hafris, the feasts of Sharaf, and the feasts of Yashmoun.