Amorite Kingdom of Yamhad

The Amorites are commonly regarded as a branch of the northwest Semitic speaking people, tribal nomadic groups in origin who inhabited parts of Syria and Palestine.

In Babylon, a dynasty of Amorite kings was established around 1894. Yamhad was Middle and Late Bronze Age Amorite kingdom in northern Syria. It royal seat was located at Aleppo.

By the beginning of 18th center BC, Yamhad had replace Ebla as the dominant power in the region, exercising sovereignty over a number of cities and petty kingdoms between the Euphrates and Orontes rivers. The first ruler of Yamhad kingdom known as Sumu-epuh, a contemporary of Yahdun-Lim (1810-1794), king of Mari, who had married a princess of Aleppo.

The greatest ruler, Hammurabi (1792-1750) was the fifth member of this dynasty. Yarim-Lim I (1789-1765), ruler of the kingdom Yamhad in northern Syria, was the third king of Amorite descent who reigned in this period.

Kingdom of Yamhad dominance over northern Syria continued until the reign of Yarim-Lim III in the second half of 17th century BC.

In this period, the Hittite king Hattusili I conducted a series of campaigns against of the city-states subject or allied to Yamhad. He succeeded in capturing and destroying a number of these states but failed to take the royal capital Aleppo, which was finally captured and sacked by his successor Mursili I in 1595 BC. Its destruction brought the kingdom of Yamhad to an end.
Amorite Kingdom of Yamhad

The ancient Cimmerians

The Cimmerians were nomadic herdsmen, apparently unacquainted with the horse as a mount, and distinguished for their archery. Its earliest name ‘Cimmeria’ or the ‘land of Cimmerians’ known in the second millennium BC referred to the steppe part of the peninsula stretching eastward as far as the Sea of Azov.

It was said that Cimmerians mixed with Tumulus-Urnfield fusion when they raided through Asia Minor and south to Egypt between BC 15th and 12th centuries.

About 720 BC the Cimmerians were driven out of Europe across the Caucasus Mountains into Asia.  Cimmerians were dislodge form their homeland by incoming Scythians who fought from their horses using bows and arrows as well as swords.

From the south in the year 714 BC, they constituted the Assyrian forces in the Mannaeans fortress along the border.

By the end of the 8th century BC the influx of Cimmerians was felt in all the peripheral states north and east of the Fertile Crescent.

After being defeated by the Assyrians under Sargon II, they headed westward into Asia Minor, where in 696-695 BC they conquered the Phrygians led by King Midas, who reportedly committed suicides after defeat.

Cimmerians then settled into a nomadic life in western Turkey until they were joined by Thracian warriors from Europe. By 626 BC the Cimmerian-Thracian warriors were destroyed by a combined force of Assyrians and Scythians.

The name Crimea, identifying a peninsula extending into the Baltic Sea is derived from the name of Cimmerians.
The ancient Cimmerians

Kingdom of Judah (928 – 587 BC)

Judah and Benjamin tribes founded the Kingdom of Judah. It was split from Northern Kingdom of Israel after the death of King Solomon.

Kingdom of Judah was rather isolated and sparsely populated kingdom until the eight century BC. It was hardly comparable in territory, wealth and military might to the Kingdom of Israel in the north.

Northern Kingdom of Israel later fell to Assyrian conquerors in the year 722 and it inhabitants were led onto exile or enslaved.

After the fall of Kingdom of Israel, Judah grew enormously in population, developed complex state institutions and merged as a meaningful power in the region.

In 586 BC the Babylonians out of Mesopotamia conquered Judah and destroyed the Temple at Jerusalem which was built around 950 BC by Solomon.

The tribes of Judah and Benjamin in 586 were driven from Jerusalem into captivity in Babylon, later returned to reestablish their kingdom and rebuild their temple in Jerusalem.

They are believed to be the ancestors of all modern Jews.
Kingdom of Judah (928 – 587 BC)

Phoenician Empire

Phoenicians had become a major trading empire after the collapse of the Mycenaean civilization around 1200 BC.

Phoenician era was well under way by the start of the 1st millennium BC. They had rebuilt their major cities after destruction by the Sea Peoples. They newfound political independence helped the Phoenicians expand the trade that was already the foundation of their propriety.

According to the ancient classical authors, they occupied the entire Levantine coast between the Suez and the Gulf of Alexandretta.

The chief cities of Phoenicia – Byblos Tyre and Sidon were ports on the eastern Mediterranean but they also served as distribution centers for the lands to the east in Mesopotamia.

Phoenician sailors mastered the waterways, braving treacherous winds and reefs to explore paths previously uncharted. Phoenicians merchants exported lumber, glass, copper and bronze utensils and the purple dye produced from the murex, a mollusk that was plentiful in the coastal waters.

In the late 8th century BC, the Assyrians annexed most Phoenician cities along the Levant coast. After the Assyrian Empire collapsed in the middle of the 7th century BC the Phoenician cities were controlled first by Egypt and then by Babylonians.
Phoenician Empire