Region

The Levant

Also Known As Levant Short form. The atlas files this entry under a longer name and readers reach for the shorter one. · Levantine

The Near East and Egypt

The eastern Mediterranean coast and its hinterland, covering modern Israel, Palestine, Lebanon, Jordan and western Syria. Judaism, Christianity, Samaritanism, the Druze Faith and Canaanite Religion are placed here, which makes it the densest region in the scheme. The Canaanite entry is the reason it matters: the Hebrew Bible's polemic against Baal is a quarrel between neighbours who shared a language and much of a pantheon, and the archaeological record has made the continuity harder to deny than it once was. Islam is filed to Arabia instead, though its formative expansion happened largely here.

Facts

Geography

Latitude

34 degrees north 1

Approximate reference point, rounded to one decimal place; a large or historical region has no formal center, so this coordinate is conventional, not a precise boundary claim.

Longitude

37 degrees east 1

Approximate reference point, rounded to one decimal place; a large or historical region has no formal center, so this coordinate is conventional, not a precise boundary claim.

Modern Area

Israel, Palestine, Lebanon, Syria 1

Traditions

Principal Religious Traditions

Christianity 2

Principal Religious Traditions

Islam 2

Principal Religious Traditions

Judaism 2

Sacred and Liturgical Languages

Hebrew, Aramaic, Greek, and Arabic 3

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The Most Contested Holy Ground on Earth

The Levant, the eastern Mediterranean coast and its hinterland, is the single densest and most contested piece of sacred geography in the world, because it is the birthplace of the three great Abrahamic monotheisms and holds sites central to all of them. It was here, in ancient Canaan and Israel, that Judaism emerged, with Jerusalem as the site of the Temple and the focus of Jewish longing and prayer ever since; here that Christianity began, in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus, making Jerusalem, Bethlehem, and Galilee the Holy Land of Christian pilgrimage; and here that Jerusalem became, as the site of the Prophet Muhammad's Night Journey and Ascension, the third holiest city of Islam after Mecca and Medina. The result is a landscape where the same ground, the Temple Mount / Haram al-Sharif, the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, the Western Wall, the tombs of the patriarchs at Hebron, carries overlapping and competing sacred claims of the deepest kind, a concentration of holiness that has made the region both a place of profound devotion and a focus of enduring conflict.

The Older Gods, and the Living Minorities

Beneath and around the Abrahamic faiths, the Levant preserves older and smaller religious worlds. Long before Israel, the region was the land of Canaanite religion, whose gods, the high god El, the storm god Baal, the goddesses Asherah and Anat, are known from the cuneiform tablets of Ugarit and form the polytheistic background against which, and in reaction to which, the monotheism of the Hebrew Bible defined itself; the biblical prophets' polemics against Baal are a direct record of that struggle.

The Levant also remains home to living religious minorities of great antiquity and distinctiveness: the Samaritans, an ancient offshoot of Israelite religion who still keep the Passover sacrifice on Mount Gerizim and now number only a few hundred; and the Druze, whose secretive, esoteric faith emerged from Ismaili Islam in the eleventh century and whose communities endure in the mountains of Lebanon, Syria, and Israel. The region thus holds not only the shared holy places of half the world's believers but also the archaeological memory of the Canaanite gods and the enduring presence of some of the smallest and oldest surviving religious communities on earth.

The Levant

7 entries

Principal Tradition Of

Sacred To

Connections

Associated With

Achaemenid Empire (Wikipedia)

This source names The Levant directly: "from Armenia through Asia Minor and the Levant during the forty-five-year reign of Artaxerxes II, 405 to 358 BCE."

Source Achaemenid Empire (Wikipedia)Wikipedia contributors

Muslim Conquest of the Levant

This source names The Levant directly: "and the other principal cities of the Levant within two years."

Source The Great Arab Conquests: How the Spread of Islam Changed the World We Live InHugh Kennedy

Palmyrene

Palmyra stood in the Syrian desert, at the edge of the Levant.

West Semitic

The alphabet was invented within this branch, in the Levant and Sinai.

Zoroastrianism Becomes The Achaemenid State's De Facto Religion

This source names The Levant directly: "Armenia through Asia Minor and into the Levant."

Source Achaemenid Empire (Wikipedia)Wikipedia contributors

Attested Here

Aramaic

Source The World's Writing SystemsPeter T. Daniels and William Bright (eds.)

Balaam

Benjamin

Biblical Hebrew

Biblical Hebrew is documented in use as a written language in The Levant. The claim is where the language is documented in use as a written, literary or liturgical language. It is not a claim about the full extent of its speakers, and it is not a claim about where the language originated.

Source The World's Writing SystemsPeter T. Daniels and William Bright (eds.)

Enoch

Ephraim

Gad

Goat

The scapegoat of Leviticus 16, driven out carrying what the community puts on it.

Source Encyclopedia of ReligionMircea Eliade (ed.); Lindsay Jones (ed., 2nd ed.)

Gomorrah

Hagar

Hebrew

Hebrew is documented in use as a written language in The Levant. The claim is where the language is documented in use as a written, literary or liturgical language. It is not a claim about the full extent of its speakers, and it is not a claim about where the language originated.

Source The World's Writing SystemsPeter T. Daniels and William Bright (eds.)

Issachar

Koine Greek

Source The World's Writing SystemsPeter T. Daniels and William Bright (eds.)

Lion

The lion of Judah, and the lions of Daniel.

Source Encyclopedia of ReligionMircea Eliade (ed.); Lindsay Jones (ed., 2nd ed.)

Naphtali

Old French

Spoken in the Crusader states of the Levant.

Source Old French (Wikipedia)

Rachel

Reuben

Samuel

Saul

Simeon

Sodom

The narrative places the cities of the plain in the Levant, and no closer location is established.

The Clean and Unclean Animals of Levitical Law

The priestly source's tahor/tamei classification, set out in Leviticus 11 with a parallel list in Deuteronomy 14, matching the already-live Goat and Lion rows attested to The Levant on the same biblical association.

Source Leviticus 1-16: A New Translation with Introduction and CommentaryJacob Milgrom

Unicorn

An artefact of translation: the re'em of the Hebrew Bible rendered monoceros in the Septuagint.

Source Encyclopedia of ReligionMircea Eliade (ed.); Lindsay Jones (ed., 2nd ed.)

Whale

The great fish of Jonah, which the text does not call a whale.

Source Encyclopedia of ReligionMircea Eliade (ed.); Lindsay Jones (ed., 2nd ed.)

Zebulun

Zechariah

Zoar (Bela)

Source The Hebrew Bible (Tanakh)Anonymous (multiple authors)

Contains

Ancient Israel

Source Ancient Israel and Judah (Wikipedia)

Caesarea

Caesarea stands on the Levantine coast.

Canaan

Canaan is the ancient name for the southern Levant.

Galilee

Galilee is the northern part of the Levant.

Judea

Judea is the southern highland of the Levant.

Moab

Moab lies on the eastern edge of the Levant, across the Dead Sea.

Mount Hor

The traditional identification places it above Petra, in southern Jordan.

Samaria

Samaria is the central hill country of the Levant.

West Bank

The West Bank lies within the Levant.

Originated Here

Adam and Eve in the Garden

Baalbek

Source UNESCO World Heritage ListUnited Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization

Cain and Abel

Canaanites

Capernaum

Source The Holy Land: An Oxford Archaeological GuideJerome Murphy-O'Connor

Central Synagogue of Aleppo

Source Encyclopaedia Britannica (online academic reference)Encyclopaedia Britannica editors

Eusebius of Caesarea

First Temple Period

Source The Hebrew Bible (Tanakh)Anonymous (multiple authors)

Gethsemane

Source The Holy Land: An Oxford Archaeological GuideJerome Murphy-O'Connor

Herodium

Source The Jewish WarFlavius Josephus

Israelites

Jasper

Source The Holy BibleAnonymous (multiple authors)

Jonah and the Great Fish

Korban (The Israelite Offering)

The sanctuaries of Israel and Judah, and from the monarchic period the Jerusalem Temple.

Source The Hebrew Bible (Tanakh)Anonymous (multiple authors)

Leviathan and Behemoth

Ligure

Source The Holy BibleAnonymous (multiple authors)

Mamre

Source The Oxford Dictionary of World ReligionsJohn Bowker (ed.)

Mar Saba

Source Encyclopaedia Britannica (online academic reference)Encyclopaedia Britannica editors

Masada

Source The Masada Myth: Collective Memory and Mythmaking in IsraelNachman Ben-Yehuda

Meron

Source Encyclopaedia Judaica, 2nd editionMichael Berenbaum and Fred Skolnik (eds.)

Mount Carmel

Source The Holy Land: An Oxford Archaeological GuideJerome Murphy-O'Connor

Mount Gerizim

Source Mount Gerizim ExcavationsYitzhak Magen

Mount Hor

Source The Holy Land: An Oxford Archaeological GuideJerome Murphy-O'Connor

Mount Nebo

Source Encyclopaedia Britannica (online academic reference)Encyclopaedia Britannica editors

Mount of Olives

Source Encyclopaedia Britannica (online academic reference)Encyclopaedia Britannica editors

Mount Tabor

Source The Holy Land: An Oxford Archaeological GuideJerome Murphy-O'Connor

Mount Zion

Source The Holy Land: An Oxford Archaeological GuideJerome Murphy-O'Connor

Noah and the Flood

Onyx

Source The Holy BibleAnonymous (multiple authors)

Palmyra

Source The Oxford Classical Dictionary, 4th editionSimon Hornblower, Antony Spawforth and Esther Eidinow (eds.)

Parah Adumah (The Red Heifer)

Source The Hebrew Bible (Tanakh)Anonymous (multiple authors)

Petra

Source The Oxford Classical Dictionary, 4th editionSimon Hornblower, Antony Spawforth and Esther Eidinow (eds.)

Phoenicians

Qumran

Source The Archaeology of Qumran and the Dead Sea ScrollsJodi Magness

Rachel's Tomb

Source Encyclopaedia Judaica, 2nd editionMichael Berenbaum and Fred Skolnik (eds.)

Safed

Source Encyclopaedia Judaica, 2nd editionMichael Berenbaum and Fred Skolnik (eds.)

Sardius

Source The Holy BibleAnonymous (multiple authors)

Sea of Galilee

Source The Holy Land: An Oxford Archaeological GuideJerome Murphy-O'Connor

Second Temple Period

The Second Temple stood in Jerusalem in the Levant, the center of Second Temple Jewish religious life.

Source Judaism: Practice and Belief, 63 BCE to 66 CEE. P. Sanders

Solomon and the Queen of Sheba

Sukkah

Tamid (The Daily Offering)

Source The Hebrew Bible (Tanakh)Anonymous (multiple authors)

The Binding of Isaac and the Sacrifice of Ibrahim

The Cave of the Patriarchs and the Ibrahimi Mosque

Source UNESCO World Heritage ListUnited Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization

The Church of the Holy Sepulchre

Source The Tomb of ChristMartin Biddle

The Church of the Nativity

Source UNESCO World Heritage ListUnited Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization

The Creation in Six Days

The Death and Resurrection of Jesus

The Dome of the Rock and al-Aqsa Mosque

Source The Encyclopaedia of Islam, 2nd editionP. Bearman, Th. Bianquis, C. E. Bosworth, E. van Donzel and W. P. Heinrichs (eds.)

The First Temple (Solomon's Temple)

Source Encyclopaedia Britannica (online academic reference)Encyclopaedia Britannica editors

The Harrowing of Hell

The Scapegoat Rite of Yom Kippur

Source The Hebrew Bible (Tanakh)Anonymous (multiple authors)

The Temple Mount and al-Haram al-Sharif

Source Treaty of Peace between the State of Israel and the Hashemite Kingdom of JordanState of Israel and Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan

The Umayyad Mosque

Source UNESCO World Heritage ListUnited Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization

The Western Wall

Source Encyclopaedia Judaica, 2nd editionMichael Berenbaum and Fred Skolnik (eds.)

Plants Native Here

Cedar

Cedrus libani, the cedar of Lebanon, is native to the mountains of the Levant. It is one of several unrelated aromatic woods the word cedar has covered.

Source Plants of the World OnlineRoyal Botanic Gardens, Kew

Plants Used in Ritual Here

Frankincense

Source A Modern HerbalMaud Grieve

Hyssop

Source A Modern HerbalMaud Grieve

Myrrh

Source A Modern HerbalMaud Grieve

Olive

Source A Modern HerbalMaud Grieve

Saffron

Source A Modern HerbalMaud Grieve

Valerian

Source A Modern HerbalMaud Grieve

Regions Where This Is Principal

Christianity

Source Encyclopedia of ReligionMircea Eliade (ed.); Lindsay Jones (ed., 2nd ed.)

Islam

Source Encyclopedia of ReligionMircea Eliade (ed.); Lindsay Jones (ed., 2nd ed.)

Judaism

Source Encyclopedia of ReligionMircea Eliade (ed.); Lindsay Jones (ed., 2nd ed.)

Related To

Holy Land

The Holy Land is a devotional name for part of the Levant.

Near East

The Levant is the Mediterranean coastal strip of the Near East and is catalogued separately.

Societies Attested Here

Hellenistic Period

The Seleucid successor kingdom ruled much of the Levant through the Hellenistic Period, until Roman and Hasmonean power displaced it.

Source From Alexander to Actium: The Historical Evolution of the Hellenistic AgePeter Green

Spread Events Here

Muslim Conquest of the Levant

Ninth Crusade

Second Crusade

Sixth Crusade

The Nizari-Seljuk Conflicts (1090 to 1194)

Third Crusade

In the Other Atlases

Also in Language Atlas: Arabic, used in there.
Also in Language Atlas: Greek, used in there.
Also in Language Atlas: Hebrew, used in there.

Sources

1. Encyclopaedia Britannica (online academic reference)

Encyclopaedia Britannica editors, Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc., 2024

s.v. regional geography
Originated Here: Mount of Olives, Stored region property on this entity, cited to this source: The Levant
Originated Here: The First Temple (Solomon's Temple), Stored region property on this entity, cited to this source: The Levant
Originated Here: Mount Nebo, Stored region property on this entity, cited to this source: The Levant
Originated Here: Mar Saba, Stored region property on this entity, cited to this source: The Levant
Originated Here: Central Synagogue of Aleppo, Stored region property on this entity, cited to this source: the Levant

View the Source

2. Encyclopedia of Religion

Mircea Eliade (ed.); Lindsay Jones (ed., 2nd ed.), Macmillan Reference, 2005The geography of religions

Quote, The geography of religions

General reference for the extent of each region and for the traditions placed within it.

View the Source

3. The Oxford Dictionary of World Religions

John Bowker (ed.), Oxford University Press, 1997

s.v. regional traditions
Originated Here: Mamre, Stored region property on this entity, cited to this source: The Levant

View the Source

The Oxford English Dictionary, 3rd edition

Oxford University Press, Oxford University Pressdemonym / adjectival formView the Source

Ugaritic Narrative Poetry

Simon B. Parker (ed.); Mark S. Smith and others (trans.), Society of Biblical Literature, 1997Canaanite religion at UgaritView the Source

Leviticus 1-16: A New Translation with Introduction and Commentary

Jacob Milgrom, Doubleday, 1991Attested Here: The Clean and Unclean Animals of Levitical LawView the Source

Old French (Wikipedia)

Wikimedia FoundationAttested Here: Old French, Old French, spread

Quote, Attested Here: Old French, Old French, spread

The Norman dialect was also spread to England and Ireland, and during the Crusades, Old French was also spoken in the Kingdom of Sicily, and in the Principality of Antioch and the Kingdom of Jerusalem in the Levant.

View the Source

Treaty of Peace between the State of Israel and the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan

State of Israel and Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, Avalon Project, Yale Law School, 1994Originated Here: The Temple Mount and al-Haram al-Sharif, Stored region property on this entity, cited to this source: The LevantView the Source

UNESCO World Heritage List

United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, UNESCO World Heritage Centre

Originated Here: The Umayyad Mosque, Stored region property on this entity, cited to this source: The Levant
Originated Here: The Cave of the Patriarchs and the Ibrahimi Mosque, Stored region property on this entity, cited to this source: The Levant
Originated Here: The Church of the Nativity, Stored region property on this entity, cited to this source: The Levant
Originated Here: Baalbek, Stored region property on this entity, cited to this source: The Levant

View the Source

The Encyclopaedia of Islam, 2nd edition

P. Bearman, Th. Bianquis, C. E. Bosworth, E. van Donzel and W. P. Heinrichs (eds.), Brill, 2005Originated Here: The Dome of the Rock and al-Aqsa Mosque, Stored region property on this entity, cited to this source: The LevantView the Source

Encyclopaedia Judaica, 2nd edition

Michael Berenbaum and Fred Skolnik (eds.), Macmillan Reference USA, 2007

Originated Here: The Western Wall, Stored region property on this entity, cited to this source: The Levant
Originated Here: Rachel's Tomb, Stored region property on this entity, cited to this source: The Levant
Originated Here: Safed, Stored region property on this entity, cited to this source: The Levant
Originated Here: Meron, Stored region property on this entity, cited to this source: The Levant

View the Source

The Tomb of Christ

Martin Biddle, Sutton Publishing, 1999Originated Here: The Church of the Holy Sepulchre, Stored region property on this entity, cited to this source: The Levant

The Holy Land: An Oxford Archaeological Guide

Jerome Murphy-O'Connor, Oxford University Press, 2008

Originated Here: Gethsemane, Stored region property on this entity, cited to this source: The Levant
Originated Here: Mount Zion, Stored region property on this entity, cited to this source: The Levant
Originated Here: Mount Tabor, Stored region property on this entity, cited to this source: The Levant
Originated Here: Mount Carmel, Stored region property on this entity, cited to this source: The Levant
Originated Here: Sea of Galilee, Stored region property on this entity, cited to this source: The Levant
Originated Here: Capernaum, Stored region property on this entity, cited to this source: The Levant
Originated Here: Mount Hor, Stored region property on this entity, cited to this source: The Levant

View the Source

The Oxford Classical Dictionary, 4th edition

Simon Hornblower, Antony Spawforth and Esther Eidinow (eds.), Oxford University Press, 2012

Originated Here: Palmyra, Stored region property on this entity, cited to this source: The Levant
Originated Here: Petra, Stored region property on this entity, cited to this source: The Levant

View the Source

Mount Gerizim Excavations

Yitzhak Magen, Israel Antiquities Authority, 2008Originated Here: Mount Gerizim, Stored region property on this entity, cited to this source: The Levant

The Archaeology of Qumran and the Dead Sea Scrolls

Jodi Magness, William B. Eerdmans, 2002Originated Here: Qumran, Stored region property on this entity, cited to this source: The LevantView the Source

The Masada Myth: Collective Memory and Mythmaking in Israel

Nachman Ben-Yehuda, University of Wisconsin Press, 1995Originated Here: Masada, Stored region property on this entity, cited to this source: The Levant

The Jewish War

Flavius Josephus, No single modern publisher; the work survives through numerous manuscript traditions and modern critical editions, most commonly consulted today in the Loeb Classical Library edition (Harvard Universi, 78Originated Here: Herodium, Stored region property on this entity, cited to this source: The Levant

Ancient Israel and Judah (Wikipedia)

Contains: Ancient Israel, Introduction

Quote, Contains: Ancient Israel, Introduction

two Israelite kingdoms that existed in the Southern Levant during the Iron Age

View the Source

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The Levant

Ancient Israel

Canaan

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Associated With

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Originated Here

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Plants Used in Ritual Here

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