Ancient Canaan's Relative Peace In Ancient Egypt

Ancient Canaan was not a “No-Man’s” but rather an “Any-Man’s” land. Situated between the Nile River Valley and the Tigris-Euphrates River Valley it served as common ground for the movements (socioeconomic and military) of other important and powerful civilizations. Its fate, repeatedly influenced by that of the Egyptians, rose and fell with the events of their neighbors. The relative peace in Egypt during the Old Kingdom era (2575-2100 B.C.E) left Canaan to be a loose quiet place with locally based tribes regulating sparsely settled areas. Dynastic struggles within Egypt during the First Intermediate Period and threats from other nations caused conflict and social discord there. The resulting political and military movements exerted a new
and foreign impact on the areas within Ancient Canaan. This foreign influence led to the creation of city-states and large diversely populated areas. During this Early Bronze period, the new organization to the Ancient Canaan area has its inspiration and support coming from the Egyptians. When Egypt again faltered and its attention moved elsewhere the civil structure in Canaan crumbled. The Second Intermediate Period is once again one of conflict. The Hyksos, a group of mixed Semitic-Asiatic immigrants, rose to power, pushing out Egyptians and mixing their religious/cultural ideas into the country. This cultural integration within Egypt was carried into Canaan when they again dominated the area after throwing out the Hyksos. Throughout the ensuing eras of Egypt’s “New Kingdom”, its 18th & 19th Dynasties and the Amarna Period the geographic location of Ancient Canaan put it in the middle of powerful neighbors whose conflicts, politics, upheavals and fortunes greatly affected the lives and culture of the people there.