{N}SUMMARY OF THE HISTORY OF THE ANCIENT EAST{/}

The history of Israel is inscribed in an ample framework, just as it is for the Near East that we describe here on eight historic maps, that go from 2800 B.C. until the birth of Jesus.

{K}FROM 2800 UNTIL 2200 (BEFORE CHRIST){/}
The egyptian pharaohs of the {N}Ancient Empire{/} reign over the country on the Nile; the valley and the delta are politically and culturally unified around Menfis, the capital city, around thirty kilometers to the south of the actual city of Cairo. During the same time the smaller sumerian{N} {/}kingdoms occupy the vast plains of Mesopotamia. Around the year 2400, a prince of Agade, (one of the sumerian kingdoms), imposes his authority in the region, stretching his power towards the north of Mesopotamia. Later he expands his borders to the Mediterranean, constituting in this way what history has called the Acadian {N}Empire{/}.

{K}FROM 2200 UNTIL 2050{/}
During this period the Near East knows great disturbances: likewise in Mesopotamia and in Egypt, the institutions are swept away. Certainly the internal causes for these events must be looked for, which are different for each country, but he common origin of thise political crises is the strengthening of the nomads of the desert: the gutis destroy the Acadian Empire, the nomads from the syrian desert destroy the empire of the pharaohs, where Heracleopolis  and Tebas get the rank of capital cities.

{K}FROM 2050 UNTIL 1750{/}
The old city of {N}Ur{/}, in Lower Mesopotamia imposes itself during a time over the other cities of Babylonia: it is the third Empire of Ur, that will finally give up before the assyriuan pressure. During this time, in Egypt, Tebas reconstructs the unity of the country with the pharaohs of the{N} Middle Empire{/}, that leaves behind magnificent economic accomplishments, such as having transformed the oasis of El Fayum into cultivable land.

{K}FROM 1750 UNTIL 1550{/}
From Syria - Palestine the hyksos come out, warring leaders who destroy Egypt throughout the eighteenth centry B.C., and who establish foreign dynasties in the delta and in the middle section of the valley of the Nile. During the same epoch, Hammurabi triumphs over the kings of Assyria, Eshnounna and Mari, and joins together around {N}Babylonia{/} an empire that extends from the Persian Gulf to Higher Mesopotamia.

{K}FROM 1550 UNTIL 1200{/}
The national reestablishment that puts an end to the foreign domination in Egypt will be the work of the teban prince of Higher Egypt named Kamosis, who pushes the Hyksos back to their capital city Avaris, in the delta. His brother Ahmosis, will finish the work. But now Egypt must count on the presence of the {N}hittites{/} who have become established in Asia Minor and with the presence of the {N}peoples {/}from the {N}Sea{/} who have come from around the Aegean Sea. During this time the assyrians, mittaneas, babylonians, and casitas come up against each other in Mesopotamia.

{K}FROM 1200 UNTIL 883{/}
In Egypt, decadence accompanies the reign of the last Rameseses, while in Mesopotamia and Asia Minor they are living somber  moments as a consequence of numerous and varied raids. Taking advantage of this total lack of organization of the great powers of the epoch, numerous small states develop in Syria - Palestine: the phoenician maritime cities, the five philistine{N} {/}cities, the kingdoms of Judah, Israel, Moab, Edom, Amon and Aram are some of them.

{K}FROM 883 UNTIL 336{/}
The Near East is dominated during five and a half centuries, each one having its turn, by the Assyrians, the Babylonians and the Persians. The Books of the Kings and of the Prophets refer to those times and tell us how the events were perceived from the two kingdoms of Israel and Judah.

{K}AFTER 336{/}
Coming from {N}Macedonia{/} (to the north of Greece), {N}Alexander{/} starts the conquest of the {N}Persian Empire{/}. After ten years of victorious combat that allow him to reach India, he leaves his successors an empire that will be divided up through violent fighting. The most important succesors will be the {N}Seleucids{/} and the {N}Lagids {/}(or Ptolemies). But in the middle of the first century before Christ, their decadence favors the coming and the aggression of the {N}Romans{/}.
From the year 66, as a result of the expeditions of Pompeius, Rome is converted into the sovereign of the Near East. When, following the battle of Accio, Octavio (called later {N}Augustus{/}) remains as the absolute master of the Empire, converting Egypt into his personal dominion, and Syria into his Imperial Province. The reign of Herod the Great is an "Allied Kingdom", under the strict vigilance of the Syrian Legate, but after the destitution of Archelaus the first, and of Herod Antipas later, Palestine remains under the direct government of the Roman representatives.
