Israelites

A branch of Semitic people of nomadic origin who emerged in the Levant at the start of the Iron Age, c 1200 BC. This emergence is identified with a shift of settlement, small villages dispersed in upland regions replacing urban life. They are said to have been led by Moses from Egypt to the Promised Land of Palestine. They conquered the Canaanites and the Philistines in some areas and created a powerful monarchy with its capital at Jerusalem in the 10th century BC. The Canaanites retained control of the coastal area, however. Shortly thereafter, it split into the kingdoms of Israel and Judah, later to be destroyed, respectively, by the Assyrians in 722 BC and Babylonians in 587 BC. Although there exists a wealth of documentary evidence for the Israelites in the Bible, they are difficult to identify in the archaeological record. The major building works of the united kingdom belong to the reign of Solomon.

Although there exists a wealth of documentary evidence for the Israelites in the Bible, they are difficult to identify in the archaeological record. They appear to have been a Semitic people of nomadic origin and are said to have been led by Moses from Egypt to the Promised Land of Palestine. However, archaeology provides little evidence of their entry into the country and, though we have good evidence of Late Bronze Age occupation in many places, there is nothing in the archaeological record to suggest dramatic or violent change and no way to distinguish clearly traditions that can be regarded as specifically Israelite, as opposed to Canaanite. It appears that they settled mainly in the hill country and that the Canaanites retained control of the coastal area. By the time of Solomon in the 10th century BC they had conquered both Canaanites and Philistines and established a powerful kingdom with its capital at Jerusalem. This subsequently split into two separate kingdoms of Israel, which fell to the Assyrians in 722 BC, and Judah, which finally succumbed to the Babylonians in 587 bc.