Over

recorded history Recorded history or written history describes the historical events that have been recorded in a written form or other documented communication which are subsequently evaluated by historians using the historical method. For broader world hi ...

, there have been many names of the Levant, a large area in the

Middle East The Middle East ( ar, الشرق الأوسط, ISO 233: ) is a geopolitical region commonly encompassing Arabia (including the Arabian Peninsula and Bahrain), Asia Minor (Asian part of Turkey except Hatay Province), East Thrace (Europ ...

, or its constituent parts. These names have applied to a part or the whole of the

Levant The Levant () is an approximation, approximate historical geography, historical geographical term referring to a large area in the Eastern Mediterranean region of Western Asia. In its narrowest sense, which is in use today in archaeology an ...

. On occasion, two or more of these names have been used at the same time by different cultures or sects. As a natural result, some of the names of the Levant are highly politically charged. Perhaps the least politicized name is ''Levant'' itself, which simply means "where the sun rises" or "where the land rises out of the sea", a meaning attributed to the region's easterly location on the shore of the

Mediterranean Sea The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on the ...

Antiquity

Retjenu

Ancient Egyptian texts (c. 14th century BC) called the entire coastal area along the

between modern Egypt and Turkey ''rṯnw'' (conventionally '' Reṯenu''). In the Amarna letters, written in

Akkadian cuneiform Cuneiform is a logo- syllabic script that was used to write several languages of the Ancient Middle East. The script was in active use from the early Bronze Age until the beginning of the Common Era. It is named for the characteristic wedg ...

, Reṯenu is subdivided into five regions: * ''kꜣnꜥnꜥ'' (''Kanana'') or

Canaan Canaan (; Phoenician: 𐤊𐤍𐤏𐤍 – ; he, כְּנַעַן – , in pausa – ; grc-bib, Χανααν – ;The current scholarly edition of the Greek Old Testament spells the word without any accents, cf. Septuaginta : id est Vetus T ...

proper (

Idumea Edom (; Edomite: ; he, אֱדוֹם , lit.: "red"; Akkadian: , ; Ancient Egyptian: ) was an ancient kingdom in Transjordan, located between Moab to the northeast, the Arabah to the west, and the Arabian Desert to the south and eas ...

Judea Judea or Judaea ( or ; from he, יהודה, Standard ''Yəhūda'', Tiberian ''Yehūḏā''; el, Ἰουδαία, ; la, Iūdaea) is an ancient, historic, Biblical Hebrew, contemporaneous Latin, and the modern-day name of the mountainous south ...

Samaria Samaria (; he, שֹׁמְרוֹן, translit=Šōmrōn, ar, السامرة, translit=as-Sāmirah) is the historic and biblical name used for the central region of Palestine, bordered by Judea to the south and Galilee to the north. The first ...

); **''pꜣ-kꜣnꜥnꜥ'' (''pa-Kanana''), city of

Gaza Gaza may refer to: Places Palestine * Gaza Strip, a Palestinian territory on the eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea ** Gaza City, a city in the Gaza Strip ** Gaza Governorate, a governorate in the Gaza Strip Lebanon * Ghazzeh, a village in ...

; name used in reference to being the administrative centre of

. * '' Ḏahy'' (''ḏꜣhy'';''Ṯahi'', ''Ḏahi''), roughly

Galilee Galilee (; he, הַגָּלִיל, hagGālīl; ar, الجليل, al-jalīl) is a region located in northern Israel and southern Lebanon. Galilee traditionally refers to the mountainous part, divided into Upper Galilee (, ; , ) and Lower Gali ...

and coastal plain to

Ashkelon Ashkelon or Ashqelon (; Hebrew: , , ; Philistine: ), also known as Ascalon (; Ancient Greek: , ; Arabic: , ), is a coastal city in the Southern District of Israel on the Mediterranean coast, south of Tel Aviv, and north of the border ...

dominated by Hazor; * ''Rmnn'', coast of

Lebanon Lebanon ( , ar, لُبْنَان, translit=lubnān, ), officially the Republic of Lebanon () or the Lebanese Republic, is a country in Western Asia. It is located between Syria to Lebanon–Syria border, the north and east and Israel to Blue ...

; * ''Amurru'', (the Amurru kingdom of the

Amorites The Amorites (; sux, 𒈥𒌅, MAR.TU; Akkadian: 𒀀𒈬𒊒𒌝 or 𒋾𒀉𒉡𒌝/𒊎 ; he, אֱמוֹרִי, 'Ĕmōrī; grc, Ἀμορραῖοι) were an ancient Northwest Semitic-speaking people from the Levant who also occupied lar ...

); * ''Kharu'' (''ḥꜣrw''), the chief city of which was

Ugarit ) , image =Ugarit Corbel.jpg , image_size=300 , alt = , caption = Entrance to the Royal Palace of Ugarit , map_type = Near East#Syria , map_alt = , map_size = 300 , relief=yes , location = Latakia Governorate, Syria , region = ...

Canaan

Akkadian Akkadian or Accadian may refer to: * Akkadians, inhabitants of the Akkadian Empire * Akkadian language, an extinct Eastern Semitic language * Akkadian literature, literature in this language * Akkadian cuneiform, early writing system * Akkadian myt ...

: 𒆳𒆠𒈾𒄴𒈾 ('' Kinaḫnu)'' * ar, کَنْعَان * Phoenician: 𐤊𐤍𐤏𐤍 (''Knʿn'') * el, Χαναάν or Χνᾶ (''Khanaán'' or ''Khna'') *

Hebrew Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...

:* Israeli he, כנען :* Tiberian he, כְּנַעַן * fa, (''Kænaan'') * la, Canaan * tr, Kenan Prior to (and for some time after) the formation of the

Israelite The Israelites (; , , ) were a group of Semitic-speaking tribes in the ancient Near East who, during the Iron Age, inhabited a part of Canaan. The earliest recorded evidence of a people by the name of Israel appears in the Merneptah Stele o ...

identity and polities in the region, the land was referred to natively as

(first attested in

Assyrian Akkadian Akkadian (, Akkadian: )John Huehnergard & Christopher Woods, "Akkadian and Eblaite", ''The Cambridge Encyclopedia of the World's Ancient Languages''. Ed. Roger D. Woodard (2004, Cambridge) Pages 218-280 is an extinct East Semitic language tha ...

as ''Kinaḫnu''). Though it was once thought that the Hebrews were foreign settlers in Canaan, the modern consensus of most scholars is that Hebrew identity developed ''in situ'' as a direct indigenous evolution of earlier Canaanite tribes; the continuity from Bronze Age Canaanite civilization to Iron Age Israelite/Judean civilization is indeed so seamless that many scholars stress that any dichotomy between the two is essentially arbitrary—with culture, language, etc., being indistinguishable during the transition from Bronze Age to Iron Age. The

Phoenicians Phoenicia () was an ancient thalassocratic civilization originating in the Levant region of the eastern Mediterranean, primarily located in modern Lebanon. The territory of the Phoenician city-states extended and shrank throughout their hist ...

—also descended from the Bronze Age Canaanites, and close relatives and neighbors of the Israelites—likewise continued to speak a

Canaanite language The Canaanite languages, or Canaanite dialects, are one of the three subgroups of the Northwest Semitic languages, the others being Aramaic and Ugaritic, all originating in the Levant and Mesopotamia. They are attested in Canaanite inscription ...

and practice

Canaanite religion The Canaanite religion was the group of ancient Semitic religions practiced by the Canaanites living in the ancient Levant from at least the early Bronze Age through the first centuries AD. Canaanite religion was polytheistic and, in some cas ...

at their

Mediterranean The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on th ...

ports, and referred to themselves natively as "Canaanites", and their land as "Canaan".

Phoenicia

* ar, فِيْنِيْقِيَّة * el, Φοινίκη (''Phoiníkē'') *

:* Israeli he, פיניקיה (''Finiqiyah'') * la, Phœnicia * tr, Fenike In ancient times, the

Greeks The Greeks or Hellenes (; el, Έλληνες, ''Éllines'' ) are an ethnic group and nation indigenous to the Eastern Mediterranean and the Black Sea regions, namely Greece, Greek Cypriots, Cyprus, Greeks in Albania, Albania, Greeks in Italy, ...

called the whole of Canaan '' Phoiníkē'', literally " andof the purple shell">Murex.html" ;"title="producing Murex">shell. Today, general consensus associates the Phoenician homeland proper with the northwest coastal region of the Levant, centered at Phoenician cities such as

, Tyre, Sidon">Tyre (Lebanon)">Tyre, Sidon, and Byblos">Sidon.html" ;"title="Tyre (Lebanon)">Tyre, Sidon">Tyre (Lebanon)">Tyre, Sidon, and Byblos. Today, this place is usually equated with modern

and the coast of modern Syria. Also, there is a modern town in Turkey called ''Finike'' which is thought to have derived by the Lycians who traded with Phoenicians in ancient times.

Israel and Judea

Israel: * Egyptian: ''ysrỉꜣr'' ()i-i-z:Z1s*Z1s:r-i-A-r:Z1*T14-A1*B1:Z2 * ar, إِِِسْرَائِيْل * Canaanite: 𐤉𐤔𐤓𐤀𐤋 (j.s.r.ʔ.l) *

Ugaritic Ugaritic () is an extinct Northwest Semitic language, classified by some as a dialect of the Amorite language and so the only known Amorite dialect preserved in writing. It is known through the Ugaritic texts discovered by French archaeolog ...

: 𐎊𐎌𐎗𐎛𐎍 (''yšrʾil'') * el, Ισραήλ (''Israḗl'') *

:* Israeli he, ישראל (''Yisrael'') :* Tiberian he, יִשְׂרָאֵל :* Biblical Hebrew: 𐤉𐤔𐤓𐤀𐤋 * la, Israël * tr, İsrail *

Middle Persian Middle Persian or Pahlavi, also known by its endonym Pārsīk or Pārsīg () in its later form, is a Western Middle Iranian language which became the literary language of the Sasanian Empire. For some time after the Sasanian collapse, Middle Per ...

: ''Adēr'' / ''Adēl'' * fa, (''Esrajil'') Judea: * ar, یَهُوْدَا *

: 𒅀𒌑𒁕𒀀𒀀 (ia-u₂-da-a-a) * el, Ἰουδαία (''Ioudaía'') *

:* Israeli he, יהודה (''Yehuda'') :*

Tiberian Hebrew Tiberian Hebrew is the canonical pronunciation of the Hebrew Bible (Tanakh) committed to writing by Masoretic scholars living in the Jewish community of Tiberias in ancient Galilee under the Abbasid Caliphate. They wrote in the form of Tiberia ...

: ''Yəhūḏā'' * fa, (''Jæhudije'' / ''Jæhudija'') * tr, Yahudi * la, IVDÆA The kingdoms of

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

and Judah were

Iron Age The Iron Age is the final epoch of the three-age division of the prehistory and protohistory of humanity. It was preceded by the Stone Age (Paleolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic) and the Bronze Age (Chalcolithic). The concept has been mostly appl ...

Semitic Semitic most commonly refers to the Semitic languages, a name used since the 1770s to refer to the language family currently present in West Asia, North and East Africa, and Malta. Semitic may also refer to: Religions * Abrahamic religions ** ...

nations spanning from

Edom Edom (; Edomite: ; he, אֱדוֹם , lit.: "red"; Akkadian: , ; Ancient Egyptian: ) was an ancient kingdom in Transjordan, located between Moab to the northeast, the Arabah to the west, and the Arabian Desert to the south and eas ...

Assyria Assyria (Neo-Assyrian cuneiform: , romanized: ''māt Aššur''; syc, ܐܬܘܪ, ʾāthor) was a major ancient Mesopotamian civilization which existed as a city-state at times controlling regional territories in the indigenous lands of the As ...

. Today, the modern State of Israel controls much of the former territory of the ancient Israelite/Judean kingdoms. According to the

Deuteronomic history The Deuteronomist, abbreviated as either Dtr or simply D, may refer either to the source document underlying the core chapters (12–26) of the Book of Deuteronomy, or to the broader "school" that produced all of Deuteronomy as well as the Deutero ...

in the

Bible The Bible (from Koine Greek , , 'the books') is a collection of religious texts or scriptures that are held to be sacred in Christianity, Judaism, Samaritanism, and many other religions. The Bible is an anthologya compilation of texts o ...

, the polities of Israel and Judah originally split off from an earlier, united

Kingdom of Israel The Kingdom of Israel may refer to any of the historical kingdoms of ancient Israel, including: Fully independent (c. 564 years) * Kingdom of Israel (united monarchy) (1047–931 BCE), the legendary kingdom established by the Israelites and uniti ...

, ruled by illustrious kings such as

David David (; , "beloved one") (traditional spelling), , ''Dāwūd''; grc-koi, Δαυΐδ, Dauíd; la, Davidus, David; gez , ዳዊት, ''Dawit''; xcl, Դաւիթ, ''Dawitʿ''; cu, Давíдъ, ''Davidŭ''; possibly meaning "beloved one". w ...

and Solomon; though

modern archaeology Modern archaeology is the discipline of archaeology which contributes to excavations. Johann Joachim Winckelmann was one of the founders of scientific archaeology and first applied the categories of style on a large, systematic basis to the h ...

, biblical scholarship, and historians are generally somewhat skeptical of the historicity of the alleged united monarchy of Israel, suggesting instead that the two kingdoms developed separately, with the southern kingdom of Judah probably dependent on the northern kingdom of Israel as a satellite state at first. The term ''

Judaea Judea or Judaea ( or ; from he, יהודה, Standard ''Yəhūda'', Tiberian ''Yehūḏā''; el, Ἰουδαία, ; la, Iūdaea) is an ancient, historic, Biblical Hebrew, contemporaneous Latin, and the modern-day name of the mountainous south ...

'' is used by historians to refer to the

Roman province The Roman provinces (Latin: ''provincia'', pl. ''provinciae'') were the administrative regions of Ancient Rome outside Roman Italy that were controlled by the Romans under the Roman Republic and later the Roman Empire. Each province was rule ...

that extended over parts of the former regions of the Hasmonean and

Herodian Herodian or Herodianus ( el, Ἡρωδιανός) of Syria, sometimes referred to as "Herodian of Antioch" (c. 170 – c. 240), was a minor Roman civil servant who wrote a colourful history in Greek titled ''History of the Empire from the Death ...

kingdoms. It was named after

Herod Archelaus Herod Archelaus (, ''Hērōidēs Archelaos''; 23 BC – ) was ethnarch of Samaria, Judea, and Idumea, including the cities Caesarea Maritima, Caesarea and Jaffa, for a period of nine years (). He was the son of Herod the Great and Mal ...

's ethnarchy of Judea of which it was an expansion, the name being derived from the earlier provincial designations

Yehud Medinata Yehud, also known as Yehud Medinata or Yehud Medinta (), was an administrative province of the Achaemenid Persian Empire in the region of Judea that functioned as a self-governing region under its local Jewish population. The province was a part ...

(

Achaemenid The Achaemenid Empire or Achaemenian Empire (; peo, 𐎧𐏁𐏂, , ), also called the First Persian Empire, was an ancient Iranian empire founded by Cyrus the Great in 550 BC. Based in Western Asia, it was contemporarily the largest emp ...

) and Yehud (

Neo-Babylonian The Neo-Babylonian Empire or Second Babylonian Empire, historically known as the Chaldean Empire, was the last polity ruled by monarchs native to Mesopotamia. Beginning with the coronation of Nabopolassar as the King of Babylon in 626 BC and bein ...

): all ultimately referring to the former

kingdom of Judah.

Assyria and Syria

During Persian rule of the Near East, the

and Romans came to call the region " Syria", believed to have been named after

and the

Aramaic language The Aramaic languages, short Aramaic ( syc, ܐܪܡܝܐ, Arāmāyā; oar, 𐤀𐤓𐤌𐤉𐤀; arc, 𐡀𐡓𐡌𐡉𐡀; tmr, אֲרָמִית), are a language family containing many varieties (languages and dialects) that originated i ...

they spread over the entire region. However,

Herodotus Herodotus ( ; grc, , }; BC) was an ancient Greek historian and geographer from the Greek city of Halicarnassus, part of the Persian Empire (now Bodrum, Turkey) and a later citizen of Thurii in modern Calabria ( Italy). He is known for ...

used the combined name "Syria Palaistinē". "

Greater Syria Syria ( Hieroglyphic Luwian: 𔒂𔒠 ''Sura/i''; gr, Συρία) or Sham ( ar, ٱلشَّام, ash-Shām) is the name of a historical region located east of the Mediterranean Sea in Western Asia, broadly synonymous with the Levant. Other ...

" refers to a larger area that is supported by some nationalists. During the

Syrian Wars The Syrian Wars were a series of six wars between the Seleucid Empire and the Ptolemaic Kingdom of Egypt, successor states to Alexander the Great's empire, during the 3rd and 2nd centuries BC over the region then called Coele-Syria, one of ...

between the Seleucid dynasty and the Ptolemaic dynasty (274-168 BC), the region was known as

Coele-Syria Coele-Syria (, also spelt Coele Syria, Coelesyria, Celesyria) alternatively Coelo-Syria or Coelosyria (; grc-gre, Κοίλη Συρία, ''Koílē Syría'', 'Hollow Syria'; lat, Cœlē Syria or ), was a region of Syria (region), Syria in cl ...

traditionally given the meaning 'hollow' Syria. The later Hellenistic term ''Koile Syria'' that appears first in

Arrian Arrian of Nicomedia (; Greek: ''Arrianos''; la, Lucius Flavius Arrianus; ) was a Greek historian, public servant, military commander and philosopher of the Roman period. '' The Anabasis of Alexander'' by Arrian is considered the best ...

Anabasis Alexandri ''The Anabasis of Alexander'' ( grc-gre, Ἀλεξάνδρου Ἀνάβασις, ''Alexándrou Anábasis''; la, Anabasis Alexandri) was composed by Arrian of Nicomedia in the second century AD, most probably during the reign of Hadrian. The ...

(2.13.7) in AD 145 and has been much discussed, is usually interpreted as a transcription of

Aramaic The Aramaic languages, short Aramaic ( syc, ܐܪܡܝܐ, Arāmāyā; oar, 𐤀𐤓𐤌𐤉𐤀; arc, 𐡀𐡓𐡌𐡉𐡀; tmr, אֲרָמִית), are a language family containing many varieties (languages and dialects) that originated i ...

''kul'', "all, the entire", identifying ''all'' of Syria.

Palestine

Palestine: * ar, فِلِسْطِيْن * el, Παλαιστίνη (''Palaistinē'') - from he, פְּלִשְׁתִּים ; or perhaps Greek παλαιστής (''palaistēs'', "wrestler"), in reference to

:* Israeli he, פלשתינה (''Palestina''), or Israeli he, פלסטין (''Falastin'') * fa, (''Felestin'') * la, Palæstina - same word as ''Philistia'' * tr, Filistin An early version of the name '' Palestine'' was first recorded by the ancient Egyptians as ''Peleset''.

later called the whole area ''Syria Palaistinē'' in his

Histories Histories or, in Latin, Historiae may refer to: * the plural of history * ''Histories'' (Herodotus), by Herodotus * ''The Histories'', by Timaeus * ''The Histories'' (Polybius), by Polybius * ''Histories'' by Gaius Sallustius Crispus (Sallust), ...

(c. 450 BC), and included the entire territory of ancient Israel and Judea (which he noted for the practice of circumcision), not specifically the coastal Philistine territory (whose people notably did not practice circumcision). The Romans applied the term ''

Syria Palaestina Syria Palaestina (literally, "Palestinian Syria";Trevor Bryce, 2009, ''The Routledge Handbook of the Peoples and Places of Ancient Western Asia''Roland de Vaux, 1978, ''The Early History of Israel'', Page 2: "After the revolt of Bar Cochba in 135 ...

'' to the southern part of the region—beginning in AD 135, following the

Bar Kokhba revolt The Bar Kokhba revolt ( he, , links=yes, ''Mereḏ Bar Kōḵḇāʾ‎''), or the 'Jewish Expedition' as the Romans named it ( la, Expeditio Judaica), was a rebellion by the Jews of the Judea (Roman province), Roman province of Judea, led b ...

—to complete the disassociation with the former identity of Judaea. The name continued to be used for the province throughout later

Byzantine The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantin ...

and

Islamic Islam (; ar, ۘالِإسلَام, , ) is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion centred primarily around the Quran, a religious text considered by Muslims to be the direct word of God (or ''Allah'') as it was revealed to Muhammad, the main ...

rule. †As a side note, Standard Hebrew has two names for Palestine, both of which are different from the Hebrew name for ancient Philistia. The first name ''Palestina'' was used by Hebrew speakers in the British Mandate of Palestine; it is spelled like the name for Philistia but with three more letters added to the end and a

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power ...

pronunciation given. The second name ''Falastin'' is a direct loan from the

Arabic Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C. E.Watson; Walte ...

form, and is used today specifically to refer to the modern

Palestinians Palestinians ( ar, الفلسطينيون, ; he, פָלַסְטִינִים, ) or Palestinian people ( ar, الشعب الفلسطيني, label=none, ), also referred to as Palestinian Arabs ( ar, الفلسطينيين العرب, label=non ...

and to political aspirations for a

Palestinian state Palestine ( ar, فلسطين, Filasṭīn), officially the State of Palestine ( ar, دولة فلسطين, Dawlat Filasṭīn, label=none), is a state located in Western Asia. Officially governed by the Palestine Liberation Organization (P ...

Philistia

Philistia: * Canaanite: 𐤐𐤋𐤔𐤕 (p.l.ʃ.t) *

:* Israeli he, פלשת (''Pleshet'') :* Tiberian he, פְּלֶשֶׁת * la, Palæstina - from Greek

Eber-Nari and Transeuphratia

Eber-Nari Eber-Nari (Akkadian, also Ebir-Nari), Abar-Nahara עבר-נהרה (Aramaic) or 'Ābēr Nahrā ( Syriac) meaning "Beyond the River" or "Across the River" in both the Akkadian and Imperial Aramaic languages of the Neo-Assyrian Empire, i.e., the Wes ...

'' was the name of a

satrapy A satrap () was a governor of the provinces of the ancient Median and Achaemenid Empires and in several of their successors, such as in the Sasanian Empire and the Hellenistic empires. The satrap served as viceroy to the king, though with cons ...

of the

Achaemenid Empire The Achaemenid Empire or Achaemenian Empire (; peo, 𐎧𐏁𐏂, , ), also called the First Persian Empire, was an ancient Iranian empire founded by Cyrus the Great in 550 BC. Based in Western Asia, it was contemporarily the largest em ...

which roughly corresponded with the southern

. It means "Beyond the River" or "Across the River" in both Akkadian and Aramaic (that is, the western side of the Euphrates from a

Mesopotamia Mesopotamia ''Mesopotamíā''; ar, بِلَاد ٱلرَّافِدَيْن or ; syc, ܐܪܡ ܢܗܪ̈ܝܢ, or , ) is a historical region of Western Asia situated within the Tigris–Euphrates river system, in the northern part of the F ...

n and Persian viewpoint). It is also sometimes referred to as ''Transeuphratia'' (French ''Transeuphratène'') by modern scholars.

Medieval and modern history

Shaam

The Arabic name for the region of Levant is '' Shaam'' ( ar, شَّام, translit=Shām) comes from the Arabic root meaning "left" or "north". After the

Islamic conquest The spread of Islam spans about 1,400 years. Muslim conquests following Muhammad's death led to the creation of the caliphates, occupying a vast geographical area; conversion to Islam was boosted by Arab Muslim forces conquering vast territories ...

of the region, Shaam became the name of the Levant (Byzantine Syria).Article "AL-SHĀM" by

C.E. Bosworth Clifford Edmund Bosworth FBA (29 December 1928 – 28 February 2015) was an English historian and Orientalist, specialising in Arabic and Iranian studies. Life Bosworth was born on 29 December 1928 in Sheffield, West Riding of Yorkshire (now ...

, ''

Encyclopaedia of Islam The ''Encyclopaedia of Islam'' (''EI'') is an encyclopaedia of the academic discipline of Islamic studies published by Brill. It is considered to be the standard reference work in the field of Islamic studies. The first edition was published ...

'', Volume 9 (1997), page 261. See also Name of Syria. In ancient times, ''

Baalshamin Baalshamin ( arc, ܒܥܠ ܫܡܝܢ ''Baʿal Šāmīn'' or ''Bʿel Šmīn'' Blit. "Lord of Heaven ), also called Baal Shamem ( phn, 𐤁𐤏𐤋 𐤔𐤌𐤌 ''Baʿl Šāmēm'') and Baal Shamaim ( he, ''Baʿal Šāmayīm''), was a Northwest Semit ...

'' or ''Ba'al Šamem'' ( arc, ܒܥܠ ܫܡܝܢ, Lord of Heaven(s)), was a Semitic sky-god in

Phoenicia Phoenicia () was an ancient thalassocratic civilization originating in the Levant region of the eastern Mediterranean, primarily located in modern Lebanon. The territory of the Phoenician city-states extended and shrank throughout their his ...

and ancient

Palmyra Palmyra (; Palmyrene: () ''Tadmor''; ar, تَدْمُر ''Tadmur'') is an ancient city in present-day Homs Governorate, Syria. Archaeological finds date back to the Neolithic period, and documents first mention the city in the early seco ...

Levant

Medieval Italians called the region ''

e'' after its easterly location where the sun "rises"; this term was adopted from Italian and French into many other languages.

Outremer

Frankish

Crusaders The Crusades were a series of religious wars initiated, supported, and sometimes directed by the Latin Church in the medieval period. The best known of these Crusades are those to the Holy Land in the period between 1095 and 1291 that were ...

called the Levant ''

Outremer The Crusader States, also known as Outremer, were four Catholic realms in the Middle East that lasted from 1098 to 1291. These feudal polities were created by the Latin Catholic leaders of the First Crusade through conquest and political ...

'' in French, which means "overseas." In France, this general term was colloquially applied more specifically to the Levant because of heavy Frankish involvement in the Crusades and the foundation of the

Kingdom of Jerusalem The Kingdom of Jerusalem ( la, Regnum Hierosolymitanum; fro, Roiaume de Jherusalem), officially known as the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem or the Frankish Kingdom of Palestine,Example (title of works): was a Crusader state that was establish ...

and other Latin settlements scattered throughout the area.

Eastern Mediterranean

Eastern Mediterranean Eastern Mediterranean is a loose definition of the eastern approximate half, or third, of the Mediterranean Sea, often defined as the countries around the Levantine Sea. It typically embraces all of that sea's coastal zones, referring to comm ...

'' is a term that denotes the lands or states geographically in the eastern, to the east of, or around the east of the

, or with cultural affinities to this region. The Eastern Mediterranean includes

Cyprus Cyprus ; tr, Kıbrıs (), officially the Republic of Cyprus,, , lit: Republic of Cyprus is an island country located south of the Anatolian Peninsula in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Its continental position is disputed; while it is ...

, Syria,

, Palestine,

, and

Jordan Jordan ( ar, الأردن; tr. ' ), officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan,; tr. ' is a country in Western Asia. It is situated at the crossroads of Asia, Africa, and Europe, within the Levant region, on the East Bank of the Jordan Ri ...

. The term ''Mediterranean'' derives from the

word ''mediterraneus'', meaning "in the middle of earth" or "between lands" (''medius'', "middle, between" + ''terra'', "land, earth"). This is on account of the sea's intermediary position between the continents of Africa and Europe.entry μεσόγαιος
at

Liddell & Scott Liddell is a surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Alice Liddell (1852–1934), Lewis Carroll's "muse" * Allan Liddell (1908–1970) * Alvar Lidell (1908–1981), BBC radio announcer and newsreader * Andreas Lidel (1740s–1780s), ...

Holy Land

In different languages: * ar, اَلْأَرْض الْمُقَدَّسَة (''Al-Arḍ al-Muqaddasah'' in the Islamic holy book, the

Quran The Quran (, ; Standard Arabic: , Quranic Arabic: , , 'the recitation'), also romanized Qur'an or Koran, is the central religious text of Islam, believed by Muslims to be a revelation from God. It is organized in 114 chapters (pl.: , sing.: ...

) * el, Άγιοι Τόποι (''Hagioi Topoi'', modern ), literally: "Holy Places") * he, ארץ הקדש (''Erets ha-Kodesh'') * la, Terra Sancta * tr, Kutsal Topraklar The ''Holy Land'' is a term used in

Abrahamic The Abrahamic religions are a group of religions centered around worship of the God of Abraham. Abraham, a Hebrew patriarch, is extensively mentioned throughout Abrahamic religious scriptures such as the Bible and the Quran. Jewish tradition ...

tradition to refer to sacred sites of the Levant — such as Shiloh,

Jerusalem Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...

Bethlehem Bethlehem (; ar, بيت لحم ; he, בֵּית לֶחֶם '' '') is a city in the central West Bank, Palestine, about south of Jerusalem. Its population is approximately 25,000,Amara, 1999p. 18.Brynen, 2000p. 202. and it is the capital ...

and Nazareth — but is also often used to refer to the Levant (and historical Canaan) as a whole.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Names Of The Levant Ancient Levant Ancient Near East History of the Levant Levant