The Ancient Near Eastern World
The Old Testament was written within the wider world of the Ancient Near East. This was not one single civilisation or empire, but a large and connected region that included Mesopotamia, Egypt, Syria, Canaan, Anatolia and, later, Persia. Each area had its own languages, gods, political systems and customs. At the same time, they influenced one another constantly. Mesopotamia, especially the lands of Sumer, Assyria and Babylon, was home to some of the earliest cities in human history. Its people developed writing, large temple institutions, royal archives, legal collections and a rich body of myths about creation, floods, kingship and the gods. Egypt had its own long-established traditions of divine kingship, temple worship, funerary beliefs, wisdom instruction and religious poetry. In Syria and Canaan, smaller city-states and kingdoms developed their own religious traditions, including the worship of gods such as El, Baal and Asherah. Israel and Judah were located in the midd...