p Ancient Palestine stretched from the southern foothills of Lebanon to the Arabian desert, and was bounded on the west by the Mediterranean Sea. Plateaux and arid desert land alternated with fertile valleys. In earliest times the coastal regions of Palestine were inhabited by one of the Aegean tribes of the Peoples of the Sea, the Philistines, and the remainder of the land by north-western Semites or Canaanites. In the fifteenth and fourteenth centuries B.C., Apiru or Hebrew tribes first began to appear in the region. In the course of the conflict between the Hebrew tribes and the Canaanites and Philistines in the northern part of Palestine the Kingdom of Israel (founded by Saul in the eleventh century B.C.) gradually took shape. About a century iater the Kingdom of Judaea was formed in the southern part of Palestine. King David of Judaea was to unite the two kingdoms Under his rule, drive out the Philistines and declare the ancient Canaanite city of Jerusalem his capital and religious centre.

p The united Kingdom of Judaea and Israel rose to new ascendancy during the reign of King Solomon (tenth century B.C.). During that relatively peaceful period a friendly pact was concluded with Hiram, King of Tyre, foreign trade developed at a rapid rate and impressive architectural work was carried out in Jerusalem (the building of the famous temple of Solomon inter alia).

p However, soon after the death of Solomon the united kingdom ’was to be divided into two parts. At the end of the eighth "century B.C. Israel was conquered by the Assyrian King Sargon II, while Judaea bought her independence at the price of enormous tribute. The Kingdom of Judaea continued to exist for another 150 years, after which it fell to the Babylonian King Nebuchadrezzar, who took Jerusalem by storm and razed it (586 B.C.) leading masses of people into captivity in Babylon (“Babylonian captivity”).

p In the northern part of Palestine land-cultivation was the 37 main occupation, while in the South it was stockbreeding. The peasants lived in communes and in Palestine slave labour was more widespread than in Phoenicia. Large armies of slaves worked on the royal and temple lands. The original inhabitants of the country, the Canaanites, were also enslaved.

p Religion played an important role in the life of the ancient Hebrews. The Hebrew religion had many features in common with the religion of the Phoenicians. Particularly widespread was the worship of Yahweh, or Jehovah. Originally Yahweh was the god of the tribe of Judaea but later worship of Yahweh was to be adopted on a national scale. The Jewish religion took on its definitive form relatively late, that is after the "Babylonian captivity".

An important historical and cultural achievement of ancient Palestine are the sacred writings of the Hebrew and Judaean peoples, in particular the various works later to be collected in the Old Testament and the Apocrypha, which include historical books, myths and legends, religious teaching and poetic writings and which are now revered as "holy writ" by adherents both of the Jewish and the Christian religions.