The Ancient Near Eastern World

By: Philippe Bohström

Northern Iraq is a landscape steeped in both historical and economic significance. During the early 20th century, international oil consortiums dispatched businessmen, geologists, and engineers […]

By: Robin Ngo

For the first time, researchers have conducted DNA sequencing on ancient Canaanite skeletons and have determined where the Canaanites’ descendants can be found today.

By: John Drummond

Unlike many of ancient Israel’s neighbors, the Phoenicians were often presented favorably by the biblical writers. The city-state of Tyre, in particular, was considered one […]

By: Jonathan Laden

After examining the DNA of 93 bodies recovered from archaeological sites around the southern Levant, the land of Canaan in the Bible, researchers have concluded […]

By: BAS Staff

The city of Sidon on the coast of modern Lebanon is mentioned 38 times in the Hebrew Bible. Recent excavations have exposed part of the ancient Canaanite—and later Phoenician—city, including a massive temple and depictions of deities worshiped at Sidon.

By: Megan Sauter

A survey of dogs’ portrayals in ancient Near Eastern and Mediterranean cultures shows that far from being perceived as “unclean,” dogs served as companions, guard dogs, sheep dogs, hunters, and—surprisingly—physicians.

By: Biblical Archaeology Society Staff

The massive stone enclosures of the Göbekli Tepe ruins may be the earliest examples of Neolithic religion.

By: Jelle Zeilinga de Boer and John R. Hale

According to Strabo and other sources, the Pythia who gave prophecies on behalf of Apollo was inspired by mysterious vapors. Is there evidence that intoxicating gases actually drifted through the Temple of Apollo at Delphi?

By: Nathan Steinmeyer

The Jordanian Minister of Tourism and Antiquities announced the discovery of the cartouche of Pharaoh Ramesses III (1186–1155 BCE) carved into a rock face near […]

By: Robin Ngo

Pharaoh Akhenaten, who abolished the Egyptian pantheon and instituted worship of a single deity, the sun-disk Aten, in the mid-14th century B.C., may have established the world’s first monotheism. Did this influence the birth of Israelite monotheism?