THE SOUTHERN STEPPE OF THE LEVANT ca. 1050–750 BCE: A FRAMEWORK FOR A TERRITORIAL HISTORY

Abstract

The article deals with the territorial history of the southern steppe areas of the Levant in the period between ca. 1050–750 BCE. In the early days of the Iron Age, until the mid-9th century BCE, parts of them, were ruled by local desert entities: in the late Iron I a Moabite polity and in the early Iron IIA and the early years of the late Iron IIA the Tel Masos-Beer-Sheba-Negev Highlands Highlands entity. This situation changed in the later years of the Iron IIA as a result of Damascus' rise to hegemony in the Levant. In the second half of the 9th century BCE Judah, under Damascene domination, expanded for the first time into the Beer-Sheba Valley. In the first half of the eighth century BCE, with the revival of Assyrian power in the days of Adad-nirari III, Damascene authority was replaced by north Israelite domination in the south.