Editing Canaan (section)

=== Greco-Roman historiography ===
{{Further|Syria Phoenicia (disambiguation){{!}}Syria Phoenicia|Palestine (region){{!}}Palestine}}
The Greek term ''Phoenicia'' is first attested in the first two works of [[Western literature]], [[Homer]]'s ''[[Iliad]]'' and ''[[Odyssey]]''. It does not occur in the [[Hebrew Bible]], but occurs three times in the [[New Testament]] in the [[Book of Acts]].<ref>[https://archive.org/stream/popularandcriti01willgoog/popularandcriti01willgoog_djvu.txt The Popular and Critical Bible Encyclopaedia], The three occasions are {{Bibleverse|Acts|11:19}}, {{Bibleverse|Acts|15:3}} and {{Bibleverse|Acts|21:2}}</ref> In the 6th century BC, [[Hecataeus of Miletus]] affirms that Phoenicia was formerly called {{Lang|grc|χνα}}, a name that [[Philo of Byblos]] subsequently adopted into his mythology as his eponym for the Phoenicians: "Khna who was afterwards called [[Phoenicians|Phoinix]]". Quoting fragments attributed to [[Sanchuniathon]], he relates that [[Byblos]], [[Berytus]] and [[Tyre (Lebanon)|Tyre]] were among the first cities ever built, under the rule of the mythical [[Cronus]], and credits the inhabitants with developing fishing, hunting, agriculture, shipbuilding and writing.

Coins of the city of [[Beirut]] / Laodicea bear the legend, "Of Laodicea, a metropolis in Canaan"; these coins are dated to the reign of [[Antiochus IV of Syria|Antiochus IV]] (175–164 BC) and his successors until 123 BC.<ref name="GetzelCohen" />

[[File:Laodikeia Canaan.png|thumb|Coin of [[Alexander II Zabinas]] with the inscription "Laodikeia, metropole of Canaan"<ref name="GetzelCohen">{{cite book|last=Cohen|first=Getzel M.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RqdPcxuNthcC&pg=PA205|title=The Hellenistic Settlements in Syria, the Red Sea Basin, and North Africa|publisher=University of California Press|year=2006|isbn=978-0-520-93102-2|page=205|quote=Berytos, being part of Phoenicia, was under Ptolemaic control until 200 BC. After the battle of Panion Phoenicia and southern Syria passed to the Seleucids. In the second century BC, Laodikeia issued both autonomous as well as quasi-autonomous coins. The autonomous bronze coins had a Tyche on the obverse. The reverse often had Poseidon or Astarte standing on the prow of a ship, the letters BH or [lambda alpha] and the monogram [phi], that is, the initials of Berytos/Laodikeia and Phoenicia, and, on a few coins, the Phoenician legend LL'DK' 'S BKN 'N or LL'DK' 'M BKN 'N, which has been read as "Of Laodikcia which is in Canaan" or "Of Laodikcia Mother in Canaan." The quasi-municipal coins—issued under Antiochos IV Epiphanes (175–164 BC) and continuing with Alexander I Balas (150–145 BC), Demetrios II Nikator (146–138 BC), and Alexander II Zabinas (128–123 n.c.)—contained the king's head on the obverse, and on the reverse the name of the king in Greek, the city name in Phoenician (LL'DK' 'S BKN 'N or LL'DK' 'M BKN 'N), the Greek letters [lambda alpha], and the monogram [phi]. After {{circa|123}} BC, the Phoenician "Of Laodikcia which is in Canaan" / "Of Laodikcia Mother in Canaan" is no longer attested|access-date=9 October 2018|archive-date=29 April 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240429062427/https://books.google.com/books?id=RqdPcxuNthcC&pg=PA205#v=onepage&q&f=false|url-status=live}}</ref>]] [[Augustine of Hippo|Saint Augustine]] also mentions that one of the terms the seafaring Phoenicians called their homeland was "Canaan". Augustine also records that the rustic people of [[Hippo Regius|Hippo]] in North Africa retained the [[Punic language|Punic]] self-designation ''Chanani''.<ref>''Epistulae ad Romanos expositio inchoate expositio,'' 13 (Migne, [[Patrologia Latina]], vol.35 p.2096):'Interrogati rustici nostri quid sint, punice respondents chanani.'</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Shaw|first=Brent D.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=F8ZRPTgcjrcC|title=Sacred Violence: African Christians and Sectarian Hatred in the Age of Augustine|publisher=Cambridge University Press|year=2011|isbn=9780521196055|page=431|access-date=9 October 2018|archive-date=29 April 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240429062428/https://books.google.com/books?id=F8ZRPTgcjrcC|url-status=live}}</ref> Since 'punic' in Latin also meant 'non-Roman', some scholars, however, argue that the language referred to as Punic in Augustine may have been [[Berber languages|Libyan]].<ref>{{cite book|last=Ellingsen|first=Mark|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZeU4uCL8DfUC&pg=PA9|title=The Richness of Augustine: His Contextual and Pastoral Theology|publisher=Westminster John Knox Press|year=2005|isbn=9780664226183|page=9|access-date=9 October 2018}}</ref>

The Greeks also popularized the term ''Palestine'', named after the Philistines or the Aegean [[Pelasgians]], for roughly the region of Canaan, excluding Phoenicia, with [[Herodotus]]' first recorded use of ''[[Timeline of the name Palestine|Palaistinê]]'', {{circa|480}} BC. From 110 BC, the [[Hasmoneans]] extended their authority over much of the region, creating a [[Judean]]-[[Samaritan]]-[[Idumaean]]-[[Ituraean]]-[[Galilean]] alliance. The Judean (Jewish, see [[Ioudaioi]]) control over the wider area resulted in it also becoming known as [[Judaea]], a term that had previously only referred to the smaller region of the [[Judean Mountains]], the allotment of the [[Tribe of Judah]] and heartland of the former [[Kingdom of Judah]].<ref>{{cite book|url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/cambridge-history-of-judaism/6024720B2B5CB2A950F205C5C04EBBEB|title=The Cambridge History of Judaism|publisher=Cambridge University Press|year=2008|isbn=9781139053662|editor1-last=Horbury|editor1-first=William|volume=3|page=210|doi=10.1017/CHOL9780521243773|access-date=9 October 2018|editor2-last=Davies|editor2-first=W. D.|editor3-last=Sturdy|editor3-first=John|archive-date=10 October 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181010121333/https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/cambridge-history-of-judaism/6024720B2B5CB2A950F205C5C04EBBEB|url-status=live}} "In both the Idumaean and the Ituraean alliances, and in the annexation of Samaria, the Judaeans had taken the leading role. They retained it. The whole political–military–religious league that now united the hill country of Palestine from Dan to Beersheba, whatever it called itself, was directed by, and soon came to be called by others, 'the Ioudaioi'"</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/historyofjewishp00harv|title=A History of the Jewish People|publisher=Harvard University Press|year=1976|isbn=9780674397316|editor-last=Ben-Sasson|editor-first=Haim Hillel|page=[https://archive.org/details/historyofjewishp00harv/page/226 226]|quote=The name Judea no longer referred only to....|access-date=9 October 2018|url-access=registration}}</ref> Between 73 and 63 BC, the [[Roman Republic]] extended its influence into the region in the [[Third Mithridatic War]], conquering Judea in 63 BC, and splitting the former Hasmonean Kingdom into five districts. Around 130–135 AD, as a result of the suppression of the [[Bar Kochba]] revolt, the province of Iudaea was joined with [[Galilee]] to form a new province of [[Syria Palaestina]]. There is [[circumstantial evidence]] linking [[Hadrian]] with the name change,<ref name="Feldman">{{cite journal|last1=Feldman|first1=Louis|year=1990|title=Some Observations on the Name of Palestine|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pACJYw0bg3QC&pg=PA553|journal=Hebrew Union College Annual|volume=61|pages=1–23|isbn=978-9004104181|access-date=9 October 2018}}</ref> although the precise date is not certain,<ref name="Feldman" /> and the interpretation of some scholars that the name change may have been intended "to complete the dissociation with Judaea"<ref name="Lehmann">{{cite encyclopedia|url=http://www.usd.edu/~clehmann/erp/Palestine/history.htm#135-337|title=Palestine: History|last=Lehmann|first=Clayton Miles|date=Summer 1998|publisher=University of South Dakota|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090811054625/http://www.usd.edu/~clehmann/erp/Palestine/history.htm|archive-date=11 August 2009|access-date=9 October 2018|encyclopedia=The On-line Encyclopedia of the Roman Provinces}}</ref><ref name="Sharonp4n">[[Moshe Sharon|Sharon]], 1998, p. 4. According to [[Moshe Sharon]], "Eager to obliterate the name of the rebellious [[Iudaea Province|Judaea]]", the Roman authorities (General Hadrian) renamed it ''Palaestina'' or ''Syria Palaestina''.</ref> is disputed.<ref name="Jacobson">{{cite journal|last1=Jacobson|first1=David M.|year=1999|title=Palestine and Israel|journal=Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research|volume=313|issue=313|pages=65–74|doi=10.2307/1357617|jstor=1357617|s2cid=163303829}}</ref>