Editing History of the ancient Levant (section)

===Foreign rule===
[[File:Asiatic official Munich (retouched).jpg|200px|thumb|An Asiatic official from [[Avaris]] wearing the mushroom-headed hairstyle]]
By the 16th and 15th centuries {{sc|BC}}, most of the major urban centers in the [[Levant]] had been overran and went into steep decline.<ref name="auto">{{cite book | last = Hasel | first = Michael G | title = Domination and Resistance: Egyptian Military Activity in the Southern Levant, 1300–1185 B.C. (Probleme Der Agyptologie) | publisher = Brill Academic Publishers | year = 1998 | page = 155 | isbn = 978-90-04-10984-1}}</ref> Mari was destroyed and reduced in a series of wars and conflicts with [[Babylon]], while [[Yamhad]] and [[Ebla]] were conquered and completely destroyed by Hittite king [[Mursili I]] in about 1600&nbsp;{{sc|BC}}.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Bryce |first1=Trevor |title=The Routledge Handbook of the Peoples and Places of Ancient Western Asia |date=2009 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=9780415394857 |page=211 |url=https://www.routledge.com/The-Routledge-Handbook-of-the-Peoples-and-Places-of-Ancient-Western-Asia/Bryce/p/book/9780415692618}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Yener |first1=K. Aslihan |last2=Hoffner Jr. |first2=Harry |title=Recent Developments in Hittite Archaeology and History: Papers in Memory of Hans G. Güterbock |date=2002 |publisher=Eisenbrauns |isbn=9781575060538 |page=24 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5a8-NudlBx8C}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Hamblin |first1=William J. |title=Warfare in the Ancient Near East to 1600 BC: Holy Warriors at the Dawn of History |date=2006 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=9781134520626 |page=260 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=biyDDd0uKGMC&pg=PT256}}</ref> In northern Mesopotamia, the era ended with the defeat of the Amorite states by Assyrian kings [[Puzur-Sin]] and [[Adasi (Assyria)|Adasi]] between in 1740–1735 {{sc|BC}}, and the rise of the native [[Sealand Dynasty]] further south.<ref>{{EB1911|inline=y|wstitle=Amorites|volume=1|page=876}}</ref> In Egypt, [[Ahmose I]] expelled the Levantine Hyksos rulers from power, pushing [[New Kingdom of Egypt|Egypt]]'s borders further into [[Canaan]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Schneider |first=Thomas |chapter=The Relative Chronology of the Middle Kingdom and the Hyksos Period |title=Ancient Egyptian Chronology |editor-last1=Hornung |editor-first1=Erik |editor-last2=Krauss |editor-first2=Rolf |editor-last3=Warburton |editor-first3=David A. |year=2006 |publisher=Brill |isbn=9004113851 |pages=168–196 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Gux5DwAAQBAJ&dq=Schneider+Relative+chronology+middle+kingdom&pg=PA168}}</ref> The Amorites were eventually absorbed by another [[West Semitic languages|West Semitic-speaking]] people known collectively as the [[Ahlamu]]. The [[Arameans]] rose to be the prominent group amongst the Ahlamu, and from c. 1200 {{sc|BC}} on, the Amorites disappeared from the pages of history.

Between 1550 and 1170 {{sc|BC}}, much of the Levant was contested between [[Ancient Egypt|Egypt]] and the [[Hittites]]. The political vacuum paved way for the rise of [[Mitanni]], a mixed [[Semitic languages|Semitic]] and [[Hurrian]]-speaking kingdom whose names of the ruling family bore influence from [[Indo-Aryan languages|Indo-Aryan]] languages.<ref name="auto"/> Egyptian rule remained strong over the Canaanite-city states in [[Palestine (region)|Palestine]], facing resistance mainly from pastoral nomadic groups such as the [[Shasu]].<ref name="Younker"/><ref name="Hasel">{{cite journal |last=Hasel |first=Michael G. |date=1998 |title=Domination and Resistance: Egyptian Military Activity in the Southern Levant, 1300–1185 BC. |journal=Probleme der Ägyptologie |volume=11 |publisher=Brill |pages=217–239 |isbn=9004109846 |url=https://books.google.com/books?}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Ahlström|first=Gösta Werner|title=The History of Ancient Palestine|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5cSAlLBZKaAC&pg=PA277|year=1993|publisher=Fortress Press|isbn=978-0-8006-2770-6}}</ref> The Shasu grew so powerful that they were able to cut off Egypt's northern routes through Palestine and [[Transjordan (region)|Transjordan]], prompting a vigorous punitive campaigns by [[Ramesses II]] and his son [[Merneptah]]. After Egyptians abandoned the region, Canaanite city-states came under the mercy of the Shasu and the [[Habiru]], who were seen as 'mighty enemies'.<ref name="Younker">{{cite book |last1=Younker |first1=Randall W. |editor1-last=MacDonald |editor1-first=Burton |editor2-last=Younker |editor2-first=Randall W. |title=Ancient Ammon |year=1999 |publisher=BRILL |isbn=978-90-04-10762-5 |page=203 |chapter=The Emergence of the Ammonites |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5Sm7BOubDYcC}}</ref><ref name="Hasel"/> Egyptian control over the southern Levant completely collapsed in the wake of the [[Late Bronze Age collapse]].<ref name=Dever8993>Dever, William G. ''Beyond the Texts'', Society of Biblical Literature Press, 2017, pp. 89-93</ref>