Whether a cause or a result of policies such as these, Mesopotamia experienced a remarkable cultural flowering during the Old Babylonian Period, with an emphasis on literacy and a synthesis of religion under the supremacy of Marduk, the city-turned-national god of Babylon. (4) The Old Babylonian Empire and the Origin of the People of Israel The story of ancient Israel, then, can be read two ways: from the vantage point of the great empires of the ancient Near East and Mediterranean Basin who sought to impose their will on the land that lay between, but also through the eyes of the kings and prophets of ancient Israel and Judah who, by the sheer force of geography, were never uninterested bystanders. And through it all, it was Judah–the Judeans or Jews–who proved most adept at the role of survivor, and it is their story, immortalized in the records of the Bible, that carried the day. (4)Īll had chances, for better or worse, to tap into the imperial routes of the Levant–and face the consequences of Empire in the process. …the overall pattern in the historical record of the peoples of the ancient Near East and Mediterranean Basin portrays the Levant as a frontier of Empire: a bridge to cross, and a buffer to hold. Understanding Biblical Kingdoms & Empires: An Introductory Atlas & Comparative View.

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