Middle East Kingdoms

Other Canaanite & Phoenician Cities

Not all of the cities which were home to Canaanites or their Phoenician descendants were the seats of kings, whether independent or subjects, even though they may have been important names in history.

Amrit / Amurre

Founded by Amorite colonists from Arvad in the late third millennium BC, Amrit was a town in the modern Latakia Province which was situated 50km (30 miles) to the north of Tripoli. Initially under the authority of Arvad, like the rest of the region, it saw a procession of various peoples and powers, including Canaanites, Phoenicians, and the great empires of the first millennium BC.

By the time Alexander the Great annexed the region to his Greek empire. Amrit was one of the biggest cities in the ancient world. At least until the first century BC it apparently played an important role, with coins being minted here. Today it houses the remains of the only well-preserved Phoenician temple in the world, the Temple of Amrit.

c.1600 - 1100 BC

Under Arvad's authority.

1100 - 625 BC

Amrit is conquered by Assyria.

625 - 604 BC

Under Arvad's authority.

604 - 539 BC

Amrit is conquered by Babylonia.

Sarepta

This was a Phoenician city which spent much of its existence under the control of Sidon (eight miles to the north). It was first mentioned in Egyptian records in the fourteenth century BC, and the Old Testament comments on it being subject to Sidon during the reign of the Samarian king, Ahab (870-848 BC). There it is called Zarephath. By the first century AD the Roman port of Sarepta existed about a kilometre to the south (as mentioned by Josephus). The city survived until at least the fourteenth century AD, after the collapse of the Crusader kingdoms in the area.