Levant is the name applied widely to the eastern Mediterranean coastal lands of Asia Minor and Phoenicia (modern-day Turkey, Syria, and Lebanon). In a wider sense, the term can be used to encompass the entire coastline from Greece to Egypt. The Levant is part of the Fertile Crescent and was home to some of the ancient Mediterranean trade centers, such as Ugarit, Tyre, and Sidon. It is the homeland of the Phoenician civilization.
More about: LevantDefinition
Timeline
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c. 6000 BCEFirst fortified settlement at Ugarit.
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c. 4000 BCEFounding of the city of Sidon.
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c. 4000 BCE - c. 3000 BCETrade contact between Byblos and Egypt.
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c. 2900 BCE - c. 2300 BCEFirst settlement of Baalbek.
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c. 2750 BCEThe city of Tyre is founded.
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c. 1458 BCEKadesh and Megiddo lead a Canaanite alliance against the Egyptian invasion by Thutmose III.
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1274 BCEBattle of Kadesh between Pharaoh Ramesses II of Egypt and King Muwatalli II of the Hittites.
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c. 1250 BCE - c. 1200 BCEHebrew tribes settle Canaan.
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c. 1200 BCESea Peoples invade the Levant.
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1115 BCE - 1076 BCEReign of Tiglath-Pileser I of Assyria who conquers Phoenicia and revitalizes the empire.
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c. 1080 BCERise of the kingdom of Israel.
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c. 1000 BCEHeight of Tyre's power.
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c. 965 BCE - 931 BCESolomon is king of Israel.
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950 BCESolomon builds the first Temple of Jerusalem.
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722 BCEIsrael is conquered by Assyria.
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351 BCEArtaxerxes III sacks Sidon.
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332 BCEAlexander the Great sacks Sidon.
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332 BCEAlexander the Great sacks Baalbek and renames it Heliopolis.
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332 BCEConquest of the Levant by Alexander the Great who destroys Tyre.
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Jan 332 BCE - Jul 332 BCEAlexander the Great besieges and conquers Tyre.
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64 BCETyre becomes a Roman colony.
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c. 6 BCE - c. 30 CELife of Jesus Christ.
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637 CEMuslim invasion of the Levant. The Byzantines are driven out.
