Asaphites Postexilic guild of temple singers
Ammonites Sedentary people E of the Dead Sea and Jordan Valley with their capital at Rabbah (modern Amman). Descendants of Lot, they briefly subjugated Israel, were defeated by Jephthah, slaughtered by Saul, and conquered by David. Solomon's marriage to the Ammonite Naamah produced Rehoboam.
Amorites A Semitic-speaking population of Canaan, especially Transjordan, prior to the period of the judges
Arabs Nomadic and sedentary inhabitants of the Arabian Peninsula, in biblical usage including at times the N Syrian desert, Sinai, and generically all desert E of Israel
Arameans Peoples inhabiting most of Syria in the 2nd millennium and speaking various Semitic dialects of Aramaic. The Aramean states of Zobah, Damascus, Beth-rehob, Geshur, and Maacah were important in the history of biblical Israel.
Asaphites Postexilic guild of temple singers
erib, and Esarhaddon. Revolts in conquered territories weakened Assyria, and by 609 its territory
was under the control of the Chaldeans (Babylonia) and Medes.
Chaldeans Loose confederation of Semitic-speaking peoples in southern Babylonia. In 626 they captured Babylon and established a new dynasty that brought about the Neo-Babylonian Empire. In the Bible Chaldea is synonymous with Babylonia.
Cherethites Mercenary group, originally from Crete and living in Philistia, that served as David's bodyguards
Dedanites Merchants from northwestern Arabia
Egypt Ancient and highly developed civilization along the lower (N) Nile River whose political and military power influenced much of Israel's history. Politically unified from the end of the 3rd millennium B.C. under the first, "Protodynastic" kings, Egypt came to prominence under the 3rd through 8th Dynasties, during the Old Kingdom period (ca. 2700-2130) with its massive royal temples and the first pyramids. Following a century of competing local dynasties, Egypt was reunified in the 21st century B.C.. During this Middle Kingdom period Egypt expanded commercial and military contact with Syria-Palestine. In the 18th century, a second "intermediate" period brought an influx of Semitic peoples from the E. Again reunited under the New Kingdom (ca. 1539-1075), Egypt gained great power throughout the Levant. By the beginning of the 1st millennium, Egypt's grandeur was past. Despite occasional attempts at conquest, Egypt came increasingly under control by the Persian, Hellenistic, and Roman empires.
Greece, Greeks Inhabitants of the Greek peninsula and Greek settlements in western Asia Minor, the Greek islands, and coastal Italy. In the NT, the name was used for Hellenized or Greek-speaking persons and often generically for Gentiles. Adoption of the Phoenician alphabet, formation of city-states (the polis), and increased trade characterize the Archaic Age of Greece (800-500 B.C.). Having repelled Persian invasion, Greece reached its political and cultural height during the Classical Period (450-323). Disunity reigned following the defeat of Athens by Sparta in the Peloponnesian War, until Philip II of Macedonia consolidated power. His son, Alexander the Great, conquered territory as far E as India, bringing radical political and cultural change to the Mediterranean world. Though Rome gained control over Greece in 146 B.C., Greek cultural influence prevailed.
Hittites Indo-European-speaking but ethnically diverse people whose empire centered in eastern Anatolia extended from the Aegean to the Euphrates and the northern Levant during the 2nd millennium B.C. OT references to Hittites in Palestine designate Canaanite descendants of Seth.
Hivites Pre-Israelite, non-Semitic inhabitants of Canaan
Horites Semi-nomadic inhabitants of Seir prior to the Edomites, not to be identified with the Hurrians
Hurrians An ethnic group attested throughout the ancient Near East in the 3rd-2nd millennium B.C., founders of the powerful Mitanni kingdom. Cuneiform texts from Nuzi in northern Iraq shed light on common Mesopotamian and biblical legal practice.
Hyksos Asiatic "rulers of foreign countries" who dominated Egypt during the 15th and 16th Dynasties of the Second Intermediate Period
Indo-Europeans Peoples speaking various representatives of the linguistic family encompassing most of the languages of Europe-Anatolia and many languages of southwestern Asia and India
Ishmaelites Nomadic merchants from Arabia, also called Midianites
Izharites A major division of the Kohathite family of Levites
Libnites A division of the Gershonite family of Levites
Massaites Northern Arabian tribe of the 8th-7th centuries
Medes Indo-Iranian people who formed an empire in Persia and Asia Minor in the 7th-6th centuries B.C. Media allied with the Babylonians to overthrow the Neo-Assyrian Empire in 612. Conquered by Cyrus II, the Medes remained a major component of the Achaemenid (Persian) Empire.
Meunites A Transjordanian people, neighbors of the Moabites and Ammonites
Midianites Confederation of tribes located in southern Transjordan and the northwestern Arabian Peninsula
Moabites Inhabitants of a small Iron Age kingdom in Transjordan, bordered by and closely related to Ammon and Edom. The Moabites had frequent and generally hostile contact with Israel.
Nephilim A people of the pre-Flood generation, offspring of divine beings and human women. Israelite spies identified "gigantic" inhabitants of Canaan as Nephilim.
Pelethites Mercenaries, probably of Aegean origin, part of David's personal bodyguard
Persia Indo-European people who overthrew the Medes and conquered Babylon in 539 B.C. to form an empire that reached from Ionia to India until its conquest by Alexander the Great in 330. Cyrus II established the Achaemenid dynasty and allowed the captive Jews to return to Jerusalem.
Philistines An Aegean people, part of the Sea Peoples, who migrated to the southern coast of Palestine (derived from their name) in the 13th-12th centuries B.C., becoming a principal rival of Israel under the judges and the early monarchy. Their settlements included a league of five major cities.
Phoenicians Seafaring peoples whose independent city-states along the northern Canaanite coast, principally Tyre and Sidon, engaged in commerce and colonization in northern Africa, southern Spain, and the Mediterranean islands.
Rechabites Followers of the Kenite Jehonadab who suppported Jehu, noted for religious conservatism
Rephaim 1. The dead, inhabitants of Sheol 2. A preIsraelite populace of Canaan, giants or warriors
Rome City on the Tiber River and the republic and massive empire that embraced much of Europe and the Mediterranean world and Mesopotamia. Rome was settled as early as the loth century B.C. and ruled by kings from the 8th century. In 509 monarchy was replaced by the Republic, governed by annually elected consuls and the Senate, and domination was extended to the entire peninsula and through colonization beyond Italy. Following the assassination of Julius Caesar, Octavian (Augustus) ruled as princeps, inaugurating the Roman Empire (27 B.C.- A.D. 476).
Sabeans Tribe and kingdom in southwestern Arabia
Samaritans In the OT, residents of the district of Samaria, including Mesopotamian colonists settled there by the Assyrians. In the NT and elsewhere, members of a Hebrew religious sect tracing descent from the tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh and claiming to preserve the true Mosaic faith.
Sea Peoples Various Aegean and North African groups that invaded Egypt and the eastern Mediterranean in the 13th-12th centuries B.C. Those who settled on the coastal plain of Canaan became the Philistines.
Semites Peoples sharing a common linguistic rather than ethnic heritage, including the Akkadian, Ugaritic, Hebrew, Aramaic, Phoenician, and Arabic languages
Shulammite Inhabitant of Shunem
Sumer First major civilization in Mesopotamia, located in the alluvial plain between the Tigris and Euphrates in southern Babylonia. The Sumerian language, written in cuneiform, is attested by the late 4th millennium B.C. City-states flourished in the early 3rd millennium, including Uruk, Lagash, Nippur, and Kish, unified under central rule by the 3rd Dynasty of Ur (2050-1950). Sumer gave way to the Old Babylonians under Hammurabi in 1750.