Egyptian Influence in Ancient Israel

Although the artifacts shown here were all unearthed at archaeological sites in modern Israel, the West Bank and Gaza, they look like they may have come from Egypt. Through most of the Bronze Age (3000–1200 B.C.E.) Egypt’s robust cultural and economic hegemony extended across the Sinai peninsula and up the Mediterranean coast as far as the southern reaches of Anatolia (modern Turkey). Well into the Iron Age (1200–586 B.C.E.), during the reign of the Judahite king Hezekiah (727–697 B.C.E.), Egypt still exerted strong influence in the region. Author Robert Deutsch suggests that by then, however, some symbols of Egyptian origin had been accepted as transcultural emblems of royalty that could be appropriated by any sovereign, such as Hezekiah, who might want to project an image of dominance and power.