Prepare Ye the Way

Groups of People

• Achaean Greeks (ak-EYE-an) - Indo-European people who entered the Greek peninsula about 2000 BC. They developed the civilization of the ancient Greek heroes of Homer around 1700 BC.
• Akkadians (uh-KAD-ee-ans) - Semites; rulers of Sumer around 2300 BC.
• Alans - one of the Iranian tribes of horse nomads. They dominated the area of the Black Sea by 300 BC.
• Amalekites (AM-el-la-kites) - Semite tribe of the southern Holy Land. They harrassed the Israelites of the Exodus in the thirteenth century BC.
• Ammonites (AM-on-ites) - Semitic tribes, distantly related to the Israelites, who established a kingdom east of the Jordan after 1300 BC.
• Amorites (Am-or-ites) - Semitic tribe who spearheaded the Semitic expansion of 2000 BC.
• Arabs - Semite peoples of the Arabian peninsula, especially the camel-nomads established there after 600 BC.
• Arameans (air-am-EE-ans) - Amorite tribal group who spread into Mesopotamia and the eastern Holy Land after 1400 BC.
• Assyrians (a-SEER-ee-ans) - Semite people of the upper Tigris River. Beginning as a nation of traders they built a series of empires peaking around 700 BC. Because of their distinctive character and history, their territory is colored purple on these maps.
• Cananites (KANE-an-ites) - mix of ancient peoples and early Semite people in the Holy Land before the Semitic movements of 2000 BC.
• Caucasians (kaw-KAY-zhuns) - in this book meaning the ancient peoples living in the areas of Armenia, Persia, Anatolia Mesopotamia and Greece before the expansion of the Semites and Indo-Europeans in the third and second millenium BC.
• Chaldeans (kal-DEE-ans) - Semites related to the Arameans. They overran Babylonia after 1000 BC and later re-established it as an empire.
• Cimmerians (sim-AIR-ee-ans) - Indo-European nomadic tribe established north of the Black Sea.
• Dorian Greeks - uncivilized Greek-speaking people who displaced the Achaean Greek from Greece and Crete after 1200 BC.
• Edomites (EE-dom-ites) - Semite people related to the Israelites. They lived south and southeast of the Dead Sea, and established a kingdom, Edom, around 1300 BC.
• Egyptians - people of the ancient Egyptian Empire which flourished from 3100 BC until shortly before 300 BC. Their lands are colored green on these maps.
• Elamites - (EE-lam-ites) - Caucasian people of the civilization of the southern Zagros Mountains and Persian Gulf before the Iranian conquests of the seventh century BC.
• Ephramites (EE-frame-ites) - descendents of Josephe; with Manassites the dominant tribe of the Israelites.
• Gauls - barbarian Celts who invaded Anatolia around 300 BC. (The Celts were an iron age group of Indo-Europeans who spread from their homeland north of the Alps around 600 BC and again after 400 BC.)
• Habiru (hah-BEE-roo) - ancient nomads of northern Mesopotamiaand the Holy Land; probably ancestors of the Hebrew people
• Hattites (HAT-ites) - Caucasian peoples of Anatolia before the Hittite conquests of the twentieth century BC
• Hebrews - people blending Semitic, Mesopotamian and Hurrian cultures who moved from north Mesopotamia into the Holy Land around 2000 BC. They are indicated in red on these maps.
• Hittites (HIT-ites) - an Indo-European people who invaded Anatolia from Europe around 2000 BC and gradually built an Empire. Their territory is colored brown on these maps.
• Hurrians (HUR-ee-ans) - ancient Caucasian metal-working peoples of the Armenian area; founders of the kingdom of Mitanni by 1400 BC and the later kingdom of Urartu, or Van, around 800 BC
• Hyksos (HIC-sose) - Semitic people with Hurrian allies who overran the Holy Land after 1800 BC and conquered northern Egypt about 1730 DC
• Indo-Europeans - related peoples speaking the mother tongue of the modern languages of Europe and India. After 6000 BC they spread from their original homeland northwest of the Black Sea, appearing in the Bible Lands around 2000 BC.
• Ionian Greeks (eye-OH-nee-an) - Achaean Greeks who settled the Anatolian west coast area after 1300 BC. After about 1000 BC they originated the Classical Greek civilization which dominated territories colored olive on this map.
• Iranians (ear-RAIN-ee-ans) - Indo-European nomadic people of the Iranian plateau. They rose to power in the sixth century BC. Their territory is colored blue on these maps.
• Israelites - a Hebrew people; descendents of Israel. After a stay in Egypt, they left in the Exodus around 1260 BC to re-enter and conquer the Holy Land. Their territory is colored red on these maps to distinguish them from other Semites.
• Jews - the Israelite people of Judah after about 700 BC when their ancient beliefs and customs became a formal religion.
• Judeans (jew-DEE-ans) - members of the tribe of Judah; Israelites who settled south and west of the Dead Sea. After the Assyrian conquest of Israel in 721 BC they developed the Israelite traditions into the Jewish religion.
• Kassites (KASS-ites) - an ancient Caucasian people of the Zagros Mountains. They conquered Babylon before 1500 BC and controlled it for about 400 years.
• Luvians (LOO-vee-ans) (or Luwians) people, related to the Hittites, who entered southern Anatolia around 2000 BC
• Manassites (man-ASS-ites) - descendents of Joseph; with Ephraimites the dominant tribe of Israelites
• MedesMedes (meeds) - Iranian tribe which established a confederacy and then a kingdom in north Persia after 700 BC
• Mitanni (mit-TAN-ee) - a tribe of Iranian charioteers who conquered the south Hurrian area in 1700 BC; the blend of Mitanni and Hurrian people who established the kingdom of Mitanni after 1600 BC.
• MoabitesMoabites (MO-a-bites) - Semites, distantly related to the Israelites, who established a kingdom east of the Dead Sea after 1300 BC
• Mohammedans - followers of the religion of Mohammed after 600 AD. As Arabs, they claim descent from Abraham's first son, Ishmael.
• Nabataeans (nab--TEE-ans) - Arabs settled in northwest Arabia after the fifth century BC
• Neo-Hittites - Luvian people of south Anatalia who maintained the Hittite culture after the Phrygian invasion of 1200 BC destroyed the Hittite Empire
• Parthians (PARTH-ee-ans) - an Iranian tribe living west and south of the Caspian Sea. They took most of the ancient Persian Empire from the Seleucid Greeks after 200 BC.
• Patriarchs (PAT-ree-arks) - remembered ancestors of the Israelites, especially Abraham, Isaac, Jacob (Israel) and Joseph
• Persians - Iranian tribe which established a confederacy and then a kingdom in the southern Zagros Mountains after 700 BC
• Philistines (FILL-es-teens) - Achaean Greeks driven from Crete around 1200 BC. Joining the Sea People they invaded and settled the southern Holy Land coast after 1200 BC.
• Phrygians (FRIJ-ee-ans) - an Indo-European people who moved into Anatolia from the northwest around 1200 BC, destroying the Hittite Empire.
• Romans - people of the city and empire established by Rome after 700 BC. Their intrusions into the Bible Lands after 150 BC appear on these maps in green.
• Samaritans (sam-ARE-a-tans) - people of the west bank of the Jordan River, many of whom were brought there from Babylonia after Assyria deported the Israelites in 721 BC
• Sarmatians (sar-MAY-shuns) - Iranian horse-nomad tribe appearing north of the Black Sea by 300 BC
• Scyths (siths) - an Iranian horse-nomad people who lived northt and south of the Caucasian Mountains around 700 BC
• Sea People - in this book, peoples of Libya, Greece, Crete and Cyprus who joined in raiding the coast of Egypt, Anatolia and the Holy Land after 1300 BC
• Semites - related peoples speaking the languages originating in Arabia. Territories they held are usually colored orange on these maps.
• Sumerians (soo-MAIR-ee-ans) - southern Mesopotamian people of the world's first civilization, Sumer, which flourished between 3500 BC and 2000 BC