Megiddo
Tel (mound) Megiddo,
known as Tel-el-Mutesellim (Hill of the Ruler) has been identified as
one of the most important cities of biblical times. Located on a hill
overlooking the fertile Jezreel
Valley, Megiddo was of great strategic importance, as it
commanded the eastern approaches of Nahal Iron (nahal, a dry river
bed), part of the international highway which led from Egypt,
along the coastal plain to the Jezreel
Valley, and thence to Damascus and Mesopotamia (the highway
became known later as Via Maris, Way of the Sea). Numerous battles
fought for control of the city are recorded in ancient sources; in
the New Testament (Revelations
16:16), Armageddon (believed by some to be a corruption of Har
Megiddo - the hill of Megiddo) is named as the site of the
"Battle of the End of Days".
One of the largest city
mounds in Israel (covering an area of about 15 acres) and rich in
archeological finds, Tel Megiddo is an important site for the study
of the material culture of biblical times. A total of 20 cities were
built at Megiddo, one above the other, over the course of 5,000 years
of continuous occupation; from the time of the first settlement at
the end of the 6th millennium BCE to its abandonment in the 5th
century BCE.
Several expeditions have
excavated at Megiddo since the beginning of the 20th century. The
most important excavations were conducted by the Oriental Institute
of the University of Chicago between the years 1925 and 1939. All
four of the uppermost cities of the tel, dating to the first half of
the 1st millennium BCE, were excavated by this expedition. Several
sections excavated to bedrock exposed the remains of the earliest
city.
The finds corroborate
written evidence concerning the importance of Megiddo, first as a
royal Canaanite city, then as an Egyptian stronghold and
administrative center, later as a "chariot city" of the
kings of Israel, and finally as the controlling city of Assyrian and
Persian provinces.
Excavations at Megiddo were
renewed in 1994, with the aim of clarifying the tel's stratigraphy
and chronology and of obtaining further information about
architectural and cultural remains at the site.
A Royal Canaanite City
and an Egyptian Administrative Center
A village had been
established on the hill of Megiddo at the end of the 6th millennium
BCE, but the first fortified urban settlement, remains of which were
uncovered on bedrock in the eastern part of the tel, dates from the
beginning of the 3rd millennium BCE. Within its walls was an
elongated rectangular temple, with an altar opposite its entrance; it
had a low ceiling, supported by wooden columns placed on stone bases.
The renewed excavations have exposed several long, parallel stone
walls, each 4 m. thick, the lanes between them filled with the bones
of sacrificed animals.
Over the next 2000 years, a
series of Canaanite temples were built, one on top of the other, on
the site of this ancient temple.
At the end of the 3rd
millennium BCE, a circular bama (altar) of fieldstones, 8.5 m. in
diameter and 1.5 m high, was built. Seven steps led to its top, upon
which sacrifices were offered. This is an excellent example of the
cultic bamot (altars) frequently mentioned in the Bible. (e.g., I
Samuel 9:12-15) Then, at the beginning of the 2nd millennium BCE, a
complex of three identical temples was added at the back of the bama,
forming an impressive Canaanite cultic precinct. Each of these
megaron-type temples consisted of a rectangular room with a bama at
its back and an open courtyard at its façade, where a pair of round
stone bases indicate pillars. Towards the end of the 2nd millennium
BCE, a new Canaanite temple was built on the ruins of its
predecessors; it had especially thick walls and included a small
cultic chamber with two towers protecting its façade.
From the beginning of the
2nd millennium BCE, Megiddo was an important military center. The
city was surrounded by mighty stone fortifications, strengthened by
earthen ramparts with glacis (a sloped hard and smooth coating). The
area within the walls was carefully planned and divided into several
clearly defined quarters: the royal quarters containing the palaces;
the administrative quarter; and the residential quarters. This plan
did not significantly change until the 12th century BCE.
Toward the middle of the 2nd
millennium, a new gate of unusually large dimensions, built of large
ashlars on trimmed basalt foundations, was built in the city's
northern wall. It included two pairs of chambers with a broad passage
between them, providing convenient access to chariots. Next to the
gate in the eastern wall stood the palace of the Canaanite kings of
Megiddo. This was a very large and splendid palace, its rooms built
around a courtyard. Gold jewelry and ivories found in the palace
treasury provide evidence of the wealth of the kings of Megiddo and
their political and commercial links with neighboring lands and
cultures.
Megiddo is mentioned many
times in Egyptian royal inscriptions from the 15th to the 13th
centuries BCE. They attest to the city's importance as the center of
Egyptian administration in Canaan and as a logistical base on the
road north. Inscriptions in the temple of the god Amon at Karnak (in
Upper Egypt) describe the first military campaign of Thutmose III in
Canaan, at the beginning of the 15th century BCE. According to this
description, the Egyptian army crossed the hills of Manasseh and then
advanced via Nahal Iron to the Jezreel Valley. The united army of the
Canaanite kings, surprised by this military move, was soundly
defeated; Megiddo was conquered after a seven-month siege.
His majesty [Thutmose III]
speaks to his generals:
That wretched enemy [the
Canaanites]... has come and has entered into Megiddo. He is there
at this moment. He has gathered to him the princes of every foreign
country that had been loyal to Egypt, as well as those as far as
Naharin and Mitanni [in today's Syria]...
Then his majesty issued
forth at the head of his army... He had not met a single enemy.
Their southern wing was in Ta'anach, while their northern wing was
on the south side of the Qina Valley... Thereupon his majesty
[Thutmose] prevailed over them [the Canaanites] at the head of his
army. Then they saw his majesty prevailing over them, and they fled
headlong to Megiddo with faces of fear. They abandoned their horses
and their chariots of gold and silver...
Six letters found in the
archives of the Egyptian kings at el-Amarna, dating to the 14th
century BCE, were sent by the king of Megiddo to his overlords, the
kings of Egypt. In these letters, Biridiya, king of Megiddo,
describes the growing threat to his city at the hands of Labayu (king
of Shechem) and pleads for help:
To the king, my lord, and
my Sun-god, say: Thus Biridiya, the faithful servant of the king.
At the two feet of the king, my lord, and my Sun-god, seven and
seven times I fall. Let the king know that ever since the archers
returned [to Egypt], Labayu has carried on hostilities against me,
and we are not able to pluck the wool, and we are not able to go
outside the gate in the presence of Labayu, since he learned that
thou hast not given archers; and now his face is set to take
Megiddo, but let the king protect the city, lest Labayu seize it.
Verily, there is no other purpose in Labayu. He seeks to destroy
Megiddo.
With the decline of Egyptian
control in the 12th and 11th centuries BCE, struggles for power took
place among the Canaanites, Philistines and Israelites which left
their mark upon the remains at Megiddo. The city was finally
conquered by King David, who established it as an important regional
center of his kingdom.
The monarchic
"Chariot City"
Megiddo reached its peak
under King Solomon in the
10th century BCE. He rebuilt it as a royal city, administering the
northern part of the kingdom. The building of Jerusalem, the capital,
and of Hatzor, Megiddo and Gezer, as part of centralized urban
planning, is recounted in the Bible:
And this is the reason of
the levy which king Solomon raised; for to build the house of the
Lord, and his own house, and Millo, and the wall of Jerusalem, and
Hatzor, and Megiddo, and Gezer. (I
Kings 9:15)
Architectural features
characteristic of the royal centers of the monarchic period have been
found in all three cities. In the Megiddo excavations, such elements
were encountered in the palaces, buildings, fortifications,
administrative buildings, storehouses, stables and the water system.
During the reign of Solomon,
Megiddo was surrounded by a sturdy casemate wall (two parallel walls
with partitions between them, creating rooms). The casemates served
as barracks for soldiers and for storage of equipment. A new city
gate was constructed on the remains of the Canaanite gate in the
northern part of wall. It included three sets of chambers with a
passage between them; for additional security, towers and an outer
gate were added outside this gate.
Within the city, large
palaces were built, and next to them identically planned
administrative buildings: a series of rooms around an open central
courtyard. These were very well built, with extensive use of large
ashlars, the thick walls supporting a second story. Atop the
doorposts were Proto-Aeolic stone capitals, with stylized volutes.
Megiddo was destroyed in the
military campaign of Pharaoh Shishak in 926 BCE, and restored during
the reign of Ahab, king of Israel (ca. 874 - 852 BCE) who made it a
royal "chariot city." The new city's walls were 3.5 m.
thick, constructed with offsets and insets and incorporating the
Solomonic city gate. Noteworthy among the structures from the period
of Ahab are several large, identical buildings, covering large areas
of the city. Some archeologists believe they were storehouses,
barracks or market-places, but most researchers regard them as
stables.
Based on the biblical
account, the stables were first dated to the reign of Solomon,
but new evidence has established their date as early 9th century BCE,
in the reign of King Ahab. The southern stable complex is divided
into several compartments, each subdivided into three long, parallel
halls: the outer halls for stalls, the corridors between them for use
by the stable hands. The ceiling of the stables was supported by
large, square stone pillars. Massive stone troughs stood in the
stables, as well as perforated stones for tying the horses. In the
middle of a large courtyard, surrounded by a stone wall, was a
watering pool. It is estimated that Megiddo's stables could have
accommodated 450 horses; the adjacent structures undoubtedly housed
dozens of battle chariots - an impressive quantity in terms of the
period.
To safeguard the city's
water supply in times of siege, a subterranean water system was hewn
in the rock in the western part of the city, which made it possible
to reach the spring at the foot of the hill outside the walls without
being seen by the enemy. This project required considerable
engineering ingenuity and an enormous amount of hard labor. The water
system consists of a square, 25 m.-deep vertical shaft and an 80
m.-long horizontal tunnel. In order to hide the source of water from
the enemy and to protect the users of the water system, a
particularly thick wall, camouflaged by a covering of earth, was
constructed at the entrance to the cave from which the spring
emanates, blocking access from the outside.
Megiddo continued to serve
as the seat of the royal governor during the reign of Jeroboam II,
king of Israel. This is attested to by a seal, found in excavations
at the beginning of the 20th century, bearing the inscription
"to Shema, servant of Jeroboam." During the rebellion of
Jehu, Ahaziah, king of Judah, fled to Megiddo and died there of his
wounds. (II Kings 9: 27)
Megiddo was apparently
conquered and destroyed in 732 BCE, during the campaign of Tiglath
Pilesser III, king of Assyria, against the Kingdom of Israel. (II
Kings 15: 29)
The Last Days of Megiddo
The Assyrians made Megiddo the royal city of their province in the north of the
conquered kingdom of Israel and rebuilt it in their finest
architectural tradition. An orthogonal grid of streets divided the
city into quarters. In the south of the city, a round, subterranean
stone-lined silo, 11 m. in diameter, with two narrow flights of
stairs along its sides, was found. At the end of the 7th century,
apparently during the reign of Josiah, king of Judah, a rectangular
fortress was constructed on top of the eastern side of the tel, but
it remained in use only until Josiah's fall in 609 BCE, when it was
destroyed.
In his days Pharaoh Necho,
king of Egypt, went up against the king of Assyria to the river
Euphrates: and king Josiah went against him; and he slew him at
Megiddo, when he had seen him. (II Kings 23: 29)
From then on, Megiddo fell
into decline; it was finally abandoned during the Persian
rule, in the 5th century BCE.
Sources: Ministry
of Foreign Affairs
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