Megiddo (Israel)

“And I saw three unclean spirits like frogs come out of the mouth of the dragon, and out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet. For they are the spirits of devils, working miracles, which go forth unto the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty… And he gathered them together into a place called in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon.”

(The Book of Revelation of John, 16:13-14, 16)

This is how in the Bible, in the New Testament,  John the Apostle identifies the location where the last battle between God and devil will take place, the battle between the forces of Light and the forces of Darkness…

Megiddo – is a mountain (hill) in the west part of the Jezreel Valley in Israel, close to the town of Megiddo. It is known mainly in association with the Greek word Armageddon. In Hebrew, the word Armageddon sounds like Har Megiddo (Mountain of Megiddo).

The first excavations at Megiddo were carried out in 1903–1905 by an architect and amateur-archeologist, German Protestant from Haifa, Gottlieb Schumacher with the support of the German Society for the Study of Palestine. They were resumed by the expedition of the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago in 1925–39. Between 1960 and 1971, periodic diggings were carried out under the leading of Israeli archeologist Yigael Yadin. Starting from 1994, the works are carried out by specialists of the University of Tel Aviv in cooperation with foreign colleagues.

During the researches, more than 25 cultural layers were opened up, the most ancient one of which dates back to the early Bronze Age (3500 years BC). At that time, temple constructions and an altar were built in Megiddo; the city was surrounded with a wall eight meters thick. In the following layers traces of five temples were discovered, the earliest one dates back to the Early Bronze (IV-III thousand years BC), and the latest – to the Iron Age (end of II thousand years BC). That means that, basically, on the same spot pagan temples were built throughout more than two thousand years.

A round altar of the Early Bronze Age, which was covered in time by another construction, is now unearthed and opened to the public’s attention. In the proximity of this altar, burnt bones of thousands of sacrificed animals were found. Similar altars, “High places,” are many times mentioned in the Bible, but you can see “in full splendor” only one of them – the altar in Megiddo, while only fragments can be seen in Tel-Hatzor and Tel-Dan.

In the Middle Bronze Age (end of III – middle of II thousand years BC), the city was under Egypt’s control (a fragment of the statue of an Egyptian official named Tutotep testifies to the fact that Megiddo was a residence of the Egyptian viceroy); then, just like both Egypt and Canaan, it was conquered by the Hyksos (18-16 centuries BC). The new rulers strengthened the wall and erected characteristic in those days earthen embankment and gates with two watch facilities on both sides of the entrance. When the big palace near the gates was excavated, items of jewelry and articles made of ivory were discovered that testify of the wealth of the city at that period.

Circa 1468 BC, pharaoh Thutmose III, as he defeated the coalition of Canaanites and Hittites, went through the Aruna Mountain Pass, which is often called in the Arab language Wadi Ara, surrounded and captured Megiddo after a siege of seven months (this fact is mentioned in an inscription, which was found in the Egyptian temple of Amun in Karnak). The Karnak lines, translated by the prominent Oriental scholar V. V. Struve (1889–1965), testify of the hesitation of the Egyptian officials:

“They said to his majesty: “How will it be to go on this road which becomes narrow, when it is reported that the enemies are waiting there beyond and they are numerous? Will not horse go behind horse and soldiers and people too?” His majesty had taken an oath, saying: “I shall not let my valiant army go before me from this place!” Thus his majesty resolved that he himself should go before his army. Every man was informed of his order of march, horse following horse, with his majesty at the head of his army.”

Canaanites were expecting the pharaoh’s army from the north, or from the south, but not from the direction of the west mountains. The enemy was caught off the guard, and 330 local princes who rebelled against the Egyptian rule were taken captive. Thutmose allowed them to return to their homes, after they had taken the oath of loyalty. He sent them back freely, but not in their chariots – on donkeys. The Egyptians captured rich spoil at Megiddo: 924 chariots, 2238 horses, 2000 cattle, and 22500 small livestock. Relatives of the chief military adversary – north-Syrian mutinous king of Kadesh on the Orontes River, who were at the time in Megiddo, were taken as hostages, but even to them Thutmose did not do any harm.

From that time and up to the beginning of the 12th century BC, Megiddo was under the Egyptian rule. The city was governed by a local king, but the garrison was commanded by an Egyptian viceroy. As it becomes clear from the el-Amarna letters (14th century BC), the ruler of Megiddo, Biridija, informed pharaoh of the danger of the nomad Habiru tribe and their ally – king of Shechem, Labaija, that posed a threat to the city.

The city, which was standing on the caravan roads, was quite wealthy. Under the floor of one of the rooms of the palace of Late Bronze Age (16-12 centuries BC) a rich treasure was found (gold, ivory, lapis lazuli). Cuneiform tablet of the same period, found near the fortress, contains a fragment from the Gilgamesh epic. The city was ruined in the second half of the 12th century BC, and throughout the 11th century BC it was a small unfortified settlement.

According to the Biblical texts, the city was not captured by Joshua, although the king of Megiddo was defeated by him (the Book of Joshua 12:21; 17:11–13; the Book of Judges 1:27-28).

The majority of scholars date Megiddo’s going into the hands of the Israelites to the time of King David’s reign. Solomon strengthened the city (1 Kings 9:15) and included it into the fifth administrative region. In one of the discovered palaces of the Israeli period, the viceroy of Solomon – Baana, son of Ahilud, probably lived (1 Kings 4:12). After Solomon’s death, the Hebrew state had split into two, and Megiddo went under the control of the north (Israel’s) kings.

The North Gate (with six chambers) of the period of Israel’s dominion is similar to the gate that can be seen in Tel Hatzor and Gezer (1 Kings 9:15). According to this Bible quotation, the Gate was probably built by Solomon (10 century BC). Some date the construction to the later kings’ times, even down to Jeroboam II (middle of the 8th century BC). The gate’s structure is typical for Canaanite and Hebrew cities of the Late Bronze Age and of the First Temple: two or three “guards’ facilities” on both sides of the entrance pass follow one after another. In Megiddo, four-chamber gate of the Canaanite period was discovered and six-chamber gate – of the Israelite period.

It was believed for a long time that the major part of the city was occupied by three complexes consisting of five square stables and one complex of two stables for 492 horses in total. Many researchers dated their construction to the reign of Ahab (middle of the 9th century BC), who put against the Assyrian king Shalmaneser III at the Battle of Qarqar in north Syria (853 BC) as many as two thousand battle chariots and ten thousand soldiers. In this battle twelve rulers, including those from Tyre, Judea, Edom, Moab and others, fought on the side of the anti-Assyrian coalition. The army was probably under the command of Ahab and Ben-hadad, the king of Damascus. The Assyrians claimed a victory, but their immediate retreat and subsequent expeditions in 849 and 846 prove that this point of view was ungrounded.

Modern researches show that the North Stables were built over the palace of the Israeli period. The planning of the stables was such that in order to bring a horse outside, one had to move other horses in the same row out of the way (it is especially obvious in the North Stables). This is why some believe that at least some of these facilities are not stables, but regular storehouses. Such a problem exists in the fortress of Tel-Sheba in North Negev as well.

Different interpretations among archeologists in the matter of dating the crucial architectural objects of Megiddo of Hebrew period can be summed up in the following way: the North Gate (according to I. Yadin) belong to Solomon’s reign (10 century BC), according to D. Ussishkin – to Ahab’s reign (9th century BC), and according to I. Finkelshtein – to Jeroboam’s time (8th century BC). The Israeli palaces, according to I. Yadin and D. Ussishkin – date to the 10th century BC, and according to I. Fenkelstein’s opinion – to the 9th century BC. The Stables, according to I. Yadin and D. Ussishkin – are of Ahab’s period (9th century BC), and according to I. Finkelstein’s view – of Jeroboam II’s (8th century BC). The city wall, little of which is left now, was probably erected at the same time with the building of the palaces. Since after the works of the Chicago expedition in the first half of the 20th century, the gate ended up being separated from the wall, it cannot be discarded that it is of an earlier origin, that is, it was built in the epoch of Solomon, as I. Yadin believed it was.

A unique system of the city water supply of 9-8 centuries BC, included the drain (30 meters) and the well (25 meters) with steps that led to the horizontal tunnel 120 meters long, at the end of which, outside the fortifications of the city, there was the Ein Kini spring. Traces of an earlier water supply system are preserved in Megiddo; at that time people came down to the spring from the area of the city wall.

Among the finds of the Israeli period, let us also point out a seal discovered by G. Schumacher with an image of a lion and an inscription, “Shema, Yaroboam’s servant” (Jeroboam II).

Around 732 BC, Megiddo was destroyed by the army of Assyrian king Tiglath-pileser III, then, it was rebuilt again and made into the capital of the Assyrian province, which included Galilee and the Jezreel Valley. Megiddo was built according to a universal plan, according to which among other things two large public facilities were built and a silo pit seven meters deep with steps, hewn in a helical manner. Straw found between the stones confirm this version, but the time of construction, probably, should be shifted to the reign of Jeroboam II. The silo’s volume is 450 cubic meters.

The next epoch (end of the 7th century BC) – is the time of the reign of the Judean king Josiah, who joined Megiddo to Judea and who was lethally wounded under its walls in the battle against pharaoh Necho (2 Kings 23:29-30).

And finally, later, there was a small town of the Persian period, which was gradually deserted by the local dwellers.

In the new era, there were two major battles near Megiddo: in 1799 Napoleon I defeated the Ottoman troops here, and in 1918 English General Edmund Allenby crushed the Turkish army.

During His visit to the Holy Land in 1964, Pope Paul VI was received here by Israeli President Shneur Zalman Shazar.

This article uses materials from the following web-resource:

http://www.tsaritsyn-tours.com