Tel Megiddo

Carta’s Recommended Site of the MonthTel Megiddo

Excerpted from Israel National Parks & Nature Reserves A Carta Guide

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“…then fought the kings of Canaan in Taanach by the waters of Megiddo…)” ((Judg 5:19)

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Location: on Route 66 (Yokne’am–Megiddo Junction).Best season: year-roundLength of visit: about 2 hoursTel.: 03-7762186Entrance fee

Tel Megiddo is situated on the northern side of the opening to Nahal Iron, on the eastern border of the Jezreel (Yizre’el) Valley. Archaeological excavations have uncovered one of the most ancient cities in the country. According to the Christian tradition, this will be the site of the Apocalypse where, at the end of days, all the kings of the world will fight the ultimate battle. It is reflected in the Book of Ezekiel (chapter 39) in the Old Testament, in the war of Gog and Magog, and in the Revelation of St. John in the New Testament (Rev 16:12 ff.). This place is called Har Megiddon in Hebrew and is known as Armageddon (the Mount of Megiddo) in English.

It comes as no surprise that this place should be the scene of military battles throughout the ages; its strategic location on the road leading inland via the Jezreel Valley from the coastal road (the Via Maris) is clear to the naked eye.

The pre-Hebraic name has not been preserved. In Arabic it is called Tell el Mutesellim, the Governor’s Mound.

The first person to suggest that Tell el Mutesellim was the site of Megiddo was the 14th century Jewish geographer, Eshtori HaParhi. In 1903, excavations conducted by the German Society for Oriental Exploration under the direction of Gottlieb

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TEL MEGIDDONATIONAL PARK

…then fought the kings of Canaan in Taanach by the waters of Megiddo… (Judg 5:19)

Jewish site

Christian site

Antiquities Lookout point

Picnic site

Outdoor recreation

TelephoneRestaurantSnack bar

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ARCHAEOLOGY

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230 231TEL MEGIDDO NATIONAL PARK

Schumacher established the identification as definite. The principal examination of the site was conducted between 1925 and 1939 by the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago, with financial support from the Rockefeller Foundation. The digging was carried out by hand, women carrying baskets of gravel and dumping them at the edge of the tel. This pile is still visible in the northeastern area of the site. Seeds from dates eaten by the diggers and left scattered over the site took root and date trees grow on the tel to this day.

The excavations, which reached bedrock, exposed 20 strata of occupation, and if one adds a number of intermediate strata, 25 cities ranging from 4000 BCE to 400 BCE.

Today, the entire tel has been declared a National Park. The small items found on the site, some of them quite unique, have been placed in the Rockefeller Museum in Jerusalem. A seal with a skillfully crafted lion and the inscription “Belonging to Shema, servant of Jeroboam” was sent to the museum in Istanbul, and got lost there. At the

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Tel Megiddo, viewed from the east.

Model of Megiddo.

entrance to the site is a museum which presents the history of the various cities uncovered, as well as a model of the site which can assist the visitor in identifying the

various strata and their history. Among the many items visible to the untrained eye are seals, gates, remains of the fortresses and stables, and an oval sacrificial



altar (high place). The water system is particularly impressive. It allowed defenders of the city to obtain water from a spring on the western side of the tel without leaving the fortified area. A deep shaft, with a staircase system, descends to a horizontal tunnel that leads to the spring. The tel has not yet revealed all its secrets.

Megiddo is mentioned by name in an Egyptian inscription from the 15th century BCE. In 1479, the Pharaoh Thutmose III launched a military campaign against the Canaanite rulers who had rebelled against the Egyptian regime and had formed

a coalition under the leadership of the King of Kadesh. Megiddo was the key rebel city on the main north-south route. On the walls of the temple at No-amon, that is, Karnak, there is an impressive description of this campaign, which includes a debate regarding the direction from which it would be best to attack Megiddo, and a list of the booty taken.

Several hundred years later, after two more Canaanite cities had come and gone, one of them perhaps mentioned in the Song of Deborah (Judges 5:19), King Solomon built one of his three key military cities here; the other two were Gezer and Hazor (1 Kings 9 ff.) The excavated gates

HISTORY



Megiddo — city gate.

of all three cities are very similar. Excavations are continuing at the tel and the archaeologists are not of one mind as to how much of what found in the palaces, stables and water systems should be attributed to King Solomon and how much to King Ahab.

King Josiah, who tried to halt the military advance of Pharaoh Necho II into Assyria at the Megiddo Pass, fell here in battle, and Megiddo never resumed its past greatness. During the Mishnaic period, a Jewish village, Kefar Othna’i, was close by. The Sixth Roman Legion camped there and the village became known as Legio Maximiliano-

polis, a name from which the Arab village, el Lejjun, is derived. General Allenby broke through here in his advance into the Jezreel Valley in World War I and gained the nickname “Lord of Megiddo.” Lejjun was evacuated in the wake of the failed attack by the Arab military leader Fawzi al-Kaukji against Mishmar Ha’emek in the War of Independence. After the war, Kibbutz Megiddo was founded on the south side of the tel.

Giv’at Noah (Ju’ara)This is a height on the Manasseh

OUTSIDE THE NATIONAL PARK AREA



Megiddo — high place.

Plain beside Kibbutz Ein Ha-shofet. The hill is named after a kibbutz member who was killed in a plane crash. The Arabic name of the place is Ju’ara. An old structure, used by the founders of the kibbutz in its first days, sits atop the hill. Later, it was used as a training base for the Haganah and the Palmah. Following the War of Independence, it became a military training base for the Golani Brigade and then the Gadna. In 1982, the building was turned into a museum containing exhibits of the area’s history.

On both sides of the road link-ing Ein Hashofet with Mishmar Ha’emek are recreation areas.

Jezreel (Yizre’el) ValleyThis is the largest of Israel’s valleys stretching from the Galilee range in the north to the Samarian highlands in the south. Yizre’el means “God will sow” and derives from the fact that this area is excellent for the growing of cereal crops. Almost the entire valley is surrounded by mountains: Tabor, Giv’at Hamoreh, the spurs descending from the Galilee, the Gilboa range, and Mount Carmel. The valley floor is enriched by alluvial soil erosion from the surrounding heights. Criss-crossed by main road arteries, the Jezreel Valley has been the site of military © Carta Jerusalem

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Ivory box decorated with sphinxes and lions.

battles throughout the ages.Deborah and Barak, son

of Abinoam, defeated the Canaanites in this Valley, thus establishing contiguity between the southern and central tribes of Israel. King Solomon built towns and fortresses in the Valley, such as Megiddo, but in the days of the divided Kingdom, it was the border for the Kingdom of Israel. In 733 BCE, it was conquered by Tiglath-pileser III and annexed as an Assyrian province, but remained deserted for many generations. After the destruction of the Second Temple, the Valley became an important Jewish center, but was again overrun in the Arab conquest of the 7th century CE. When Jewish

settlement was renewed toward the end of the 19th century, the entire Valley was deserted and partly covered by swamp with barely a trace of permanent habitation. In 1911, Yehoshua Hankin purchased a tract of land in the Valley following which the settlements of Merhavia and Tel Adashim were established. After WWI, the Jewish National Fund (JNF) purchased large land areas and in 1921 Ein Harod in the east and Nahalal in the west were founded. Since then the Valley has developed and flourished, the swamps have been drained, roads paved, and new settlements established one after the other.



Corn poppies.

Chrysanthemums.


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Tel Megiddo

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Tel Megiddo