Megiddo: The History of the Famous Archaeological Site and Prophesized Battle of Armageddon

53 Pages·2016·2.07 MB·English

by  Charles River Editors

Megiddo: The History of the Famous Archaeological Site and
Prophesized Battle of Armageddon
By Charles River Editors
Hanay’s picture of some of the ruins of Tel Megiddo
About Charles River Editors

Charles River Editors provides superior editing and original writing services
across the digital publishing industry, with the expertise to create digital content
for publishers across a vast range of subject matter. In addition to providing
original digital content for third party publishers, we also republish civilization’s
greatest literary works, bringing them to new generations of readers via ebooks.
Sign up here to receive updates about free books as we publish them, and visit
Our Kindle Author Page to browse today’s free promotions and our most
recently published Kindle titles.
Introduction
Hanay’s picture of some of the ruins of Tel Megiddo Tel Megiddo There
are not many corners in the world that have seen as many people, civilizations,
and armies as Tel Megiddo. Located in the western Jezreel Valley, it once laid
upon the Via Maris, an ancient international trade route that connected ancient
Egypt to the kingdoms and empires of Palestine, Syria, Anatolia, and
Mesopotamia. It is because of this road that Megiddo saw so much carnage and
bloodshed throughout its history.[1] Many groups have coveted Tel Megiddo
because of its strategic location guarding the entrance/exit of the Aruna Pass,
now known as the Musmus Pass. Such groups ranged from the Canaanites,
Egyptian, Israelites, Philistines and many others; including more recent states
and empires, like the Ottomans, Napoleon’s French empire, and modern Israel.
Megiddo’s occupational history, or ages of intensive human occupation, began
during the Neolithic Age (c. late-fifth millennium B.C.E.) and ended in the Iron
Age (c. late-seventh century B.C.E.). But, according to the New Testament,
everyone’s stories will end with the coming of Armageddon, otherwise known as
Tel Megiddo.
The history of the archaeological site and the Jezreel Valley is filled with many
firsts and many lasts. Perhaps its wide plains were the location of the first
recorded battle. It most certainly was the location of the first recorded chariot
battle in history when the Pharaoh of Egypt, Thutmosis III of the Eighteenth
Dynasty, attacked his former vassals, the Canaanites, after their kings formed a
coalition with the Mesopotamian kings during the 15th century B.C.E. Such
occurrences of violence and warfare have been common ordeals in the Jezreel
Valley, and depending on who partook varied from guerilla-warfare to open-air
fighting. The history in the Jezreel Valley had been so repetitively violent that
the British General Edmund Allenby replicated, almost exactly, the tactic used
by Thutmosis III nearly 3400 years before him when he too attacked Megiddo in
1918.
It is perhaps due to the many battles that the ancient scribes bestowed the
image of Armageddon upon Megiddo. After all, the Hebrew words Har
Megiddo, simply means the “Mount of Megiddo.”[2] But despite the bloody
history of the mound, and its valley, Megiddo’s location was eventually lost to
history and only was rediscovered relatively recently.
Megiddo: The History of the Famous Archaeological Site and Prophesized
Battle of Armageddon looks at the history of the site, its ruins, and its importance
throughout the centuries. Along with pictures of important people, places, and
events, you will learn about Megiddo like never before, in no time at all.
Megiddo: The History of the Famous Archaeological Site and Prophesized
Battle of Armageddon
About Charles River Editors
Introduction
Tel Megiddo’s Chronological Sequence
Geography
Egyptian Presence and Sources
The Archaeological Perspective of Megiddo
The Iron Age
Judgment Day and Its Possible Origins
Online Resources
Bibliography
Tel Megiddo’s Chronological Sequence
Strata Dates B.C.E. Periods Periods and
Events
XX Neolithic/Chalcolithic Remains on site

XIX c. 3300 – Early Bronze Ib Earliest Temple
3000
XVIII Great Temple

c. 3000 – Early Bronze II Gap in

2700 occupation?
XVI c. 2700 – Early Bronze III Round Altar
2500
XV c. 2500 – Early Bronze III- Three Megaron
2000 Intermediate Bronze Temples
XIV Intermediate Bronze Poor

Settlement
XIII – X c. 2000 – Middle Bronze II Renewed urban
1550 settlement;
Lower Mound;
massive
fortifications
IX – VIIA c. 1550 – Late Bronze Canaanite city
1130 state
c. 1475 Campaign of

Thutmosis III
VIII 14th Century El-Amarna

period
c. 1175 Battle between

Ramesses III and
the Sea Peoples
End of VIIA c. 1130 End of Late Bronze Destruction of
city and end of
Egyptian
hegemony
VIB – VIA c. 1130 – 950 Iron I City in
Canaanite
tradition
End of VIA c. 950 Destruction of

Stratum VIA
VB c. 950 – 900 Iron IIA First Israelite
settlement
c. 925 Campaign of

Shishak
VA – IVB c. 900 – 800 Administrative

city; palaces
IVA c. 800 – 732 Iron IIB Fortified city;
stables
732 Assyrian

conquest
III c. 732 – 650 Assyrian

district centre
II – I c. 650 – 350 Post-Assyrian

and Persian
settlement
* Dates are not exact and may vary.[3]
Geography
It is easiest to conceptualize the location of Megiddo sitting on the northern
side of the Carmel Mountain acting like a gate of the Via Maris. Through this
gate once moved inconceivable amounts of international trade and people from
the Mediterranean Coast to the Jezreel Valley via the Aruna/Musmus Pass. The
mountain range of the Carmel formed a formidable natural boundary, which
stretches from near modern Haifa in the northwest to Mount Gilboa in the
southeast. At this point another mountain range and the Wadi Arabah box in the
southern Levant as they stretch south down the spine of Judah and onto the
deserts of the Negev, Transjordan, and northern Arabia. As a result of such
rough environmental conditions surrounding the Fertile Crescent and the once
malaria infested marshes and sand dunes of the Mediterranean coast, the Via
Maris meandered into western Palestine then turned east across Mount Carmel,
thus avoiding the Haifa Peninsula.
In order to cross the mountain range there are three passageways. These
passages issue into either the broad expanse of the Jezreel Valley, which then
connects to the Beq’a Valley, and Syria in the east, or the Plain of Akko, and
connects with Phoenicia. The southernmost pass meanders through the Dothan
Valley before emerging upon the Jezreel Valley, to the east of the ancient city of
Tanaach. The northernmost pass winds around Megiddo and emerges near the
ancient city of Yoqneam, to the west. While the Tanaach pass is the longest and
least efficient passageway, it has the easiest entrance into the valley. The
Yoqneam passageway on the other hand is considered the most physically
arduous. In contrast to these two, the route through the slender Wadi ‘Ara
(Aruna/Musmus Pass) emerges upon the well-watered slopes of Megiddo after a
relatively gentle incline.
The Modern Jezreel Valley, photo by Joe Freeman
For most of Megiddo’s early history the surrounding environmental conditions
were quite favorable, but were achieved through human intervention such as
draining swamplands and irrigation. In times of social decay, or occupational
gaps the swamps returned, which mainly occurred during the Byzantine Age
until the establishment of modern cities like Haifa. Natural springs and perennial
streams ran along the western fringe of the Jezreel Valley and were a prime
source of water for irrigation. Throughout antiquity, the lowland stretching
northward from Megiddo consisted of broad flood plains and other meandering
streams. The main sources for consumption though came from two springs that
can be located at the base of Megiddo. All of this helps to explain why
settlement at, and around the site, began in the Neolithic Age and continued into
the Bronze and Iron Ages without significant interruption until the Byzantine
Age.