Bible Synapse
Tel Megiddo
Site · 10th–8th centuries BC · Israel and Judah · also called Megiddo, Armageddon, Megiddo stables
See it on the map and timeline
- Date
- 10th–8th centuries BC (the Iron Age gates, palaces and pillared buildings)
- Found
- Tel Megiddo, Israel, 1903. Dug by Gottlieb Schumacher (1903–1905), by the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago (1925–1939), in short seasons by Yigael Yadin in the 1960s, and since 1994 by Tel Aviv University’s Megiddo Expedition.
- Now
- At the site, Megiddo National Park, Israel
- Passages
- 1 Kings 9:15, 1 Kings 9:19, 1 Kings 10:26, 2 Kings 9:27, 2 Kings 23:29
What it is
A large mound guarding a pass into the Jezreel Valley, with some 20 main layers of settlement. The Iron Age city had monumental gates, palaces, a shaft about 35 metres deep leading by tunnel to a spring, and two complexes of long pillared buildings whose stone pillars are pierced with holes, first published as stables.
How it connects to the Bible
1 Kings 9:15 names Megiddo among the cities Solomon fortified, and 1 Kings 9:19 and 10:26 speak of his cities for chariots. The pillared buildings were first credited to Solomon, but most archaeologists now date them later, to the 9th or 8th century BC. Ahaziah of Judah died at Megiddo, and Josiah was killed there by Pharaoh Necho (2 Kings 9:27; 23:29).
What scholars debate
Whether the pillared buildings were stables, storehouses or barracks is debated, as is the date of the gates (Solomon’s time or the dynasty of Omri).