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Megiddo, an important city in antiquity in the Plain of Esdraelon located in northwestern Palestine, Megiddo (me-gid«doh) is identified with modern Tell el-Mutesellim about twenty miles southeast of Haifa and ten miles northwest of Jenin.

Strategic Location: Megiddo owes its importance to its strategic location and good water supply. Two important routes for armies and trade passed at its foot. The one from the south came from Jerusalem, through Shechem, then from Megiddo alongside the Carmel range to the Plain of Acco on the coast and then north to Phoenicia. The second linked Egypt with the Fertile Crescent, from the coast of Palestine by way of the Philistine and Sharon plains, passing through the Carmel range east of Megiddo, then through the Plain of Esdraelon (or Megiddo Plain) east to Damascus and Mesopotamia. This is the best pass through the Carmel ridge and Megiddo’s location has throughout history made direct control a matter of singular strategic importance, from the armies of Thutmose III in the fifteenth century b.c. to General Allenby’s in World War I. When the mound was no longer occupied in Roman times a Roman camp at modern el-Lajjun, about a half-mile south, controlled the pass. Travelers and traders have passed through Megiddo from the Stone Age to the present.

In the Bible and Other Ancient Texts: Megiddo is mentioned in a number of Egyptian and Assyrian texts as well as in the Bible. The earliest reference is in the fifteenth-century b.c. annals of Thutmose III on the walls of the Temple of Karnak in Upper Egypt. Megiddo’s defeat is described in detail, elaborating the battle plan, the booty of prisoners, chariots, and household goods, and the tribute of gold, silver, grain, and wine. The Barkal Stele erected at the Fourth Cataract of the Nile further describes this campaign.

Megiddo is mentioned in the city lists of Thutmose III, and according to his annals the second campaign of Amenhotep II (about 1430 b.c.) ended near Megiddo. In one of the Taanach Letters the king was ordered to send tribute to Megiddo. Amarna Letter 244 was written by the prince of Megiddo concerning the threats to his town, and five other letters from Prince Biridiya to the pharaoh are known. An Egyptian letter of the nineteenth dynasty (and of the thirteenth century b.c.) describes the road from Megiddo to the coastal plain.

According to the ot Joshua defeated a king of Megiddo (Josh. 12:21), and although the town was given to the tribe of Manasseh (Josh. 17:11; 1 Chron. 7:29), the Canaanites were not driven out (Josh. 17:12; Judg. 1:27). At Taanach by the waters of Megiddo Deborah and Barak met the Canaanites (Judg. 5:19), but it may have been the time of David before the city was firmly in Israelite hands. It was in one of Solomon’s administrative districts (1 Kings 4:12), and he fortified Megiddo along with Jerusalem, Hazor, and Gezer (1 Kings 9:15).

Although Megiddo is not mentioned in the Bible’s description of Pharaoh Shishak’s conquest in 918 b.c. (1 Kings 14:25, 26), it is listed among his conquests on the walls of the Amun Temple at Karnak, and a fragment of a stele bearing Shishak’s name was found at Megiddo. Ahaziah, the king of Judah, died at Megiddo during Jehu’s revolt (2 Kings 9:27). According to the annals of Tiglath-pileser III the northern part of Israel was captured in 733/32 b.c. and Megiddo was made the capital of one of the three Assyrian provinces. Finally, Josiah met his death at the hands of Pharaoh Neco near Megiddo in 609 b.c. (2 Kings 23:29; 2 Chron. 35:22). This was probably the end of Megiddo’s prosperity as the town is not mentioned again in ancient texts. But its importance as a battleground is remembered in the nt as Armageddon (Heb. Har Megiddon, ‘The Mound of Megiddo’), the place of the final victory of God over all the forces of the world (Rev. 16:16).

Archaeological Excavations: Megiddo was first excavated by G. Schumacher for the German Oriental Society from 1903 to 1905. In a 20-25 meter-wide trench he excavated the entire north-south length of the mound. He distinguished eight strata going back to Middle Bronze II (from the nineteenth century b.c.) and uncovered two large buildings dating to that time, the Mittelburg (German, ‘middle stronghold’) and the Nordburg (German, ‘north stronghold’), as well as an Israelite palace. Extensive excavations on the east revealed a large Israelite building he called a sanctuary because of its stone pillars, and he made a number of soundings on other parts of the mound.

In 1925 the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago undertook the most extensive excavations ever attempted in Palestine. Continuing until 1939, then interrupted because of World War II, the original plan was to excavate the complete mound layer by layer down to bedrock. The enormous task had to be abandoned after the removal of the first four strata, and work continued largely in two areas, in the north in the vicinity of the city gates, and in the east where bedrock was reached. In all, twenty strata were delineated.

In addition to the limitations of time and money, the work of the University of Chicago expedition was hindered by change of leadership, successively from C. S. Fisher, to P. L. O. Guy, to G. Loud. Their work has only been partially published in three large volumes (Megiddo I, Megiddo II, and Megiddo Tombs) and several smaller monographs on the pottery, water system, ivories, and cult remains. Incomplete and inadequate publication led others, particularly W. F. Albright and G. E. Wright, to attempt to correct aspects of the chronology. Then from 1960 to 1971 the Israeli archaeologist Y. Yadin returned to the site to investigate the stratigraphy of the early monarchy, and in 1965 I. Dunayevski examined the stratigraphy in the sacred area. The occupational history of the site is still distinguished by the twenty strata of the University of Chicago expedition, but there are some major subdivisions, and various combinations must be made.

Evidence of Occupation, Strata XX-VII-B: Flint tools and bones may indicate a prepottery stage of the Neolithic period, and scattered potsherds testify to later Neolithic habitation. Segments of mud-brick dwellings, pits, ovens, and mixed pottery date various Chalcolithic settlements from the early fourth millennium to about 3200 b.c. (Stratum XX).

Strata XIX-XV belong to the Early Bronze age (3000-2000 b.c.). To Stratum XIX (EB I) belongs the first of several sanctuaries in the eastern area of the town where there was a sacred area for hundreds of years. The temple was of the usual Early Bronze type, rectangular with the entrance on the long wall and an altar directly opposite. A courtyard to the east was paved with flagstones, several layers of which had incised figures, mainly of hunting scenes, which are some of the earliest examples of local art in Palestine. The largest city wall in Megiddo’s history belongs to Stratum XVIII (EB II); it was 8 meters thick with stone foundations preserved to a height of 4 meters. During Early Bronze III (Strata XVII-XVI) a large round altar, more than 8 meters in diameter and 1.4 meters high, was erected in the area of the earlier shrine. A flight of steps ascended the altar on the east and it was surrounded by a wall, within which were found a great quantity of animal bones indicating cultic sacrifice. Later in Early Bronze III (Stratum XV), three new temples were erected, all of the broad-room type with the entrance in the long south side and the square altar opposite.

Strata XIV-X belong to the Middle Bronze age (nineteenth-sixteenth centuries b.c.), with indications of Hyksos (rulers, perhaps Canaanite, who extended their control to Egypt, ca. 1720-1550 b.c.) dominance in Strata XII-X. In the sacred area stelae and bronze statuettes of Strata XIII-IX and large buildings of Stratum XII suggest a baµmaÆh (Heb., ‘high place’) with nearby temples. The earliest city gate comes from Stratum XIII, and the typical Hyksos city gate with three sets of piers belongs to Stratum XI. The city wall was strengthened in Stratum XII, and modifications in this and the next stratum are of the usual Hyksos rampart and glacis type.

The first of a series of palaces near the gate area belongs to Stratum X. The relative continuity in plan from Strata XII to VII-A indicates rather peaceful and prosperous times extending through the Late Bronze age. With the expulsion of the Hyksos Megiddo came under Egyptian domination, and even Thutmose III’s destruction of it about 1468 b.c. (end of Stratum IX) did not lead to decline. Stratum VIII (second half of the fifteenth century b.c. to the first half of the fourteenth) shows great material wealth with the expansion of the palace and its rich treasures of ivory plaques, jewelry, and beads. A fortified temple is now on the site of the earlier altars. This is the Amarna Age and the tablets portray the weak control exercised by Egypt. A fragment of a clay tablet containing part of the Gilgamesh Epic (a Babylonian story concerning the origins of the cosmos) found in the vicinity of the gate probably belongs to this time. The last period of the Late Bronze age (Stratum VII-B) was separated from Stratum VII-A by destruction, but the same or very similar inhabitants reoccupied the site and reused the public buildings.

Evidence of Occupation, Strata VII-A-I: Stratum VII-A marks the beginning of the Iron Age (twelfth century b.c.), determined especially by a cartouche of Rameses III found on one of the carved plaques from a great cache of ivories, originally used as inlay decorations for palace furniture. This occupation ended in a great destruction, probably about 1130 b.c. The following settlement (Stratum VI-B) was much poorer; extensive new building activity in Stratum VI-A and Late Philistine pottery may indicate Philistine presence. The destruction at the end of the eleventh century may be attributed to David’s conquests.

The V-B occupation was again a period of decline, and its haphazard constructions may belong to the Israelites under David before the centralized planning of the royal cities of Solomon (tenth century b.c.). The recent excavations have done much to clarify the confused results of the early excavations for the Solomonic and later periods. Stratum V-A/IV-B is Solomonic, to which may be assigned the six-chamber gateway and casemate city walls similar to those at Hazor and Gezer (1 Kings 9:15). These were contemporary with a palace or fortress that lay beneath the north stables and the offset-inset wall formerly attributed to Solomon, as well as a ‘palace’ in the south and a nearby building beneath the south stables. In addition, the gallery (which was the earliest part of the city’s water system, a narrow passageway lined with ashlar masonry leading down the southwest slope of the mound to a spring), was shown stratigraphically to belong to the Solomonic constructions. Solomon’s city met destruction at the hands of Pharaoh Shishak in 918 b.c..

Prosperity continued during the Omride dynasty in the first part of the ninth century b.c. (Stratum IV-A). To it belong the offset-inset wall with the four-chamber gate, the stable complexes (more probably storerooms than stables), and the subterranean water system with a vertical shaft and horizontal tunnel to the spring at the foot of the mound. Alterations and additions to the building complexes indicate rather continual occupation down to the time of the Assyrian conquest in 733 b.c.

Stratum III belongs to the Assyrian dominance, with numerous and spacious private dwellings showing Eastern influence. The city gate now had two chambers. Stratum II, dating probably to the time of Josiah (639-609 b.c.), and Stratum I of the Persian period (ca. 538-333 b.c.) were unfortified.

Nancy L. Lapp

See also: "Armageddon" at http://www.bibletexts.com/glossary/armageddon.htm.