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ARCHAEOLOGY OF THE BIBLE |
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CITIES AND TOWNS Bible Study Resource |
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| WHAT | In biblical terms, a city is a large town surrounded by walls. It has public buildings (palace, temple), and housing for a range of trades and services: craftsmen, traders and priests. | |||
| WHERE | The large, rich cities were in the north, where the land was more fertile. Jerusalem, however, was more significant in the biblical story. | |||
| WHEN | The time-span for cities in biblical history ranges from circa 1800BC - 70AD. The cities themselves were often older than this. | |||
| BIBLE LINKS | See different references for each city | |||
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See
end
of page for more information about cities in biblical times
INTERESTING WEBSITES SCROLL DOWN FOR IMAGES
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___________________________________ The photograph at right is not, of course, an Israelite fortified city. It is Carcassonne in France. But it gives a good idea of the traditional layout of fortified cities, in any part of the world. An encircling wall encloses sacred buildings, a royal palace, and houses for all the people who act as royal 'back-up': public servants, military personnel, craftsmen and traders . This, on a smaller scale, was the basis of the layout of cities in the biblical world.
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BEERSHEBA |
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 Aerial view of Tel Sheba
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Beersheba
is first mentioned as the place where Abraham, founder of the Jewish
people, made an agreement or covenant with the Philistine king Abimelech
of Gerar (Genesis 21). Abraham dug a well there, and Abilelech swore as
a witness that Abraham had done so - thereby acknowledging that Abraham
owned the rights to the precious water. The
name of the town is a play on the Hebrew words be'er meaning
'well', and sheva meaning 'oath'.
Isaac and Rebecca,
and then Jacob and Rachel, also lived there (Genesis 26, 28, 46). For
their stories, see Beersheba was at the southern edge of the good agricultural land in ancient Palestine, and so was seen as the southern extremity of Israelite territory - the phrase 'from Dan to Beersheba' was the definition of the extent of Israelite lands from north to south. When archaeologists were excavating at Beersheba, they found several large, carefully shaped stones incorporated into the town walls. These dated back to the late eighth century BC. When the stones were reassembled by the archaeologists, they formed a cubical altar with four tapered projections or 'horns'. One of the stone blocks had a snake carved onto it. The top stones were blackened, suggesting that sacrifices had been burnt there. The altar may have been dismantled at the time of King Hezekiah's religious reforms in the 8th century BC. There have been various theories about why the altar had the projecting 'horns'. The most practical reason would be that the high corner stones provided a point of leverage for the ropes necessary to hold down a struggling animal as it was being sacrificed. This practical solution for the corner stones does not seem to have occurred to archaeologists. (For more information on
ancient religions, go to For the stories of
Bible people who lived at Beersheba, see |
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| DAN |
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Tel Dan was the
central city of the northern tribe of Dan, one of the twelve tribes of
Israel.
(Genesis 14:14; Joshua 19:47; Judges 18:29) But it was even more ancient
than this, because it had been a city, Laish, long before the Hebrews
arrived. It appears that the site was occupied in Neolithic times for
several centuries before being abandoned for up to about 1000 years. Its
name appears in ancient Egyptian and Mesopotamian texts from almost
2,000BC.
The city had massive walls and ramparts, and the image at left shows the intact mud-brick gate with three complete arches dating to approximately 1750 BCE. Excavations have also uncovered a sacred precinct (the 'high place' referred to in the Bible) and two gate complexes from the Iron Age (1000-586 BCE). Several features highlight the importance of Dan as a religious center for the Israelite Kingdom. Especially significant is the discovery of three fragments of an Aramaic inscription mentioning the House of David and a king of Israel, probably written in the second half of the 9th century BCE. After the death of King Solomon, Israel was divided into two kingdoms, Israel and Judah. The northern kingdom was more inclined towards the fertility religions, and the new king Jeroboam erected a golden calf in Dan for his people to worship. This of course horrified the Yahwist priests in Jerusalem. The next Israelite kings, Omri and his son Ahab, rebuilt and strengthened the city. However, when the Assyrians invaded in 732BC, Dan disappeared from sight. It is probable that Dan’s inhabitants were banished together with the other northern Israelites (II Kings 15:29). Tel Dan ceased to be an important cultic center by the end of the Iron Age. Major settlement at Tel Dan ended with the late Roman period (c. 400 CE). For images of Jeroboam's bull idols at
Dan, see For stories about the two
great warrior kings who rebuilt the city of Dan, see
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HAZOR
Aerial view of the excavated ruins of the upper city of Hazor
A four-room house in Hazor |
The
site of the ancient city of Hazor is located in the upper Galilee,14 km.
north of the Sea of Galilee. It covers about 200 acres. It was the
largest and most important city in that part of the world, and its
Canaanite population in the second millennium BC was about 20,000.
Its importance lay in its location: it sat across the route connecting Egypt and Babylon. Hazor guarded the major highway from Israel into Syria, the Via Maris, near the point where it branched off into two roads, one along the Jordan Valley and the other ascending the Syrian plateau. Most travelers (traders, soldiers, etc) had to pass through it. According to the Biblical narrative, Jabin, the King of Hazor, headed an alliance of Canaanite cities against the advancing Israelites, led by Joshua. The Israelites won the battle and Joshua burned and ravaged the city (Jos. 11:1 - 12). "And Joshua turned back at that time, and took Hazor, and smote its king with the sword. Everyone in it they put to the sword. They totally destroyed them, not sparing anything that breathed, and he burned up Hazor itself . Israel did not burn any of the cities built on their mounds - except Hazor." (Joshua 11:10-12). Evidence for the burning of Hazor was found in various places excavated at the site. Deborah's arch enemy was King
Jabin of Hazor. Judges 4 and 5 described yet another violent destruction by fire,
this time by Sisera, King Jabin's general. Read Deborah's story at
WOMEN
IN THE BIBLE: DEBORAH AND JAEL At the time of David and Solomon, Hazor was roughly ten times the size of Jerusalem. There was a cultic 'high place', a six-chambered gate and casemate wall built sometime in the 10th century BC. Hazor had two distinct sections: the upper city, where the public buildings were sited, and the lower city, a fortified enclosure. In the 9th century BC, most probably under King Ahab, husband of Jezebel, the city expanded. The eastern part of the upper city was fortified by a solid wall and various important buildings, such as a store house, citadel and a water system, were added. Hazor suffered repeated destruction, as a result of both the Aramean and Assyrian invasions. It was finally destroyed by the Assyrian King Tiglath-Pilesser III, who, in 732 BCE conquered the entire area of Galilee (Kings II, 15:29), in a campaign that marked the beginning of the end of the independence of the Northern Kingdom of Israel. Deborah's arch enemy was King
Jabin of Hazor, WOMEN
IN THE BIBLE: DEBORAH AND JAEL Hazor was never again to regain its importance. During the 7th - 2nd century BCE settlement was confined only to the citadels which were erected in the western extremity of the upper city. The last historical reference to Hazor is to be found in the book of Macabees (I Macc. 11:67). Here we are told that Jonathan fought against Demetrius (147 BCE) in the "plain of Hazor". |
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HEBRON
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According
to the Bible, Hebron is the burial place of Abraham and Sarah. Genesis
23:17-21 tells the story of Abraham's purchase of a cave, the Cave of
Machpelah, for a tomb in which he and his descendents could be buried.
He paid an exorbitant amount, so that his descendants would have the
right of burial there for eternity. And, indeed, Abraham, Isaac and
Jacob were laid there to rest; so were the matriarch Rebecca and
Jacob’s wife Leah.
Recent excavations there have uncovered a 9ft-thick city wall and fortified tower that have been dated to the Middle Bronze period, circa 1700BC. Scholars say this is about the time when, according to the biblical story, Abraham came to the city. Between the tower and the city wall, researchers have unearthed two stone-walled rooms that they believe also date back to the period of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, whose 12 sons became the founders of the 12 tribes of ancient Israel. Artifacts found in the rooms include silver jewelry, bronze axe heads, two scarabs and the handle of a dagger. Hebron was King David's first capital city of Judah (see David's story at BIBLE PEOPLE: DAVID, but some years after he came to power he established a new capital at Jerusalem. The new site was more centrally located and easier to defend.
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JERICHO
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Jericho
is one of the earliest settlements in the world, dating possibly
from about 9,000BC. For two thousand years a Neolithic town flourished at
Jericho, but around 5000BC urban life seemed to die out, for unknown
reasons.
The site was later re-settled, but then in the 15th century BC, or last quarter of the 14th century BC, there is evidence of destruction and abandonment. Jericho is famous as the first town attacked by the Israelites under Joshua after they crossed the Jordan River (see Joshua 6). After its destruction by the Israelites it was, according to the biblical account, abandoned and then later re-established in the 9th century BC (1 Kings 16:34). Was this evidence of the invasion of the Hebrew tribes, described in the Bible? Hard to say, at least if you are depending on archaeological evidence. The Hebrews were semi-nomads, with little or no material culture. They were only lightly equipped with the sort of objects that survive the centuries, or that can be dug up by archaeologists. Certainly they infiltrated the area over a period of time that may have begun in the 14th century BC, but they only gradually took possession of villages and towns. When this happened, they adapted to Canaanite culture - there is no break, for example, in the production and design of pottery and domestic articles throughout this period. Moreover, the practice of Canaanite religion keeps popping up in Bible references - Jericho had been an early center of worship for the moon goddess and her cycles - which suggests that the Israelites were never able to completely suppress the Canaanite culture or people, whose land they had infiltrated. Did the walls of Jericho come tumbling down at the sound of Joshua's horn? Again, hard to say. In Joshua 2:1 he commands his soldiers to reconnoiter the city, and it is subsequently destroyed. And the walls certainly did come tumbling down. There is evidence of a collapsed stone and mud brick support wall. There is also evidence of destruction by fire. Archaeological teams have discovered a number of storage jars containing charred grain from the last Canaanite city that existed at ancient Jericho. This would seem to indicate that the city was conquered at harvest-time and then burned. This evidence matches the biblical account of Joshua 6. But it is impossible to tell whether this destruction was caused by invasion or earthquake. Possibly both occurred and both were responsible - and why not? Both were part of God's unfathomable plan for his people. Recent excavations revealed parts of Jericho from the time of Herod the Great. A magnificent facade on Wadi al-Qult, a mile south of Old Testament Jericho, is probably part of Herod's palace. Its style is completely Roman, illustrating Herod's admiration for all things Roman. Traces of other fine buildings can be seen in this area. Herod had a no-expense-spared winter palace there, but he died there in horrific circumstances in 4BC. 'A fire glowed in him slowly... his entrails were exulcerated, and the chief violence of his pain lay on his colon... an aqueous and transparent liquor settled itself about his feet and a like matter afflicted him at the bottom of his belly...his privy member was putrefied and produced worms....he had difficulty breathing....he had convulsions in all parts of his body.....' (Josephus Antiquities 17:6:5). For Herod's death at Jericho, see BIBLE ARCHITECTURE: HERODIUM For fuller coverage of Jericho, its walls and fortifications, Joshua's conquest, and the luxurious Winter Palace of King Herod, see BIBLE ARCHITECTURE: JERICHO For information on Jericho in later centuries, see ISLAMIC ARCHITECTURE
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| JEZREEL
The valley of Jezreel much
as Jezebel would have seen it, with its rich fertile farms, and Mouth
Tabor in the distance (right).
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The
word 'Jezreel' comes from combining the words El (God) and Izra
(plants seed). Obviously, it is very close to the word Israel.
The reason for its importance lay in its geographical position. It was the natural route to take when traveling from west to east of the country, and so it saw a large amount of traffic - peaceful and warlike. Its flat terrain was suitable for chariots, and also for pitched battle, and so it was the site of many historic battles. Mobile units of charioteers could patrol the plains and the roads running across them, giving protection to trade caravans and all road traffic. Jezreel was capital city of the northern kingdom of Israel. It was the site of several significant biblical events: King Saul and his three sons were killed there by the Philistines in the Battle of Gilboa. Later it was the winter capital of the extraordinary King Ahab, one of the greatest military commanders of the ancient world. His son Ahab lived there with Queen Jezebel, and it was from the tower here that she watched as her son was murdered, just before she herself met her own grisly death. Naboth's vineyard, the cause of so much trouble, was close to the walls of the city (1 Kings 21). In the courtyard of the palace here, Jezebel's body was eaten by dogs (2 King 9:30-37). See BIBLE PEOPLE: JEZEBEL for her story. The area was called the plain of Esdraelon in the Book of Judith, and was close by Judith's own city. For Judith's sexually ambiguous story, see BIBLE WOMEN: JUDITH. For paintings of the scene where she hacks off the head of her enemy Holofernes, see BIBLE ART: JUDITH
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| LACHISH
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The
Tell at Lachish is imposing. It was formed from different settlement
layers during the Bronze Age. After that period, the site was
uninhabited until the 10th century BC. During the 9th century BC is was
strongly fortified, and a palace was added. This city lasted until the
conquest by Sennacherib in 701BC. Later on there was some rebuilding,
but the city was only a pale reflection of what had been there before.
The fortifications consisted of a double ring of walls, and there does not seem to have been any buildings in the space between the walls. The only gate was on the west side; it had a six-chamber gate extending into the city. The center of the city was dominated by a palace and its support buildings. There was a large residential building, a row of six storerooms, an entrance building and an open courtyard. The entrance to the buildings was via an open stairway leading from the large courtyard. A street led directly from the city entrance to the entrance gate of the palace. Lachish was an important center of royal administration. The palace seemed to be divided into three areas: a residential building for the governor who administered the surrounding land on behalf of the king; storage magazines for taxes paid in goods and products, or for provisioning of the army or of court officials; and quarters for servants and staff. Lachish was certainly the most important city in Judah after Jerusalem. During his campaign in 701BC, Sennacherib sent an embassy to Jerusalem from Lachish. By the time it returned, he had already overrun Lachish, something he must have seen as a significant military victory, since he portrayed the scene in a relief on the palace walls in his capital, Nineveh. In a series of scenes, the Assyrian infantry storm the walls of Lachish, with rows of archers taking aim at the defenders on the walls; the outer walls of the city are stormed; Assyrian battering rams and siege machines advance and then penetrate the walls; Judean captives are marched out of the city, while others are stripped naked and impaled on the Assyrian spears; the captives are tortured and murdered; and then in the last panel King Sennacherib sits on his throne, receiving the servile captives and the booty that has been taken from Lachish. A huge pile of stones, used as the base of a ramp built by the Assyrians to storm the city, can still be seen in the south-western corner of the ruins. The final destruction of Lachish took place at the hands of Nebuchadnezzar in 587BC - at the same time Jerusalem was destroyed. For photographs of the excavated remains of the walls and fortifications, the massive city gates and walls, and for the actual weapons used against Sennacherib, see BIBLE ARCHITECTUE: LACHISH See a reconstruction of the siege machine used by Sennacherib against the walls of Lachish,
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MEGIDDO |
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 Aerial view of Tel Megiddo
It excavated features include a stone gate from Canaanite times (see reconstruction at left), and a large Bronze Age altar, part of a religious complex from the third millennium BC. The altar, if that is what it is, is extraordinarly large, 10metres in diameter. A staircase leads up the the altar, and small fence surrounds it, and there are large concentrations of animal bones and ashes nearby. In the 9th century BC, King Ahab, husband of Jezebel, built an enormous water system with a 30 meter shaft and a 70 meter tunnel. The tunnel was cut through the stone from both ends at the same time, like Hezekiah's Tunnel in Jerusalem, and the builders were only 1 foot off when they met in the middle of the cutting.
See impressive
photographs of the massive stone six-chambered gateway, architectural reconstructions of the
city, and the cavernous water storage system that kept the city safe
during a siege at |
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NAZARETH |
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 This 19th century photograph shows the town of Nazareth more or less as it would have looked at the time of Jesus. The bushes at left of the photograph hid the modern town of Nazareth. All this area has been built over in the 20th century.
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 19th century photograph of a Bedouin girl. This image is probably closer to the way the real Mary of Nazareth would have looked
Can anything good come out
of Nazareth? |
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SEPPHORIS |
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The town of
Sepphoris is not named in the Bible, but it was a major town close to
Nazareth, and it is quite possible that Joseph (a builder rather
than a carpenter) and Jesus may have found work in this nearby
town, helping with its re-construction after it was
destroyed after the death of Herod the Great in 4BC. Sepphoris and all Galilee were of course ruled by Rome at that time, and it was a major administrative center for the area. There were certainly a number of Roman officials and soldiers quartered in the city. When Herod Antipas took over, he decided to rebuild the city as a showcase of Greek architecture and culture. Flavius Josephus described the rebuilt Sepphoris as the "ornament of all Galilee," which suggests that this small city was beautifully designed. Josephus also claims that Sepphoris was the "strongest city in Galilee". Excavations in Sepphoris tend to confirm these high words of praise from Josephus. Sepphoris was laid out in a grid with streets paved with crushed limestone. A Roman theater stood partially cut into the hillside. Citizens of Sepphoris could repair to the theatre for an evening’s entertainment, probably of mimes, light comedy, or other fashionable amusements. Ordinary houses and the elegant mansions of the wealthy were grouped around the public buildings. For more photograph of the fresco called the Mona Lisa of Sepphoris, |
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| CITIES
IN BIBLICAL TIMES
A city in biblical times could be anything from 6 hectares (15 acres) - Megiddo, to 10 hectares (25 acres - Ai, Gezer and Arad. It was protected by a rang of walls, with gates or posterns. The fortification could be a wall or a rampart. Inside the walls there were houses of varying shapes and sizes, but also monumental buildings which covered a substantial part of the area inside the wall. Among these were the temple and the palace, often at the center of the settlement or in a prominent position. All the houses were accessible via streets. A city had to be situated near a water supply, with wells in the nearby plains or valleys. City walls had different methods of construction and size. The earliest cities have mudbrick walls from 2 to 6 metres thick on stone foundations, with projecting semicircular or rectangular towers. In another case, the walls were 8 to 10 metres wide. The gate had towers flanking it on either side. The earliest type of house was the wide-room house. Its floor was below ground level and the house was entered by two steps. Benches ran along the walls. This basic form was enlarged by the addition of annexes and additional rooms, and a house often had several rooms, in which the entrance from the street was in the shorter wall.
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Until the beginning of the 1st millennium BC, the biblical lands were a place of city states, independent of each other and, if we can judge from the amount of attention lavished on the walls and fortifications, often warring with each other. For much of the time that the cities existed there was an imperial power lurking in the wings - usually Egypt. This power would exercise a certain amount of control, for though the land was not rich, and not really worth conquering in its own right, it lay on the route between Egypt and the north and east. In the struggle for power between Egypt and Syria or the rulers of Mesopotamia, it was important to control the route up to the coast, which turned inland near Megiddo via the Plain of Esdraelon and crossed the Jordan on the road to Damascus. In times of peace, the area was no less important, since it had to be kept open for trade.
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INTERESTING SITES - stories, pictures, reconstructions, information BEERSHEBA
DAN
HAZOR
HEBRON
JERICHO
JEZREEL
LACHISH NAZARETH MEGIDDO
SEPPHORIS
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