Trying to keep up with Trent and Rebekah!
“Catching Up” with Trent and Rebekah — and looking forward to having them in Chicago!
Ashdod was located along an international highway known as the Way of the Sea, the Way of Philistia, or the Via Maris. This was the important route connecting Egypt and Assyria. We have already discussed, in the past few posts, that the Assyrian king Sargon II captured Ashdod in 712/11 B.C. The prophet Isaiah makes reference to this event in Isaiah 20:1.
The LORD revealed the following message during the year in which King Sargon of Assyria sent his commanding general to Ashdod, and he fought against it and captured it. (Isa 20:1 NET)
Sometime discoveries are made, but get little attention. A discovery at Tel Ashdod in 1963 falls into this category. Tel Ashdod was excavated from 1962 to 1972 under the direction of Moshe Dothan. David Noel Freedman wrote an article in Biblical Archaeologist (26:4, 1963)) about “The Second Season at Ancient Ashdod.” He describes the fragments of…
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Ancient wall in Israel matches up with Bible’s tale of Assyrian attack
Ancient wall in Israel matches up with Bible’s tale of Assyrian attack
Archaeologists say they have unearthed the remains of massive fortifications built about 2,700 years ago around an Iron Age Assyrian harbor in present-day Israel. The ruins appear to have a connection to Assyria’s takeover of the region, as mentioned in the Book of Isaiah.
“The fortifications appear to protect an artificial harbor,” Tel Aviv University’s Alexander Fantalkin, leader of the excavations at theAshdod-Yam archaeological dig, said in anews release issued Monday. “If so, this would be a discovery of international significance, the first known harbor of this kind in our corner of the Levant.”
The discovery was announced at the end of the first excavation season at Ashdod-Yam in the contemporary coastal city of Ashdod, just south of Tel Aviv. At the heart of the fortifications is a mud-brick wall measuring more than 12 feet wide (3.6 meters wide) in some places, and 15 feet (4.5 meters) high. The wall is covered in layers of mud and sand that stretch for hundreds of feet on either side.
When they were built in the 8th century B.C., the crescent-shaped fortifications would have defended an inland area covering more than 17 acres (7 hectares).
Age of Sargon II
During the late 8th century B.C., Assyrian King Sargon II ruled the entire southeastern part of the Mediterranean basin, including Egypt and the Middle East. Inscriptions tell of a Philistine king in Ashdod, named Yamani, who tried to organize a revolt against the Assyrian Empire. The Assyrians responded harshly, took control of Ashdod in 711 B.C. and eventually destroyed the city. As a result, power shifted to the nearby area of Ashdod-Yam, the site of the current excavations.
Tel Aviv University said the fortifications appear to be related to these events, although the precise relationship is not yet clear. They could have been built before or after the Ashdod rebellion was put down, either at the initiative of the local defenders or at the orders of the Assyrians.
Based on earlier excavations, the late Israeli archaeologist Jacob Kaplan concluded that the rebels built the fortifications in anticipation of the attack — but Fantalkin said the construction seems too monumental to have been done under such circumstances.
“An amazing amount of time and energy was invested in building the wall and glacis [embankments],” he said.
Staying out of the fight
Sargon II’s harsh action against Ashdod was mentioned in Isaiah 20, as a warning to those who backed the rebellion. “In that day, the people who live on this coast will say, ‘See what has happened to those we relied on, those we fled to for help and deliverance from the king of Assyria!'”
Hezekiah, king of Judah, stayed out of the fight —presumably at the urging of Isaiah.
Fantalkin and his team found more recent ruins on top of the sand of the Iron Age fortifications, dating to the Hellenistic period, between the 4th and 2nd centuries B.C.
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Read the entire article at http://www.nbcnews.com/science/ancient-wall-israel-matches-bibles-tale-assyrian-attack-6C10953508
Alan Boyle is NBCNews.com’s science editor. Connect with the Cosmic Log community by “liking” the NBC News Science Facebook page
Trent and Rebekah are “vagabonding” for forty days in Israel between the close of the Ashkelon excavation and the opening of their fall semester at Jerusalem University College (also known as the American Institute of Holy Land Studies). Last Thursday morning they were at Masada for the sunrise. I didn’t ask if they spent the night there.
This view from Masada to the east at sunrise is one I have not seen. They graciously allowed me to post it here.
There is more to this photo than just the beauty of it. In their photo you see the Lisan (or Tongue) that extends from the east into the Dead Sea. You may also see the canal through which water is pumped to the southern end of the Sea.
The photo below was made near mid-day from Masada.
The same photo below has been enhanced further in Photoshop to reveal the…
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The latest big archaeological news is the press announcement that a Palace of King David has been discovered in the Judean foothills at Khirbet Qeiyafa, a city dating to the time of his reign. Besides the palace, a large pillared storehouse to manage taxes in kind (oil, wine, grain, etc.) was discovered along the northern edge of the city.
These discoveries are from the site I’ve worked the past five seasons. I mentioned the Iron Age fortress (“David’s Palace”) last year in a post that included a photo. The long wall was identifiable as the central building of the Iron Age city and was a large factor in the decision to excavate one more season at Qeiyafa in 2013.
The “David’s Palace” title is certainly tweaked for media exposure. For better and for worse, it worked. The story hit Israelinewssources and moved to Americanmedia in less than a…
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This photograph of the Sea of Galilee and Mount Arbel was made from highway 807.
From this point we can see the east side of the Sea of Galilee. Today we know it as the Golan Heights. In Old Testament times it was known as Bashan (Joshua 21:27). Golan was one of the cities of Refuge located in the area. In New Testament times this was the area of the Decapolis (Mark 7:31), and probably the country of the Gadarenes (Matthew 8:28).
Below Mount Arbel runs the Via Maris, the main road leading from the Turan Valley to Capernaum. This road allowed travel and commerce between Capernaum, Magdala, and Tiberias with the cities of Nazareth, Cana, Sepphoris, and Jotapata.
Archaeological digs in Israel are winding down and the maximalists are having a great time. Today’s report comes from the excavation of Khirbet Qeiyafa which is conducted jointly by Professor Yossi Garfinkel of the Hebrew University and Saar Ganor of the Israel Antiquities Authority.
Here is today’s Press Release from the Israel Antiquities Authority.
King David’s Palace was Uncovered in the Judean Shephelah
Royal storerooms were also revealed in the joint archaeological excavation of the Hebrew University and the Israel Antiquities Authority at Khirbet Qeiyafa ***
These are the two largest buildings known to have existed in the
tenth century BCE in the Kingdom of Judah
Two royal public buildings, the likes of which have not previously been found in the Kingdom of Judah of the tenth century BCE, were uncovered this past year by researchers of the Hebrew University and the Israel Antiquities Authority at Khirbet Qeiyafa –…
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