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Title: Giant gates to Goliath's home discovered: Monumental fortification belonging to the Biblical city of Philistine Gath unearthed
Source:
Daily Mail Online
URL Source: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencet ... Philistine-Gath-unearthed.html
Published: Aug 4, 2015
Author: Richard Gray
Post Date: 2015-08-04 18:30:36 by cranky
Keywords: None
Views: 3386
Comments: 32
It was the Biblical city where the giant Goliath lived and one of the most powerful in the Philistine empire before it was destroyed in the ninth century BC. Archaeologists have now uncovered the remains of an enormous gate and fortified wall which are giving clues to just how formidable the city of Gath may have been. The monumental gate is the largest to ever be found in Israel and much like its most famous inhabitant – Goliath - it would have intimidated any who approached it. Scroll down for video Archaeologists have discovered the remains of what they say is a monumental gate at the entrance to the Biblical city of Gath. They say the gate is the largest to be discovered in Israel. The aerial photograph above shows the remains of the gate and surrounding fortifications that have been unearthed The gate of Gath is referred to in the Hebrew Bible in the story of David's escape from King Saul to Achish, the King of Gath. Alongside the gate, researchers found the remains of a fortified wall with a temple and an iron production facility behind it. Writing on the team's blog, Professor Aren Maeir, an archaeologist from Bar-Ilan University in Israel who has been leading the excavation, said: 'It appears we have located a monumental city gate of the lower city of Gath. 'We still have to do a lot of cleaning, defining, digging and measuring to do, but it appears that there are really good chances we have truly landed on quite an astounding find. 'Many lines of megalithic stone are appearing, with nice corners, features and even mud bricks. 'While we are quite far from fully understanding this architectural complex, it is getting more and more impressive. The more we look at the area – the larger these features appear to be The remains of the city were discovered in the close to the village of Tell es-Safi in the Tel Zafit National Park, in the Judean foothills between Jerusalem and Ashkelon in Israel. The city of Gath was one of five Philistine city-states and according to the Bible was the home of King Ashish and the Philistine warrior Goliath, who was killed by David. It is thought to have been a powerful city during the time of Saul, David and Solomon around 3,000 years ago. However, it was likely destroyed following a siege by Hazael King of Aram Damascus around 830 BC. The city of Gath was supposed to be the home of Goliath, who was killed by David, as illustrated in the drawing by Gustave Doré on the left. Archaeologists have uncovered fortifications either side of of the gate, shown on the right, which they say would have made it a formidable place to attack Professor Maeir and his colleagues say they have found evidence of the widespread destruction that took place in the city after the siege. The site has been excavated for nearly 20 years now under the Ackerman Family Bar-Ilan University Expedition. They have also found evidence of an earthquake which damaged the city in the 8th century BC and may be the disaster mentioned in the Book of Amos in the Hebrew Bible. Large stone blocks used to construct the gateway have been unearthed. The city of Gath was one of the most powerful in the area at the time before it was destroyed in 830BC by the King of Aram Damascus, Hazael Researchers have also found signs that there was large amounts of iron working being done in the area close to the gate. The image above shows a section of the ancient wall that surrounded the city of Gath They have also found the earliest decipherable Philistine inscription, which includes two names similar to the name Goliath. Professor Maeir and his team this year uncovered the gate and around 98 feet (30 metres) of the surrounding fortifications, which have been built with huge blocks of stones. They say there appears to have been extensive iron smelting and working going on in the lower part of the city, close the gate during the 10th and 9th century BC before the city was destroyed. The excavation also uncovered buildings close to the gate and the fortified wall, shown in the image above
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Begin Trace Mode for Comment # 12.
#3. To: cranky, GarySpFc, liberator, BobCeleste, Vicomte13, TooConservative, *Archeology and Digs* (#0)
Excellent find Cranky. Gary was hinting last month that this would be a good year for Biblical archeology.
When the rivers are traced and the words are read and considered carefully, it can be discerned that the site of the Garden of Eden may well have been the Jerusalem Massif. We cannot possibly know where precisely the Tree of Life once stood, but if we had to hazard a guess,, we can guess that it was on a hill near the site of the ancient city that was in later times called "Place of the Skull".
Jerusalem is too high up in the mountains, and a long ways from the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers.
Today, but it sits on an aquifer, above the Jordan River cleft. The Jordan Valley has sunk over time as the water bubbled foeth out of those springs. If you look at the old traces of the rivers, Tigris and Euprhates once arked to the Northern Jordan cleft as their headwaters, the Jordan Cleft is part of the Great Rift, which at lower sea levels was above the bottom of the Red Sea and traces down through Ethioipa, and there is a dead river that stretches from the Jordan cleft across the Arabian desert to the Persian Gulf. And the name of the little artesian spring that still gurgles up out of the aquifer under Jerusalem, and that tumbles down and joins with the Jordan cleft, is Gihon. So, from that artesian, in the days before the land receded from having given up so much of its water, in the days before the ocean levels road, out of the higher ground of the Jerusalem massif, water rose, and from there it divided into four heads - two of them running down from the massif northwards into the Great Rift, to then turn into Tigris and Euphrates. One that stretched drectly eastwards across Arabia, the land of Havilah, today a desert, and one that rolled south down the Great Rift into Ethiopia. Of course, much water has flowed from the aquifer, and the land that used to have so much water has sunk, breaking the river flowing south. breaking the ability of the river to flow east. The curious language of the river that risers and then divides into four heads - that is very odd, for the head of a river is whence it flows down. Tigris and Euphrates join at the Shatt al-Arab, but that is not a river HEAD, it's a river mouth. But from the Jerusalem massif, long long ago, bubbled forth artesian springs. The water rose from the ground, and the names of the rivers - Hiddikel and Gihon - "Bubbler" and "Gusher" - speak of their origins as artestians. And Gihon is still there - a mere spring of what it once was. One of the Kings, I believe it was Hezekiah, had a watercourse built for the Gihon, to establish water for Jerusalem in a siege. Of course the land of the valley recessed, probably mainly from the gushing forth of huge amounts of water. It recessed far below sea level, and the flow north and south stopped. The Hiddikel dried up across the desert. The Gihon was cut below the dead see. And the water ceased flowing down north through the original races of the Tigris and Eurphates, where they too broke away from the Great Rift. Instead, other streams that joined Tigris and Euphrates became their headwaters. And yet the dry valleys where the two rivers once came from their common source in the Great Rift, filled by the water gushing from the Jerusalem Massif, are still there. All that is left of the vast waters is the Sea of Galilee now. But the dry gulches are still there, passes through which armies have passed. And the dry rocky wash that was Hiddikel still stretches across the desert to the Persian Gulf, visible from satellite. The course of the Gihon, by which it once flowed down the Jordan Valley down through Ethiopia is invisible, because the Great Rift is partly submerged by the Red Sea, and yet when the sea levels are removed, it is still there. Once upon a time, long long ago, you could walk from the Jerusalem highlands and the gushing springs of water that pooled there and follow four rivers that rose there as one, and then branched out and flowed down four ways. Today, you can only see the dead riverbeds of the old heads of Tigris and Euphrates, and the dry wash of the dead Hiddikel. And the little Gihon spring that rolls down from Jerusalem you have to imagine being a great gushing torrent once. And you have to imagine that the land that is today the deep Dead Sea Depression stood much higher when the acquirer beneath it was full, before the drowning and changing of the world. If one can imagine where the tree of life once stood, one can imagine where the cross also once stood. The altar at Jerusalem was the place where Isaac was offered and where the Temple was, its altar, and today the Dome of the Rock sits. That may have been where the Tree of Knoweldge of Good and Evil once grew. But the Tree of Life stood where the Cross later stood. God has a consistent pattern of returning to his themes. Anyway, that's what I think, and that's why I think it. (And it doesn't matter. The pre-Flood geography of the world is not relevant to anything. But it follows that God's eye has always been so fixed on Jerusalem, that that was the place of his Garden. Men change, but he doesn't change his mind.
#16. To: Vicomte13, GarySpFc, liberator, BobCeleste, (#12)
Anyway, that's what I think, and that's why I think it. (And it doesn't matter. The pre-Flood geography of the world is not relevant to anything. But it follows that God's eye has always been so fixed on Jerusalem, that that was the place of his Garden. Men change, but he doesn't change his mind. You are right I think on God returning to his themes. The Ascenstion took place on the mount called Olivet (Acts 1) and it is indicated in Zechariah 14 His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives on the last day. The Mount of Olives also is where Christ gives His discourse on end times events (Matthew 24).
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#6. To: redleghunter (#3)
#9. To: Vicomte13 (#6)
When the rivers are traced and the words are read and considered carefully, it can be discerned that the site of the Garden of Eden may well have been the Jerusalem Massif. We cannot possibly know where precisely the Tree of Life once stood, but if we had to hazard a guess,, we can guess that it was on a hill near the site of the ancient city that was in later times called "Place of the Skull".
#12. To: GarySpFC, redleghunter (#9)
Replies to Comment # 12. God has a consistent pattern of returning to his themes.
End Trace Mode for Comment # 12.
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