Jezreel—Where Jezebel Was Thrown to the Dogs

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One day in 1989 rumor reached me that monumental Israelite architecture had accidentally been uncovered at Tel Jezreel in the Jezreel Valley in northern Israel. I was then, as now, a professional archaeologist who studies the Biblical period. I have always been inspired by the Bible and the historical events described in it, as well as the fascinating personalities involved in them. Although my archaeological work has been strictly based on the data in the field, I have never forgotten the literary background that the Bible provides. So it is not surprising that 034when I heard this rumor I immediately decided to consider the possibility of digging at Tel Jezreel.

The site has always been associated in my mind with the famous Queen Jezebel, the consort of King Ahab who ruled in the first part of the ninth century B.C.E. Jezebel was a Phoenician, the daughter of the king of Sidon on the Phoenician coast north of Israel. Jezebel sought to introduce the Phoenician-Canaanite cult into the kingdom of Israel.

King Ahab and Queen Jezebel reigned in Samaria, the new capital of the northern kingdom of Israel; it had been established as Israel’s capital by Ahab’s father, Omri, the founder of the dynasty.

Jezebel’s construction of a temple to the Canaanite-Phoenician deity Baal resulted in a long confrontation between Jezebel and Ahab, on the one hand, and the prophet Elijah, on the other, which the Bible recounts at some length. In a well-known passage, Elijah appears before the king and when the king catches sight of the prophet he calls to him, “Is that you, you troubler of Israel?” Elijah 035replies: “It is not I who have brought the trouble on Israel, but you and your father’s house by forsaking the commandments of the Lord and going after the Baalim” (1 Kings 18:17–18).

This encounter culminates in the famous contest on Mt. Carmel between Elijah and the 450 prophets of Baal who sup at Jezebel’s table, ending in the humiliation and slaughter of the prophets of Baal and the victory of Israel’s God Yahweh (1 Kings 18).

Ahab was not reformed, however, as is clear from the story of Naboth’s vineyard. Naboth the Jezreelite was a farmer who owned a vineyard near the King’s palace in Jezreel. Ahab wanted to purchase (or 036exchange) the vineyard in order to turn it into a vegetable garden. Naboth flatly refused, and as a result a frustrated Ahab became depressed, spent his days lying in bed and lost his appetite. His worried and determined wife arranged to deal with the matter without delay. Jezebel had Naboth put on trial, concocting serious charges against him as a traitor who has been cursing God and king. Poor Naboth was convicted and summarily executed by stoning. Jezebel then suggested to Ahab that he go to Naboth’s vineyard and take possession of it, “for Naboth is not alive, but dead!” While happily inspecting his new property, Ahab was approached by the prophet Elijah, who pronounced his damning prophecy: “This is the word of the Lord: Have you killed your man, and taken his land as well? … Where dogs licked the blood of Naboth, there dogs shall lick your blood … [and] dogs shall devour Jezebel by the rampart of Jezreel (1 Kings 21:19–20).

Jezebel’s death is not reported until 2 Kings 9. Ahab has repented and died. Ahab’s son Jehoram (or Joram) now sits on the throne. He is recuperating in Jezreel from wounds in a battle with the king of Aram. Amaziah king of Judah, being Jehoram’s cousin, comes to visit him there. The dowager queen Jezebel also sits in residence at Jezreel. The prophet Elisha, Elijah’s successor, arranges for an assistant to anoint the army general Jehu as the new king of Israel and the founder of a new dynasty. When he does so, he also pronounces a curse on Jezebel: “The dogs shall devour Jezebel in the field of Jezreel, with none to bury her” (2 Kings 9:10).

Jehu immediately takes his cavalry from Gilead, where he is anointed king, to confront Jehoram at Jezreel. A “watchman” on a “tower” at Jezreel sees the approaching cavalry (2 Kings 9:17). He apparently recognizes Jehu, for he “drives furiously” (2 Kings 9:20). When unsuspecting Jehoram rides out to meet him, accompanied by his cousin Amaziah, Jehu fells him with an arrow to the heart and Jehoram collapses in his chariot. Amaziah manages to flee in his chariot, to be slain later in Megiddo. Jehu has Jehoram’s body thrown into Naboth’s vineyard.

Jezebel meanwhile sees what is coming. “She painted her eyes with kohl and dressed her hair, and she looked out of the window”—apparently a window of the royal palace facing the direction to the gate. As Jehu enters the gate of Jezreel, 037she calls out, “Is it peace (shalom) … you murderer of your master?” Jehu looks up at the window and says: “Who is on my side, who?” Two or three eunuchs look out, and Jehu says: “Throw her down!” They throw her down from the window. “Her blood spattered on the wall and on the horses, and they trampled her” (2 Kings 9:30–33).

Jehu proceeds to have a meal, and then—remembering Jezebel—orders her buried as “she is a king’s daughter.” However, her body is by then mutilated by dogs, just as Elijah had prophesied.

The Phoenician princess, opponent of the God of Israel and his loyal prophets, the patron of the cult of Baal and the builder of Baal’s temple, the corrupt queen who framed the loyal citizen Naboth—Jezebel has become a symbol of everything bad. She was hated by the editors of the Books of Kings as well as by later authors.

Egeria, a Christian nun, traveled to the Holy Land in the fourth century C.E. and visited Jezreel. She reports that “in Jezreel there is nothing left of Naboth’s vineyard but its well … The tomb of Jezebel is stoned by everyone to this very day.”¹

Nevertheless, I have always viewed Jezebel with admiration. A woman who is willing to murder for the sake of improving her husband’s bad mood is not easy to find in our world. In particular, Jezebel’s last minutes before her murder have gained my deep respect. She well knew that her killer was approaching. Instead of hiding under her bed, or attempting to escape wearing a man’s garments, etc., this lady—who has just learned that her son was brutally assassinated, incidentally—coolly powdered her face and eyes and brushed her hair in keeping with her royal appearance, and then courageously faced and challenged her killer. How many people would be sufficiently brave to face death with such dignity?

Tel Jezreel is situated in the eastern Jezreel Valley, on the edge of a ridge extending along its southern side. Rising about 300 feet above the valley, the site commands a breathtaking view of the valley and its surroundings to the north and east. To the southeast is Mt. Gilboa, where King Saul died in battle with the Philistines. On a clear day one can even see the Hills of Gilead far to the east. To the west lies Megiddo, about 10 miles from Jezreel as the crow flies. Along the valley beneath Jezreel passed the commercial and military highway from Egypt, through Megiddo and Beth-Shean to Syria and Mesopotamia. The climate on the height is milder than the harsh climate in the valley below. Even in summer it is not hot, and pleasant winds blow from the north and northwest. Water was available from the many cisterns on the site, as well as from ‘En Jezreel, a spring just northeast of the site.

Jezreel has been continually settled since Biblical times. Later, a large Byzantine village stood here. In medieval times, during the Crusader period, a large village situated at Jezreel belonged to the Order of the Templars. A beautiful Crusader church still stands largely intact. The Jewish traveler Benjamin of Tudela visited the site in about 1165 C.E. and reports that “one Jewish inhabitant, a dyer by profession,” lived there.² Still later, an Arab village named Zer’in (a name that echoes the ancient Biblical name, Jezreel) grew up on the tell. A massive tower or fort was built here in the Ottoman period. During Israel’s War of Independence in 1948, the village became a central base for Arab forces in the Jezreel Valley; it was conquered by the Israeli army and destroyed, and its ruins later cleared.

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Jezreel has been surveyed archaeologically several times in modern times. However, because a densely populated modern village covered the site, research was difficult, if not impossible. Moreover, because it had been continuously occupied since Biblical times, the lower levels were nearly completely destroyed by later settlements.

In 1987, however, a bulldozer working near the edge of the site accidentally uncovered remains of two massive towers dating to the Biblical period. Their identification and date were confirmed by salvage excavations conducted by the Department of Antiquities.³ The discovery of the two towers formed a good starting point for further excavations. In 1990 my colleague John Woodhead, at that time assistant director of the British School of Archaeology in Jerusalem, and I began a systematic excavation of the mound.

We completed six excavation seasons, from 1990 to 1996, and were able to recover a rather clear, though partial, picture of Biblical Jezreel.⁴

From the appearance and orientation of the two towers that had been accidentally discovered by the bulldozer, we assumed they formed the corner-towers of a rectangular fortified enclosure, their position thus indicating three sides of the rectangle. So we proceeded to properly dig the two towers and to locate the line of the fourth side of the rectangular enclosure.

A depression along the line of the wall clearly marked the position of the gate of the enclosure, and we uncovered that as well.

We also dug in the center of the site in the hope of discovering some remains of the Israelite buildings that must have been located there.

Our painstaking, meticulous and methodological excavation was very difficult and often frustrating, as in most places Byzantine, medieval and intensive modern building activities penetrated down to bedrock, reused the older building stones, and destroyed nearly completely the remains from the Biblical period. Also, the finds were rather meager.

Nevertheless, after six intensive excavation 039seasons, we now have a pretty good idea of Jezreel in the Biblical period.

A large fortified enclosure existed here in the ninth century B.C.E., during the reigns of Ahab and Jezebel, and their son Jehoram. Indeed, this enclosure may already have existed in the time of Ahab’s father, Omri. The enclosure was short-lived, however, and was quite possibly destroyed by the Arameans in the later part of the ninth century B.C.E.

The Omride enclosure was built on the remains of an earlier, probably tenth-century B.C.E. settlement. Pottery fragments are the only evidence for this settlement, however. Indeed, pottery evidence indicates that some settlement existed here already in the Early Bronze III (c. 2750–2300) and the Late Bronze Age (1550–1150 B.C.E.). Following the destruction of the Jezreel enclosure, Israelite settlement continued in the ruins during the eighth and seventh centuries B.C.E.

The rectangular fortified enclosure was built on a grand scale. It enclosed an area of nearly 11 acres! It was about 860 feet long and 470 feet wide. One of its longer sides faced the deep slope down to the Jezreel Valley on the northern edge of the site. The gate was on the opposite wall where the approach was easier. Square towers were situated in all four corners of the enclosure.

The enclosure wall was a casemate wall—that is, a double wall with crosswalls forming small rooms between. The four towers projected from the line of the wall. The lower parts of the enclosure walls were built of boulders and smaller stones and were mostly covered by earthen fills laid at the time of construction. Some of the corners, however, were built with impressive, well-cut ashlars. The upper parts of the walls, which were barely preserved, were constructed of mud-brick.

The tower on the northeastern corner of the enclosure faces the Gilead Hills, where Jehu had been anointed king. We can assume that the “watchman” who discovered Jehu and his cavalry approaching Jezreel in a “furious” gallop stood on the roof of this tower.

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An outer ring of fortifications, consisting of a rock-cut moat and rampart, surrounded the enclosure on three sides, all except the northern side, which faces the valley. The casemate wall along the edge of the deep slope was considered sufficient to protect the enclosure on this side.

In our sounding of this rock-cut moat (near the gate), it proved to be nearly 20 feet deep, and we assume that the entire moat was cut to roughly the same depth. Over all, it was approximately 2,000 feet long and 25–35 feet wide. We calculated that the construction of the moat required the quarrying and removal of nearly 27,000 cubic meters of stone! A stone revetment was built along the inner edge of the moat. It supported the huge rampart, made of layers of natural soil and gravel or pebbles, which was dumped between the moat and the casemate wall.

The enclosure gate was the common type of the period—a gatehouse with a long, roofed-over gate-passage and chambers flanking either side of the gate-passage. The gate was largely destroyed, and it is not even clear whether it had two or three chambers on each side of the passage.

In front of the gate, the rock-cut moat—usually about 35 feet wide—narrows to about 24 feet. Obviously some bridge, possibly a draw bridge, must have been erected to provide access to the gate, but no remains of it have been preserved.

No rampart was found in front of or near the gatehouse; there must have been a kind of piazza here between the moat and the gate.

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According to 2 Kings 10, in Samaria Jehu ordered the slaughter of 70 of Ahab’s descendants whose dynasty he replaced. Their heads were put in baskets and delivered to the new king in Jezreel. Jehu instructed the messengers who brought them to “pile them up in two heaps at the entrance of the gate [of Jezreel]” (2 Kings 10:8).

We may assume that the two heaps of decapitated heads were placed in the piazza between the moat and the entrance gate, where everyone entering the enclosure would see them. No doubt the gruesome message directed at the population of Jezreel, who remembered the old days, was very clear.

We were able to investigate very little inside the Jezreel enclosure. Fills, made of mound debris and natural soil brought from outside, had been dumped inside the Jezreel enclosure in antiquity to create here a more elevated, level surface, in fact a kind of podium.

We identified the walls of two large buildings near the gate and the northeast tower. Here and there, in the central part of the enclosure, one can discern the bedrock near the surface—an indication that large open courtyards rather than buildings were probably featured here. We also uncovered some poor domestic remains in the rooms of the casemates and adjacent to the casemate wall.

The southeastern tower of the enclosure was destroyed by fire. Layers of destruction debris filled the central room of the tower. Nine arrowheads—eight of iron and one of bronze—indicate that the enclosure was destroyed in an attack by a military force. All of the arrowheads were found on the southern side of the enclosure, in the vicinity of the gate. The historian Nadav Na’aman is probably right that the Jezreel enclosure was destroyed by the Aramean king Hazael in the second half of the ninth century B.C.E.⁵

This conclusion is reinforced by the pottery, which is about the only thing we found in the enclosure and, except for its chronological importance, is pretty dull at that. Our colleague Orna Zimhoni, who passed away shortly after completing her study of the pottery, observed that the pottery in the fills laid at the time of the enclosure’s construction is very similar to the pottery found within the enclosure after its construction. In other words, the pottery from the settlement that existed here before the enclosure’s construction is similar to the pottery dating to the time of the enclosure’s use and destruction. Pottery types and styles changed quite quickly at this time. This uniformity of pottery indicates that the enclosure was built shortly after the destruction of the earlier settlement at the site and that the enclosure was in use for only a relatively short period.

This pottery all dates to the time of Ahab and Jehu—mid-to-late ninth century B.C.E. This is a critical datum. As Zimhoni observed, this Jezreel pottery is similar to the pottery in a very controversial stratum at nearby Megiddo. Megiddo Stratum VA-IVB was traditionally assigned to the reign of King Solomon in the second half of the tenth century B.C.E. The Jezreel pottery dates to the reigns of Ahab and Jehu, however, indicating that Megiddo Stratum VA-IVB is later than Solomon. This comparison became one of the cornerstones of the controversial “Low Chronology” developed by Israel Finkelstein.⁶ (Scholars who contest the Low Chronology argue that the same styles of pottery were used both in King Solomon’s reign, continuing into the reigns of Ahab and Jehu, nearly a hundred years later.)

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We have not yet addressed the question of what function the Jezreel enclosure served. If the Bible is correct, it was clearly associated with royalty. Was it the capital of the northern kingdom of Israel? Not if the Bible is correct. The Bible says that nearby Samaria (20 miles south of Jezreel) was Israel’s capital, built by Omri, Ahab’s father (1 Kings 16:24). So if Samaria was the capital, what was Jezreel?

Scholarly speculation has been rife: Jezreel was the winter capital and Samaria was the summer capital; Israel had two capitals, one for the Israelites and one for the Canaanites; Jezreel was only a gateway city to the Jezreel Valley and the hills of Samaria from the east. I believe none of these is correct.

The Jezreel enclosure and the acropolis at the summit of Samaria are similar in many respects, especially archaeologically. Both were founded on the summit of a hill where a modest settlement had previously existed. At both sites, bedrock nearly reached the surface. In both places the compound is rectangular. In both cases the compound is enclosed by a casemate wall. In both places, constructional fills composed of debris taken from the earlier settlement, as well as natural soil brought from the immediate vicinity, created a kind of podium and supported the casemate wall. In both cases buildings, partly surrounded by open spaces, were erected inside the compound.

Yet there are also some differences: The Jezreel enclosure was in use only for a relatively short time; Samaria was settled for a long period. At Jezreel, the enclosure comprised the entire settlement; in Samaria the enclosure was merely the acropolis of the city. In Jezreel the walls are generally roughly built with boulders and natural stones; most walls in the monumental acropolis of Samaria are built with beautifully dressed ashlars.

On this basis, my partner John Woodhead and I have concluded that Jezreel was first and foremost a military base, possibly the military center of the Omride kings, while Samaria was the official, royal capital.

Jezreel sits on a strategic summit not far from an international highway. Its emphasis on fortification construction, being enclosed by a huge moat, also supports our conclusion.

Jezreel most probably served as a central base for Ahab’s cavalry and war chariot units, which formed the backbone of the Israelite army. Ahab’s army must have been large and strong, as we know not from the Bible but from the surviving records of the most powerful ruler in the world at that time: Shalmaneser III, king of Assyria. Here is how Shalmaneser modestly describes himself:

[I am] Shalmaneser, the legitimate king, the king of the world, the king without rival, the ‘Great Dragon,’ the [only] power within the [four] rims [of the earth], overlord of all the 075princes, who has smashed all his enemies as if [they were] earthenware, the strong man, unsparing, who shows no mercy in battle.⁷

Shalmaneser’s annual military campaigns struck fear in nations all the way to the Mediterranean Sea. In 853 B.C.E., however, a coalition of 12 small states challenged the Assyrian army at Karkar in northern Syria. The coalition included the kingdom of Israel. Shalmaneser lists the military forces contributed by members of the coalition. Ahab’s was among the largest: According to Shalmaneser, the forces of “Ahab the Israelite” included 2,000 chariots and 10,000 foot soldiers.⁸

What did these Israelite chariots look like? Unfortunately, we have no archaeological evidence of Israelite chariots. But they probably looked much like the Assyrian chariots of the time—and for this we do have archaeological evidence. In a town near Nineveh (Imgur-Enlil, modern Tell Balawat), Shalmaneser III built a temple whose gates were decorated with 12 metal strips attached with nails to the wood of the gates. The metal strips were lavishly decorated in relief and depicted military victories of Shalmaneser III. Here we see numerous Assyrian chariots.

The regular Assyrian chariot of that period was harnessed to two horses and carried two soldiers—a driver and a bowman. The royal chariot carried three people. The chariot box was light and had two wheels, each with six spokes. Two quivers and a lance were attached to the side of each chariot. With some imagination, we can visualize the chariot units of Ahab training on the open ground of the Jezreel enclosure.

The Jezreel Valley was the best possible location for stationing the Israelite chariots and cavalry forces. Chariots, in fact, can hardly operate outside valleys. Also, food for the horses would be easily provided in the fertile Jezreel Valley. The Omride kings needed to build a large base for their mobile forces. Contemporary Megiddo (the Stratum VA-IVB city) was an administrative center of some kind and could not serve for that purpose.

Unfortunately the inside of the Jezreel enclosure has hardly been explored. We do not know if a central building was built in this assumed military stronghold. I am inclined to believe that there was such a building, serving as a royal residence. That there was a palace here is supported by references in the Bible: Naboth’s “vineyard in Jezreel … adjoin[s] the palace of King Ahab” (1 Kings 21:1). The Bible also notes that “two or three eunuchs … threw [Jezebel out the window] and her blood spattered on the wall …” (2 Kings 9:32–33). This also indicates the existence of a royal residence at Jezreel.

We can only guess where this royal residence could have been situated. The Bible notes that Jezebel stood in the window and faced Jehu after he entered the gate of Jezreel (2 Kings 9:32). We can assume that the royal residence would have been built 076along the northern side of the enclosure, facing the slope and the breathtaking view, taking advantage of the refreshing northwestern breeze. It follows that the royal residence—assuming that there was indeed a royal residence here—was probably situated somewhere between the gate and the northern wall of the enclosure. Most probably, this is where Jezebel was killed.

One day in 1989 rumor reached me that monumental Israelite architecture had accidentally been uncovered at Tel Jezreel in the Jezreel Valley in northern Israel. I was then, as now, a professional archaeologist who studies the Biblical period. I have always been inspired by the Bible and the historical events described in it, as well as the fascinating personalities involved in them. Although my archaeological work has been strictly based on the data in the field, I have never forgotten the literary background that the Bible provides. So it is not surprising that 034when I heard this rumor […]