Excavating the Philistine capital city of Ekron (Tel Miqne) last summer, archaeologists discovered this solid-gold cobra on the floor of a monumental palace. Buried beneath a yard of debris from the Babylonian destruction of the city in 603 B.C.E., the serpent provides evidence of Ekron’s resplendent last days. Measuring 8 inches (20.7 centimeters) from its raised head to the tip of its curled tail, the snake is fashioned of more-than-18-carat gold and weighs about half an ounce (12.64 grams). The figurine depicts the venomous snake, indigenous to Africa and Asia, prepared to attack, with the loose folds of skin […]
