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TODD BOLEN/BIBLEPLACES.COM

SOLOMON’S GATE. Constructed in the mid-tenth century BCE, this six-chambered gateway at Gezer might reflect the large-scale building program of King Solomon referenced in 1 Kings 9. Nearly identical to fortifications excavated at Megiddo and Hazor, the gate consisted of three chambers on each side, two strong towers, and an underground drainage channel. It was inte-grated into the southern section of the city’s casemate wall. Immediately adjacent to the gate was a large administrative building. These monumental works signal that already in the tenth century, Gezer was a fortified administrative center at the western periphery of the expanding Judahite state.