Image Details

From Solomon to the Divided Kingdom. This plan and that depicting Megiddo in the Divided Monarchy (see plan) show how the city developed in the course of a century. Seen here is Stratum VA–IVB, widely assigned to King Solomon (mid-tenth century B.C.E.). In the authors’ view, Solomonic Megiddo was defended principally by a ring of buildings whose back walls formed a kind of wall. The city was entered by a modest two-chambered gate (top of plan). Inhabitants seeking water passed through a narrow postern gate (marked 629 at lower left) to reach a spring outside the city. Solomon’s Megiddo did not lack grandeur, however: Excavators have uncovered as many as three impressive palaces, in the site’s northern, eastern and southern areas (marked 6000, 338 and 1723, respectively).