Armageddon

By: Jason

A UNESCO World Heritage Site, Megiddo contains 25 cities that have been built successively one on top of the other in the form of a Tel, or hill. In some place you can actually see cross-sections of the building materials from each civilization in the side of the hill. Megiddo is located about 15-20 miles from Haifa (about a 45-minute drive) and it overlooks the beautiful Jezreel valley.

The view of the Jezreel valley from Megiddo

 The earliest civilization during the Calcolithic period dates to around 8,000 BCE (or about 10,000 years ago)! Tels are very common throughout Israel, however Megiddo is highly complex and one of the best places where one can observe multiple civilizations that include Canaanite, Assyrian, Egyptian, and Israelite, among others in a relatively natural state.

Layers of history

This site was also named Armageddon and mentioned in the Book of Revelations by the Greeks and became famous (or infamous depending on how you look at it) for several battles. The modern usage of the word denotes ‘end of the world’-type scenarios. Tel Megiddo also served as a main fortress on the Roman military road to the sea or Via Maris (see the last paragraph for just how important). The Egyptians waged war in two separate battles here, one against the Caananites and one with the Kingdom of Judah. The details of these battles are still found as hieroglyphics in underground Egyptian temples. More recently, Megiddo was the battle site between the Ottoman Empire (present day Turkey) and the British army during World War I and the Mandate period.

  

Ancient temple with circular altar

This is really one of those places that you have to stop and just try to take it all in one step at a time. There’s no speed walking through this place or you’ll be bound to miss the ancient temples, homes, and horse stables that are 1,000s of years old.  

One of my other highlights was the view and the surrounding fields. My friend and colleague Alex informed me that what appeared to be an ordinary agricultural field was, in fact, an un-excavated Roman fortress that is considered one of the largest in the Middle East!  Not that I didn’t believe Alex, but we drove up to the field after our Megiddo adventure and walked briskly up to a small hummock where, in about two minutes, Alex overturned a few rocks and pulled up some Roman artifacts!!  Pretty cool!  FYI, it seems as though this site is going to be excavated this summer, so it will be interesting to see how it looks the next time I go.