Megiddo the Biblical Armageddon

Site of the Invasion of Egyptian Pharoah Thutmose III, in 1479 BCE

Apr 6, 2009

The ancient city of Megiddo, now a World Heritage Site, is one of the most remarkable tells (hills) in the Levant and scene of the first ever recorded battle in history.

Megiddo, says Tel Aviv University, is the only site in Israel mentioned by every power in the ancient Near East. “In the New Testament it appears as Armageddon (a Greek corruption of the Hebrew Har [mount or hill] Megiddo) location of the millennial battle between the forces of good and evil.

The city owed much of its authority and importance to its strategic position, perched above the Roman Via Maris, at the point where the road squeezes out of the narrow Aruna Pass into the fertile Jezeel Valley. It was one of the main trading routes between Egypt, Syria and Mesopotamia.

The first documented reference to the city is an account of the invasion of Egyptian Pharoah Thutmose III in 1479 BCE indeed some historians argue that this was the first recorded battle in history.

Solomon's Forced Labour

Megiddo is mentioned in the Bible in Joshua 12:21, “ Joshua and the people of Israel defeated the kings of the following cities… Megiddo…” In I Kings 9:15 “He [Solomon] used it [forced labour] to rebuild the cities of Hazor, Megiddo and Gezer.”

Biblical Megiddo

Canaanites, Egyptians, Israelites, Assyrians and Persians, a Biblical cast in a seemingly unending Hollywood blockbuster, came to Megiddo to fight, destroy and kill but thankfully for modern historians and archaeologists many also stayed to build. All have generously left considerable evidence of their lives.

Historians must be grateful to these ancient builders who didn’t sweep away the evidence of previous occupation, they simply built on top leaving today a multi-layered reminder of life in Megiddo.

In the modern era, British General, Edmund Allenby’s World War I victory over Turkish forces at Megiddo brought down the final curtain on an Ottoman Empire that had lasted for over five centuries.

Amarna Letters

Further evidence of the importance of Megiddo has been found in the Amarna letters from the 14th century BCE Egyptian New Kingdom. These cuneiform tablets have provided a rich source of information about the city. Among them six letters sent by Biridiya, King of Megiddo to Pharaoh Akhenaten indicating that Megiddo was one of the most powerful city-states in Canaan.

Over the many centuries of its existence Megiddo has been an important place in the religious life of many people. It was perhaps fitting therefore that for the first ever visit to the Holy Land by a Pope, Megiddo was chosen as the venue for a meeting between Pope Paul VI and the Israeli President Zalman Shazar.

Megiddo Expedition

For readers interested in the archaeology of Megiddo, Tel Aviv University’s Megiddo Expedition, directed by Israel Finkelstein and David Ussishkin, will restart 13 June 2010.

The copyright of the article Megiddo the Biblical Armageddon in Ancient Middle Eastern History is owned by Neil Gunn. Permission to republish Megiddo the Biblical Armageddon in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.