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Tel Megiddo guards the pass into the Jezreel Valley, and its mound stacks up more than twenty superimposed cities. Archaeologists have uncovered a monumental six-chambered gate, rows of pillared buildings once called 'Solomon's stables,' and a deep rock-cut water system. The Bible lists Megiddo among Solomon's building projects, records King Josiah's death there, and lends its name to the last battle — 'Armageddon,' the hill (har) of Megiddo. The city is unmistakably real; the argument is about dates.
- Where it is
- Tel Megiddo, Jezreel Valley
- Scripture
- 1 Kings 9:15 · 2 Kings 23:29-30 · Revelation 16:16
What the evidence confirmsA major fortified administrative city, with a monumental gate and stable-or-storehouse complexes, stood here through the Iron Age.
What it does not proveWhether the gate is Solomon's (Yigael Yadin's tenth-century date) or a century later under the Omrides (Israel Finkelstein's 'Low Chronology') is unresolved, with recent work leaning later.
Sources & further reading