Gath: a Philistine capital and its siege
Gath was a very large Philistine city, and it was besieged and destroyed in the ninth century — the period and the event 2 Kings reports.
Confirmado por el terrenoYacimiento excavado9th century BC
One of the largest cities in the region in its day, with a siege system dug around it — a trench and embankment more than two kilometres long — and a destruction layer above. 2 Kings records Hazael of Syria fighting against Gath and taking it, then turning toward Jerusalem.
Then Hazael king of Syria went up, and fought against Gath, and took it.
- Hallado
- Tell es-Safi (Gath), Israel, 1996 — Aren Maeir's excavation
- Se conserva en
- In place; finds with the Israel Antiquities Authority
- Cómo llegó hasta nosotros
- Excavado, o todavía en pie donde se construyó.
Qué muestra
The siege works and destruction are well dated; attributing them to Hazael specifically is the excavators' reading and is widely but not universally accepted. An ostracon from the site carries two names etymologically similar to Goliath, which shows the name type existed there — no more than that.
Cómo lo usan los historiadores
A major Philistine excavation; the siege system is among the earliest known in the region.
En la Escritura
Se relaciona con
Fuentes
- Maeir (ed.), Tell es-Safi/Gath I: The 1996–2005 Seasons (2012)
Por ahora estos textos están en inglés. Las traducciones llegarán.