The dismantled horned altar of Beersheba
A monumental sacrificial altar at a Judahite provincial centre was deliberately dismantled and its stones reused, in the eighth century.
Fakapapau'i 'e he keliMe'a8th century BC
A large four-horned altar of dressed stone, found not standing but taken apart, its blocks reused in a later wall. Kings describes reforming kings removing the high places and breaking down altars outside Jerusalem.
He removed the high places, and brake the images, and cut down the groves.
- Na'e 'ilo'i
- Tel Beersheba, Israel, 1973 — Yohanan Aharoni's excavation
- 'Oku tauhi 'i
- Israel Museum, Jerusalem (reconstructed); replica on site
- Na'e a'u mai fēfē kiate kitautolu
- Na'e keli hake, pe 'oku kei tu'u 'i he potu na'e langa ai.
Ko e me'a 'oku ne fakahā
The dismantling is clear from the reuse; tying it to a particular king's reform is an inference from date, and is debated.
Founga hono ngāue'aki 'e he kau hisitōlia
A recurring exhibit in discussion of cult centralisation in Judah.
'I he Folofola
Fekau'aki mo
Ngaahi ma'u'anga fakamatala
- Aharoni, "The Horned Altar of Beer-sheba", Biblical Archaeologist 37 (1974)
'Oku 'i he lea faka-Pilitānia 'a e ngaahi fakamatala ko 'eni he taimi ni. 'E muimui mai 'a e liliu.