Israeli archaeologists Bal Ilan University have discovered a door and a monumental fortress of biblical Philistine city of Gath, home of the giant Goliath, which give an idea of the importance of this city, considered the largest in the area between the ninth and tenth centuries BC
The findings were located in Tel Zalfit, an archaeological site bearing two decades being dug and it was populated almost from the Copper Age (about 5,000 years ago) until 1948, when its inhabitants abandoned the then Arab village.
One of the layers that matter most to biblical archaeologists has been the city of Gath, famous for its countless confrontations with Israel and one of the five major Philistine cities, whose period of maximum splendor It took place in the period covered by the kingdoms of David and Solomon (X century BC).
The place is located in the coastal plain of central Mexico, in the so-called “Judea Foothills”, midway between Jerusalem and the port city of Ashkelon.
The archaeological expedition, led by Professor Aren Maeir, located this year fortification and the gateway to the biblical Gath, home of Goliath according to the Scriptures.
Maeir, professor of the Department for the Study of the Land of Israel and Archaeology of that university, believes the door unearthed the largest ever found in the country, reflecting the status and influence of Gat during that period .
“Over twenty years of excavations we assumed Gat in the ninth and tenth centuries BC was the largest in the area, not only philistine but in general,” Meir told Efe by telephone.
“With the latest findings see now that it was not just big, about 50 hectares, but it was two or three times to Jerusalem or other cities of the time as Megiddo and Beersheva,” he said.
It emphasizes that the vast fortifications found “shows how powerful was the city, which continued to exist until 830 BC, when Hazael of Damascus is destroyed.”
The door of the Philistine city appears in another biblical reference, specifically Samuel 21 that tells the story of when David escaped from Saul, first king of Israel, and became a loyal servant of Achich king Gat.
In addition to the monumental access and imposing walls, they were discovered several neighboring buildings, including a temple and a workshop for the production of iron.
The findings, as well as the city itself, were razed by King Hazael of Aram Damascus episode mentioned in the second book of Kings (12:18).
The excavations have brought to light traces that indicate that there was a heavy siege and subsequent destruction of the settlement at the end of the ninth century BC, probably related to this event.
The destruction of Gath, the researcher, was a dramatic event that changed the regional balance of power, allowing the emergence of the independent kingdom of Judea in the eighth century BC
In the excavations have involved teams from various universities and institutions worldwide which have analyzed different strata of the ancient population.
So far there have been findings as temples Philistines, evidence of an earthquake in the eighteenth century BC, ancient inscriptions with names similar to Goliath and testing tools and the capture and destruction of the biblical city .
They have also located ruins of a Canaanite city primal or posterior cruciate castle “Blanche Garde”, in which we know that was Richard the Lionheart.
But perhaps its golden age dates back to that in which the biblical account describes the giant Goliath.
“According to the biblical text, was Goliath of Gath, and in that area found two inscriptions with similar names in an old European alphabet” says Maeir.
He points out that there is a strong tradition of the inhabitants of Gath that were “too big”; but “we have not found any corroborating skeleton that belief, but we can see that its inhabitants were powerful fortifications to be that guy.”
“The talk of height is an attempt to empower them and show how powerful or strong they were residents. And Gat certainly was a very powerful city at that time,” he concludes.
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