This matches the fact that the Bible puts the most active and powerful era for Gath in earlier periods. Most scholars believe that Gath was besieged and laid to waste by Hazael, King of Aram Damascus, in 830 B.C., Maeir said. And David rose and fled that day from Saul and went to Achish the king of Gath. The new finds show that the city of Gath peaked in power much earlier than researchers had believed. Only in Gaza, in Gath, and in Ashdod — These were three cities of the Philistines, into which either some of the Anakims escaped, and there took shelter, or they had been there from ancient time, and the Israelites could not yet expel them. As they dug down to older layers beneath the city they had thought was the primary phase of development at Gath, they began to find the remains of a much larger city just below the levels they had previously studied. The records of Sargon II of Assyria show that he took it in 712 bc. Gath Today. Look it up now! “The fortifications were very large, built with extremely large stones,” Maeir stated. A list of the biblical references for these events can be seen in last week’s post on Ziklag. It was occupied until the nineteenth century and in biblical documents was the home of the giant Goliath. Tel Sheikh el-Areini, Tel Gath? Archaeologists excavating at the ancient Philistine city of Gath this summer have been surprised by an unexpected discovery. The other warriors who accompanied Goliath may not have been brothers, but they were all part of an enduring and unusual lineage that challenged Israel for their land and opposed their God. Merge into Gath (city) and rename Gath. Please refer to the appropriate style manual or other sources if you have any questions. Perhaps the reason for scholars’ surprise is that they are not treating the Bible as an accurate source of historical information. The reason for this inclination is the apparent lack of evidence for these stories and the common belief that the early history in the Bible was not written down until many centuries after the events. So far, only small sections of the impressive Iron Age I city have been unearthed and plans are to expand this area in the upcoming seasons. (1Sa 6:17, 18) Situated as it was, to the E of the Plain of Philistia, Gath figured prominently in the Israelite-Philistine seesaw domination of the area.Gath was the birthplace of Goliath and other giant warriors, and it was occupied by the Anakim at the time that Israel crossed the Jordan into the Promised Land. Hazael’s event was only number four of the five, during the reign of Judah’s 8th king, and no mention of damage is given in the Bible. The dig, moreover, is a major effort. The gate is part of enormous and extensive fortifications, indicating the importance of the city. The name Moresheth-gath occurs only once in the Bible; the prophet Micah mentions it in his sermon on the guilt and future deportation of Judah (Micah 1:14). Ring in the new year with a Britannica Membership. Gath synonyms, Gath pronunciation, Gath translation, English dictionary definition of Gath. The city of Gath (1 Sam. Let us know if you have suggestions to improve this article (requires login). See a previous update for news of the oldest donkey bit in Israel found at Gath. They had huge boulders and very thick walls constructed with well-built, burnt brick, which is much stronger than the sun-dried variety and rarely used in pre-Roman times. Temples, houses, and massive oil presses were found there. Most scholars believe that Gath was besieged and laid to waste by Hazael, King of Aram Damascus, in 830 B.C., Maeir said. Various cities are mentioned in the Bible with such names as Gath of the Philistines, Gath-Gittaim, and Gath Carmel, and other sites with similar names appear in various ancient sources, including the Amarna letters. “Up until now we thought that the city from the Iron IIA, the one that was destroyed by Hazael, was the largest and most important period in Gath,” Maeir told Haaretz. Our editors will review what you’ve submitted and determine whether to revise the article. The city previously thought to be the pinnacle of Gath’s development has been dated to the period known as Iron IIA, normally thought to have begun around 1,000 BC. Today, we are visiting Tell es-Safi, an excavation site of what is believed to be the ancient city of Gath, the hometown of Goliath, and four other giants. Goliath’s city of Gath is considered one of the famous metropolitans of Philistine during its prime years. Once again, looking earlier than expected led to evidence more in line with the Bible. They soon were unearthing unusually massive fortifications that they date to the 11th century BC. Summary: The prevalence of broken pottery at archaeological excavations helps paint a picture of life in biblical times. Gath in Smiths Bible Dictionary (a wine press), one of the five royal cities of the Philistines; Jos 13:3; 1Sa 6:17 and the native place of the giant Goliath. It is interesting to note that while scholars emphasize the Hazael event as the major destruction marker in the archaeological history of the site, the Bible actually records an ongoing series of conflicts at Gath. Gath was evidently a place of importance, a walled city (2 Chronicles 26:6), but its exact location has been lost since the time of Sennacherib (7th century bc). SUMMARY: Excavations at the Philistine site of Gath show the surprising result of a massive city beneath the previously studied level. Gath A-14 on the Map. Most mainstream scholars tend fairly heavily toward the minimalist side of the spectrum when it comes to the early history of Israel. Gath, one of the five royal cities of the Philistines, the exact location of which in modern Israel has not been determined. This city was famous for being the hometown of Goliath (1 Sam. Other sites in the region from this earlier period are also revealing to researchers unexpected size and complexity, such Khirbet Qeiyafa in the valley of David and Goliath. “But every turn of the trowel can bring a new and unexpected find.”. Maier believes there was a real David, but also thinks the huge walls of Iron I Gath may have inspired the biblical story of Goliath and other giants. Goliath, the Philistine champion, came from Gath. The Philistine city of Gath was located near Israelite territory at the end of the Elah Valley, and frequently Gath figured in the biblical record. The city was rebuilt more than a millennium later by the Philistines, known from the Old Testament as enemies of the Israelites (SN: 11/22/16). WE INVITE YOU to continue the journey of discovery by signing up for Patterns of Evidence Thinker Updates. The home of Goliath: Archaeologists discover enormous ancient gate to the 'largest biblical city of its time' The city of Gath was home to the giant defeated by David with a slingshot Although Philistine and Judahite states have been perceived as rivals, recent finds highlighted very complex religious, mundane, linguistic and commercial ties in the Iron Age. The records of Sargon II of Assyria show that he took it in 712 bc. "We knew that Philistine Gath in the 10th to ninth century [B.C.] The newly discovered gate is being hailed as one of the largest of its kind ever found. Tell se Safi is one of the world's many former inhabited places. Omissions? “All along we had this older, giant city that was hiding just a meter under the city we were digging.”. Certain cities in Mycenaean Greece also bear telltale marks of Philistine influence. “I’ve been digging here for 23 years, and this place still manages to surprise me,” said Aren Maeir, Director of excavations at Gath, in an article in Haaretz. As the team reached the deeper and older layer of the Iron I period this summer, they began to sense that something big was happening. The city of Gath was one of five Philistine city-states and according to the Bible was the home of King Ashish and the Philistine warrior Goliath, who was killed by David. Although Philistine and Judahite states have been perceived as rivals, recent finds highlighted very complex religious, mundane, linguistic and commercial ties in the Iron Age. The most famous inhabitant of Gath was Goliath, the giant who battled David in the Elah Valley, in an attempt to take territory away from the Israelites. – Gaṯ, wine press ; Latin : Geth), often referred to as Gath of the Philistines, was one of the five Philistine city-states, established in northeastern Philistia. “Larger cities were only found outside the Levant, such as in Egypt and Mesopotamia.”. The city was rebuilt more than a millennium later by the Philistines, known from the Old Testament as enemies of the Israelites (SN: 11/22/16). For more than a hundred years, Gath was … gath (gath; Septuagint Geth, "winepress"): One of the five chief cities of the Philistines ( Joshua 13:3 1 Samuel 6:17 ). Curriculum Combo Pack-Patterns of Evidence: Young Explorers Season 1, The Lost Sea of the Exodus (Hardcover Book), Mudbricks Give Clues to Understanding the Bible, Herod’s Dance Floor that Doomed John the Baptist Found, 6900 West Lake Street, Minneapolis, MN 55426. In these emails we share videos and articles that highlight new evidence and expand on the patterns matching the Bible. David escaped harm in Gath that time, and would soon return to the city with 600 of his own soldiers and found refuge there, as “Saul was told that David had fled to Gath, he no longer searched for him” (1 Samuel 27:4). As documented at the Tel es-safi website, Gath has been excavated for decades. The 830 BC date is determined by a fiery destruction layer thought to have occurred during the conquest of the city by the Aramean king Hazael, which is mentioned in 2 Kings 12:17. TOP PHOTO: The Water Gate into the lower city of Gath, from the Iron I period. It was a walled town ( 2 Chronicles 26:6 ) and was not taken by Joshua, and, although many conflicts took place between the Israelites and its people, it does not seem to have been captured until the time of David ( 1 Chronicles 18:1 ). The evidence at his site continues to fit the Bible, but he has trouble moving beyond the mainstream paradigm. The name occurs several times in the Old Testament, especially in connection with the history of David. Merge into Gath (city) and rename Gath. The city previously thought to be the pinnacle of Gath’s development has been dated to the period known as Iron IIA, normally thought to have begun around 1,000 BC. You will also get the latest on the next film and go behind the scenes with Timothy Mahoney as he continues the investigation. Gath A-14 on the Map. “Gath was the largest city in the land of that time, and seems to have had very, very impressive architecture,” Maeir said. Today, we are visiting Tell es-Safi, an excavation site of what is believed to be the ancient city of Gath, the hometown of Goliath, and four other giants. The name occurs several times in the Old Testament, especially in connection with the history of David. A tel is a mound created by subsequent layers of city that have built over the top of previous cities over the centuries. Last week we did a story on the discovery of a new site proposed by the excavators to be Ziklag. They have needed to shift their view for this peak to a time centuries earlier. Cutting down through the layers of the tel exposes older and deeper levels as you go (the oldest coming at the bottom). According to the Haaretz article, finds at Gath range from the 5th millennium BC to a small Arab village destroyed in Israel’s 1948 War of Independence. “This year we got a different story… It’s as if the site of Gath in the early Iron Age dwarfed the later city.”. The fifth event was during the reign of Judah’s 10th king (Uzziah), and the Bible mentions that he broke down the wall of Gath. The Philistine cities of Gath, Ekron, Ashdod and Ashkelon seem to have less in common with other nearby towns in the Levant than with cities in ancient Cyprus. In recent years, some scholars have claimed that Philistine Gath was not a dominant, well-fortified city during the Iron Age IIA (10th–9th centuries), the period immediately after the separation of the neighboring “United Kingdom” of David and Solomon into the northern kingdom of Israel and the southern kingdom of Judah. For evidence supporting the Bible’s view of authorship, see the film, Patterns of Evidence: The Moses Controversy. While every effort has been made to follow citation style rules, there may be some discrepancies. Gath appears at other points in the Bible, but today appears as an archaeological site in the Holy Land. Archaeologists think they may have discovered in Israel the home of biblical giant Goliath. The length of the individual stones were also markedly greater: 1-2 meters (3.2-6.5 feet) in length compared to a half meter in the Iron II city. While the Bible claims that Moses wrote its first books (in the 1,400s BC) and authors such as David were writing before the year 1,000 BC, the majority view among scholars is that the books of the Old Testament were first written between about 630 BC (during the reign of King Josiah) and 250 BC. The gate is part of enormous and extensive fortifications, indicating the importance of the city. Corrections? The remnants of the large settlement were found within a large mound called Tell es-Safi, which is the largest such mound in Israel. Archaeologists excavating the ancient Philistine city of Gath have uncovered massive 3,000-year-old fortifications of a size unprecedented for their time and place. Gath definition at Dictionary.com, a free online dictionary with pronunciation, synonyms and translation. Goliath’s City of Gath. was a large city, perhaps the largest in the land at that time," Maeir told Live Science in an email. In the tenth and ninth centuries B.C., and probably even earlier, Gath was likely the largest city in Philistia, a pentapolis—five-city confederation—in the southern Levant. “Many of the biblical texts must be understood as allegory,” notes Maeir. Familiarity with its use can help us better understand the message of the Bible. “Maybe there’s a family of large people we haven’t found, but it’s more likely to say that a mythical story developed over time based on the size of the architecture,” Maier concluded. A Gittiteis a person from Gath. Only giants could move it.”. A massive gate unearthed in Israel may have marked the entrance to a biblical city that, at its heyday, was the biggest metropolis in the region. Is this the city where the giant, Goliath came from? Tel Sheikh el-Areini, Tel Gath? The more recent city is believed to have existed from the 10th century (900s) BC to the late 9th century (around 830) BC. This would be in the 11th century BC on the Bible’s timeline. This is consistent with evidence found in other locations that connect to the early history of Israel recorded in the Bible. Gath in Smiths Bible Dictionary (a wine press), one of the five royal cities of the Philistines; Jos 13:3; 1Sa 6:17 and the native place of the giant Goliath.