Lachish
The moshav of Lakhish, 10km/6mi southeast of Qiryat Gat, to the south of the road from Ashqelon via Bet Guvrin and Bet Shemesh to Jerusalem, was founded in 1955 on the site of ancient Lachish and took its name. Along with the settlements of Bet Guvrin and Tel Maresha a few kilometers northeast, Lachish is one of the most interesting archeological sites in this area to the west of the Judaean Hills.
|
Must-see attractions nearby:
|
History
The site was occupied as early as the third millennium B.C., and in the second millennium it was a Canaanite town. Letters found at Tell el-Amarna in Egypt show King Zimridu (1375-40 B.C.) defending himself against a charge of disloyalty to his Egyptian overlord, Pharaoh Akhenaten. In the 13th century B.C. Joshua, after his conquest of Jericho, Ai and Gibeon, captured five Amorite kings, including Japhia of Lachish, in a cave at Makkedah and put them to death; then in the following year he took Lachish and the neighboring city of Mareshah (Joshua 10). The palace was rebuilt by David or Solomon in the 10th century B.C. Around 920 B.C. Solomon's son Rehoboam fortified the town, which had an area of 75,000sq.m/90,000sq.yds (2 Chronicles 11,11). In the eighth century B.C. King Amaziah of Judah, who had fled from Jerusalem, was killed here (2 Kings 14,19).
Lachish was captured in 701 B.C. by the Assyrian king Sennacherib (2 Kings 18,13-17), who depicted this event in reliefs in his palace in Nineveh. During Starkey's excavations a pit was found containing the skeletons of 1,500 men who died on that occasion. In 588 B.C. Nebuchadnezzar conquered the town (two years before his conquest of Jerusalem). The period immediately before this catastrophe is documented in the Lachish Letters (now in the British Museum and the Rockefeller Museum in Jerusalem). The town was reoccupied after the Israelites' return from the Babylonian Captivity, and later a Persian fortress was built in the town.
In the second century B.C. it declined into an insignificant village.
The site was occupied as early as the third millennium B.C., and in the second millennium it was a Canaanite town. Letters found at Tell el-Amarna in Egypt show King Zimridu (1375-40 B.C.) defending himself against a charge of disloyalty to his Egyptian overlord, Pharaoh Akhenaten. In the 13th century B.C. Joshua, after his conquest of Jericho, Ai and Gibeon, captured five Amorite kings, including Japhia of Lachish, in a cave at Makkedah and put them to death; then in the following year he took Lachish and the neighboring city of Mareshah (Joshua 10). The palace was rebuilt by David or Solomon in the 10th century B.C. Around 920 B.C. Solomon's son Rehoboam fortified the town, which had an area of 75,000sq.m/90,000sq.yds (2 Chronicles 11,11). In the eighth century B.C. King Amaziah of Judah, who had fled from Jerusalem, was killed here (2 Kings 14,19).
Lachish was captured in 701 B.C. by the Assyrian king Sennacherib (2 Kings 18,13-17), who depicted this event in reliefs in his palace in Nineveh. During Starkey's excavations a pit was found containing the skeletons of 1,500 men who died on that occasion. In 588 B.C. Nebuchadnezzar conquered the town (two years before his conquest of Jerusalem). The period immediately before this catastrophe is documented in the Lachish Letters (now in the British Museum and the Rockefeller Museum in Jerusalem). The town was reoccupied after the Israelites' return from the Babylonian Captivity, and later a Persian fortress was built in the town.
In the second century B.C. it declined into an insignificant village.
Read More
