Megiddo (Armageddon)

The settlements at Tel Megiddo have been destroyed so many times that the town has truly earned its Latin cognate: “Armageddon.” The New Testament forewarns that at the end of the world demons will go out to all the nations, assembling first at Armageddon (Revelations 16:16). Megiddo’s used to being a meeting place-in ancient times the fortress town bordered the crucial route between Egypt and Mesopotamia that became the Roman Via Maris.

The tel at Megiddo was once thought to date only to King Solomon (c. 950 BQ. Excavations in the 1960s, however, uncovered remains dating back to the Neolithic Age (c. 3500 BC) with 20 layers of ruins. The ruins are mostly unreconstructed except for the grain silo and water tunnel. The site is nonetheless impressive simply for its sheer size (about 900 ft. by 650 ft.). The silo was built on the top of the hill during the reign of King Jeroboam II (787-747 BQ to protect its contents from moisture.