EZION-GEBER GLUECK 467 



After the outer fortification wall had been discovered, the search 

 began for the main gateway leading into the town. It was found 

 near the southwest corner of the wall, on the south side, facing the 

 sea. There were three gates in this entrance way, built at intervals 

 one behind the other, the first two of which opened respectively into 

 separate sets of guardrooms behind each gate, with one room on each 

 side of the entrance passage (pi. 5, fig. 2). Thus if the first gate were 

 broken down, the enemy would enter a rectangular area formed by 

 the two rectangular guardrooms facing each other on opposite sides 

 of the entrance passage ; and the same if the second gate were broken 

 down. The third gate opened into the main street of the town, 

 which made a sharp right-angle turn to the east. The third gate 

 seems also to have led into a large open square, where the market 

 place was undoubtedly located, and in a section of which the camels 

 of visiting caravans may have been kept during the night time. The 

 amazing thing about Ezion-geber II is that a place of such com- 

 paratively small size should be surrounded by such a strong outer 

 double fortification wall, with its three-doored gateway. The entire 

 site, walls and all, covers an area no larger than approximately an 

 acre and a half — about large enough for a villa with a good-sized 

 garden in a modern suburb. 



The three-doored gateway of Ezion-geber II is to be directly re- 

 lated to the south gate of the inner town of Carcemish, as well as to 

 the west gate of the outer town of Carcemish.^^ Evidence from Me- 

 giddo has shown that the gateway regarded by Guy as belonging to 

 stratum IV at Megiddo, and which he compared with the south gate 

 at Carcemish ^^ may actually belong to stratum III, dated 780-650 

 B. C.^* The plan of this gateway is closely related to that of Ezion- 

 geber II, and it is probably based on an earlier plan contemporary 

 with that of Ezion-geber II. 



We consider it likely that when the nature of the Solomonic gate- 

 way at Megiddo has been definitely established, it will be shown to 

 be almost, if not completely identical with the gateway of Ezion- 

 geber 11. Lankester Harding has called my attention to the fact 

 that there is a gateway at Lachish, which the excavators have as- 

 signed to the tenth century B. C. and attributed to Solomon, which 

 is almost a duplicate of the gateway at Ezion-geber II, and the com- 

 parable ones at Carcemish. We think it likely that Solomon's 



i« Wooley, C. Leonard, and Lawrence, T. B., Carcemish II. Pp. 82-85, pi. 12, 1921. 

 Watzinger, Carl, Denkmaler Palastinas, I. P. 55, 1933. 



^ Guy, P. L. O., New light from Armageddon. Oriental Inst. Comm., No. 9, pp. 25-27, 

 44-48, 1931. 



**• Lamon, Robert S., and Shipton, Geoffrey M., Megiddo I. Univ. Chicago Oriental Inst. 

 Puhl., vol. 42, pp. 74-75, 1939 ; Amer. Journ. Archaeol., vol. 45, No. 2. pp. 289-290, 1941 ; 

 Albright, W. F., Further light on the history of Israel from Lachish and Megiddo. Bull. 

 Amer. Schools Oriental Res., No. 68, p. 25, December 1937. 

 430577 — 42 31 



