468 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1941 



Ezion-geber was captured by Shishak's forces during the same cam- 

 paign which resulted in the destruction of many towns in Palestine, 

 including Megiddo, shortly after Solomon's death.^^ 



It is significant that the offsets of the new fortification walls and 

 of each glagis of Period II are parallel to the offsets of the outer 

 wall of the industrial square of Period I. Furthermore, the bricks 

 of the glagis built against each of the fortification walls of Period 

 II, were laid in the same diagonal, crisscross fashion as the bricks in 

 the glagis built in Period I against the smelter-refinery. Were it not 

 for the indubitable fact that part of this great fortification scheme 

 of Period II in places cuts through and in other places is built over 

 part of the rooms of the industrial square and the north side of the 

 smelter-refinery with its glagis of Period I, it would be possible to 

 say that they are all to be assigned to the same period, and to overlook 

 the differences in types of bricks used in the various constructions. 

 The close relationship in manner of construction between the later 

 fortification walls and glagis and the earlier ones, makes it seem 

 possible that the Period II fortification scheme replaced a similar 

 earlier one. If this is so, then we may date all of Ezion-geber I to 

 the tenth century B. C., to the time of Solomon, and then perhaps 

 Ezion-geber II may be assigned to the ninth century B. C. More 

 particularly, Period II may represent a reconstruction by Jehos- 

 haphat of Judah, who reigned about 873-849 B. C. He was the one, 

 it will be recalled, who made the abortive attempt to revive the sea 

 trade between Ezion-geber and Arabia, which had flourished during 

 the reign of Solomon. We are told that Jehoshaphat had a new fleet 

 of Tarshish ships built to sail to Ophir for gold. No sooner were 

 they completed, however, than a gale blew them on the rocks several 

 kilometers from Ezion-geber, where they foundered. The venture 

 was thereupon abandoned. The very attempt, however, must have 

 meant that Ezion-geber received a new lease on life. Its defenses 

 would have been restored, and its industrial activities renewed with 

 full intensity. Exports, such as ingots and objects of copper and 

 iron, would have been made ready for the ships to carry to Arabia 

 in return for the products obtainable there. After the destruction 

 of his fleet, Jehoshaphat may have relied upon camel caravans for 

 transport. 



The possibility exists also that Periods I and II represent early 

 and late phases of building coinciding with the earlier and later 

 parts of the reign of Solomon. Both would be the direct result of 

 his great program of public works, which dotted Palestine with build- 

 ings of all kinds and Ezion-geber II would have continued in use 

 during the reign of Jehoshaphat. We find it significant that at the 



=" Glueck, Nelson, The second oampaign at Tell El-Kheleifeh (Ezion-Geber : Elath). 

 Bull. Amer. Schools Oriental Res., No. 75, p. 18, October 1939. 



