Megiddo, Tell El Mutesellim, is in the Plain of Esdraelon, often thought to be the Armageddon of Revelation 16:16. Megiddo guarded the caravan route from Gaza in the south to Damascus in the north, strategic for the movement of goods and armies. Near here, Deborah and Barak won a great battle (Judges 5:19, 20), Gideon defeated the Midianites (Judges 6:33), and Saul died in battle (1 Samuel 31). Today Megiddo is only a tell, ruins of many periods of history in different layers. It was excavated by the Oriental Institute of Chicago, starting in 1925. Excavated ruins of the northern gate during the time of Solomon, 970-930 B. C.

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