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The ruins of five fortified cities were discovered near Jerusalem, which could have been part of the empire of King David, writes Success in UA.
According to Israeli archaeologists, they were created in the 200th century BC, that is, XNUMX years earlier than previously thought.
Using aerial photographs, the scientists concluded that the five cities had a similar design because they were created as components of a unified network. Also, the walls of the ancient city could have been housing or warehouses, with all city centers having two parallel walls in the center, roads and connections to the single center of the kingdom, reports apostrophe.ua.
This discovery supports the theory that King David ruled a large and sprawling kingdom. The evidence for this hypothesis is based on years of careful research of old archaeological publications by archaeologist Yosef Garfinkel of the Institute of Archeology at the Hebrew University.
Garfinkel's research confirms the existence of organized urban settlements dating back to around 1000 BC, which coincides with the reign of King David. He emphasizes that these finds speak of a well-developed kingdom under the reign of King David with interconnected roads connecting different cities.
This contradicts the beliefs of some scholars of the minimalist school of thought, who previously suggested that the Bible's depiction of King David as ruler of a vast kingdom may have been exaggerated due to the limited evidence of cities during his reign.
King David is a prominent figure in biblical history and is considered one of the greatest rulers of ancient Israel. He is traditionally considered the second king of Israel and Judah, the successor of Saul. According to the Hebrew Bible, David ruled from about 1010 to 970 BC. During David's reign, Israel experienced a period of expansion and prosperity.
According to biblical stories, King David appeared as a humble shepherd who gained fame by defeating the formidable giant Goliath. His rise to power led to his becoming the king of the tribe of Judah, and later the ruler of all the descendants of Israel. Recent research by Garfinkel further supports the biblical portrayal of King David as a powerful leader who ruled over a prosperous ancient empire that encompassed Jerusalem.
He successfully led military campaigns against neighboring nations, protecting Israel's borders and creating a vast kingdom. David's reign is often characterized as the height of Israel's power and influence in the ancient Near East.
The mystery surrounding the story of King David has baffled experts for decades due to the lack of evidence for the reign of this remarkable and complex biblical figure. The first evidence of the existence of a leader named David appeared only in 1993, when archaeologist Avraham Biran discovered an inscription in Tel Dan in the north of Israel, which refers to the "house of David".
There are two main archaeological schools of thought regarding King David. The minimalist school maintains that David was a local Bedouin leader who led a small group of shepherds in the vicinity of Jerusalem. Another school is closer to the biblical image of King David as the ruler of a great kingdom.
Garfinkel's new research indicates that all five cities he studied had a similar layout, with an outer wall and dwellings located next to the wall on one side and facing the road on the other. Three of these cities had "casemate" walls, which consisted of two parallel walls enclosing the city instead of a solid outer wall. These walls were built faster, required fewer materials, and allowed residents to occupy the space between the walls. In case of an attack from a certain direction, the defenders could quickly fill the space between the casemates, creating a solid wall.
Additionally, several Proto-Canaanite and Canaanite inscriptions have been found at some sites, indicating an increased need for communication—a characteristic of centralized authority and a strong kingdom—according to Garfinkel. Of the five sites in the city network, Garfinkel personally excavated only two, in the northeastern part of Lachish and Khirbet Keyyaf IV, located in the Elah Valley, about a day's walk from Jerusalem.
