Solomonic Gates

The famous Israeli archaeologist Yigael Yadin, while digging at Hazor, uncovered a massive six-chamber gate. Yadin attributed the structure to King Solomon. This was based on a variety of factors, including 1 Kings 9:15 which records "And this is the account of the forced labor which King Solomon levied to build the house of Yahweh and his own house and the Millo and the wall of Jerusalem and Hazor and Megiddo and Gezer." Yadin later showed that nearly identical structures existed at Megiddo and Gezer. In an earlier excavation at Gezer, R. A. S. MacAlister found half of the gate, which he mistakenly attributed to a Maccabean castle. Today, one can view all three of these gates and accomplish something that is rare: see the remains of a structure that was recorded in the Bible and built during the United Monarchy.

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