EXPLORING THE LONGUE DURÉE

Essays in Honor of Lawrence E. Stager

edited by

J. DAVID SCHLOEN

Winona Lake, Indiana

EISENBRAUNS
2009
 ç Copyright 2009 by Eisenbrauns.
All rights reserved.
Printed in the United States of America.

www.eisenbrauns.com

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Exploring the Longue Durée : essays in honor of Lawrence E. Stager / edited
by J. David Schloen
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references.
ISBN 978-1-57506-161-0 (hardcover : alk. paper)
1. Palestine—Antiquities. 2. Israel—Antiquities. 3. Middle East—
Antiquities. 4. Bronze age—Palestine. 5. Iron age—Palestine.
6. Palestine—History—To 70 a.d. 7. Middle East—History—To 622.
8. Excavations (Archaeology)—Middle East. 9. Bible. O.T.—Antiquities.
10. Bible. O.T.—Criticism, interpretation, etc. I. Schloen, J. David, 1962–
II. Stager, Lawrence E.
DS111.E97 2009
933—dc22
2008046887

The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of the American National
Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI
Z39.48-1984. †‘
 CONTENTS
Preface xi

Contributors xiii

Abbreviations xv

Publications of Lawrence E. Stager xix

1. Lawrence Stager and Biblical Archaeology 1

J. David Schloen

2. Solomon’s Patrimonial Kingdom: A View from the Land of Gilead 5

Tristan J. Barako

3. The Dolphin Jug: A Typological and Chronological Assessment 17

Manfred Bietak and Karin Kopetzky

4. Assyrians Abet Israelite Cultic Reforms: Sennacherib and the Centralization of the Israelite Cult 35
Elizabeth Bloch-Smith

5. “Those Who Add House to House”: Household Archaeology and the Use of Domestic Space 45
in an Iron II Residential Compound at Tell en-Naṣbeh
Aaron J. Brody

6. More Light on Old Reliefs: New Kingdom Egyptian Siege Tactics and Asiatic Resistance 57
Aaron A. Burke

7. Cores, Peripheries, and Ports of Power: Theories of Canaanite Development 69

in the Early Second Millennium B.C.E.
Susan L. Cohen

8. The Social Worlds of the Book of Job 77

Michael D. Coogan

9. Telltale Remnants of Oral Epic in the Older Sources of the Tetrateuch: Double and Triple 83
Proper Names in Early Hebrew Sources and in Homeric and Ugaritic Epic Poetry
Frank Moore Cross

10. Merenptah’s “Israel,” the Bible’s, and Ours 89

William G. Dever

11. Linchpins Revisited 97

Trude Dothan and Alexandra S. Drenka

12. Cities, Villages, and Farmsteads: The Landscape of Leviticus 25:29–31 103
Avraham Faust

13. Destructions: Megiddo As a Case Study 113

Israel Finkelstein

14. The Late Iron Age II Incense Altars from Ashkelon 127
Seymour Gitin
viii Contents

15. Palmachim–Giv«at Ha»esev: A Navigational Landmark for Ancient Mariners? 137

Ram Gophna and Shmuel Liphschitz

16. Wine for the Elite, Oil for the Masses: Some Aspects of Early Agricultural Technology in Cyprus 141
Sophocles Hadjisavvas

17. The Dawn of an Age: Megiddo in the Iron Age I 151

Baruch Halpern

18. Compositional Techniques in the Book of Haggai 165

Paul D. Hanson

19. Lifting the Veil on a “Dark Age”: Ta«yinat and the North Orontes Valley during the Early Iron Age 171
Timothy P. Harrison

20. Other Edens 185

Ronald Hendel

21. The House of the Father at Iron I Tall al-«Umayri, Jordan 191
Larry G. Herr

22. Israel’s Ancestors Were Not Nomads 199

Theodore Hiebert

23. How Much Is That in . . . ? Monetization, Money, Royal States, and Empires 207
John S. Holladay

24. The Levitical Diaspora (I): A Sociological Comparison with Morocco’s Ahansal 223
Jeremy M. Hutton

25. A Cypriot Workshop of Middle Bronze Age Askoi 235

Vassos Karageorghis

26. Slavery in Antiquity 243

Philip J. King

27. Ethnic Identity in Biblical Edom, Israel, and Midian: Some Insights from Mortuary Contexts 251
in the Lowlands of Edom
Thomas E. Levy

28. A Reconstruction of Achaemenid-Period Ashkelon Based on the Faunal Evidence 263

David Lipovitch

29. Hazael, Birhadad, and the ḥrṣ 273

Aren M. Maeir

30. Divination at Ebla during the Old Syrian Period: The Archaeological Evidence 279
Nicolò Marchetti

31. Egyptian Fingerprints at Late Bronze Age Ashkelon: Egyptian-Style Beer Jars 297
Mario A. S. Martin

32. From the Buqê«ah to Ashkelon 305

Daniel M. Master
 Contents ix

33. The Iron Age Dwellings at Tell Qasile 319

Amihai Mazar

34. The Armor of Goliath 337

Alan Millard

35. Facts or Factoids? Some Historical Observations on the Trophy Inscription from Kition (KAI 288) 345
Paul G. Mosca

36. Ashkelon under the Assyrian Empire 351

Nadav Na»aman

37. The Built Tombs on the Spring Hill and the Palace of the Lords of Jericho («dmr rḫ«) 361
in the Middle Bronze Age
Lorenzo Nigro

38. A New Join of Fragments of the Baal Cycle 377

Dennis Pardee

39. L’inscription phénicienne du pithos d’Amathonte et son contexte 391

Émile Puech

40. A Fragmentary Tablet from Tel Aphek with Unknown Script 403
Itamar Singer

41. Camels in Ur III Babylonia? 415

Piotr Steinkeller

42. A Persian-period Hoard of Bullae from Samaria 421

Ephraim Stern

43. Trade and Power in Late Bronze Age Canaan 439

Michael Sugerman

44. East of Ashkelon: The Setting and Settling of the Judean Lowlands in the Iron Age IIA 449
Ron E. Tappy

45. The Books of the Hebrew Bible As Material Artifacts 465

Karel van der Toorn

46. The Temple Mount in Jerusalem during the First Temple Period: An Archaeologist’s View 473
David Ussishkin

47. The Israelite mišpāḥâ, the Priestly Writings, and Changing Valences in Israel’s Kinship Terminology 485
David S. Vanderhooft

48. Two New Hellenistic Lead Weights of the Tanit Series 497
Samuel R. Wolff and Gerald Finkielsztejn

49. Behavioral Patterns in Transition: Eleventh-Century B.C.E. Innovation in Domestic Textile Production 507
Assaf Yasur-Landau

50. Bedhat esh-Sha«ab: An Iron Age I Enclosure in the Jordan Valley 517
Adam Zertal and Dror Ben-Yosef
x Contents

Index of Authors 531

Index of Biblical and Ugaritic Sources 533

Index of Sites 537

 ABBREVIATIONS
AA American Anthropologist
AAAS Annales archéologiques arabes syriennes
AASOR Annual of the American Schools of Oriental Research
AB Anchor Bible
ADAJ Annual of the Department of Antiquities of Jordan
ADPV Abhandlungen des Deutschen Palästinavereins
AfO Archiv für Orientforschung
AHw Akkadisches Handwörterbuch, by W. von Soden
AJA American Journal of Archaeology
AmAnt American Antiquity
ANET 3 Ancient Near Eastern Texts Relating to the Old Testament, edited by J. B. Pritchard (3d ed.; Princeton, 1969)
AnOr Analecta Orientalia
AOAT Alter Orient und Altes Testament
AoF Altorientalische Forschungen
ARA Annual Review of Anthropology
ARM Archives royales de Mari
BA Biblical Archaeologist
BAH Bibliothèque archéologique et historique
BAR Biblical Archaeology Review
BARIS British Archaeological Reports, International Series
BASOR Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research
BASORSup Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research Supplement
BCH Bulletin de correspondance hellénique
BCHSup Bulletin de correspondance hellénique, Supplément
BDB A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament, by F. Brown, S. R. Driver, and C. A. Briggs
BHS Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia
BiOr Bibliotheca Orientalis
BMB Bulletin du Musée de Beyrouth
BMC British Museum Catalogue
B.P. before present
BSA Annual of the British School at Athens
BSASup British School at Athens Supplementary volume
BSOAS Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies
BTAVO Beihefte zum Tübinger Atlas des Vorderen Orients
BWANT Beiträge zur Wissenschaft vom Alten und Neuen Testament
BZAW Beihefte zur Zeitschrift für die alttestamentliche Wissenschaft
CA Current Anthropology
CAD The Assyrian Dictionary of the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago
CAJ Cambridge Archaeological Journal
CAT The Cuneiform Alphabetic Texts from Ugarit, by M. Dietrich, O. Loretz, and J. Sanmartín (Münster, 1995)
CBQ Catholic Biblical Quarterly
CChEM Contributions to the Chronology of the Eastern Mediterranean
CHANE Culture and History of the Ancient Near East
CIS Corpus Inscriptionum Semiticarum
COS The Context of Scripture, ed. W. W. Hallo and K. L. Younger (3 vols.; Leiden, 2003).
CRAIBL Comptes rendus de l’Académie des inscriptions et belles-lettres
CTA Corpus des tablettes en cunéiformes alphabétiques, by A. Herdner (Paris, 1963)
DJD Discoveries in the Judaean Desert
EA el-Amarna text
EB Early Bronze Age
EI Eretz-Israel
ESI Excavations and Surveys in Israel
ET English translation
Gk. Greek
HALAT Hebräisches und aramäisches Lexikon zum Alten Testament, by L. Koehler and W. Baumgartner (Leiden)
Heb. Hebrew
HSM Harvard Semitic Monographs
HSS Harvard Semitic Studies
HTR Harvard Theological Review
xvi Abbreviations

HUCA Hebrew Union College Annual

IAA Israel Antiquities Authority
IEJ Israel Exploration Journal
IJNA International Journal of Nautical Archaeology and Underwater Exploration
INJ Israel Numismatic Journal
JADIS Jordan Antiquities Database and Information System
JAOS Journal of the American Oriental Society
JARCE Journal of the American Research Center in Egypt
JAS Journal of Archaeological Science
JBL Journal of Biblical Literature
JCS Journal of Cuneiform Studies
JESHO Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient
JFA Journal of Field Archaeology
JHS Journal of Hellenic Studies
JNES Journal of Near Eastern Studies
JPOS Journal of the Palestine Oriental Society
JRA Journal of Roman Archaeology
JRASup Journal of Roman Archaeology Supplementary Series
JSOT Journal for the Study of the Old Testament
JSOTSup Journal for the Study of the Old Testament Supplement Series
JSS Journal of Semitic Studies
JSSEA Journal of the Society for the Study of Egyptian Antiquities
KAI Kanaanäische und aramäische Inschriften, by H. Donner and W. Röllig (2d ed.; Wiesbaden, 1966–69)
KTU Die keilalphabetischen Texte aus Ugarit, by M. Dietrich, O. Loretz, and J. Sanmartín (Kevelaer, 1976)
LB Late Bronze Age
LAPO Littératures anciennes du Proche-Orient
LXX Septuagint
MB Middle Bronze Age
MDAIK Mitteilungen des Deutschen Archäologischen Instituts, Abteilung Kairo
MDOG Mitteilungen der Deutschen Orient-Gesellschaft zu Berlin
MSL Materialien zum sumerischen Lexikon
MT Massoretic Text
NC The Numismatic Chronicle
NEA Near Eastern Archaeology
NRSV New Revised Standard Version of the Bible
NWS Northwest Semitic
OBO Orbis biblicus et orientalis
OIC Oriental Institute Communications
OIP Oriental Institute Publications
OIS Oriental Institute Seminars
OLA Orientalia Lovaniensia Analecta
PEQ Palestine Exploration Quarterly
PSD The Sumerian Dictionary of the University Museum of the University of Pennsylvania
QDAP The Quarterly of the Department of Antiquities in Palestine
RA Revue d’assyriologie et d’archéologie orientale
RB Revue biblique
RLA Reallexikon der Assyriologie und vorderasiatische Archäologie
RN Revue numismatique
RSF Rivista di studi fenici
SAOC Studies in Ancient Oriental Civilization
SAHL Studies in the Archaeology and History of the Levant
SBLDS Society of Biblical Literature Dissertation Series
SEL Studi epigrafici e linguistici sul Vicino Oriente antico
SHCANE Studies in the History and Culture of the Ancient Near East
SIMA Studies in Mediterranean Archaeology
SMEA Studi Micenei ed Egeo-Anatolici
SWBA Social World of Biblical Antiquity
TA Tel Aviv
TAVO Tübinger Atlas des Vorderen Orients
Ug. Ugaritic
UF Ugarit-Forschungen
UT Ugaritic Textbook, by C. Gordon (Rome, 1965)
 Abbreviations xvii

UZK Untersuchungen der Zweigstelle Kairo

VT Vetus Testamentum
VTSup Supplements to Vetus Testamentum
WBC Word Biblical Commentary
ZA Zeitschrift für Assyriologie und vorderasiatische Archäologie
ZAW Zeitschrift für die alttestamentliche Wissenschaft
ZDMG Zeitschrift der Deutschen Morgenländischen Gesellschaft
ZDPV Zeitschrift des Deutschen Palästina-Vereins
ZPE Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik
 4. ASSYRIANS ABET ISRAELITE CULTIC REFORMS:
SENNACHERIB AND THE CENTRALIZATION OF THE ISRAELITE CULT

by Elizabeth Bloch-Smith

T HE Assyrian conquest of the northern kingdom

of Israel by Tiglath-pileser III, Shalmaneser V,
and Sargon II supplied a rationale for Judahite cultic
in lower Galilee (Younger 2000a:286–92).1 The
northern kingdom of Israel was reduced to a rump
state and the conquered territory was reconfigured
reform, and Sennacherib’s subsequent campaign in into Assyrian provinces.
701 B.C.E. expedited its implementation. Sennache- Kings Shalmaneser V and Sargon II completed the
rib’s devastating campaign may have done more to dissolution of the northern kingdom with the 722
promote centralization of the Israelite cult than any B.C.E. siege and conquest of Samaria (2 Kings 17:3–
priestly, prophetic, or royal initiative before or after. 6, 18:9–11; Great “Summary” Inscription; Nimrud
Past studies of the Assyrian impact on Israelite Prism). In addition to Samaria, Sargon II claims to
religion largely overlook the repercussions of the have vanquished cities as far south as Philistine Gaza,
military campaigns (Cogan 1974; Holloway 2002). as recorded in the Great “Summary” Inscription, and
Over a thirty-five-year period, the Assyrians devas- to have turned against Judah, calling himself “sub-
tated fortified cities and towns from Dan to Beer- duer of the land of Judah which is far away”
sheba. Cultic centralization in the capital city, which (Younger 2000b:296–97, 298). Assyria’s might, ca-
was probably the only major political and administra- pabilities, and proclivities were evident to all.
tive city left standing, was the most feasible and logi- Against this backdrop of Assyrian imperial expan-
cal response. Largely by process of elimination, Jeru- sion, King Hezekiah of Judah likely initiated efforts
salem emerged as the de facto cultic center. to centralize the cult before Sennacherib’s campaign
Sennacherib also supplied a financial incentive and to the region. According to 2 Chronicles 29–30, the
stimulus to centralize the cult. The heavy tribute ex- pious Hezekiah initiated the reforms in his first reg-
acted in order to save Jerusalem had stripped the nal year; 2 Kings 18 mentions the reforms but with
kingdom, including the doors of the Jersualem tem- no indication of their timing. Biblical testimony does
ple, of valuable commodities (2 Kings 18:16). A cen- not resolve the relative chronology, but centralizing
tralized cult would concentrate resources in Jerusa- the cult in Jerusalem under royal patronage effec-
lem and refill the temple coffers to restore that tively secured complete control of the society and its
structure to its former gilded glory (Claburn 1973; resources in Jerusalem—a prudent move for a king
Evans 1980:162). This hypothesis, attributing to the preparing to rebel against Assyria (Borowski 1995).
Assyrian conquest of the region a significant role in While details vary, both the Assyrian and biblical
Israelite religious reforms, harks back to the scholarly sources mention Sennacherib’s Levantine campaign
practice of attributing cultural change or discontinu- and siege of Jerusalem during the reign of Hezekiah.
ity to “foreign invasion.” The Bible acknowledges that “King Sennacherib of
Repercussions of the Assyrian advance into the Assyria marched against all the fortified towns of
region began with the campaign of Tiglath-pileser III Judah and seized them” (2 Kings 18:13), while Sen-
in 734 B.C.E. The cumulative effect of the campaigns nacherib boasts that he “besieged forty-six of his for-
over more than thirty years, with their inexorable tified walled cities and surrounding smaller towns,
advance toward Jerusalem, presaged Jerusalem’s which were without number” and deported more than
inevitable doom. In his initial foray into the area, 200,150 people (Cogan 2000:303). Both kings ac-
Tiglath-pileser III proceeded as far south as Gaza, knowledge that a ransom was paid to spare Jerusa-
destroying Philistine and Judahite strategic sites lem, although neither dwells on this (2 Kings 18:14–
along the way, including the “city of Gezer,” as de- 16; Cogan 2000:303). The salient fact is that numer-
picted in a scene carved in relief at his palace at Nim- ous fortified towns and cities fell to the Assyrians but
rud (Younger 2000a:288, 290, 291; Barnett and Falk- Jerusalem emerged unscathed.
ner 1962:24, pl. 62). In the following year, Assyria
conquered and subjugated territory to the north of 1 Younger’s translations of the Assyrian annals use the ar-
Samaria, as described in both the Bible and the As- rangement of fragments proposed by Tadmor (1994). Rainey
syrian royal annals: 2 Kings 15:29 lists towns in up- and Notley (2006:229–45) provide an excellent summary,
per Galilee and Assyrian Annals 18 and 24 add towns with maps, of both the biblical and Assyrian sources.
36 Elizabeth Bloch-Smith

Archaeological Evidence of the Assyrian Conquest and Lachish examples serve as reminders that the
extant texts do not tell the full story.
Archaeological evidence clarifies and in some ways Neither archaeological nor textual evidence identi-
modifies this picture. Although the Assyrian conquest fies the attacking or destroying army at every site. In
undeniably affected Judahite policy, the scale of the the majority of cases, an Assyrian king’s claim to
conquest was more modest than the Assyrians have conquered and destroyed a city, in some cases
claimed. Selected fortified cities and administrative with corroborating biblical testimony, identifies the
centers were devastated, others were partially de- conquering king. Archaeologically, pottery from the
stroyed, and some apparently capitulated; but sites in last third of the eighth century B.C.E. is indistinguish-
the central highlands around Jerusalem show no evi- able from the pottery at the very end of that century
dence of battle or submission. The following discus- (701 B.C.E.), but a consensus has emerged regarding
sion accepts excavators’ interpretation of “destruc- the lmlk stamped jars, which are attributed to an ini-
tion” rather than “Mrs. O’Leary’s cow” or some other tiative of Hezekiah king of Judah in anticipation of
cause for collapse or burning. Even if willfully de- his rebellion against Assyria. Accordingly, storage
stroyed, the Assyrians may not have been the agents; jars with handles stamped lmlk, “belonging to the
Arameans and Egyptians are also candidates. king,” the greatest number of which were found at
According to both their own and biblical testi- Lachish and the second-greatest number in Jerusa-
mony, the Assyrians defeated, spoiled, and destroyed lem, provide an archaeological marker of the 701
towns as they subjugated the territory of Israel, Phil- B.C.E. destruction levels (Na»aman 1979).
istia, and Judah. In Summary Inscription 13, Tiglath- There are differences of opinion about whether the
pileser III claims, “[the land of Bit Humria,] all [of lmlk stamp, in its initial form, continued to be used
whose] cities I leveled [to the ground] in my former after the reign of Hezekiah; so there are different in-
campaigns, […] I plundered its livestock, and I terpretations of the chronological significance of its
spared only (isolated) Samaria” (Younger 2000a: absence (Vaughn 1999:140; Zimhoni 1990:18). For
292). example, in several cases, including Tell Beit Mir-
Not all settlements suffered the same fate, how- sim, Tell alif, and Beersheba, a prosperous, fortified
ever. In spite of Assyrian assertions, archaeology village or town was destroyed, was reoccupied on a
reveals selective targeting of prominent sites and no much-reduced scale, and was subsequently destroyed
wide-spread destruction of small towns or villages. again or abandoned. The current consensus holds that
Assyrians attacked strategically located, fortified Sennacherib destroyed these towns in 701 B.C.E., but
sites along the major highways and at critical road Jeffrey Blakely and James Hardin attribute these de-
junctions. They utterly devastated some sites while at structions to Tiglath-pileser III a few decades earlier
others they merely wrecked the city gate. Compro- (Blakely and Hardin 2002; Finkelstein and Na»aman
mising a city’s fortifications may have sufficed in 2004).
order for the population to concede defeat, or it may While disagreements such as this lead scholars to
have ignominiously marked a city that had surren- debate whether to attribute particular destruction lev-
dered. Some cities apparently capitulated, with the els to Tiglath-pileser III, Sargon II, or an early rather
result that they and their fortifications were left in- than a later Sennacherib campaign (Grayson 1992:
tact. Sites to be utilized by the Assyrians as adminis- 1089), it is nonetheless clear that settlements from
trative centers, such as Megiddo and Samaria (and Dan to Beersheba succumbed to the Assyrians within
perhaps Ramat Ra el), were not physically compro- a relatively short period and that many of the most
mised. Elsewhere, the Assyrians selectively de- prominent cities were physically destroyed. By 701
stroyed city gates and fortifications, palaces, and B.C.E., many settlements, especially border towns,
storehouses rather than destroying the entire city. had fallen. However, the center of the Judahite king-
This discriminating devastation likely undermined dom survived; throughout repeated devastating cam-
confidence and disrupted, if it did not end, a city’s paigns, Jerusalem endured.
function as a military, administrative, and/or financial
hub. Once fortified towns fell, settlers abandoned Site Destructions Attributed to Tiglath-pileser III
their peripheral villages.
Given the Assyrian propensity to brag about their Archaeological evidence of Assyrian conquest and
military exploits, it is surprising that we lack textual subjugation begins with the campaigns of Tiglath-
records of the conquest of certain prominent sites pileser III in 734–32 B.C.E. The Assyrian army ad-
such as Megiddo and Lachish. While some sites may vanced south along the coast to Gaza and the “city of
have been omitted from conquest lists, the Megiddo the Brook of Egypt” (Summary 8; Tadmor 1994:
 Assyrians Abet Israelite Cultic Reforms 37

176–79) destroying—according to archaeologists— tion (Fritz 1993:300). On the eastern shore of the Sea of
Akko, Shiqmona, Dor, Tell el-Qudadi, Ashkelon Galilee, the Assyrians completely burned «En Gev 2
Stratum III, a well-fortified, economic center (B. Ma-
(Annals 18 and 24), and Gezer. In the territory of the
zar 1993: 411; Kochavi 1997:223).
northern kingdom of Israel, Tiglath-pileser III claims Coastal sites also succumbed to the Assyrian assault.
to have devastated all the cities of Israel, sparing only Either Tiglath-pileser III or Sennacherib defeated the
Samaria (Summary 13; Tadmor 1994:81–83, 201–3) late eighth-century walled city of Akko (Dothan 1993a:
and he boasts of the numbers of prisoners taken from 21–22). Shiqmona’s houses and olive-pressing installa-
towns in lower Galilee that had belonged to the tions of Town D were destroyed in the second half of
“House of Omri” (Annals 18 and 24). The Bible also the eighth century. B.C.E. (Elgavish 1993:1375). At Tel
Dor, as at Chinnereth, destruction appears limited to the
lists settlements in the Galilee, “the land of Naph- city gate, in this case, a massive four-chambered gate.
tali,” which fell to the Assyrians, including Kedesh Compared to Chinnereth, more extensive portions of the
and Hazor, although Dan is conspicuously missing site have been excavated but still show no city-wide de-
from the list (2 Kings 15:29). struction (Stern 2000:115).
From the so-called Syro-Ephraimite War or Da- Tiglath-pileser III’s troops allegedly ravaged sites in
mascus Campaign, strategic Israelite sites at which the Jezreel and Beth Shean Valleys. In a reappraisal of
the earlier excavations, the destruction of Beth Shean
destruction levels have been attributed to Tiglath- Upper Stratum V has been attributed to Tiglath-pileser
pileser III include Dan, Hazor, Chinnereth (Tell el- III. Recent excavations at the site uncovered an elabo-
Oreimeh), plus Beth Shean, Tel Re ov, and Megiddo rate version of a “four-room house” (Area P) that burned
in the Jezreel and Beth Shean valleys, as well as and collapsed in the Assyrian assault (A. Mazar
Bethsaida and «En Gev along the border with Geshur- 1997:73–74). At Tel Re昭ov Stratum III, individuals
Aram. The Assyrians entirely destroyed Hazor but killed in the assault on the city (Area A) and the collapse
of the towering mudbrick wall testify to the Assyrian
only selectively damaged the sites of Dan, Chinner-
devastation (A. Mazar 1999:42f.*; 2002:40*). In the
eth, Beth Shean, and Dor. Many sites with destruc- “chariot city” of Megiddo Stratum IVA, Level H-3,
tions that are attributed to Tiglath-pileser appear nei- the Assyrians spared the public buildings (excavated by
ther in Assyrian lists nor in biblical accounts. the University of Chicago), perhaps for their own reuse,
but torched a residential area (excavated by Tel Aviv
Tiglath-pileser III’s army campaigned south along University). Burned debris indicative of destruction was
the coast to Gaza, turning inland to attack the site of found in some but not all of the contiguous rooms abut-
Gezer. Tel Kudadi guarded the entrance into the ting the city wall. Surprisingly, the conquest of Megiddo
Yarkon River estuary. Destruction of portions of the for- is not mentioned in extant Assyrian annals (Finkelstein,
tress’s offset-inset walls and gate is attributed to Tiglath- Ussishkin, and Halpern 2000:143–50, 598).
pileser III (Avigad 1993:882). Gezer strategically sits at
the opening of the Ayalon Valley and the junction of the Not every settlement was burned or lay desolate
Via Maris with a road that leads up into the highlands to and abandoned following Assyrian incursions into
Jerusalem. Assyrian lanceheads and arrowheads testify
the region. Small, nonstrategic sites from north to
to the destruction of the fortified administrative center of
Stratum VI. Affluent residences in Fields II and VII, south, such as Tel Par in the Akko Valley, the appar-
Palace 8000, the upper gate and casemate wall, and the ently unfortified Rosh Ha-«Ayin, Horvat Eli (located
lower gatehouse all burned and collapsed in the Assyr- 3 km northwest of Shiloh), and even the fortified site
ian assault on the city (Dever 1993:505; 1997:399). of Na al Barqai in the Philistine plain, are sites that
In the Galilee and Golan, Tiglath-pileser III targeted continued through the end of the Iron Age without
strategic, fortified centers: Dan and Hazor in the north, obvious disruption (Gal 1995:33; Hizmi 1998:51f.*,
and Chinneret and «En Gev on the shores of the Sea of
Galilee. At Tel Dan Stratum II, destruction by fire in 74–75; Avner-Levy and Torge 1998:40, 58–59;
the gate, ImmadiYo’s house, Building No. 9235, and the Givon 1995:88–90; 1999:67f.*, 73–74). At some
altar room, annex, and pillar room in the sacred precinct sites, such as Yoqneam Stratum XII, a diminished,
testify to sudden devastation in the second half of the and in many cases impoverished, population re-
eighth century B.C.E. Walls collapsed and mudbricks mained (Ben-Tor 1993:807). Other sites, such as the
burned red. The destruction was widespread but not farming village of Tel Hadar Stratum I in the vicinity
complete; habitation and city life continued elsewhere at
the site (Biran 1994:204–6, 253). At Hazor Stratum V,
of «En Gev on the eastern shore of the Sea of Galilee,
strengthened fortifications, including a new watchtower were abandoned (Kochavi 1993a:551–52).
(Area B), proved useless in stopping the Assyrian inva-
sion. The invading army destroyed the entire city (Yadin Site Destructions Attributed to
1993:601; Ben-Tor 1997:4–5). At Tel Chinnereth/Tell Shalmaneser V and Sargon II
el-Oreimeh, on the western shores of the Sea of Galilee,
pottery from the second half of the eighth century found Biblical passages, the Babylonian Chronicle, and
in the burned mudbrick filling the two-chamber gate and Sargon’s “Great” and “Small” Summary Inscriptions
passageway testifies to its sudden and complete destruc- record Assyria’s subjugation of Israel and Philistia.
38 Elizabeth Bloch-Smith

Shalmaneser V and Sargon II besieged the capital the fortified towns of Judah and seized them” (2
city of Samaria and “plundered . . . the entire land of Kings 18:13).
Bit Humria” (Millard 2000:467; Younger 2000b: Attribution of destruction levels to Sennacherib
296, 297). Destruction levels at Dothan, Shechem, rests on the Lachish pottery sequence and Assyrian
and Tell el-Far«ah (North) bear witness to the devas- textual and iconographic references to southern
tating finale. In contrast, the capital city of Samaria, Levantine conquests. Stone-carved reliefs in Sen-
which like Megiddo was an Israelite hub that was to nacherib’s Nineveh palace confirm his conquest of
be transformed into an Assyrian administrative cen- Lachish. With this knowledge, Olga Tufnell in 1950,
ter, was left largely intact (Tappy 2001:222–26, 572– followed by Miriam and Yohanan Aharoni in 1976,
75). Other towns, such as the heavily-fortified Khir- dated the late eighth-century pottery in the destruc-
bet Marjameh in eastern Ephraim, far from a major tion level of Lachish Stratum III to Sennacherib’s
route, were not destroyed but were abandoned (A. 701 B.C.E. campaign and then established pottery
Mazar 1982:171–74; 1993:965–66). Philistine towns correlations with other sites (Tufnell 1950:76–79;
were spared physical destruction although Sargon II Aharoni and Aharoni 1976). Based on comparable
claims to have vanquished and laid siege to cities as assemblages, excavators maintain that Sennacherib
far south as Philistine Gaza, as recorded in the Great destroyed Philistine Tel Miqne II; the Shephelah sites
Summary Inscription, as depicted on palace wall re- of Tel Batash III, Beth Shemesh II, Tel «Erani VI,
liefs, and marked with a memorial stele at Ashdod Lachish III, Tell el- esi VIIIa, Tell Beit Mirsim A2,
(Tadmor 1971). and Tell alif VIB, plus Khirbet Rabud B-II, Tel
Either Tiglath-pileser III or Sargon II destroyed
Sera VI, Tel Beer Sheba II, and perhaps Arad VIII.2
Dothan Level 2 (Ussishkin 1993:373) and the fortified Sennacherib appears to have secured the Judahite
Shechem Stratum VII. At Shechem, the Assyrians sites in the lowlands, the Shephelah foothills, and the
burned Courtyard House 1727 in Field VII (Campbell northern Negev in order to encircle the highlands and
1993:1353). Sargon II burned the fortified town of Tell isolate Jerusalem. Sennacherib has been credited with
el-Far«ah (N) Stratum VIId with its “palace” and resi- destroying only two highland sites, Hebron and
dential areas (Chambon 1984:39–47, plans 4 and 5;
1993:439–40).
Ramat Ra el, but neither has yielded definitive de-
In Philistia, the fortified acropolis of Tel Miqne (Ek- struction deposits. At Hebron (Tell er-Rumeide), the
ron) Stratum II likely surrendered as the city shows no destroyed house preceded a building with lmlk han-
signs of violent conquest (Dothan and Gitin 2005:7). dles that was not destroyed and so may predate Sen-
The approximately three thousand individuals buried in nacherib (Stern 2001:10; Eisenberg and Nagorski
mass graves at Ashdod Stratum VIII are considered 2002:83ff.*, 102–3). A destruction of such limited
casualties of Sargon II’s conquest of the city (Bachi and
scope have been due to a localized event rather than
Ben-Dov 1971; Dothan 1993b:100). Whether or not this
was the work of Sargon II, the city of Ashdod itself does an attacking army. Sennacherib allegedly destroyed
not appear to have been physically destroyed (Finkel- Ramat Ra el Stratum VB near Jerusalem, but the site
stein and Singer-Avitz 2004; Ben-Shlomo 2003); how- lacks burned and collapsed deposits indicative of
ever, the nearby port of Tel Mor Stratum II, which was destruction. Rebuilding is evident but destruction is
fortified with a casemate wall, was ravaged (Dothan unproven (Dessel 1997:402; A. Mazar 1990:424; Y.
1993c:1074).
Aharoni 1964:58–60, 119).
Site Destructions Attributed to Sennacherib That Sennacherib encircled Judah but did not
penetrate the highlands remains a hypothesis based
Sennacherib campaigned in the region in 701 B.C.E., upon a very limited number of sites. Jerusalem,
about ten years after Sargon II’s last visit. King Gibeon, and Tell en-Naṣbeh, as well as Ramat Ra el,
Hezekiah of Judah’s alliance with Egypt and/or show no sign of Assyrian assault or destruction. Un-
Babylonia (2 Kings 18:21; 20:12–13), both of which
were enemies of Assyria, his incursions into Philis- 2 Blakely and Hardin add Tel «Eton (Tell «Aitun) to the list
tine territory (2 Kings 18:8), and his holding hostage of sites that were destroyed by Tiglath-pileser III, then
the Assyrian vassal King Padi of Ekron prompted sparsely resettled, and finally destroyed by Sennacherib.
Assyrian retribution (see Cogan 2000:303). In that Although O. Zimhoni dated the pottery from a probe on the
devastating war against Judah, Jerusalem was spared tell to the mid-eighth century, Blakely and Hardin consider
but many other important Judahite sites fell to the the similarity of the overall sequence to events at Tell el-
Assyrians. By their reckoning, Assyria “besieged 46 esi, Tel «Erani, and elsewhere to be determinative (2002:
35). Excavators at Tel «Eton in the summer of 2006 found
walled cities and surrounding smaller towns, which evidence of destruction at several places on the tell but
were without number” (ibid.). The Bible concurs, lacked sufficient evidence to attribute this destruction to a
acknowledging that Sennacherib “marched against all particular campaign (A. Faust, pers. comm.).
 Assyrians Abet Israelite Cultic Reforms 39

fortunately, excavation reports of other highland sites Miqne) or even Lachish, although excavations have
such as Bethel, Beth Zur, and Gibeah, all excavated shown that the Tel Miqne Stratum II walled acropolis
before 1965, lack the necessary information either to was destroyed (Dothan and Gitin 1993:1056; 1997:
support or to challenge this hypothesis. 33) and Lachish was reduced to ruins. The Assyrian
Widespread disruption and abandonment of set- textual accounts are therefore woefully incomplete
tlements is undeniable, as demonstrated by both ex- for this campaign.
cavations and surveys, but the impression of a total
The Assyrians systematically destroyed the Judahite
destruction of sites throughout Judah is unsustain- Shephelah forts that guarded the passes into the high-
able. The textual record of both Assyria and Judah lands and Jerusalem. Excavation results are summarized
foster the impression of rampant destruction. For the here from north to south.
Assyrians, this was in order to tout their military Tel Batash Stratum III, a Sorek Valley site that sits
prowess. For the Judahites, it was to extol the miracu- astride the road from the coast up to Beth Shemesh and
lous deliverance of Jerusalem. Jerusalem, had been fortified with a newly rebuilt gate
and double wall. Sennacherib’s troops selectively de-
This is not to minimize the impact of Sennach- stroyed parts of the town—the Area C inner gate but not
erib’s campaign: many Shephelah forts, the bulwark the monumental outer gate, an Area H public building
against foreign armies traversing coastal roads, fell to that likely functioned as an administrative center or gov-
the Assyrians. Jerusalem, the capital city and so a ernor’s headquarters, and a governmental storehouse
prize conquest, lay vulnerable and open to attack. that contained dozens of “Judean-type” storejars with
Controlling the northern Shephelah sites secured As- lmlk seal impressions in Area D. Other structures dis-
played no evidence of destruction and continued in use
syria’s eastern flank from attack by Judah while Sen- into Stratum II (Kelm and Mazar 1985:104–5; 1995:119,
nacherib focused his fury upon Ekron, the city that 126–27, 131–35).
had initiated the rebellion which prompted the puni- The fortified site of Beth Shemesh Stratum II likely
tive campaign (Rainey and Notley 2006:242; Cogan served as a regional administrative center. The lack of
2000:303). Conquering the Shephelah forts also ef- seventh-century pottery in the current excavation has
fectively isolated Jerusalem, precluded Egyptian prompted the excavators to attribute the destructive con-
quest in Fields B and E to Sennacherib in 701 B.C.E. In
military assistance to Judah, and halted east-west
the Area B building, situated near the city gate, olive oil
commerce. As in earlier Assyrian campaigns, some was produced and many royal and private stamped jar
cities, such as Tell Beit Mirsim, Tel Batash, and Beth handles were found in the building and its vicinity (Bun-
Shemesh, were only partially destroyed, targeting imovitz and Lederman 1993:252; 2000:106*; 2001:99*–
only the area of the city gate and other public build- 100*; http://www.tau.ac.il/humanities/archaeology/pro-
ings. Lachish, however, like Hazor, suffered total jects/bethshemesh_proj.html).
Tel «Erani Stratum VI, on Na al Lachish along the
destruction.
Ashkelon–Hebron road, fell to the Assyrians in 701
The “LMLK Research Website” (http://www.lmlk. B.C.E. Numerous sling stones in Area A testify to the as-
com/research/lmlk_corp.htm) has compiled a list of sault (Yeivin 1993:418–19, 421; Brandl 1997:257).
more than 800 lmlk-stamped handles, which are con- Lachish Stratum III, strategically located in the
sidered a marker of the Hezekian rebellion. Among Na al Lachish alongside the route leading from the
the sites where the greatest numbers of lmlk stamps coastal plain up into the Hebron hills, was completely
were found, Jerusalem (281 stamps), Ramat Ra el and utterly destroyed in 701 B.C.E. In this fortified set-
tlement with a palace-fort compound, every area exca-
(164 stamps), Gibeon (92 stamps), and Tell en- vated has revealed evidence of burning and destruction.
Naṣbeh (88 stamps)—all in the Jerusalem vicinity— Private houses in Area S that contained stamped and un-
showed no signs of destruction, while the Shephelah stamped lmlk jars lay buried under collapsed walls and
site of Lachish, with the single greatest number of roofs (Ussishkin 2004:83–90, 88ff.*; Barkay and
examples (415 stamps), and perhaps Beth Shemesh Ussishkin 2004:453). Armor scales, sling stones, spear-
(71 stamps), fell to the Assyrians. It seems that Heze- heads, hundreds of arrowheads, Assyrian bronze hel-
mets, and a dagger were retrieved from the conflagration
kiah correctly anticipated Sennacherib’s battle plan in the city gate (Ussishkin 2004:518–19). The Assyrian
but was unable to withstand the onslaught. siege ramp and counter-ramp within the city, plus metal
The route of Sennacherib’s third campaign in the chains and perforated stones for upsetting and bashing
region began at Joppa, continued south through the the siege engines, mark the point of attack (Ussishkin
Shephelah to Lachish, and from there one contingent 2004:695–742). While the Bible omits mention of the
headed north to besiege Jerusalem and perhaps a sec- Assyrian destruction of Lachish, it does note that the
king of Assyria and his troops encamped there (2 Kings
ond contingent returned to the coast to counter an 18:14, 17; Isa. 36:2; 37:8; 2 Chron. 32:9).
Egyptian offensive (Rainey and Notley 2006:241– Continuing south through the Shephelah and encir-
42). In extant texts, Sennacherib does not claim to cling the highlands, the Assyrians attacked Tell el-昌esi
have burned or otherwise destroyed Ekron (Tel Sub-Stratum VIIIa (formerly Sub-Stratum VIIa). At
40 Elizabeth Bloch-Smith

this fortress, which had upper and lower fortification Naṣbeh in the hills north of Jerusalem, life and indus-
walls with an intervening steep slope, the thick layer of try continued uninterrupted through the Iron II pe-
ash, charcoal, and mudbrick debris covering the archi-
riod. Even the hilltop fort of Khirbet Abu et-Twein,
tectural remains in Field I Areas 41 and 51 may repre-
sent an assault by Sennacherib, or perhaps Tiglath- situated in the western slopes of the Hebron hills
pileser III (Blakely and Hardin 2002:33, 52). overlooking the Shephelah, showed no signs of dis-
Tel Sera Stratum VI, an impressive complex of ruption from the eighth century into the sixth–fifth
mudbrick buildings constructed with ashlar masonry centuries (A. Mazar 1982:174–76).
foundations, was burned late in the eighth century, per- Not unexpectedly, small farmsteads escaped As-
haps at Sennacherib’s hand (Oren 1993:1332–33; syrian wrath. Examples from the highlands of
1997:1).
At Tell Beit Mirsim Stratum A2, the attacking army Samaria in the north to Hebron in the south, as well
burned and destroyed sectors of this large, fortified as examples from the Shephelah, illustrate this phe-
site—the east and west gates, the fortress in the center of nomenon: no farmstead or hamlet known to exist in
town, and public and private buildings in the southeast the late eighth century appears to have been burned
quadrant of the mound—but, as noted by the excavator: or razed.
“Most of the town escaped destruction at this time” Two farmsteads on the western slopes of the
(Greenberg 1993:180; Albright 1943:66–67).
Tell 昌alif Stratum VIB, fortified with a modified
Samaria hills, El-Bira 1 and 2, began operation “dur-
casemate wall and external glacis, guarded the route ing the 8th–7th centuries B.C.E., but probably contin-
leading from Egypt and the southern coast up into the ued in use through the Persian period” (Faust
highlands toward Hebron and Jerusalem. At the end of 2003:92, 94).
the eighth century, a “massive conflagration” in domes- In the Rephaim Valley outside Jerusalem, the ter-
tic contexts at the northern and southern ends of the site, raced farm of Er-Ras functioned through the eighth
in casemate wall rooms in Fields II, III, and IV, and in
and into the seventh century. This farming village
additional probes around the tell demonstrate that Sen-
nacherib ravaged the entire settlement (Seger 1983:12– consisted of pillared houses, numerous agricultural
15; 1993:558). installations including oil and wine presses, plus iso-
At Khirbet Rabud (Debir), destruction debris in lated structures (Vaughn 1999:144–45; Feig 1996;
rooms adjoining the city wall is attributed to an Assyrian Feig and Abd Rabu 1996).
attack (Kochavi 1993c:1252). Near Wadi Fukin in the Hebron hills, a large farm-
Sennacherib headed south and east to the administra-
stead with a pillared house and courtyard with a
tive center of Beersheba and perhaps to the fortress at
Arad. Iron Age Beersheba sits at the junction of roads tower functioned from the eighth into the sixth cen-
leading north to Mount Hebron, south to Kadesh Barnea tury (Amit 1991:147).
and Elat, east to the Judean Desert and the Dead Sea, These sites demonstrate some continuity in high-
and west to the coast. Based on pottery similarities with land rural settlement from the eighth century to the
Lachish Stratum III, it appears that Sennacherib’s troops sixth century. It is clear that in the wake of Sennach-
also violently destroyed Beersheba Stratum II (Y. erib’s campaign, not everyone fled from their prop-
Aharoni 1973:107; Aharoni and Aharoni 1976). The As-
syrians burned and toppled the casemate wall to the left erty, was deported by the Assyrians, or was relocated
of the gate (though not to the right), the well-stocked by the Judahite administration (Halpern 1991:27).
storehouses to the right of the gate, and pillared houses While some Shephelah and highland farmers
in the western quarter of the town (Y. Aharoni 1973:5, stayed on their farms, survey data do indicate a wide-
13, 107; Beit-Arieh 1973:31–37). The “huge conflagra- spread abandonment with some regional variation.
tion” was “recognizable everywhere . . . masses of brick Settlement in the Judean hills peaked in the eighth
and debris cover the floors” (Y. Aharoni 1973:5).
At Arad, the original excavation team contended that
century B.C.E. and declined thereafter, particularly in
Arad Stratum VIII fell to Sennacherib or the Edomites the southernmost highlands (Ofer 1994). A similar
in 701 B.C.E., stating that “some 90 percent of the pot- pattern prevailed in the vicinity of Shechem (Camp-
tery in this stratum resembles that from Lachish III and bell 1991:96–97). Within the Shephelah, as expected,
Beersheba stratum II” (Y. Aharoni 1981:149; M. Sennacherib’s impact was greatest in the western
Aharoni 1993:82); however, repeated challenges to the reaches. From Iron IIA–B to Iron IIC, urban sites
excavators’ stratigraphic sequence call into question
these historical conclusions (see Finkelstein 1994:170
(tells) decreased by 65 percent, smaller settlements
for references). by 62.5 percent, and farmsteads by 70 percent (Da-
gan 2004:table 38.5). A survey of the upper Ayalon
Not all sites succumbed to the advancing Assyr- Valley in the region of Gezer found a reduction in the
ians. Some sites continued without disruption, indi- number of small unwalled settlements from the
cating that the Assyrians targeted easily accessible eighth century (82 percent) to the seventh century (42
strategic towns located along major routes. At forti- percent), not as dramatic a decrease as in the Shephe-
fied towns in the interior, such as Gibeon and Tell en- lah (Shavit 2000:189–230). However, in the vicinity
 Assyrians Abet Israelite Cultic Reforms 41

of Tell eṣ- āfi (Gath), sixteen sites have yielded lition of other sites, focusing on city gates and nearby
tenth- to eighth-century pottery, but not one has pot- structures and on administrative buildings. Peripheral
tery of the seventh–sixth century (Dagan 2002:84*; villages and farmsteads were not physically de-
Finkelstein 1994:172–73; Finkelstein and Na»aman stroyed, although many were abandoned.
2004:60–79). The Assyrian impact on the Israelite cult has long
been a topic of discussion, but the specific impact of
Conclusion the Assyrian military campaigns on Israelite cultic
centralization has not received much attention.
An archaeological survey of destructions attributed to Within a few decades, beginning with Tiglath-pileser
the Assyrians shows that, contrary to their own boast- III’s devastating campaign in 734 B.C.E. and culmi-
ful assertions, they did not implement a scorched- nating with Sennacherib’s campaign in 701 B.C.E.,
earth policy throughout the entire region. Their ar- Israelite, Philistine, and Judahite forts and adminis-
mies traversed major roads destroying forts and ad- trative centers succumbed to Assyrian might. By 701
ministrative centers at strategic road junctions. The B.C.E., the Assyrians had secured the major Shephe-
Assyrians left the major routes (reconstructed by lah and northern Negev forts guarding the routes to
Dorsey 1991) only twice, once to conquer the valu- Jerusalem.
able coastal cities of Shiqmona and Dor in the north, That the Judahite capital city of Jerusalem man-
and a second time to destroy the system of forts aged to survive the Assyrian campaigns even after
guarding Judah’s southern and western borders. Ex- Hezekiah’s treasonous behavior (2 Kings 18:7–8) in
cept to attack the capital cities of Samaria (with rebelling against Assyria, annexing Philistine terri-
nearby Dothan, Shechem, and Tell el-Far«ah [N]) and tory, and holding hostage the loyal Assyrian vassal
Jerusalem, the Assyrian armies avoided the high- Padi of Ekron, served to enhance Jerusalem’s status
lands. To subjugate the population, Assyrian policy as Yahweh’s chosen city. As an unintended conse-
apparently called for the complete devastation of a quence of Assyrian imperial policy, therefore, their
small number of well-fortified strategic sites, such as military campaigns facilitated Hezekiah’s efforts to
Hazor and Lachish, combined with the partial demo- centralize the cult in Jerusalem.

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