Archaeologists uncover proof of ancient biblical battle at Armageddon site: 'Exceptional phenomenon'
Archaeologists believe they have uncovered evidence of an ancient biblical battle, all thanks to a few broken fragments found in a curious location.
The artifacts, which mostly consist of Egyptian pottery, were found during a recent excavation of the ancient city of Megiddo in northern Israel. The site is said to contain over 30 layers of various settlements, dating back from the Copper Age to World War I.
Tel Megiddo was the location where Josiah, the king of Judah, famously fought the Battle of Megiddo in 609 B.C. The Jewish leader was defeated and killed by the army of Egyptian Pharaoh Necho II.
The story of the battle is told in the Second Book of Kings in the Old Testament, but Megiddo is also referenced in the Book of Revelation. The site is referred to as "Armageddon," closely related to the Hebrew phrase "Har Megiddo," which translates to "mountain of Megiddo."
Megiddo is said to be the location where the prophesied Battle of Armageddon will be fought between the kings of Earth and God. But while archaeologists cannot prove that the site will be the location of a battle during the end times, they believe they may have found proof of the Old Testament story.
Dr. Assaf Kleiman, a senior lecturer at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev in Israel, told Fox News Digital he believes the pottery fragments belonged to the Egyptian army that defeated Josiah.
The findings consist of "significant quantities" of Egyptian-produced broken vessels dating back to the late 7th century B.C., close to when the Battle of Megiddo was fought.
Instead of the fragments being proof of a trade relationship, Kleiman believes that they were brought in by Egyptian troops rather than being imported into the territory.
The expert cited the "crude production technique, functional mixture, and the lack of similar evidence in nearby settlements," as key reasons why they believe the artifacts were brought in by an army.
"The exposure of so many Egyptian vessels, including fragments of serving bowls, cooking pots, and storage jars, is an exceptional phenomenon," Kleiman explained.
"We, therefore, understand it as representing Egyptians who settled at Megiddo in the late 7th century, maybe as part of an army force that arrived at the site following the collapse of the Assyrian Empire," he added.
He also said that the Grecian pottery may be proof of Greek mercenaries in the Egyptian army, which was not unheard of at the time.
"Service of Greeks, probably from western Anatolia, in the Egyptian army of the 26th Dynasty is referred to in both Greek [from Herodotus] and Assyrian sources," Kleiman noted.
"The possibility of the participation of such mercenaries in the killing of Josiah may be hinted in prophetic works in the Bible."
Kleiman also explained that the Egyptian settlement at Megiddo "did not last long" and that the building where the artifacts were found was likely abandoned decades later. The broken vessels were probably left as litter.
Though Kleiman noted that there's no non-biblical proof of Josiah, Kleiman asserted that the king's existence "has never been doubted in biblical and historical scholarship."
"We can also note that literacy was more common in that era, and thus his reign was most likely documented by scribes who witnessed the events in real time," Kleiman said. "Evidence for Necho's presence in the Levant and the battle against the Babylonians in Carchemish, where the Egyptians lost, is documented in the Babylonian chronicles as well as in the Bible, in Jeremiah and Kings."
Archaeologists plan to do more research into the site's Bronze Age roots.
Kleiman also found evidence to believe that some members of the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel were not all expelled to Mesopotamia in the 7th century B.C. and actually may have stayed in Megiddo.
"Our excavations demonstrated continuous production (and consumption) of similar locally-style vessels at Megiddo, especially cooking pots, also under imperial rule," he explained. "This suggests that the social fabric of Megiddo in the Assyrian Era must have been composed of a significant portion of local populations, who were not expelled by the Assyrians and who lived alongside deportees brought in by the empire."
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Boston Globe
17 hours ago
- Boston Globe
Recipe: Fill your own wraps with Greek salad and tuck in delicious pan-seared halloumi
4. Lift the bottom edge of the wrap and fold it over the filling. Fold in the sides until they almost meet in the center. Roll the wrap away from you to form a package that contains the filling tightly. Cut it in half crosswise at an angle and transfer to a plate. Fill and fold the remaining wraps in the same way. 3. Working with one wrap at a time, spread 2 tablespoons of hummus on the bottom third in a line that is 3 inches from the bottom edge. Leave a gap of 2 inches on each side for folding inward later. With a slotted spoon, place about 1/2 cup of the salad on the hummus. Place 2 slices of halloumi on top. Add mint and parsley leaves. Sprinkle with extra sumac. 2. Wipe out the pan. Set it over medium heat. Heat each wrap for about 10 seconds, or until warm and pliable. 1. In a large nonstick skillet over medium heat, heat the oil. Add the halloumi slices and cook for 2 to 4 minutes, turning once, or until they are golden. Remove the pan from the heat. 1. In a bowl large enough to hold all the salad ingredients, whisk the vinegar, a generous pinch each of salt and pepper, and sumac. Slowly whisk in the olive oil. Taste for seasoning and add more salt and pepper, if you like. Wraps are common at almost every lunch counter, but you'll embark on a whole new flavor adventure when you create your own at home. This wrap, inside lavash or large flour tortillas, holds creamy hummus, a Greek salad, and golden halloumi cheese. Halloumi is a semi-hard, salty, and tangy cheese originally made in Cyprus from sheep's milk, now made all over the Eastern Mediterranean with sheep, cow, and goat's milk. Because it has a high melting point, halloumi can be fried or grilled until it turns brown and crispy on the outside, soft and creamy in the middle. Sheer magic! In this wrap, pair it with your favorite homemade or store-bought hummus and a salad of cucumbers, tomatoes, olives, and sumac. You can find ground sumac, made from the dried berries of the sumac plant, in most Middle Eastern grocery stores. The deep red powder is packed with a tart, lemony flavor, worth buying to use later in rubs or marinades or sprinkling on salads. Add fresh oregano, mint, and parsley and you have a party of tastes and textures wrapped up in a handy package. Serves 4 Wraps are common at almost every lunch counter, but you'll embark on a whole new flavor adventure when you create your own at home. This wrap, inside lavash or large flour tortillas, holds creamy hummus, a Greek salad, and golden halloumi cheese. Halloumi is a semi-hard, salty, and tangy cheese originally made in Cyprus from sheep's milk, now made all over the Eastern Mediterranean with sheep, cow, and goat's milk. Because it has a high melting point, halloumi can be fried or grilled until it turns brown and crispy on the outside, soft and creamy in the middle. Sheer magic! In this wrap, pair it with your favorite homemade or store-bought hummus and a salad of cucumbers, tomatoes, olives, and sumac. You can find ground sumac, made from the dried berries of the sumac plant, in most Middle Eastern grocery stores. The deep red powder is packed with a tart, lemony flavor, worth buying to use later in rubs or marinades or sprinkling on salads. Add fresh oregano, mint, and parsley and you have a party of tastes and textures wrapped up in a handy package. SALAD 2 tablespoons sherry vinegar or red wine vinegar Salt and pepper, to taste ½ teaspoon ground sumac 3 tablespoons olive oil 2 small cucumbers, cut into 1/2-inch pieces 6 ounces cherry tomatoes, halved (about 1/2 pint) ¼ small red onion, thinly sliced ¼ cup pitted Kalamata olives, halved if large 2 tablespoons chopped fresh oregano 1. In a bowl large enough to hold all the salad ingredients, whisk the vinegar, a generous pinch each of salt and pepper, and sumac. Slowly whisk in the olive oil. Taste for seasoning and add more salt and pepper, if you like. 2. Fold in the cucumbers, cherry tomatoes, onion, olives, and oregano. WRAPS 2 tablespoons olive oil 1 package (8 ounces) halloumi, cut into 8 slices and patted dry if wet 4 round lavash wraps (10 inches to 12 inches) or burrito-size flour tortillas 1 cup hummus ½ bunch fresh mint, leaves removed ½ bunch flat-leaf parsley, leaves removed Extra sumac (for sprinkling) 1. In a large nonstick skillet over medium heat, heat the oil. Add the halloumi slices and cook for 2 to 4 minutes, turning once, or until they are golden. Remove the pan from the heat. 2. Wipe out the pan. Set it over medium heat. Heat each wrap for about 10 seconds, or until warm and pliable. 3. Working with one wrap at a time, spread 2 tablespoons of hummus on the bottom third in a line that is 3 inches from the bottom edge. Leave a gap of 2 inches on each side for folding inward later. With a slotted spoon, place about 1/2 cup of the salad on the hummus. Place 2 slices of halloumi on top. Add mint and parsley leaves. Sprinkle with extra sumac.
Chicago Tribune
2 days ago
- Chicago Tribune
Chicago fire: Flaming saganaki sparks interest worldwide decades after its Greektown origin
Last winter, at Chicago's Greek Islands (200 S. Halsted St.), our Greektown dinner started with a bang — more accurately, a whoosh. A server carried a small black pan of blazing cheese to the table as startled diners burst into applause for what is the Windy City's notoriously combustible appetizer: flaming saganaki. In Chicago, the dish is a ritual. It's dramatic, it's delicious, and — let's be honest — it's also a little absurd in the best possible way. The word saganaki comes from sagani, a small, two-handled Greek pan. In Greece, the dish is straightforward: firm, dry cheeses such as kasseri, feta or halloumi are pan-fried until golden. No fire. No flair. Just cheese doing what cheese does best, served with crusty bread. In Chicago, we lightly coat the square or triangular cut of cheese in flour and fry it in a little olive oil until crisp and golden. Then we flip it once, warm it through, splash it with brandy (usually ouzo or Metaxa), light it up, and before setting it on the table, flamboyantly extinguish the flames with a lemon squeeze and a hearty shout of 'Opa!' That word — part cheer, part celebration, part call to 'let's dance!' — adds the perfect exclamation point. So, where did this fiery tradition begin? Depends on whom you ask. Chris Liakouras of the now-shuttered Parthenon restaurant claimed in a 1979 Tribune interview that he invented flaming saganaki in 1968. He described sitting at a table with three friends when the idea for a new menu item was born. 'Why don't you try flaming the cheese?' one of the ladies suggested. And just like that, an appetizer exploded into legend. But Petros Kogeones of Diana's, another Greektown fixture, had a different story. In 1991, he told the Tribune that he and his brother were flambéing cheese as far back as the early 1960s. According to Kogeones, they'd set up tables outside their family grocery, splash brandy on sizzling cheese, light it all on fire, and shout 'Opa!' Eventually, perhaps to stake his claim, Kogeones even renamed the restaurant Diana's Opa. Regardless of who struck the first match to brandy-doused cheese, one thing is clear: Flaming saganaki was a hit. And honestly, when we're traveling and we order saganaki, we're always a little disappointed when it doesn't arrive in a ball of fire. There is, however, increasingly little chance of being served saganaki sans flames, at least in the U.S.: Restaurants from Brooklyn to Malibu are figuring out that brandy and a match might be the not-so-secret ingredients to serving a lot of the crowd-pleasing saganaki. 'The flames were a smart marketing idea,' says Louie Alexakis, owner of the Avli restaurants in Chicago. 'In the 1950s and '60s, a lot of Greek restaurant workers in Chicago had fine dining backgrounds. They saw the wow factor of tableside flambé — things like crepes Suzette or bananas Foster. Flaming cheese was the next step.' Alexakis still flames saganaki at Avli, but also offers a more modern take: saganaki served with spiced fig chutney — still delicious, and less likely to set off the sprinklers. Not everyone is on board with this fiery New World opener to a traditional Greek dinner in Chicagoland. Ted Maglaris, founder of Mana in LaGrange (88 LaGrange Road), said, 'We chose not to flame our pan-fried saganaki but rather to honor the traditional Greek preparation, inspired by recipes from mothers in Greece, which is the inspiration for our restaurant's name, Mana. Flaming saganaki is a relatively recent tradition that began in Chicago, not in Greece. Our goal is to provide an authentic Greek experience, staying true to how saganaki is traditionally enjoyed in Greece.' Flashback: Memories of when Greektown was 'a mile long and 24 hours'With the current eagerness to sample 'authentic' preparations of Greek, Italian, Mexican and other traditional national foods, it's understandable that some restaurants might prefer to serve saganaki the way their mothers and grandmothers did, no matches or accelerants required. Other restaurants may be toning down the theatrics for safety reasons — turns out, flaming cheese and crowded dining rooms make for a risky combination. Somewhat surprisingly, flaming saganaki is now also catching on in Greece, especially in tourist-heavy restaurants, such as the Athens Yacht Club. Though such fiery presentations of cheese are not common in Greece, some travelers have come to expect saganaki to be flaming. And who can blame them? There's something undeniably fun about turning a simple cheese dish into a full-blown pyrotechnic display. Flaming saganaki isn't just food — it's dinner, entertainment, and a tiny adrenaline rush all in one.
New York Post
4 days ago
- New York Post
Archaeologists may have finally solved the mystery of Roanoke's ‘Lost Colony'
A team of researchers believes they may have cracked one of America's most enduring legends: Where did the settlers of the Roanoke Colony go? The Roanoke Colony, also known as the Lost Colony, was the first permanent English settlement in the United States. A group of over 100 colonists settled on North Carolina's Roanoke Island in 1587, led by Sir Walter Raleigh. John White, the governor of the colony, returned to England for supplies in 1587. When he came back to Roanoke Island in August 1590, he found the settlement mysteriously abandoned – and all the colonists, including his daughter Eleanor Dare and his granddaughter Virginia Dare, gone. One of the only clues remaining at the site was the word 'CROATOAN' carved into a palisade. It either referred to Croatoan Island, which is now called Hatteras Island, or the Croatoan Indians. The mystery has haunted Americans and Brits for the past four centuries, with several investigations launched into the matter. Whether the colonists were killed by Native Americans, starved to death, or left for greener pastures has eluded historians. But new research suggests the colonists' fate may not have been tragic after all. Mark Horton, an archaeology professor at the Royal Agricultural University in England, spoke with Fox News Digital about his findings. 5 A team of researchers believes they may have cracked one of America's most enduring legends: Where did the settlers of the Roanoke Colony go? Getty Images For the past decade, the British researcher has worked with the Croatoan Archaeological Society's Scott Dawson to uncover the mystery. Horton said they've uncovered proof that the colonists assimilated into Croatoan society, thanks to a trash heap. 'We're looking at the middens — that's the rubbish heaps — of the Native Americans living on Hatteras Island, because we deduced that they would have very rapidly been assimilated into the Native American population,' Horton said. The smoking gun at the site? 5 The mystery has haunted Americans and Brits for the past four centuries, with several investigations launched into the matter. Youtube/IslandTimeTV Hammerscale, which are tiny, flaky bits of iron that come from forging iron. Horton said it's definitive proof of iron-working on Hatteras Island, which could have only been done by English colonists. 'The key significance of hammerscale … is that it's evidence of iron-working, of forging, at that moment,' he said. 'Hammerscale is what comes off a blacksmith's forge.' Start your day with all you need to know Morning Report delivers the latest news, videos, photos and more. Thanks for signing up! Enter your email address Please provide a valid email address. By clicking above you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Never miss a story. Check out more newsletters Horton added, 'This is metal that has to be raised to a relatively high temperature … which, of course, [requires] technology that Native Americans at this period did not have.' Hammerscale shows that the English 'must have been working' in this Native American community, according to the expert. But what if the hammerscale came longer after the Roanoke Colony was abandoned? Horton said that's unlikely. 'We found it stratified … underneath layers that we know date to the late 16th or early 17th century,' he said. 'So we know that this dates to the period when the lost colonists would have come to Hatteras Island.' 5 The Roanoke Colony, also known as the Lost Colony, was the first permanent English settlement in the United States. Getty Images 5 'We're looking at the middens — that's the rubbish heaps — of the Native Americans living on Hatteras Island, because we deduced that they would have very rapidly been assimilated into the Native American population,' Mark Horton, an archaeology professor at the Royal Agricultural University in England, said. Youtube/IslandTimeTV 'It's a combination of both its archaeological position but also the fact that it's evidence of people actually using an English technology.' At the site, archaeologists also found guns, nautical fittings, small cannonballs, an engraved slate and a stylus, in addition to wine glasses and beads, which all paint a vivid picture of life on Hatteras Island in the 17th century. When asked if the colonists could have been killed in a later war, Horton said they survived among the Croatoans and successfully assimilated. 'We have one little snippet of historical evidence from the 1700s, which describes people with blue or gray eyes who could remember people who used to be able to read from books,' he said. 'Also, they said there was this ghost ship that was sent out by a man called Raleigh.' 5 When asked if the colonists could have been killed in a later war, Horton said they survived among the Croatoans and successfully assimilated. Youtube/IslandTimeTV Horton added, 'We think that they assimilated into the Native American community and their descendants, their sons, their granddaughters, their grandsons carried on living on Hatteras Island until the early 18th century.' When asked if he's officially solved the mystery, Horton said that though the archaeological evidence is definitive, the legend will probably still endure. 'Have we solved the mystery? Well, you know, it's pretty good evidence, but there's always more work to be done,' he said. Horton added, 'And people love mysteries. They hate resolving things one way or the other. So I'm sure that the mystery will continue, you know, whatever the scientific evidence says.'
