Gat (Bible)
Gat or Gath (also Geth ) is a city that is mentioned several times in the Tanach . The city is said to have been located on the territory of the Philistines in the Elah Valley between the places Gaza and Ashdod . She is said to have ruled over other places and villages in the area, such as Achis .
history
The city is already mentioned in the Amarna letters (EA 278–280, 14th century BC) as a neighboring Canaanite city-state to Jerusalem , its king at that time was Suwardata. Juan-Pablo Vita assumes on the basis of paleographic studies that a scribe from Gezer wrote the letter of the Šuwardata. This scribe also worked for the allied rulers of Ginti-kirmil and Ashdod .
After Joshua in the Old Testament Gat was a part of the Five Cities of the Philistines , who from the cities of Gath, Gaza , Ashdod , Ekron and Ashkelon to have existed and probably even its center. According to the book of Samuel, the kings of Gath were called Maoch at the time of David and his son Achish , whose vassal David was once ( 1 Sam 27 : 2-9 EU ). Achish led the alliance of the five Philistine cities in the battle against Saul , from which David profited ( 1 Sam 29 EU ).
In the mid-8th century Assyrian annals, Gat is only mentioned as a small town that was ruled by Ashdod. The Book of Amos mentions the destruction of Gat:
Gat was founded around 830 BC. Conquered and destroyed by King Hazael of Damascus ( 2 Kings 12.18 EU ). It is no longer mentioned in later parts of the Bible.
Ruler
- Šuwardata, Amarna period
Others
According to biblical tradition, the giant Goliath, killed by David in a duel, came from Gat.
Tell it-Safi
Archaeological investigations have identified Tell es-Safi (today Tel Zafit southwest of the city of Bet Shemesh ) in the Shefela as Gat, which was destroyed towards the end of the 9th century. Then what was originally probably the most important city in the whole area fell into disrepair. The archaeological excavations are led by Prof. Aren Maeir of the Bar-Ilan University (Ramat-Gan, Israel ). At the beginning of August 2015, the archaeologists reported that a city gate, a fortress wall, a temple and a production facility for iron had been discovered. The finds allow conclusions that the extension of the city was over 50 hectares. Cities like Jerusalem extended about 12 hectares at the same time.
Individual evidence
- ↑ J.-P. Vita: The Gezer corpus from El-Amarna. Scope and writer. In: Journal of Assyriology. Berlin 90.2000, 70-77. ISSN 0084-5299
- ↑ Dig Gath
- ↑ Archaeologists find the gateway to Goliath's native city. On: time online. 4th August 2015
literature
- Immanuel Benzinger : Geth 1 . In: Paulys Realencyclopadie der classischen Antiquity Science (RE). Volume VII, 1, Stuttgart 1910, column 1334 f.
- Israel Finkelstein , Neil Asher Silberman : David and Solomon. CH Beck, Munich 2006, ISBN 3-406-54676-5 , p. 38 f.
- Aren Maeir : The historical background and dating of Amos VI 2. An archaeological perspective from Tell es-Safi / Gath. In: Vetus Testamentum. Leiden 54.2004, 3 ISSN 0083-5889 , pp. 319-334.
- Aren Maeir (ed.): Tell es-Safi / Gath I. The 1996-2005 Seasons. (= Egypt and the Old Testament, vol. 69). Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden 2012, ISBN 978-3-447-06711-9 .