Caesar Trail and Tel Azekah of May 22, 2024

Khirbet Hanot is the ruins of a caravanserai (from Khan - Hanot) from the Mamluk period (rulers of Eretz Israel after the Crusaders), located on the opposite side of the road. This inn existed until the nineteenth century and stood on an important route from Jerusalem to Beit Govrin and Kiryat Gat, and from the mountains to the coastal plain. The French traveler Guerin, in Eretz Israel in 1862, wrote that there is a mound of huge stones here, symbolizing the tomb of Goliath.

Relatively soft dolomite, a calcium-rich rock, is intensely eroded by rains here, leading to the formation of karst phenomena. The large and beautiful Soreq Cave, with its stalactites and stalagmites, is located nearby above the bed of the Soreq stream, which flows parallel to the Zanoah stream at the foot of our hill, opposite the quarry. Incidentally, the quarry's development led to the accidental discovery of the cave and the declaration of the area as a protected territory.

Relatively soft dolomite, a calcium-rich rock, is intensely eroded by rains here, leading to the formation of karst phenomena. The large and beautiful Soreq Cave, with its stalactites and stalagmites, is located nearby above the bed of the Soreq stream, which flows parallel to the Zanoah stream at the foot of our hill, opposite the quarry. Incidentally, the quarry's development led to the accidental discovery of the cave and the declaration of the area as a protected territory.

These impressive wide steps were undoubtedly created by Roman soldiers, but the question of when remains open. Many have hastened to link this road to Hadrian's visit to Jerusalem in the first half of the second century AD, based on milestones mentioning his name. However, Roman roads at that time were filled with wheeled carts and chariots, which would leave ruts, yet no such ruts are seen here. This indicates that goods and supplies were carried on pack animals, such as mules and donkeys, a practice that became common only in the fourth century, long after Hadrian's visit. Therefore, the precise dating remains a subject of debate among archaeologists.

Instead of climbing up Caesar's Road, we continued down to Beit Bad, which translates from Hebrew as "House of the Beam." Essentially, it refers to the beam used to hang weight and create press pressure for extracting olive oil. Over time, pressing technologies significantly improved, but the name remained. An ancient Beit Bad with explanatory signage, including a wooden beam for demonstration purposes, is located here. In this facility, the oil was pressed from olives after being crushed elsewhere.

Tel Azekah is an ancient hill city from the times of David and Solomon, located on an elevated hill about 400 meters above sea level at a key crossroads from the valley to Jerusalem. The name Azekah in Aramaic means a fence or hedge that surrounds the area like a ring.

In the Bible, a derivative of the verb ע.ז.ק appears in Isaiah 5:2, "And he fenced it." According to Rashi, this means "he fenced and hedged it around, encircling it like a ring."

Tel Azekah was likely a border fortified city at the junction of Philistine and Judean kingdom.

At the foot of the hill, there are heaps of pottery shards, indicating how large and active this settlement was. Among these shards were fragments of pottery with the king's seal, meaning they were used to pay taxes in the form of wine and oil to Jerusalem. Notably, an English archaeological expedition in the late 19th century found a clay tablet with cuneiform writing from the 8th century BCE at Tel Azekah. The site’s location and significance were the main reasons Azekah was the first target in Sennacherib’s campaign in 701 BCE, during which Assyria destroyed all the cities of Judah except Jerusalem. The Azekah Inscription, an Assyrian inscription preserved in the British Museum attributed to Sennacherib, describes the Assyrian conquest:

"The god Ashur bolstered my spirit, and I set out for the land of Judah. Along my journey, I received the tribute of the kings of the land of Philistia. With the aid of the god Ashur, my lord, I conquered the district of Hezekiah of Judah like [...] The city of Azekah, his fortified city, which is located between my border and the land of Judah, which like a nest of eagles sits on a mountain ridge like iron daggers, its towers reaching the sky. Its walls are fortified and rival (in height) the towering mountains. To the eye, it appears as if its peaks rise from the heavens. I besieged the city with packed ramps, with strong battering rams brought close, with the fierce assault of my infantry... They saw the attack of my horses, they heard the voice of the formidable armies of the god Ashur, and their hearts feared... I surrounded the city of Azekah and captured it, plundered its loot, destroyed it, ravaged it, and burned it with fire."

Azekah was rebuilt during the 7th century BCE, and by the early 6th century BCE, when Judah was attacked by the Babylonian army, it had again become one of the important border cities on the kingdom's western frontier. When the Babylonians besieged Jerusalem on the eve of the First Temple’s destruction, the prophet Jeremiah described the fate of the last two remaining cities in the Judean lowlands:

"The army of the king of Babylon fought against Jerusalem and all the cities of Judah that were left: against Lachish and Azekah, for these were the only fortified cities remaining in Judah."

Tel Zakaria was one of the first sites excavated in Israel. As early as 1898, British archaeologists Frederick Bliss and Robert Macalister, on behalf of the Palestine Exploration Fund, received a license from the Ottoman authorities to excavate four sites in the Judean lowlands: Tel Goded, Maresha, Gath, and Azekah. Tel Azekah was excavated over three seasons, focusing on the upper mound. During the excavations, towers without a connecting wall were uncovered, which were dated to the Roman period, and the acropolis fortress in the southeast of the mound, which was dated to the time of Rehoboam based on the biblical description. The upper parts of the walls were dated to the Hellenistic period. In recent years, a focused survey was conducted at the site by the renewed excavation team as part of preparations for actual excavation, uncovering over 18,000 pottery shards. According to the survey's findings, the mound thrived in two main periods: the Late Bronze Age and Iron Age II.

Further excavations began in 2012 by a joint team from Tel Aviv University, led by Oded Lipschits and Yuval Gadot, and Heidelberg University, led by Manfred Hümmer. These excavations are still ongoing. The first excavation season in 2012 focused on three parts of the mound, confirming the survey results that the Late Bronze Age and Iron Age II were peak periods for the settlement. The findings have not yet been officially published.

In Tel Aviv University's excavations, a massive destruction layer from the 12th century BCE was discovered, indicating that the Canaanite city was destroyed in a great fire. An article in Haaretz referred to this destruction as a "mini-Pompeii" due to the many artifacts found among the ruins of the destroyed city. During this period, the end of the Late Bronze Age, many Canaanite cities like Lachish, Hazor, Megiddo, and Gezer were also destroyed.

Eusebius, in the 4th century CE, located Azekah between Eleutheropolis (Beit Guvrin) and Jerusalem. However, in the later Madaba Map, the name Azekah does not appear, and instead, "Beit Zacharia" is mentioned, reminiscent of the Arab village of Zakaria that existed at the foot of the hill until the War of Independence. Today, the moshav of Zekharia is located there. Near the inscription on the Madaba Map, a large church is depicted with the inscription "Tomb of Holy Zechariah." According to Avi-Yonah, the church courtyard was considered the burial place of the prophet, and the building was new and well-known when the map was created. It seems that during the Byzantine period, Christians confused Zechariah the prophet with Zechariah, the father of John the Baptist, which explains the grandeur of the building. The building itself was first mentioned by Antoninus of Piacenza in 570 CE.

Another destruction layer identified at the site dates to the Iron Age, corresponding to the conquest of Azekah, a city in the Kingdom of Judah, by the Assyrian army. Professor Oded Lipschits, the expedition leader, reported that during the excavations, remnants of an Assyrian siege ramp were discovered in the southeastern corner of Tel Azekah. This ramp dates to King Sennacherib's campaign against the cities of Judah in 701 BCE. A similar siege ramp from the same Assyrian military campaign was found at Tel Lachish. The Assyrian conquest of Azekah is mentioned in the Azekah Inscription.

It is difficult to pinpoint where the battle between David and Goliath took place or if it even happened, but if we approach these events, it could have only been at the foot of Tel Azekah, opposite Tel Socoh, near the Ela stream. It is possible that David took a smooth stone from this stream, placed it in his sling, and defeated Goliath.