Tuesday, March 4, 2025

Iron Age Armageddon

Lately is found evidence for the first Armageddon - Josiah's battle at Megiddo. They found, at this Levantine site (which was still spinning pots in Semitic), a lot of "imported" Egyptian ware. It was cheap ware... like what might serve a host of Egyptian soldiers, rather than of rich Egyptian traders. These pots served Lydians and Greeks, too.

We're still unsure what brought Josiah to show up and get killed. That murder (or execution?) was the beginning of the end for the Judahite Kingdom, which - many believe - formed the template for the Jewish Kingdom of the Maccabees.

Inasmuch as that later kingdom could never live up to Josiah's promises, Armageddon became a byword for the Last Battle, mostly in Christianity although I suspect the Jews had preceded him.

Note here that it's Israel Finkelstein who's raised this to attention. Finkelstein is considered a revisionist. It would appear "Biblical Archaeology" trends better in later years, as is also the case for Lakhm Archaeology. I take it that every halfway-decent king commissions a Royal History beyond the bare king-list (which, for Assyrians, was a proper chronology). Some kings might incorporate earlier kings to associate the better predecessors. The books of Reigns associates Josiah's reforms with Hezeqiah's reign.

This finding validates the factual accounts of Josiah's reign, in particular a possible bent against Egypt. AntiEgyptian propaganda can be associated with this reign, like the Exodus.

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