Aerial view of Tel Megiddo. AVRAM GRAICER, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Although remembered in the Bible as one of Judah’s most pious rulers, King Josiah met a rather untimely death, slain at Megiddo by Pharaoh Necho II. While Josiah’s death is recorded in both 2 Kings and 2 Chronicles, no archaeological evidence has ever been found to corroborate the story, until now. Publishing in the Scandinavian Journal of the Old Testament, archaeologists excavating at the site of Megiddo in northern Israel propose that new ceramic finds provide the first evidence for Egyptian forces stationed in the city at the time of Josiah’s end.

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When Egypt Reigned at Megiddo

The death of pious King Josiah at the hands of Pharaoh Necho II at Megiddo (c. 609 BCE) was the beginning of the end for the biblical kingdom of Judah, which just a few decades later would finally fall at the hands of the Babylonians. Now, the discovery of massive amounts of Egyptian and Greek pottery has confirmed at least one major element of the story: that Egyptian forces and their Greek mercenaries had a significant presence at Megiddo at the end of the seventh century BCE.

In searching for traces of the biblical event, the archaeologists had little to go on, with much of the upper layers of the archaeological mound at Megiddo having been removed by prior excavations. Finally identifying a promising spot, known as Area X, the team hit pay dirt: a small area containing the remains of a mudbrick wall and two successive buildings with well-preserved layers dating from the eighth to sixth centuries BCE.

The earliest layers excavated in the area contained evidence of the Israelite occupation of the site and the fiery destruction that brought that occupation to its end at the hands of the Assyrian army under Tiglath-Pileser III (c. 732 BCE). Later layers showed evidence for the site’s Assyrian occupation, a period when it was the capital of the province of Magiddu and home to a mixed population of Israelites and deportees from around the Assyrian Empire. None of that was unexpected based on previous excavations. However, it was the latest layers of Area X that provided striking new evidence of the biblical story.

Although no destruction layer was identified at the end of Assyrian control over the site (mid- to late seventh century), there was a sudden change in ceramic remains, with the inclusion of a large amount of imported Egyptian and eastern Greek pottery. Dating to the late seventh century BCE, these ceramic finds perfectly matched the period of Josiah’s death. According to the excavators, no other site in the region has such a large amount of Egyptian pottery, and no non-coastal site has as much Greek pottery.

Considering the data, the archaeologists suggest that the most logical explanation for such a large and sudden presence of Egyptian and Greek pottery is the presence of a large garrison of Egyptian and Greek troops, the latter well known as mercenaries who served under the employ of Necho II. Besides fitting the biblical story, the evidence also fits with Assyrian history. Conquering the southern Levant in the latter half of the eighth century, the Assyrian Empire would slowly start to decline, and upon losing control of the Levant about a century later, it was Assyria’s Egyptian allies that filled the power vacuum. In the last two decades of the seventh century, Assyria was on the ropes, under attack by the Babylonians, the Medes, and the Persians. It was then that Pharaoh Necho rode out from Egypt to aid the Assyrians.

As recorded in 2 Kings 23:29, “In his days Pharaoh Necho king of Egypt went up to the king of Assyria to the river Euphrates. King Josiah went to meet him, and Pharaoh Necho killed him at Megiddo, as soon as he saw him.” Although 2 Chronicles 35:22–24 specifies that Josiah fought against Necho (an element of the story that is debated by scholars), it can no longer be doubted that the Egyptian army was stationed at Megiddo, exactly where and when the biblical narrative places them.

This article was first published in Bible History Daily on March 10, 2025.

Related reading in Bible History Daily

More of Megiddo’s Roman Legionary Camp Revealed

Twenty Years at Megiddo 

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Megiddo, Israel

The Megiddo Mosaic

King Solomon’s Stables—Still at Megiddo?

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Aeriel photo of Tel Burna’s city gate in Area G. Courtesy Tel Burna Excavation Project.

With the looming threat of Sennacherib’s invasion at the very end of the eighth century BCE, the people of Tel Burna, a site located in the Judean Shephelah southwest of Jerusalem, prepared for war. Unfortunately, all their efforts were for naught. At least that is the conclusion of the archaeologists digging Tel Burna, who have published the results of more than a decade of excavations in the journal ‘Atiqot.

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Preparing for War in the Shephelah

The invasion of Judah by the Assyrian king Sennacherib in 701 BCE is one of the most consequential events recorded in both the Hebrew Bible (2 Kings 18:13–15) and the region’s archaeology. Its significance is evidenced not only by the many destruction levels left behind in the wake of this brutal event, but also by clear indications of Judah’s preparation for the invasion. Tel Burna, possibly biblical Libnah, is one Judahite site where such preparations can be seen in the archaeological record.

Map of the around surrounding Tel Burna. Courtesy Tel Burna Excavation Project.

Excavations at Tel Burna, which is just a few miles north of Lachish, revealed a Judahite town on the border between Judah and Philistia that was first fortified soon after the invasion of Pharaoh Sheshonq I (biblical Shishak) in the late tenth century BCE. Tel Burna’s casemate wall—the type of fortification found at dozens of Judahite fortresses and towns during the Iron Age—stood unchanged for nearly 200 years, only to be suddenly altered in the late eighth century.

At that time, the western section of the casemate wall, which was made up of a series of rectangular, thick-walled rooms or cells encircling the town, was filled in with earth, effectively turning the rooms of the casemate into a massive, solid wall. To this was added a steep earthen glacis that would have projected strength to potential enemies, including Sennacherib and the encroaching Assyrian threat. It is not certain if this change was made around the city’s entire 52,000-square-foot fortification system. It is possible that the inhabitants only had the time or resources to reinforce the most strategic points in the wall.

Unfortunately for the inhabitants of Tel Burna, their reinforcement efforts proved too little, too late. According to Assyrian sources, though Sennacherib failed to take Jerusalem, he did conquer 46 towns and cities in Judah. Archaeological evidence from across southern Israel suggests that is likely an accurate number; late eighth-century destruction layers have been found at Lachish, Azekah, Beth Shemesh, and other sites. While the Burna fortifications may have held off the Assyrian forces for a bit longer, they ultimately proved insufficient, as excavation identified a clear destruction layer contemporary with those found at other Judahite sites.

Read more in Bible History Daily:

Sennacherib’s Siege of Lachish

Missing Wall of Biblical Jerusalem Discovered

All-access members, read more in the BAS Library:

Sennacherib’s Siege of Jerusalem: Once or Twice?

In the Path of Sennacherib

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Ushtabi of Wendjebaendjedet, a high-ranking official of Pharaoh Psusennes I. Credit: The Israel Museum, Jerusalem, Elie Posner.

A recent scholarly article has published new data regarding the source of Egyptian copper during the Egyptian Third Intermediate Period (c. 1070 B.C.E–665 B.C.E.), showing that Egypt’s copper likely originated in the Arabah, the wide desert valley that forms the modern border between Israel and Jordan.[i] In addition to showing trade connections, this discovery could also provide new evidence on the reasons for the famous military expedition of the Egyptian pharaoh Shoshenq I (biblical Shishak) to the southern Levant in the mid-tenth century B.C.E.

At the height of Egypt’s power during the New Kingdom (c. 1550–1070 B.C.E.), Egypt formed complex trade networks that supplied its empire with valuable goods, including copper—obtained from Sinai and the Arabah—that was used to produce bronze weapons and luxury objects. With Egypt’s decline at the end of the Late Bronze Age (c. 1150 B.C.E.), however, the trading networks collapsed and the copper mines were abandoned. It was only during the subsequent Third Intermediate Period that bronze objects again circulated widely in Egypt. This dramatic increase in bronze artifacts has led scholars to wonder how Egypt procured the necessary copper for their production.

To answer this question, a team from the Israel Museum and Tel Aviv University recently took samples from several Egyptian artifacts dated to the Third Intermediate Period. The team performed chemical analyses on four bronze funeral statuettes from the reign of Pharaoh Psusennes I (r. late 11th century B.C.E.) and concluded that the copper from the figures almost certainly originated from the Arabah. Given that the Arabah shows no signs of having been under direct Egyptian control during this period, the team believes that Egypt likely received copper through local trade networks rather than direct exploitation.

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What does all of this have to do with Shoshenq I, the famous Shishak of the Bible who supposedly threatened Jerusalem during the reign of Rehoboam (1 Kings 14:25–26; 2 Chronicles 12:1–12), only a half century after the reign of Psusennes I? While it has long been thought that part of Shishak’s reason for invading the southern Levant was to gain access to Arabah copper, there was little firm evidence to support this hypothesis. With these new data, the team suggests that Shishak’s campaign was aimed at creating a monopoly on the Levantine copper mines and pushing out competition for this scarce and important resource. If this is correct, Shishak’s reported ransack of Jerusalem could be understood as an attempt to reassert dominance over the Levantine kingdoms to prevent them from overturning Egypt’s new role in the copper trade.

Read more in the BAS Library:

It Is There: Ancient Texts Prove It
by Nadav Naʼaman
With unqualified certainty, Margreet Steiner asserts that in the Late Bronze Age (1550–1150 B.C.E.), the period just before the Israelite settlement, there was “no … town, let alone a city” of Jerusalem. As far as the archaeological record is concerned, there is, for that period, “simply nothing.”

Egyptian Papyrus Sheds New Light on Jewish History
by: Karel van der Toorn
The enigmatic Papyrus Amherst 63 was likely created by the descendants of the Aramean and Judean soldiers who in the fifth century B.C.E. had been stationed at the southern Egyptian border. Recorded in a cursive script derived from Egyptian hieroglyphs, the Aramaic texts of the Amherst papyrus keep challenging what we know about Aramean religion and the history of the Hebrew Bible.

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Proto-Aeolic baluster columns of an ancient window. <em>Photo: Shai Halevi, IAA</em>

Dozens of architectural limestone remains were found in excavations of the Armon Hanatziv Promenade. Some of these are Proto-Aeolic capitals, a signature of the First Temple period (1000-586 B.C.E.), representing the Kingdoms of Israel and Judah. Discovered were three complete stone capitals, decorative items from window frames, and balustrades which had tiny Proto-Aeolic capitals attached. As Yaakov Billig, director of the excavation, explains in the City of David press release, “The level of workmanship on these capitals is the best seen to date, and the degree of preservation of the items is rare.”

Columns Found at Armon Hanatziv: Photo: Yoli Schwartz IAA

Billig speculates these architectural artifacts are from a regal structure built during the restoration of Jerusalem following the biblical siege of Jerusalem by Sennacherib and the Assyrians in 701 B.C.E. The conflict between the attacking Sennacherib and the Judahites under the rule of King Hezekiah appears in the Hebrew Bible in both Kings (2 Kings 18:13-19:37) and Chronicles (2 Chronicles 32:1-23), and also in the cuneiform Annals of Sennacherib. Jerusalem barely survived. It says in Kings that 185,000 Assyrian soldiers were slaughtered by the Lord’s angel. John Bright and other historians have speculated that illness spread through the Assyrians, as was not uncommon to armies on campaign, and stopped Sennacherib from decimating Jerusalem.

Raw Finds at Armon Hanatziv: Photo: Shai Halevi, IAA

This discovery came from excavations on the promenade where a visitor center is planned. The work, conducted by the Israel Antiquities Authority, is funded by the Israeli Government Tourist Corporation and the Ir David Foundation.

If the Proto-Aeolic remains are truly from the period after Sennacherib’s siege of Jerusalem, they would have been part of a magnificent building built in the 7th century B.C.E. as part of a revival that saw a boom in construction, especially in the area just beyond the walls of the city. As Billig suggests, the people of Jerusalem must have felt safe, and economic development would have been strong to support this construction as well as other villas and government buildings beyond the safety of Jerusalem’s walls.

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Sennacherib’s Siege of Jerusalem: Once or Twice? by Mordechai Cogan. The Assyrian monarch Sennacherib’s military campaign against King Hezekiah of Judah is one of the best-documented and most discussed events in the history of ancient Israel. The late-eighth-century B.C.E. encounter is reported in both Kings (2 Kings 18:13–19:37) and Chronicles (2 Chronicles 32:1–23). It is likely the backdrop for several prophetic teachings (for example, Isaiah 1:4–9, 22:1–14; Micah 1:10–16). In addition, we have a detailed cuneiform account of the campaign in the annals of Sennacherib (his third campaign). We even have a relief from Sennacherib’s palace in Nineveh depicting his conquest of Lachish, a visual account complemented by archaeological finds from the site south of Jerusalem.

A Tiny Piece of the Puzzle: Six-Letter Inscription Suggests Monumental Building of Hezekiah by Hershel Shanks. Ancient Jerusalem sometimes reveals itself in little bits. In this case, it is a tiny inscription with only six letters preserved. So little remains of ancient Israel in the City of David (the 12-acre ridge where the oldest inhabited part of Jerusalem is located) because later inhabitants continually destroyed evidence of earlier occupation. Over the millennia, the stones that made up the houses, temples and monuments of Iron Age Jerusalem were swept aside and scattered to make room for new settlements.

The Great Eighth Century by By Philip J. King. A century is a wholly arbitrary block of time. History surely does not proceed by 100-year chunks. And to mark the beginning and end of a historical period by the start and finish of a particular century can be justified by nothing more than our attraction for round numbers. Yet, if we don’t hold ourselves too precisely to these round numbers, a century is at least a convenient framework within which to look at the process of historical development.

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