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Megiddo
Armageddon
A UNESCO tel of 30 layers and 6,000 years, Solomon’s chariot city, and the Har Megiddo of the Book of Revelation.
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The Valleys
The region
The Jezreel Valley is the flat, fertile heart of northern Israel and, by any measure, the most fought-over ground on earth. Through the pass at Megiddo ran the road from Egypt to Mesopotamia, and whoever held it held the land. Here Thutmose III fought the earliest recorded battle in history, Solomon built his chariot city, Josiah fell before Pharaoh Necho, and in 1918 Allenby broke the Ottoman line. Napoleon called it the most natural battlefield on the whole earth, and the Book of Revelation chose it for the last battle of all: Armageddon, Har Megiddo.
The Bible is written across its slopes. At the spring of Harod Gideon chose his 300; on Mount Gilboa Saul and Jonathan fell, and David cursed the mountains with no dew or rain; at Jezreel, Jezebel met her end; and at Nain, on the hill of Moreh, Jesus raised a widow’s son. Then the pioneers came, drained the malarial swamps and built Nahalal, the first moshav, in a circle that is still visible from the air — the valley that Moshe Dayan grew up in and Golda Meir learned to lead.
Highlights
Where to begin
02
Beit She’an
The Best-Preserved Roman City in Israel
Where Saul’s body hung on the walls, and below the tel, Scythopolis: colonnaded streets, a 7,000-seat theater, and columns felled by the earthquake of 749.
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03
Beit Alpha
The Zodiac Mosaic That Surprised the World
A 6th-century synagogue floor at the foot of Gilboa: the Binding of Isaac, a zodiac wheel around Helios, and the Torah ark, found by kibbutz members in 1928.
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04
Mount Gilboa
Where Saul Fell
“How the mighty have fallen.” The ridge of Saul’s last battle, with views across three valleys and a rare iris in spring.
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05
Ma’ayan Harod
Where Gideon Chose His 300
The spring at the foot of Gilboa where Gideon tested his men by how they drank, still flowing into a broad pool.
Read more14 sites
Explore the region
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- Beit Alpha SynagogueThe Zodiac Mosaic That Surprised the WorldA 6th-century synagogue with one of the most famous mosaic floors in Israel, discovered by Kibbutz Heftziba in 1928.→
- Beit She’anThe Best-Preserved Roman City in IsraelFive thousand years on one tel, and below it the Roman-Byzantine city of Scythopolis, frozen by the earthquake of 749 CE.→
- Bethlehem of GalileeThe Other BethlehemYes, there is a Bethlehem in the Galilee. Some scholars argue it may be the Bethlehem of the tribe of Zebulun.→
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- Ma’ayan HarodWhere Gideon Chose His 300 WarriorsThe spring where Gideon tested his men, a beautiful natural pool, and the grave of Yehoshua Hankin, Redeemer of the Valley.→
- MegiddoAt the Crossroads of the Ancient WorldTel Megiddo gave the world the word Armageddon, witnessed the earliest recorded battle in history, and was fought over by every empire from Egypt to Britain.→
- MerhaviaWhere Golda Meir Learned to LeadThe kibbutz where a 23-year-old Milwaukee schoolteacher became the woman who would lead Israel.→
- Mount GilboaThe mountain where Saul’s story ended, David cursed the rain, and a rare purple iris blooms each spring.→
- Mount SaulThe King’s Last CampThe hilltop overlooking the battlefield where Saul camped before his final battle against the Philistines.→
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- NahalalThe First Moshav and Moshe Dayan’s HometownIsrael’s first moshav, designed in a famous circle, where Moshe Dayan grew up and the cooperative settlement model was born.→
- NainThe Miracle of the Widow’s SonThe village on the slopes of Givat HaMoreh where Jesus raised a widow’s only son from the dead.→
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