The Legendary City Of Gath

Legendary City of Gath – Home of the Biblical Giant Goliath

The legendary city of Gath has been discovered by archaeologist after a 20 year excavation effort by the Ackerman Family Bar-Ilan University Expedition led by Professor Aren Maeir in an area which is now divided between the warring states of Palestine and Israel.

One of the five Philistine city-states, Gath is said to be the home of the Biblical giant Goliath who had abandoned his seat to David, the future kind of Israel and first among the great rulers. Separate expeditions had been carried out from 1899 but researchers had only recently been capable of confirming the existence of the Biblical city. Researchers had excavated a mammoth gate, which was the largest that was discovered in Israel that was believed to be the same gate referred in the Book of Samuel. It seemed to be a fitting entrance for one the regions’ main cities during the 9th or 10th century BC.

The Israelite style Philistine pottery had also been recovered indicating that at least a partial meshing of cultures between the two enemies prevailed. Gath had been an Iron Age city of industry. Moreover, archaeologist had also discovered a noticeable foundry inside its boundaries portraying Gath as a bustling urban centre which supplied varied metalwork to the nearby communities.

Goliath – Massive Warrior Killed with Slingshot by David

In the Old Testament, it has been described that Gath was the home of Goliath the massive warrior who had been killed with a slingshot that had been fired by David prior to him being the King of Israel. Professor Louise Hitchcock of Melbourne University Associate had stated the archaeologists had known about the site for over two decades.

She told news.com.au that they had been digging there every July since 2008 though the project had been going on since 1997. Ms Hitchcock though not personally involved in the discovery of the gate said that she had made various other discoveries which go along with the theory comprising of inscription of the name Goliath, two Philistine temples, altars as well as rituals objects.

She said that the discovery of the gate in the lower area of the city seems to be different to the area where she had been digging. She had been excavating the houses of the people who had probably built the gate.

Discovery of Some Pottery Connected with Philistine Culture

She further adds that it was in these houses that she had made the discovery of some pottery that was usually connected with Philistine culture. She commented that the domestic remnants of distinctive Philistine style pottery also portrayed some elements of Israelite technique and the same suggested that there was some multiculturalism between the warring factions.

 However, though the excavation correlated with the presence of Gath, Ms Hitcock did not believe that they are explicit proof of God. With regards to Goliath, Ms Hithcock stated that there was no way of determining if he was a monstrous giant and don’t know how tall he was, though several people during that time were very short. Hence he could have been around 6 ft. tall for the people to consider him as a giant.