Archaelogical excursion: Lahkish
October 8/09 - The first, second and third year students at Ratisbonne made an archaeological excursion to Ashqelon and Lahkish. Ashqelon was part of the ancient Canaanite Pentapolis on the eastern shore the Mediterranean. The city is unique for its still extant glaces dating back to the Bronze Age. A glaces is a sloped wall fortifying a city. During its height, this wall protected the city from the effectiveness of battering rams. Through the centuries it has been controlled by the Canaanites, Philistines, Greeks, Romans, the Crusaders and by the Muslims. During its Crusader period Ashqelon had a large Byzantine Church (5th century), Santa Maria Viridis, which was later destroyed.
While there, several passages from the Bible were read that feature Ashkelon (Joshua 13 - Philistines capture Ashqelon; 2 Samuel 1-David mourns the death of Saul and Jonathan; Judges 14 - Samson's riddle; Judges 16 - the death of Samson).
Lahkish is important for this relations to the history of Israel in scripture. It was a Canaanite city that may have been captured by Joshua (Joshua 10:1-5) but this is still a debated question. We do know that it is mentioned in 2 Kings 14, this city was destroyed by Sennacherib immediately before he captured Samaria in 701BC. One of the famous elements from the city's antiquity are a series of letters written on pottery. One of the fragments contains, what some scholars believe, to be a quotation from the Prophet Jeremiah (Jer. 38:2-4). If this is the case this letter would be the only extant contemporary citation of a Prophet.