About 3,000 geezerhood ago during the Iron Age , the Assyrians were a major force in the Middle East and North Africa . Their military might was terrifying . And now , a raw archaeological finding discover more about this fierce but vanished conglomerate ’s defensive scheme .
Tel Aviv University archaeologist Alexander Fantalkin led a squad that find a monumental clay - and - stone wall used to defend an artificial harbor on what is today the Israeli coast . Up to 15 feet gamey and 12 feet compact , it is hundreds of substructure long and would have formed a crescent - shaped defence for the Assyrian stronghold ( you may see a 3-D rendering of it above ) . It ’s likely that this rampart was built in the thick of several bloody conflicts between the Assyrians and two Israeli kingdoms , as well as Israel ’s neighbors the Philistines .
The Assyrians bring out an enormous amount of monumental art ( such as these winged Samson , housed in the Louvre , below ) and left behind elaborate descriptions of their military victory on engraved stone slabs cry stele .
Photo byDavid Monniaux
According toa firing about this new finding , the seawall was credibly built in the wake of a fabled battle between the Assyrians and a anti-intellectual rising lead by a power called Yamani :
When the fortifications were built , the Assyrians predominate the southeasterly part of the Mediterranean basin , including component part of Africa and the Middle East . Assyrian inscription reveal that at the end of the century , Yamani , the rebel male monarch of Ashdod , go a rebellion against Sargon II , the queen of the Assyrian Empire . The Kingdom of Judah , under King Hezekiah , rejected Yamani ’s call to join the rising .
The Assyrians responded raspingly to the revolt , finally destroying Philistine Ashdod . As a result , force shifted to the nearby country of Ashdod - Yam , where the TAU excavations are taking place . The fortifications seem to be related to these event , but it is not yet clear on the dot how . They could have been build before or after the Ashdod uprising was put down , either at the initiative of the locals or at the rules of order of the Assyrians .
“ An amazing amount of time and vitality was invested in building the wall and glacis [ embankments ] , ” says Fantalkin .
Hezekiah ’s refusal to conjoin the rebellion against the Assyrians did n’t do much safe . The Kingdom of Judah was subsequently attacked by the Assyrians — with both Assyrians and Israelites claiming victory . ( This was after the Assyrians had already sacked Samaria , the northerly kingdom of Israel , enslaving all its citizen . ) The compass point is , the Assyrians essentially assault everybody in the arena , creating several restless client states like Judah , and it shit perfect sense that they ’d call for a serious wall like this to protect themselves from all their enemies .
Read more fromTel Aviv University
anthropologyArchaeologyHistory
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