Monarchy at Work? The Evidence of Three Gates

King Solomon, according to the Bible, built the walls of “Hazor, Megiddo [and] Gezer” (1 Kings 10:15). Six-chambered monumental gates very similar in design have been uncovered at Hazor, Megiddo and Gezer (see photos, below). Until recently, archaeologists generally agreed that all of these gates date to the tenth century B.C.E.—to about the time of Solomon (c. 965–928 B.C.E.). Now, however, there are differing opinions. Megiddo excavators David Ussishkin and Israel Finkelstein, for example, have proposed that Megiddo’s gate was built by the dynasty established by King Omri (882–871 B.C.E.) of the northern kingdom of Israel; while the current excavator of Hazor, Amnon Ben-Tor, emphatically dates Hazor’s gate to the tenth century.