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The Henge Monuments of the British Isles: Myth and Archaeology

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<< Our Photo Pages >> Tel Yodfat - Hillfort in Israel

Submitted by motist on Thursday, 07 February 2013  Page Views: 3013

Iron Age and Later PrehistorySite Name: Tel Yodfat Alternative Name: Yodfata
Country: Israel Type: Hillfort
Nearest Town: Karmiel  Nearest Village: moshav Yodfat
Latitude: 32.832227N  Longitude: 35.277692E
Condition:
5Perfect
4Almost Perfect
3Reasonable but with some damage
2Ruined but still recognisable as an ancient site
1Pretty much destroyed, possibly visible as crop marks
0No data.
-1Completely destroyed
2 Ambience:
5Superb
4Good
3Ordinary
2Not Good
1Awful
0No data.
4 Access:
5Can be driven to, probably with disabled access
4Short walk on a footpath
3Requiring a bit more of a walk
2A long walk
1In the middle of nowhere, a nightmare to find
0No data.
5 Accuracy:
5co-ordinates taken by GPS or official recorded co-ordinates
4co-ordinates scaled from a detailed map
3co-ordinates scaled from a bad map
2co-ordinates of the nearest village
1co-ordinates of the nearest town
0no data
5

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 Tel Yodfat
Tel Yodfat submitted by motist : Tel Yodfat (Vote or comment on this photo)
Hillfort in

Yodfat Mound has seen a fascinating history in the various eras of the Jewish nation, but mostly during the First Jewish-Roman War. Starting in 67 AD and ending in 70 AD with the destruction of the Second Temple, this revolt broke out in many regions in the country, the Galilee being one of them. The command of the Galilee area was given to Yoseph Ben Mattithyahu who set Yodfat as his headquarters. The Romans, headed by the imperator Vaspasian, worked to suppress the revolt by occupying these islands of resistance. Among others, it took the Romans a complicated siege and battle to conquer the Jewish city Gamla in the Golan Heights and Gush Halav in the Upper Galilee. In the following you can find a taste of the history of the Jewish nation of that period:

A desperate fight was waged in the year 67. Yodfat (in Latin Jotapata) was built to withstand a prolonged siege. This is clearly illustrated in Mattithyahu’s The War of the Jews III C 7:7:

Now Jotapata is almost all of it built on a precipice, having on all the other sides of it every way valleys immensely deep and steep, insomuch that those who would look down would have their sight fail them before it reaches to the bottom. It is only to be come at on the north side, where the utmost part of the city is built on the mountain, as it ends obliquely at a plain. This mountain Josephus had encompassed with a wall when he fortified the city, that its top might not be capable of being seized upon by the enemies. The city is covered all round with other mountains, and can no way be seen till a man comes just upon it. And this was the strong situation of Jotapata.

We really climb to the head of the mound that looks relatively bare today from the north, it is a more moderate slope. From here it is very easy to understand the Yoseph Ben Mattithyahu's description of the geography of the mound. And yet these natural advantages didn’t satisfy Ben Mattithyahu who fortified the city with a wall and dug water cisterns for the event of a siege. This can be reflected in The Life of Flavius Josephus 37: “I also fortified, in the Lower Galilee, the [several] cities […]and Jotapata…. I also laid up a great quantity of corn in these places and arms withal, that might be for their security afterward.”

But the Romans had rough and ready siege methods at hand. They battered the city with, as can be seen from the archeological diggings, arrows with iron heads, ballistas, and erected a huge rampart by heaping earthwork near the wall.

From the outlook to the north one can picture the 160 catapults that were installed by the imperator Vaspasian to kill the defenders, the Roman camp that consisted of many thousands of soldiers including calvarias, infantries, sling shooters, and archers. One can imagine in their mind’s eye that instead of a bare hill there is a bustling city withstanding a spiteful and cruel siege.

The besieged defenders used varied methods for protection including throwing rolling stones on the Romans, defending the wall from the battering ram by spreading sacks full of straw and chaff on it and by burning the rams with torches, throwing boiling oil from above and spreading the rampart wooden decks with cooked fenugreeks (that through boiling become soft as butter and extremely slick) to the effect of making the bridges too slippery to cross. More than once the defenders stole away during the siege and assaulted the Roman camp or brought supplies and ammunition to the encompassed city. Simultaneously with the heightening of the rampage, Yoseph Ben Mattithyahu ordered the wall to be to raised and even used ox skins to protect the builders from arrows. Despite this resourcefulness after 47 days of siege, in June 20th 67 AD, the wall was penetrated.

Many of the inhabitants of Yodfat committed suicide; others were killed in face to face combat, and those who found shelter in caves were slaughtered unmercifully. The Roman had captured hardly 1,200 men and the death toll, tells Yoseph Ben Mattithyahu, reached 40,000 people. At the end of the battle only 40 rebels were left and they found refuge in a cave, their commander, Yoseph Ben Mattithyahu, stayed among them. After a poignant speech, Yoseph convinced his warriors to commit suicide with him (in the same manner of Masada’s warriors). After series of lotteries only he and another warrior remained alive. Meanwhile the Romans searched for Yoseph among all the casualties and captives, but to no avail, until one woman disclosed where he was concealed. The Romans sent their captains of thousands who tried to persuade him to surrender. After his refusal, they started to burn the cave where he had hid himself. At last, Yoseph decided that it would be better if he lived and he gave himself up to the Romans.

Yoseph Ben Mattithyahu became a captive of the Romans. During his captivity he had predicted to Vaspasian that the latter was to become the emperor of Rome instead of Nero. After the fulfillment of that prophecy, Yoseph Ben Mattithyahu became Josephus Flavius, the central historian of the First Jewish-Roman War and under this capacity he wrote the Antiquities of the Jews andWar of the Jews, two books which have become the main source of information about the history of the Second Temple Period.


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 Tel Yodfat
Tel Yodfat submitted by motist : Tel Yodfat (Vote or comment on this photo)

 Tel Yodfat
Tel Yodfat submitted by motist (Vote or comment on this photo)

 Tel Yodfat
Tel Yodfat submitted by motist (Vote or comment on this photo)

 Tel Yodfat
Tel Yodfat submitted by motist (Vote or comment on this photo)

 Tel Yodfat
Tel Yodfat submitted by motist

 Tel Yodfat
Tel Yodfat submitted by motist

 Tel Yodfat
Tel Yodfat submitted by motist

 Tel Yodfat
Tel Yodfat submitted by motist

 Tel Yodfat
Tel Yodfat submitted by motist

 Tel Yodfat
Tel Yodfat submitted by motist

 Tel Yodfat
Tel Yodfat submitted by motist

 Tel Yodfat
Tel Yodfat submitted by motist

 Tel Yodfat
Tel Yodfat submitted by motist

 Tel Yodfat
Tel Yodfat submitted by motist

 Tel Yodfat
Tel Yodfat submitted by motist

 Tel Yodfat
Tel Yodfat submitted by motist

 Tel Yodfat
Tel Yodfat submitted by motist

 Tel Yodfat
Tel Yodfat submitted by motist

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Nearby sites listing. In the following links * = Image available
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