Mt. Carmel and Megido

We started of the day going to Mt. Carmel.  Carmelite Monks built a church at the location traditionally associated with Elijah's confrontation with the worshipers of Baal.

Some argue that Megido, which translates into Armegeddon in Greek, is one of the most important findings from biblical times.  The city was in a very strategic location.  As a result, it was often under attack.  In fact, the city was destroyed and rebuilt 25 times.  Solomon was one of the kings to fortify the city.

Grain silo



Entrance to the water supply, located outside of the city, from inside the city.  There are 180 steps down.  The water containers the women carried would have weighed over 40 pounds when full.



Underground tunnel to the water supply outside of the city.  This was used whenever the city was under attack.

We also visited Seppora.  The city has the same name as Moses' wife.  Part of the importance of this site is that the Herod Antipas started building the city to be his capital.  However, he did not fully complete the city deciding to place his capital in Tiberias instead. 

A mosaic was discovered in one of the houses that has about 10 times the number of tiles per square centimeter than is typical making the resolution of the mosaic quite striking.  The woman pictured below is part of the mosaic and has become known as the Mona Lisa of Galilee.

The city later fell into the hands of crusaders who resused stones to construct their fortress.

On the way to the Sea of Galilee, we were able to see a first century grave discovered during road construction.  It is similar to the type of tomb that would have been used for Jesus.