Gath (city)

[15] The narrative in the first book of Chronicles[16] relates that Ezer and Elead, sons of Ephraim, were killed by men who were natives of Gath, because "they came down to take their livestock".

[17] A tradition reported by Ishtori Haparchi (1280–1355) and other early Jewish writers is that Ramla was the biblical Gath of the Philistines.

[21] Earlier, Benjamin Mazar had proposed that ancient Gath lay at a site called Ras Abu Hamid east of Ramla.

[28][29] The 19th-century scholar Edward Robinson proposed that Gath be identified with Tell es-Safi, and this identification was generally accepted until the early 20th century, when it began to be questioned.

[33] Others suggest that Gath is none other than "Saphitha" (Tell es-Ṣāfi),[34] but are hard pressed to explain why there are two distinct listings for these sites in the Madaba map, and ascribe an error unto the copyist of the mosaic.

[35] Tell es-Safi and Tel Zafit (Arabic: تل الصافي, Tall aṣ-Ṣāfī; Hebrew: תל צפית, Tel Tzafit) are Arabic and Hebrew names for the ancient mound now widely identified as Gath (variant: "Geth"), one of the five cities in the ancient Philistine Pentapolis (along with Gaza, Ekron, Ashkelon, and Ashdod).

The earliest evidence for settlement is from the Chalcolithic Period (c. 5th millennium BCE), after which there is continuous occupation until the modern Palestinian village of Tell es-Safi, abandoned during the 1948 Arab–Israeli War.

Recently, in the 2006 season, evidence of an impressive MB IIB fortification was found in the vicinity of the summit of the tell, comprising a stone wall/tower and a packed earth rampart/glacis.

The Late Bronze remains at the site are impressive as well, evidence of the Canaanite city of Gath, which is mentioned in the El-Amarna letters.

This process, which has been termed "acculturation" or "creolisation" can be seen in various aspects of the Philistine culture, as the Iron Age unfolds.

Recent excavations have uncovered dramatic evidence of a siege and subsequent destruction of the site in the late 9th century BCE, which can be related to the biblical verse that mentions its capture by Hazael of Aram Damascus.

Archaeological excavations have uncovered a Philistine temple and evidence of a major earthquake in biblical times.

[46] Among the numerous finds from this destruction level, there is an impressive pottery assemblage, various cultic objects, and a bone tool workshop.

[47] In the 2005 season, below the late 9th-century BCE destruction level, in a stratum dating to an earlier phase of the Iron Age IIA, an important inscription was found.

Scratched on a shard typical of the Iron Age IIA, two non-Semitic names written in Semitic "Proto-Canaanite" letters were found.

This site was subsequently captured by the Ayyubids, and served the basis for the medieval and modern village of Tell es-Safi, which existed until 1948.