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Gezer (2)

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This locality has recently been discovered in Tell Jezer (Mound of Jezer), lying near the village of Aba Ghosh. The following account of it is from Conrder (Tent Work in Palest. 1:11 sq.):

"The origin of the title [Gezer, i.e., cut off, or isolated] is at once clear, for the site is an outlier to use a geological term — of the main line of hills, and the position commands one of the important passes to Jerusalem. As is the case with many equally important places, there is not much to be seen at Gezer. The hillside is terraced and the eastern end occupied by a raised foundation, probably the ancient citadel. Tombs and wine-presses, cut in rock, abound, and there are traces of Christian buildings in a small chapel, and a tomb, apparently of Christian origin.

"Beneath the hill on the east there is a fine spring, which wells up in a circular ring of masonry; it is called 'Ain Yerdeh, or the 'Spring of the Gatherings, and its existence is a strong argument in favor of the antiquity of the neighboring site....

"A most interesting and curious discovery was made in 1874 at Gezer. M. Ganneau was shown by the peasantry a rude inscription deeply cut in the flat surface of the natural rock. It appears to be in Hebrew, and to read 'Boundary of Gezer' supposed by him to mark the limits of this as a Levitical city], with other letters, which are supposed to farm the Greek word Alkiom. M. Ganneau has brought forward an ingenious theory that Alkios was governor of Gezer at the time this boundary was set, and he supports it by another inscription from a tomb on which the same name occurs. This theory might seem very risky, were it not strengthened by the discovery of a second identical inscription close to the last, contained the same letters, except that the name Alkiou is written upside down. In both, it is true, the letters are hard to read, being rudely formed, but they are deeply cut, and of evident antiquity, while it can scarcely be doubted that the inscription is the same in both cases. M. Ganneau attributes them to Maccabaean times; it is curious that they should thus occur in the open country, at no definite distance from the town, and unmarked by any column or monument. Altogether they are among the many archaeological puzzles of Palestine, and their origin and meaning will probably always remain questionable."

A full description of the locality and ancient remains, with a topographical map, may be found in the Memoirs to the Ordnance Survey, 2:417 sq.