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Azekah (, ʿazēqā) was an ancient town in the Shephelah ("lowlands of Judea") guarding the upper reaches of the Valley of Elah, about 26 km (16 mi) northwest of Hebron.
The current tell (ruin) by that name, also known as Tel Azeka (, ʿtel azēqā) or Tell Zakariya, has been identified with the biblical Azekah, (original Hebrew edition: 'Land of Israel in Biblical Times - Historical Geography', Bialik Institute, Jerusalem (1962)) dating back to the period. Today, the site lies on the purlieu of Britannia Park. Tel Azeka and Google Map
According to Epiphanius of Salamis, the name meant "white" in Hebrew.Epiphanius (1935), s.v. Concerning Names of Places, section no. 64 Quote: "But it is now called in Syriac Hewarta, for the reading Azekah is Hebrew; and it is translated into Greek as "white."". The tell is pear shaped with the tip pointing northward. Due to its location in the Elah Valley it functioned as one of the main Judahite border cities, sitting on the boundary between the lower and higher Shfela.Gadot, et al. (2012), pp. 196–206 Although listed in Joshua 15:35 as being a city in the plain, it is actually partly in the hill country, partly in the plain.
In 1838, British-American explorer Edward Robinson passed by the site of Tell Zakariyeh, which stood to the left of the modern village bearing the same name (Az-Zakariyya, which was depopulated in 1948 and later settled by the moshav Zekharia).Robinson (1856), pp. 16, 21 French explorer Victor Guérin thought another "Beit Zecharias" to be the village mentioned in the Book of I Maccabees (6:32), and which he locates further to the east at a place called Beit Skaria (Beit Skaria),Guérin (1869), pp. 316–319. As Josephus puts 70 stadia distance between Beit-Zachariah and Beit Sur, Guérin writes on page 318 (translated from the French): "Seventy stadia is almost thirteen kilometers from that which separates Beit-Zakaria from Beit-Sour (Beth-Tsour). But we know, from many other passages, that we should not ask Josephus for mathematical precision in terms of figures, and the interval he indicates between Beth Zacharias and the citadel of Bethsura (Beth-Tsour) is sufficiently accurate to allow us to conclude that the first of these two points cannot be placed anywhere other than the present village of Beit-Zakaria" (End Quote)Josephus, Antiquities (Book xii, chapter ix, verse 4) a view also held by C.R. Conder who thought the site of the battle between Judas Maccabeus and the Grecian army was in none other than the more easterly Beit Skaria.Claude R. Conder (1878), p. 279 C.W.M. van de Velde who visited the site between 1851–1852 held the view that this Tell Zakariya and its adjacent Az-Zakariyya are not the same as Josephus' Beit Zacharia, where Judas Maccabeus engaged the invading Grecian army.van de Velde (1858), p. 116 (note 1) The matter, however, remains disputed.
"As for Azekah," Guérin writes, "it has not yet been found with certainty, this name appearing to have disappeared."Guérin (1869), p. 333. Original French: "Quant à Azéca, en hébreu A’zekah, elle n’a pas encore été retrouvée d’une manière certaine, ce nom paraissant avoir disparu." Scholars believe that the town's old namesake (Azekah) can be seen in its modern-day corruption, "az-Zakariyeh". In contrast, Conder of the Palestine Exploration Fund had strong reservations about connecting the site Tell Zakariya with the biblical Azekah.Conder (1900), p. 77
In the mosaic layout of the Madaba Map of the 6th century CE (ca. 565 CE), the site is mentioned in conjoined Greek language uncials: Τοποθεσία του Αγίου Ζαχαρίου, Βεθζαχαρίου (= The site of St. Zacharias, Beth Zacharias).Donner (1995), s.v. Beth Zacharias () Epiphanius of Salamis writes that, in his day, Azekah was already called by the Syriac language name Ḥǝwarta.Epiphanius (1935), p. 72 (§ 64)Notley, et al. (2005), p. 19, note 47, have noted: "According to his (Epiphanius') formulation, it would seem that he was of the opinion that Hiwarta, which means 'white' ( lavan), is the translation of Azekah. About five kilometers to the southeast of Tell Zechariah is a high hill called Tell el-Beida, meaning in Arabic 'white'. In current maps, the site is named Tel Lavnin, which means the hill of bricks ( livanim), and it is to this that Eusebius (who also wrote about Azekah) most probably referred. 'Azekah' is not 'white', either in Hebrew or in Aramaic. Le-azek in Hebrew means to remove stones, and then the soil appears a bit paler. It therefore appears that Epiphanius, who was born in Beit Zedek, near Bayt Jibrin, identified Azekah with Tell el-Beida. Azekah is six kilometers from Eleutheropolis, and Tell Livnin is eight kilometers from there. Epiphanius adapted the new name to the identification by means of an etymological exegesis that has no linguistic basis. At any rate, no settlement existed on Tell Azekah in the Roman-Byzantine period. The early site moved from the high hill to the fields in the plain at the foot of the tell. It may possibly have moved as far as Kh. el-Beida, although this is difficult to accept."
Modern Israeli archaeologists have noted that, because of the existence of an adjacent ruin now known as Khirbet Qeiyafa, and which is situated opposite Socho, not to mention the site's "unusual size and the nature of the fortifications," that there are good grounds to suggest that the site in question may actually point to the biblical Azekah.Garfinkel, et al. (n.d.)
PEF surveyors, Conder and HH Kitchener, described the ruin in their magnum opus, the Survey of Western Palestine, saying that they noted on the south-side of the summit an ancient olive-press, among other ruins.Conder & HH Kitchener (1882), p. 441
Excavations by the English archaeologists Frederick J. Bliss and R. A. Stewart Macalister in the period 1897–1900 at Tel Azekah revealed a fortress, water systems, hideout caves used during Bar Kokhba revolt and other antiquities, such as . The principal areas of excavation were on the summit's southwestern extremity, where were found the foundations of three towers; the southeastern corner of the tell, where the fortress was located and built primarily of hewn stones; and at an experimental pit located in the center of the summit.Amit (n.d.), p. 334 Azekah was one of the first sites excavated in the Holy Land and was excavated under the Palestine Exploration Fund for a period of 17 weeks over the course of three seasons. At the close of their excavation Bliss and Macalister refilled all of their excavation trenches in order to preserve the site. The site is located on the grounds of a Jewish National Fund park, Britannia Park. Archaeological mounds
In 2008 and 2010, a survey of the site was conducted by Oded Lipschits, Yuval Gadot, and Shatil Imanuelov, on behalf of Tel-Aviv University's Institute of Archaeology.Israel Antiquities Authority, Excavators and Excavations Permit for Year 2008, Survey Permit # G-53; Israel Antiquities Authority, Excavators and Excavations Permit for Year 2010, Survey Permit # S-159
The Lautenschläger Azekah Expedition, part of the regional
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