Bible Locations

Armageddon appears only in Revelation 16:16, where the demonic spirits gather the kings of the world "to the place that in Hebrew is called Armageddon" for the battle on "the great day of God Almighty." The name probably means "mountain of Megiddo." Megiddo was a city at Tel Megiddo, overlooking the Jezreel Valley in northern Israel, guarding the pass where the Via Maris crossed the Carmel ridge. Many famous battles were fought nearby. Thutmose III defeated a Canaanite coalition there around 1457 BC. Deborah defeated Sisera "by the waters of Megiddo," and King Josiah was killed there fighting Pharaoh Neco. Solomon fortified it, and excavators found a large city gate, palaces and water tunnels, and more than twenty layers of cities. Christians interpret Armageddon differently, as a literal future battle in the valley, or as a symbol of the final defeat of evil.