Megiddo National Park  Megiddo National Park, encompassing the
ancient biblical mound of Megiddo, whose universal value has won
it a place on the UNESCO World Heritage List, is located at the
western entrance to the Jezreel Valley in the Lower Galilee, on
an important ancient and modern crossroad. At the beginning of
the third millennium BCE, Megiddo was already a fortified city
with huge walls, and 1,000 years later it became a center of
Egyptian rule over Canaan. Strategically, it was invaluable: It
controlled the end of the Iron Valley in the heart of the
ancient Via Maris (the Way of the Sea), which linked Egypt and
Damascus. The Egyptian pharaoh Thutmoses III took Megiddo in
1468 BCE during his campaign to entrench Egypt’s power over the
region. Megiddo was taken by the Israelites apparently only at
the time of King David, and the city flourished during the time
of King Solomon. In 924 BCE, Pharaoh Shishak conquered Megiddo,
but the city was rebuilt, and in Ahab’s time it became an
important chariot city