{{Short description|Hebrew word}} {{hiero|1=mktr<ref name = Vygus/> |2=<hiero>G17-D36:V31-U33*M17-Z4:D21-:Z1-O36*O1</hiero>|era=mk|align=right}} {{hiero|1=mꜥgꜣdjr<ref name = Budge/> |2=<hiero>Aa15:D36:W11-G1-D46:Z4-D21:Z1*O49</hiero>|era=egypt|align=right}}
thumb | right | Migdol of Medinet Habu, Theban Necropolis, Egypt '''Migdol''', or '''migdal''', is a Hebrew word (מגדּלה מגדּל, מגדּל מגדּול) which means either a tower (from its size or height), an elevated stage (a rostrum or pulpit), or a raised bed (within a river). Physically, it can mean fortified land, i.e. a walled city or castle; or elevated land, as in a raised bed, like a platform, possibly a lookout.
"Migdol" has been suggested as a loanword from Egyptian (mktr), ''mekter'',<ref name = Vygus>M. Vygus. Middle Egyptian dictionary, p. 627</ref> or ''mgatir''<ref name = Budge>{{Cite book| author = E. A. Wallis Budge|date = 1920 | title = An Egyptian hieroglyphic dictionary: with an index of English words, king list and geological list with indexes, list of hieroglyphic characters, coptic and semitic alphabets, etc. Vol I| url= https://archive.org/details/egyptianhierogly01budguoft/page/290 | page = [https://archive.org/details/egyptianhierogly01budguoft/page/290 290] | publisher = John Murray}}</ref> meaning "fort," "fortification," or "stronghold," and the corresponding term in Coptic is ⲙⲉϣⲧⲱⲗ ''meštôl''. (Figuratively, "tower" has connotations of proud authority.) However, the word clearly entered Egyptian from the original Northwest Semitic term ''magdalu'', which itself originated with the Akkadian verb ''dagalu'', meaning "to look ''or'' watch."<ref name=":0">{{cite journal |title="Magdalūma, Migdālîm, Magdoloi", and "Majādīl": The Historical Geography and Archaeology of the "Magdalu (Migdāl)" |journal=Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research |last=Burke |first=Aaron A. |url=https://www.academia.edu/233779 |volume=346 |pages=29–57 |year=2007 |issue=346 |doi=10.1086/BASOR25067009 |issn=0003-097X |jstor=25067009}}</ref> The association of the toponym with watchtowers is confirmed by the relationship of sites bearing Arabic place names related to Ar. ''majdal'' or ''majdaluna'', which were strategically located along routes between Bronze Age centers.<ref name=":0" />
Although archaeologically, ''migdol'' has been traditionally identified with a specific type of temple, examples of which have been discovered, for instance, at Hazor, Megiddo, Tel Haror, Pella and Shechem, no temples are identified as migdols in ancient sources, outside of associations made by biblical scholars with a single passage in Judges 9 referencing a Migdol-Shechem. This identification can be regarded as questionable, and particularly so in light of the evidence offered by more than sixty toponyms in the Levant, which are associated with important vista points above major routes.<ref name=":0" />
==Places named Migdol or Migdal in the Hebrew Bible== The Book of Exodus records that the children of Israel encamped at Pi-Hahiroth between Migdol and the Red Sea, before their crossing. It also appears in a couple of extra-biblical sources:<ref>Falk, D. A. (2018). [https://thetorah.com/article/what-we-know-about-the-egyptian-places-mentioned-in-exodus "What We Know about the Egyptian Places Mentioned in Exodus"]. ''TheTorah.com''.</ref> Papyrus Anastasis V (20:2-3) implies that Migdol was built by Pharaoh Seti I of the 19th dynasty,<ref>The site is referred to as, e.g., “Migdol of Seti-Merneptah (Seti I).” Gardiner, LEM, 67.</ref> the same king who first established the city of Piramesses; according to a map of the Way of Horus, Migdol is east of the Dwelling of the Lion,<ref>The map is located in the Hypostyle Hall at Karnak Temple.</ref> which has been located at Tell el-Borg,<ref>It was excavated by James Hoffmeier from 1998-2007; James K. Hoffmeier, Excavations in North Sinai: Tell el-Borg I (Winona Lake: Eisenbrauns, 2014), 1-33.</ref> near the north coast of the Sinai Peninsula and the estuary of the Ballah Lakes.<ref>James K. Hoffmeier and Stephen O. Moshier, “The Ways of Horus,” Excavations in North Sinai: Tell el-Borg I. ed. James K. Hoffmeier (Winona Lake, IA: Eisenbrauns, 2014), 44.</ref> Its exact location has been identified with the site of T-211.<ref>{{cite book |title=Le Migdol: du Proche-Orient à l'Egypte |last=Seguin |first=Joffrey |publisher=Sorbonne Université Presses |year=2007 |isbn=978-2-84050-521-1 |location=Paris |pages=117–122 |language=fr}}</ref><ref name="Ho2008">{{cite journal |title=The Search for Migdol of the New Kingdom and Exodus 14:2: An Update |journal=Buried History |last=Hoffmeier |first=James K. |volume=44 |pages=3–12 |year=2008 |doi=10.62614/e91a1q35 |issn=2653-8385 |doi-access=free}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |title=A Possible Location in Northwest Sinai for the Sea and Land Battles between the Sea Peoples and Ramesses III |journal=Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research |url=https://www.academia.edu/38697603 |last=Hoffmeier |first=James K. |volume=380 |pages=1–25 |doi=10.5615/bullamerschoorie.380.0001 |year=2018 |issn=0003-097X}}</ref>
The Book of Joshua referred to Migdal-Gad, 'tower of Gad', one of the fortified cities of Judah, and also to Migdal-El, 'tower of God', one of the fortified towns of Naphtali ({{bibleverse|Joshua|19:38|KJV}}).
Jeremiah referred to Migdol (Jeremiah 44:1) in its near-geographical relation to Tahpanhes and Memphis, three Egyptian cities where the Jewish people settled after the Siege of Jerusalem (587 BC). At this time, the city's name had moved its location to Tell Qedua.<ref>{{cite journal |title=Migdol: A New Fortress on the Edge of the Eastern Nile Delta |journal=Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research |url=https://www.academia.edu/12014525 |last=Oren |first=Eliezer D. |date=1984 |volume=256 |issue=256 |pages=7–44 |doi=10.2307/1356923 |jstor=1356923 |issn=0003-097X}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |title=The Curious Phenomenon of Moving Military Sites on Egypt's Eastern Frontier |journal=Journal of the Society for the Study of Egyptian Antiquities |last=Hoffmeier |first=James K. |date=2018–2019 |volume=45 |pages=105‒134}}</ref>
Ezekiel referred to Migdol in describing the length of the land of Egypt "''from Migdol to Syene (Aswan)''". ({{bibleverse|Ezekiel|29:10|ESV}}, {{bibleverse|Ezekiel|30:6|ESV}}).
The letters of Šuta refer to a "Magdalu in Egypt" which Albright identified with the Hebrew Bible's Migdol.<ref>{{cite book |title=The Future of Biblical Archaeology: Reassessing Methodologies and Assumptions |last=Scolnic |first=Benjamin Edidin |publisher=Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing |year=2004 |isbn=978-0-8028-2173-7 |pages=104–105 |editor-last=Hoffmeier |editor-first=James Karl |chapter=A New Working Hypothesis for the Identification of Migdol |editor-last2=Millard |editor-first2=Alan Ralph |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PUcs-FQv4uIC&pg=PA104}}</ref>
==Places in modern Israel named Migdal== Migdal is a town in the northern district of Israel, 8 km north of Tiberias.
Migdal Ha'emek is a city in modern-day Israel, situated on a large hill surrounded by the Kishon river, west of Nazareth.
==References== {{Reflist}}
Category:Torah places Category:Hebrew words and phrases