Naftali Mountain Range in Galilee and the Huleh Basin

This photo was taken in the Naftali Mountain Range where it looks out toward the Huleh Basin.  While the region’s forests are still recovering from the devastating fires of the 2006 Lebanon War, one can imagine the difficulty of crossing these heavily forested hills with a caravan or army.  This makes passes, such as the Huleh Valley invaluable to both travels and empires alike.

Hazor

The ancient tell of Hazor is one of the largest sites in Israel at around 200 acres.  However, the Iron Age Israelite occupation is mostly isolated to the upper city (the hill just above the modern bridge in the lower right corner), which features a beautiful Solomonic gate.  As with so many important cities in the Levant, Hazor’s greatest value was its strategic position in the narrow pass into the Huleh Basin, a road that connected the Southern Levant to Damascus.