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Lachish at the end of the eighth century B.C. was one of the most formidable citadels in Judah. Occupying a rectangular mound that today measures 30 acres at its base and 18 acres on its flat summit, Lachish commands an uninterrupted view from the Judean hills in the east to the coastal plain in the west. Its fortified gate, outer city-wall with sloping glacis against it, inner city-wall and palace-fort, at center, protected a populous city.

This 1984 drawing is based on the 1933 reconstruction by H. H. McWilliams, combined with data from the recent excavation. For a more up-to-date view of the gate-complex, see the reconstruction.