ARMAGEDON ('Αρμαγεδών; in the manuscripts of recension Κ Μαγεδών [few: Μαγεδδών]; the principal manuscripts of the Vulgate Hermagedon or Magedon). — Hebrew name (“mountain of Mageddo”) of the place where, after the Angel has poured out the sixth bowl, the “kings of the whole earth,” allies of the “Beast,” will gather on the great day of God to fight against the Almighty (Apoc. 16, 16), driven on by three unclean spirits like frogs (ibid. 16, 14).
The locality, which is allegorical, Mageddo (v.), a city situated at the southwestern edge of the plain of Esdrelon, almost at the foot of the hills descending from Carmel.
Because of the strategic importance of the Mageddo pass, the western side of the plain of Esdrelon was the most celebrated battlefield of Palestine, the scene of various decisive encounters (Thutmose III, having sent his army there, defeated the Canaanite princes of Syria and Palestine there, 15 May 1479 B.C.). At the “waters of Mageddo,” the Canaanites were defeated by the Galilean tribes and Sisera was killed (Iudc. 5, 19); the kings Joram and Ochozias were killed nearby (II Reg. 9, 23-27); above all, memorable was the defeat of King Josiah (609 B.C.), who was killed in the “plain of Mageddo” by the troops of Pharaoh Nechao II (II Reg. 23, 29-30; II Par. 35, 22-25), and this mourning remained proverbial (Zach. 12, 11; V. ADAMO).
The name thus evokes defeat and slaughter; A. is par excellence the place where kings perish. The account of the battle and of God’s victory over the coalition of kings, foreshadowed by the name A. in Apoc. 16, 16, is deferred to Apoc. 19, 17-21.
BISL.: E. B. Allo, L'Apocalypse, Paris 1921, pp. 239-40, 282; J. de Heer, Die Eudhristi der Völker: Der hammende Richter in Harmageddon, 3rd ed., Giessen 1931; J. Jeremias, Hur Magedon (Apk. 16, 16), in Zeitschr. für neutest. Wissenschaft, 31 (1932), pp. 73-77; J.-H. Michael, Hur Magedon (Rez. 16, 12-16), in Journal of Theol. Studies, 38 (1937), pp. 168-72; C. C. Torrey, Armageddon (Apoc. 16, 16), in Harvard Theol. Review, 31 (1938), pp. 237-48. Antonino Romeo