Katrina

Many times walled cities like Troy were built with outer walls which would be defended while they could be.  But the palace and the elites were guarded by a stronghold wall that was much beefier and harder to penetrate.  Citizens would flee behind those walls in times of real duress.  I don’t know specifically if these Levantine cities would have had a similar design.  But that would be about the only time there would be large numbers crammed in such a small space.

As to assembling the army and having them outside the walls, that seems probable.  This is also guessing here, but I doubt Samaria would have kept a garrison of 6,000 on hand at all times.  Probably no more than a thousand or so during quiet times.  Soldiers are expensive to feed and maintain if they aren’t doing anything.  Until there was a need for them they would have been dispersed thru out the kingdom, working in shops and in the fields. But when they were all assembled, their camp would probably cover a couple of football fields, depending on the terrain.

Let’s think of it this way.  A real football field will have 53 players and their support staff milling about on each sideline on game day.  Roughly 100 people on each sideline.  And they just barely fill those sidelines.  Seated in a typical pro stadium there are 50K – 70K in the stands.

Could 6,000 of them sleep on the playing field in an emergency?  I think so.  Remember all those poor people who fled to the Saints stadium during Katrina?  It was too many for the facility to properly house without adequate facilities, food or water.  But several thousand camped out there for nearly a week, so space-wise it was a lot of room.  Just a miserable place to be since it wasn’t ready to support them.

Does that help?