Ashkelon in Wikipedia
Ashkelon (also Ashqelon) Arabic عسقلان ˁAsqalān (Hebrew: אַשְׁקְלוֹן (audio) (help·info); Latin: Ascalon; Akkadian:
Isqalluna) is a coastal city in the South District of Israel on the Mediterranean coast, 50 kilometres (31 mi)
south of Tel Aviv. The ancient seaport of Ashkelon dates back to the Neolithic Age. In the course of its history,
it has been ruled by the Canaanites, the Philistines, the Israelites, the Assyrians, the Babylonians, the Greeks,
the Phoenicians, the Romans, the Persians, the Egyptians and the Crusaders, until it was destroyed by the Mamluks
in 1270. The Arab village of al-Majdal (Arabic: المجدل, Hebrew: אל-מג'דל, מגדל), was established nearby in the
16th century, under Ottoman rule. In 1918, Ashkelon became part of the British Mandate for Palestine. In the 1948
Arab-Israeli War, Majdal was the forward position of the Egyptian Expeditionary Force based in Gaza.[2] The
village was occupied by Israeli forces on November 5, 1948, by which time most of the Arab population had fled.
In 2009, the population of Ashkelon was 111,900.[1]
Etymology
The name Ashkelon is probably Western Semitic, derived from the root shkl, lit. "to weigh," attesting to its
importance as a center for mercantile activities. Ashkelon is mentioned in the Egyptian Execration Texts of the
11th dynasty as "Asqanu." [3] The shallot and scallion derive from their name from Ashkelon.
[edit]History
Neolithic era
The Neolithic site of Ashkelon is located on the Mediterranean coast, 1.5 km (0.93 mi) north of Tel Ashkelon. It
is dated radiometrically (14C) to ca. 7900 bp (uncalibrated), to the poorly known Pre-Pottery Neolithic C phase
of the Neolithic. It was discovered and excavated in 1954 by French archaeologist Jean Perrot. In 1997–1998, a
large scale salvage project was conducted at the site by Yosef Garfinkel on behalf of the Hebrew University of
Jerusalem and nearly 1,000 sq.m were examined. A final excavation report was published in 2008.
In the site over a hundred fireplaces and hearths were found and numerous pits, but no solid architecture, except
for one wall. Various phases of occupation were found, one atop the other, with sterile layers of sea sand
between them. This indicates that the site was occupied on a seasonal basis.
The main finds were enormous quantities of animal bones (ca. 100,000) and 20,000 flint artifacts. Usually at
Neolithic sites flints far outnumber animal bones. The bones belong to domesticated and non-domesticated animals.
When all aspects of this site are taken into account, it appears to have been used by pastoral nomads for meat
processing. The nearby sea could supply salt necessary for the conservation of meat.
[edit]Canaanite settlement
Ashqelon as mentioned on Merneptah Stele: iskeluni-(using hieroglyphs n, and two-determ.)
Ancient sarcophagus in Ashkelon
Ashkelon was the oldest and largest seaport in Canaan, one of the "five cities" of the Philistines, north of Gaza
and south of Jaffa (Yafa).
The city was originally built on a sandstone outcropping and has a good underground water supply. It was
relatively large as an ancient city with as many as 15,000 people living inside walls a mile and a half (2.4 km)
long, 50 feet (15 m) high and 150 feet (50 m) thick. Ashkelon was a thriving Middle Bronze Age (2000–1550 BCE)
city of more than 150 acres (61 ha), with commanding ramparts including the oldest arched city gate in the world,
eight feet wide, and even as a ruin still standing two stories high. The thickness of the walls was so great that
the mudbrick Bronze Age gate had a stone-lined tunnel-like barrel vault, coated with white plaster, to support
the superstructure: it is the oldest such vault ever found.
The Bronze Age ramparts were so capacious that later Roman and Islamic fortifications, faced with stone, followed
the same footprint, a vast semicircle protecting Ashkelon on the landward side. On the sea it was defended by a
high natural bluff.
Within the huge ramparts, in the ruins of a sanctuary, a votive silver calf was found in 1991. During the
Canaanite period, a roadway more than 20 feet (6.1 m) in width ascended the rampart from the harbor and entered a
gate at the top. Nearby, in the ruins of a small ceramic tabernacle was found a finely cast bronze statuette of a
bull calf, originally silvered, 4 inches (100 mm) long. Images of calves and bulls were associated with the
worship of the Canaanite gods El and Baal.
The Amarna letters correspondence of Ashkelon/(Ašqaluna), of 1350 BC, contains seven letters to the Egyptian
pharaoh, from its 'King'/mayor: Yidya. Yidya was the only ruler of Ašqaluna during the 15–20-year time period.
One letter from the pharaoh to Yidya was discovered in the early 1900s.
Philistine settlement
The Philistines conquered Canaanite Ashkelon about 1150 BC. Their earliest pottery, types of structures and
inscriptions are similar to the early Greek urbanised centre at Mycenae in mainland Greece, adding weight to the
hypothesis that the Philistines were possibly one of the populations among the "Sea Peoples" that upset cultures
throughout the eastern Mediterranean at that time. Ashkelon became one of the five Philistine cities that were
constantly warring with the Israelites and the Kingdom of Judah. According to Herodotus, its temple of Venus was
the oldest of its kind, imitated even in Cyprus, and he mentions that this temple was pillaged by marauding
"Scythians" during the time of their sway over the Medes (653–625 BCE). When this vast seaport, the last of the
Philistine cities to hold out against Nebuchadnezzar finally fell in 604 BCE, burnt and destroyed and its people
taken into exile, the Philistine era was over.[citation needed]
Roman era
Ashkelon was soon rebuilt. Until the conquest of Alexander the Great, Ashkelon's inhabitants were influenced by
the dominant Persian culture. It is at this archaeological layer that excavations have found dog burials. It is
believed the dogs may have had a sacred role, however evidence is not conclusive. After the conquest of Alexander
in the 4th Century BCE, Ashkelon was an important Hellenistic seaport. Queen Cleopatra VII used Ashkelon as her
place of refuge when her brother and sister exiled her in 49 BCE. She organized an army on the site but did not
need to use it due to Julius Caesar's arrival in Alexandria.
Jewish era
The Jews of Judea Province drove the Greeks out of the region in the Maccabean Revolt, which lasted from 167-160
CE. The Hasmonean Kingdom was then established, and Ashkelon became part of it. The Hasmonean kingdom fell in 37
BCE, and the area was placed under the rule of Herod the Great, a Jewish client king of the Roman Empire.
Ashkelon may have even been his birthplace. Josephus states Ashkelon was not ceded to Herod the Great in 30
BC[4], yet he built monumental buildings there: bath houses, elaborate fountains and large colonnades.[5] The
city remained loyal to Rome during the First Jewish Revolt, 66–70 CE, and in the following centuries it grew to
be an important centre. It appears on a fragment of the 6th century CE Madaba Map.[citation needed]...
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