Ascalon

Ascalon, also rendered Ashkelon, was an important coastal city in the ancient Near East, situated on the Mediterranean shore of what is now southern Israel. Its origins date to the early Bronze Age, and by the Late Bronze Age it was a major port of the Philistines, one of the "Sea Peoples" that settled the southern Levant. Archaeological layers reveal fortifications, granaries, and a harbor that facilitated trade with Egypt, Cyprus and the Aegean. In the Hebrew Bible the city is mentioned several times, most notably in the narratives surrounding the Philistine wars with the Israelites and in the story of King David’s conquest of the region.

Throughout the Iron Age the city was repeatedly contested between Egypt, the Assyrian Empire, and later the Babylonian and Persian realms. After the Hellenistic period it fell under the control of the Ptolemies and Seleucids, before becoming part of the Roman province of Judea. In the 7th century CE the city was captured by the early Islamic Caliphate, and later it suffered a devastating earthquake in 1033. Crusaders rebuilt Ascalon in the 12th century, fortifying it as a major stronghold, but it was finally abandoned after the loss of nearby Acre in 1291.

Modern Ashkelon, founded in 1955, occupies the historical site and incorporates several excavated layers displayed in local museums. The ancient ruins, including a Roman theater, Byzantine churches and Crusader walls, make Ascalon a significant locus for studying the interplay of cultures that shaped the Levant over three millennia.