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Ascalon
Sign in to saveAlso known as Tel Ashkelon, Tel Ashqelon
Ascalon or Ashkelon was an ancient Near East port city on the Mediterranean coast of the southern Levant of high historical and archaeological significance. Its remains are located in the archaeological site of Tel Ashkelon, within the city limits of the modern Israeli city of Ashkelon. Traces of settlement exist from the 3rd millennium BCE, with evidence of city fortifications emerging in the Middle Bronze Age. During the Late Bronze Age, it was integrated into the Egyptian Empire, before becoming one of the five cities of the Philistine pentapolis following the migration of the Sea Peoples.
Key facts
- Ancient site.name
- Ascalon
- Ancient site.image
- File:71-7100-100 - תל אשקלון - שרידי כנסיית סנטה מריה וירידיס - לריסה סקלאר גילר (3).jpg
- Ancient site.image_size
- 325px
- Ancient site.caption
- Remains of the Church of Santa Maria Viridis
- Ancient site.map_type
- Israel
- Ancient site.relief
- yes
- Ancient site.map_dot_label
- Ascalon
- Ancient site.location
- Southern District, Israel
- Ancient site.region
- Southern Levant, Middle East
- Ancient site.type
- Settlement
- Ancient site.built
- c. 2000 BCE
- Ancient site.abandoned
- 1270 CE
- Ancient site.epochs
- Bronze Age to Crusades
- Ancient site.cultures
- Canaanite, Philistine, Phoenician, Crusaders
- Ancient site.excavations
- 1815, 1920–1922, 1985–2016
- Ancient site.archaeologists
- Lady Hester Stanhope, John Garstang, W. J. Phythian-Adams, Lawrence Stager, Daniel Master
via Wikipedia infobox
Wikidata facts
- Image
- Stadtvignette Aschkelon.jpg
Show 1 more fact
- Commons category
- Ascalon
via Wikidata · CC0
~55 min read
Article
40 sectionsContents
- Names
- Geographical setting
- Neolithic and Chalcolithic Ages
- Bronze Age
- Early Bronze Age
- Middle Bronze Age (Canaanite Asqanu)
- Late Bronze Age (Egyptian rule)
- Early decades of Egyptian rule (15th century BCE)
- Amarna period (14th century BCE)
- Final years of Egyptian rule (late 13th century – 1170 BCE)
- Iron Age
- Iron Age I
- Philistine Ashkelon (1170–604 BCE)
- Iron Age II
- Assyrian vassal and (734 – {{c.}} 620 BCE)
- Under Egypt and the Babylonian destruction ({{c.}} 620–604 BCE)
- Classical Age
- Persian period ({{c.}} 520–332 BCE)
- Hellenistic period (332–37 BCE)
- Conquest of Alexander and the Wars of the Diadochi (332–301 BCE)
- Ptolemaic rule (301–198 BCE)
- Seleucid rule (198–103 BCE)
- Political history during the Seleucid Dynastic wars
- Independent Ascalon (103–63 BCE)
- Roman period (63 BCE – 4th century CE)
- Byzantine period (4th century – 641 CE)
- Early Islamic period (641–1099)
- Crusader period (1099–1270)
- Fatimid–Crusader hostilities (1101–1153)
- Crusader siege and rule (1153–1187)
- Ayyubid destruction and Third Crusade (1187–1191)
- Crusader recapture (1229–1247)
- Mamluk Sultanate (1270-1517), the end of Ascalon and beginning of Majdal Asqalan
- Ottoman period (1516–1917)
- Archaeology
- Legacy
- Notable people
- Notes
- References
- Sources
Ascalon or Ashkelon was an ancient Near East port city on the Mediterranean coast of the southern Levant of high historical and archaeological significance. Its remains are located in the archaeological site of Tel Ashkelon, within the city limits of the modern Israeli city of Ashkelon. Traces of settlement exist from the 3rd millennium BCE, with evidence of city fortifications emerging in the Middle Bronze Age. During the Late Bronze Age, it was integrated into the Egyptian Empire, before becoming one of the five cities of the Philistine pentapolis following the migration of the Sea Peoples. The city was later destroyed by the Babylonians but was subsequently rebuilt.
Ascalon remained a major metropolis throughout the classical period, as a Hellenistic city persisting into the Roman period. Christianity began to spread in the city as early as the 4th century CE. During the Middle Ages it came under Islamic rule, before becoming a highly contested fortified foothold on the coast during the Crusades. Two significant Crusader battles took place in the city: the Battle of Ascalon in 1099, and the Siege of Ascalon in 1153. The Mamluk sultan Baybars ordered the destruction (slighting) of the city fortifications and the harbour in 1270 to prevent any further military use, though structures such as the Shrine of Husayn's Head survived. The nearby town of al-Majdal was established in the same period. The village of Al-Jura existed adjacent to the deserted city until 1948.
Gallery (13)
On the map
2 mapped locations