Ascalon

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.

Ascalon has been known by many variations of the same basic name over the millennia. It is speculated that the name comes from the Northwest Semitic and possibly Canaanite root Ṯ-Q-L, meaning "to weigh", which is also the root of "shekel".

The settlement is first mentioned in the Egyptian Execration Texts from the 18th-19th centuries BCE as Asqalānu. In the Amarna letters (c. 1350 BCE), there are seven letters to and from King Yidya of Ašqaluna and the Egyptian pharaoh. The Merneptah Stele (c. 1208 BCE) of the 19th dynasty recounts the Pharaoh putting down a rebellion at Asqaluna. The settlement is then mentioned eleven times in the Hebrew Bible as ʾAšqəlōn.

In the Hellenistic period, Askálōn emerged as the Ancient Greek name for the city, persisting through the Roman period and later Byzantine period.

In the Early Islamic period, the Arabic form became ʿAsqalān. The medieval Crusaders called it Ascalon.

In modern Hebrew it is known as Ashkelon. Today, Ascalon is a designated archaeological area known as Tel Ashkelon ("Mound of Ascalon") and administered as Ashkelon National Park.

Ascalon lies on the Mediterranean coast, 16 km. north of Gaza City and 14 km. south of Ashdod and Ashdod-Yam. Around 15 million years ago, a river flowed from inland to the sea here. It was later covered by fossilized sandstone ridges (kurkar), formed by sand that was washed to the shores from the Nile Delta. The river became an underground water source, which was later exploited by Ascalon's residents for the constructions of wells. The oldest well found at Ascalon dates around 1000 BCE.