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73-780: Traces of settlement in the area around Ascalon exist from the 3rd millennium BC , with evidence of city fortifications emerging in the Middle Bronze Age . During the Late Bronze Age , Ashkelon 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

146-756: A base for military activity against the Kingdom of Jerusalem . After the Crusader conquest of Jerusalem in 1099, the six elders of the Karaite Jewish community in Ascalon contributed to the ransoming of captured Jews and holy relics from Jerusalem's new rulers. The Letter of the Karaite elders of Ascalon , which was sent to the Jewish elders of Alexandria , describes their participation in the ransom effort and

219-624: A city plan of streets with workshops and large warehouses by the shore. In these warehouses, many imported vessels and raw materials from the Mediterranean Sea and Ancient Near East were discovered. The origin of these imports is primarily Phoenicia and the Greek regions of Attica , Corinth and Magna Graecia , as well as Cyprus , Egypt and Mesopotamia . Among those findings are luxury items such as aryballoi , black-figure and red-figure pottery , Ionian cups, athenian owl cups and

292-411: A figurine of the ancient Egyptian god Osiris , made of bronze . These were dated to the entire span of the period and attest to Ashkelon's role as a major sea port. A unique discovery in the archaeology of Ashkelon is the large dog cemetery , located within a prime location in the center of the city. Archaeologists excavated over 800 dog burials, dated between early 5th and late 4th centuries BCE. It

365-538: A political stage, and rulers sought the accumulation of more wealth and more power. Along with this came the first appearances of monumental architecture, imperialism , organized absolutism and internal revolution. The civilizations of Sumer and Akkad in Mesopotamia became a collection of volatile city-states in which warfare was common. Uninterrupted conflicts drained all available resources, energies and populations. In this millennium, larger empires succeeded

438-552: 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. The remains of prehistoric activity and settlement at Ashkelon were revealed in salvage excavations prior to urban development in

511-746: A role in Phoenician society and religion in that time. Archaeological investigation showed that the city was violently destroyed by fire around 290 BCE, some decades after the conquest of the region by Alexander the Great . This destruction took place during the reign of Ptolemy I Soter , when the Ptolemaic Kingdom consolidated its rule over the Levant. Evidence of this destruction was found in all excavation areas. The structures were found collapsed and burnt. Two hoards of silver coins were found in

584-580: Is believed that these envoys were securing the caravans that carried tribute to the Egyptian king, and that they served as his loyal ambassadors. During the Amarna Period (mid-14th century BCE, mostly during the reign of Akhenaten ), Ashkelon maintained its ties to Egypt. Over a dozen letters inscribed in clay that were found in the Amarna letters are linked to Ashkelon. A petrographic analysis of

657-777: Is followed by the Old Kingdom . In Mesopotamia, the Early Dynastic Period is followed by the Akkadian Empire . In what is now Northwest India and Pakistan, the Indus Valley civilization developed a state society. World population growth relaxed after the burst due to the Neolithic Revolution . World population was largely stable, at roughly 60 million, with a slow overall growth rate at roughly 0.03% p.a. The Bronze Age began in

730-901: Is now housed in the National Museum of Iran in Tehran . In Israel Perrot excavated at Munhata , Ain Mallaha and the Chalcolithic sites at Abu Matar and Bir es-Safadi near Beersheba , belonging to the so-called Beer Sheva culture . In 1952, Perrot founded the "Mission archéologique française" , now called the French Research Center in Jerusalem ; a joint research unit of the General Directorate for International Cooperation and Development and

803-585: Is one of the most extensive and most excavated settlements of the EB I period, with over two dozen dig sites, excavated by the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA). The flourishment of EB I Ashkelon has also been linked to trade relations with Prehistoric Egypt . The site of Afridar was abandoned at the start of the EB II period ( c. 2900 BCE). It was suggested that the cause for the abandonment

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876-473: Is the site most abundant with Red-Slipped ware , both imported and locally made, which decreases greatly further inland. Imports further included amphorae , elegant bowls and cups, " Samaria ware", and red and cream polished tableware from Phoenicia , together with amphorae and decorated fine-ware from Ionia , Corinth , Cyprus and the Greek islands . The history of Philistine Ashkelon came to an end when

949-491: Is unknown. It has been conjectured that he was the son of Mitinti I. Otherwise it was suggested that he was a usurper, either one who was installed by the Assyrians, or one who usurped the throne on his own behalf, and secured his rule through accepting Assyrian subjugation. Either way, after Rukibu's ascension, Ashkelon resumed paying annual tributes to Assyria. Somewhere towards the end of the 8th century BCE, Sidqa userped

1022-479: The Ancient Near East roughly between 3000 BC and 2500 BC. The previous millennium had seen the emergence of advanced, urbanized civilizations, new bronze metallurgy extending the productivity of agricultural work, and highly developed ways of communication in the form of writing . In the 3rd millennium BC, the growth of these riches, both intellectually and physically, became a source of contention on

1095-602: The CNRS . It is the CNRS's oldest foreign branch and became a permanent archaeological base in 1974. The current director since 1996 is Dominique Bourel. In 1973, Perrot founded the notable journal Paléorient with Bernard Vandermeersch along with the aid of the Wenner-Gren Foundation. In 1975, this became a publication of the CNRS. The journal is now published twice a year and distributed in twenty-two countries, it

1168-655: The Cypro-Minoan script . The ostracon was of local material and dated to 12th to 11th century BC. Five of the jar handles were manufactured in coastal Lebanon, two in Cyprus, and one locally. Fifteen of the handles were found in an Iron I context and the rest in Late Bronze Age context. By 734 BCE, Ashkelon was captured by the Neo-Assyrian Empire , under the reign of Tiglath-Pileser III . Following

1241-641: 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 ,

1314-741: The Egyptian pharaoh . The Merneptah Stele (c. 1208 BC) 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

1387-528: The Kingdom of Jerusalem . In July 1101, two years after the battle of Ascalon, Fatimid vizier Al-Afdal Shahanshah launched an offensive from Ascalon to recapture Jaffa . By 7 September, Baldwin I defeated the Fatimid troops, and a year later besieged the city, destroying its rural hinterlands. Ascalon was further isolated by the fall of Acre in 1104, but kept serving as a Fatimid base. In August 1105, Al-Afdal launched yet another failed attack from Ascalon,

1460-779: The Robber Council of Ephesus in 449 and the Council of Chalcedon in 451. Bishop Dionysius, who represented Ascalon at a synod in Jerusalem in 536 , was on another occasion called upon to pronounce on the validity of a baptism with sand in waterless desert. He sent the person to be baptized in water. No longer a residential bishopric, Ascalon is today listed by the Catholic Church as a titular see . The Muslim conquest of Palestine started in 634. Islamic historian Al-Baladhuri recounts that Ascalon ( ʿAsḳalân in Arabic)

1533-575: The power vacuum due to the withdrawal of the Assyrian empire from the West. This is demonstrated by the discovery of multiple Egyptian trade items, such as barrel-jars and tripods made of Nile clay, a jewelry box made of abalone shell together with a necklace of amulets . Egyptian cultic and votive items, statuettes and offering tables were likewise discovered, demonstrating a religious influence as well. According to Herodotus (c.484–c.425 BC),

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1606-567: The École biblique et archéologique française de Jérusalem in 1945. He researched a number of ancient sites in Iran , Israel and Turkey , animating the research at international level. He first went to Iran in 1968, a year after the retirement of Roman Ghirshman , to head the Delegation Archéologique Français (DAFI) and excavations of the country's ancient sites. He headed a multidisciplinary team in conjunction with

1679-597: The 3rd millennium BC: The 3rd millennium BC included the following key events: Jean Perrot Jean Perrot (10 June 1920 – 24 December 2012) was a French archaeologist who specialised in the late prehistory of the Middle East and Near East . Perrot was a graduate of the Ecole du Louvre where he studied under two experts in Syrian archaeology; André Parrot and René Dussaud . He went on to study at

1752-593: The Afridar and Marina neighborhoods of modern Ashkelon, some 1.5 kilometres (1 mi) north of Tel Ashkelon. The fieldwork was conducted in the 1950s under the supervision of Jean Perrot and in 1997-1998 under the supervision of Yosef Garfinkel . The earliest traces of human activity include some 460 microlithic tools dated to the Epipalaeolithic period ( c. 23,000 to c. 10,000 BCE). These come along wide evidence for hunter-gatherer exploitation in

1825-465: The Assyrian campaign, Ashkelon, along with other southern Levantine kingdoms, paid tribute to Assyria, and thus became a vassal kingdom. A year later, while the Assyrians were preoccupied fighting Damascus, king Mitinti I of Ashkelon joined Israel , Tyre and Arab tribes in a revolt against Assyrian hegemony. The revolt failed and Mitinti I was killed and replaced by Rukibtu . The identity of Rukibtu

1898-420: The Assyrian campaign. Sidqa himself was exiled with all of his family and was replaced Šarru-lu-dari , the son of Rukibtu, who resumed paying tribute to Assyria. During most of the 7th century BCE, Ashkelon was ruled by Mitinti II , the son of Sidqa, who was a vassal to Esarhaddon and Ashurbanipal . Close connections between Ashkelon and Egypt developed in the days of pharaoh Psamtik I , after Egypt filled

1971-543: The Crusader count of Jaffa, Hugh II , rebelled against King Fulk , who accused him of conspiring against his realm, and of intimate relations with his wife. Hugh II rode to Ascalon to seek help, and the Muslim troops were happy to contribute to the internal feud among the Crusader. Troops left Ascalon to Jaffa and raided the Sharon plain , until Fulk's forces repelled them. Later. A year later, Fatimid vizier Ridwan ibn Walakhshi

2044-599: The Early Bronze Age I period (EB I, 3700–2900 BCE), human settlement thrived in Ashkelon. The central site was in Afridar, situated between two long and wide kurkar ridges. This area had unique ecological conditions, offering an abundance of goundwater, fertile soils and varied flora and fauna. Two other settlements existed at Tel Ashkelon itself, and in the Barnea neighborhood of modern Ashkelon. The site of Afridar

2117-594: The Egyptian-ruled Canaanite city, was dated by the site's excavators to c. 1170 BCE. Their earliest pottery, types of structures and inscriptions are similar to the early Greek urbanised centre at Mycenae in mainland Greece , adding evidence to the conclusion that they were one of the " Sea Peoples " that upset cultures throughout the Eastern Mediterranean at that time. In this period, the Hebrew Bible presents Ashkelon as one of

2190-472: The Fatimids had begun raising an army at Ascalon, ready to raise the siege of Jerusalem. In August, an army of about 10,000 crusaders marched on Ascalon to meet the army being raised. They surprised the Fatimids in battle on 12 August just north of the city of Ascalon. While the crusader army defeated the Fatimid force of around 20,000, the city itself was not captured and remained in Fatimid hands, serving as

2263-530: The Great , who became a client king of the Roman Empire , ruling over Judea and its environs in 30 BCE, had not received Ashkelon, yet he built monumental buildings there: bath houses, elaborate fountains and large colonnades. A discredited tradition suggests Ashkelon was his birthplace. In 6 CE, when a Roman imperial province was set in Judea, overseen by a lower-rank governor, Ashkelon was moved directly to

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2336-600: The Iranian Centre of Archaeological Research, including experts from France, Iran and the United States who continued studies until the revolution in 1979. He worked on sites such as Susa and Jafar Abad and took measures to safeguard the vestiges of the Achaemenid period (between the sixth and fourth century BC ). His notable discoveries included ancient items such as the headless statue of Darius which

2409-487: The Muslim civil war of 680–692 ( Second Fitna ), the south of Syria came under the military rule of Abd Allah ibn al-Zubayr 's caliphate. By that time, the Byzantines reoccupied Asqalan, razed the city and deported its inhabitants. While in the time of Marwan I the region came back to Umayyad hands, the Byzantines either left Ascalon or were forced out only after Marwan's son, Abd al-Malik ( r.  685–705 ) won

2482-582: The Phoenician word for "cake" inscribed on it. The cult of the goddess Tanit was present at Ashkelon by that period. The city minted its own coins, with the abbreviation Aleph - Nun referring to its name. The archaeological excavations revealed remains of the Achaemenid (Persian) period in three main locations (Grids 38, 50 and 57). The city features monumental structures constructed of ashlar stone foundations and mudbrick superstructures . It had

2555-645: The ancient city. 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 BC as Asqalānu . In the Amarna letters ( c. 1350 BC), there are seven letters to and from King Yidya of Ašqaluna and

2628-466: The benefits of unification into a stable form of national government and became a relatively peaceful, well-organized, complex technocratic state called the 3rd Dynasty of Ur . This dynasty was later to become involved with a wave of nomadic invaders known as the Amorites , who were to play a major role in the region during the following centuries. Certain 4th millennium BC events were precursors to

2701-518: 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. Ottoman tax records attest the existence of the village of Al-Jura adjacent to citadel walls from at least 1596. That residual settlement survived until its depopulation in 1948 . The modern Israeli city of Ashkelon takes its name from

2774-408: The city with supplies and maintained its garrison. Ascalon thus became a major Fatimid frontier post. It was subjected to a Crusader blockade, often blocking the land route from Egypt, making it only accessible through the sea. The trade between Ascalon and Crusader Jerusalem resumed by that time, though the inhabitants of Ascalon regularly struggled with shortages in food and supplies. This necessitated

2847-738: The city's temple of Aphrodite ( Derketo ) 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). By the end of the 7th century BCE, Ashkelon's populated is estimated to have been 10,000–12,000. It had fortifications which integrated and developed the Canaanite ramparts, in addition to an estimated 50 protective towers. Industry in included wine and olive oil production and export and possibly textile weaving. Together with Ashdod , it

2920-706: The civil war. Ascalon enjoyed an era of prosperity after Abd al-Malik rebuilt and fortified it. Despite it not being a good harbor, the city enjoyed its position between Syria and Egypt and their fertile lands. Islamic scholar Yaqut al-Hamawi called it "the Bride of Syria". From the year 712 Ascalon began minting its own copper coins, with the Arabic inscription "Struck in Filastin, Askalan". A son of Caliph Sulayman ( r.  715–717 ), whose family resided in Palestine ,

2993-425: The clay used in five letters sent by a ruler named Shubandu have supported the hypothesis that he ruled Ashkelon. After Shubandu, Ashkelon was ruled by Yidya . Seven of his letters were identified (letters no. 320–326, 370). In these he expressed his loyalty to the king and assured he will provision the Egyptian troops with bread, beer, oil, grain and cattle. In another letter sent to the king (no. 287) Abdi-Heba ,

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3066-642: The destruction layers, one of them apparently buried by one of the inhabitants prior to the destruction. It had mostly friendly relations with the Hasmonean kingdom and the Herodian kingdom of Judea , in the 2nd and 1st centuries BCE. In a significant case of an early witch-hunt , during the reign of the Hasmonean queen Salome Alexandra , the court of Simeon ben Shetach sentenced to death eighty women in Ashkelon who had been charged with sorcery . Herod

3139-412: The excavations of the northern slope of the ramparts, archaeologists detected five phases of construction including city gates, moats , guard towers and in a later phase, a sanctury right after the entrance to the city. The material culture and especially Egyptian-style pottery showed that Middle Bronze Ashkelon lasted until around 1560 BCE. Ashkelon came under the control of the New Kingdom of Egypt in

3212-402: The failed Babylonian invasion of Egypt. With the Babylonian destruction, the Philistine era was over. After its destruction, Ashkelon remained desolate for seventy years, until the Persian period . Following the Babylonian destruction, Ashkelon was deserted for about 80 years. Shortly after the Achaemenid Empire took over, Ashkelon was rebuilt around 520–510 BCE (based on ceramic evidence). It

3285-471: The five Philistine cities that are constantly warring with the Israelites . The Onomasticon of Amenope , dated to the early 11th century BCE, mentioned Ashkelon along with Gaza and Ashdod as cities of the Philistines. In 2012, an Iron Age IIA Philistine cemetery was discovered outside the city. In 2013, 200 of the cemetery's estimated 1,200 graves were excavated. Seven were stone-built tombs. One ostracon and 18 jar handles were found to be inscribed with

3358-400: The fortified center of a city-kingdom, as evidenced by both historical records and archaeology. Ashkelon first mention in historical records is in the Egyptian Execration Texts from the time of the Twelfth Dynasty of Egypt (20th–19th centuries BCE). These texts were written on red pots, which were broken as part of a cursing ritual against Egypt's enemies. Ashkelon appears three times under

3431-405: The higher jurisdiction of the governor of Syria province . Roman era fortifications, faced with stone, followed the same footprint as the earlier Canaanite settlement, forming a vast semicircle protecting the settlement on the land side. On the sea it was defended by a high natural bluff. A roadway more than six metres (20 ft) in width ascended the rampart from the harbor and entered a gate at

3504-419: The last major Fatimid stronghold for over half a century. Negotiations over Jerusalem between the crusaders and the Fatimids, who had recently gained control of the city from the Seljuks, broke down in May 1099 during the final stages of the First Crusade . This led to the siege and eventual capture of Jerusalem on 15 July. The remnants of the Fatimid army retreated to Ascalon. After negotiations ended in May,

3577-462: The last of the Philistine cities to hold out against Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar II . By the month of Kislev 604 BCE, the city was burnt, destroyed and its king Aga' taken into exile. Its destruction came one year after the Assyrian-Egyptian defeat in the battle of Carchemish . Concern over the strong Egyptian influence on Ashkelon, and possibly its direct rule, are possbibly what brought Nebuchadnezzar II to reduce Ashkelon to rubble, ahead of

3650-525: The last, and conquerors grew in stature until the great Sargon of Akkad pushed his empire to the whole of Mesopotamia and beyond. It would not be surpassed in size until Assyrian times 1,500 years later. In the Old Kingdom of Egypt , the Egyptian pyramids were constructed and would remain the tallest and largest human constructions for thousands of years. Also in Egypt, pharaohs began to posture themselves as living gods made of an essence different from that of other human beings. In Europe , which

3723-418: The most serious of his campaigns using both naval and ground forces. The Franks won the land battle and it has been recounted that when they encountered the Fatimid fleet in Jaffa, they threw the head of the defeated governor of Ascalon on board of the Egyptian ships, to inform them of the Crusader victory. After the Fatimid defeat in 1105, they no longer posed immediate threat to the Crusaders. And yet, Ascalon

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3796-484: The name Asqanu ( ꜥIsqꜥnw), along with three of its rulers ḫꜥykm (or Khalu-Kim), ḫkṯnw and Isinw . These names of Northwest Semitic origin, are identified as Amorites . Scholars have suggested Ashkelon was one of many Levantine city-states established by Amorites in the early second millennium BCE. The most distinctive feature of the site of Ashkelon is its fortifications, consisting of free-standing earthen ramparts which were erected as early as around 1800 BCE. In

3869-411: The ordeals suffered by many of the freed captives. In 1100, Ascalon was among the Fatimid coastal cities (along with Arsuf , Caesarea and Acre ) that paid tribute to the crusaders, as part of a short truce. In 1101, Caesarea and Arsuf were captured by the Crusaders, and their people fled to Ascalon. To protect the influx of Islamic population, military reinforcements were sent from Egypt, who provided

3942-491: The provisions from Egypt on several occasions each year. According to William of Tyre , the entire civilian population of the city was included in the Fatimid army registers. Fatimid ruler Al-Hafiz dispatched between 300 and 600 horesmen to protect Ascalon. Each company had 100 troops and was commanded by an Emir . A general was put in charge of all companies. They were paid 100 dinars for each emir, and 30 dinars for every horsemen. The Fatimids then used it to launch raids into

4015-472: The rule of the Tulunids of Egypt, who developed the coastal cities such as Acre , Caesarea Maritima and probably also Ascalon. In 969, the Fatimid general Jawhar captured Syria and Palestine and annexed the territory to the Fatimid Caliphate of North Africa . Ascalon prospered during the ensuing period. Islamic geographer Al-Maqdisi (945 – 991) described Ascalon, admiring its fortifications, garrison, mosque and fruits, but also recounted that its port

4088-438: The ruler of Jerusalem , accuses Yidya, as well as the rulers of Lachish and Gezer of provisioning the ʿApiru , who were adversaries of the Egyptian empire. In another letter, Yidya is asked to send glass ingots to Egypt. The Merneptah Stele from c. 1208 BCE, commemorates the victory of Merneptah against the rebellious Ashkelon, Gezer , Yenoam and the Israelites ". The founding of Philistine Ashkelon, on top of

4161-405: The southern coastal plain in that time. This activity come to hiatus during the early periods of sedentation in the Levant , and resumed only during the pre-pottery C phase of the Neolithic ( c. 7000–6400 BCE). Jean Perrot's excavation revealed eight dwelling pits, along with silos and installations, while Garfinkel's excavations revealed numerous pits, hearths and animal bones. During

4234-538: The throne, and joined the rebellion instigated by king Hezekiah of Judah , along with other Levantine kings. Together, they deposed king Padi of Ekron who remained loyal to Assyria. The rebellion, which was launched shortly after Sennacherib 's was suppressed during his third campaign In 701 BCE, as described in the Taylor Prism . At that time, Ashkelon controlled several cities in the Yarkon River basin (near modern Tel Aviv , including Beth Dagon , Jaffa , Beneberak and Azor ). These were seized and sacked during

4307-615: The time of Thutmose III , following the Battle of Megiddo (1457 BCE). During the Late Bronze Age, its territory stretched across the coastal plain , bordering Gaza to the south, Lachish and Gezer to the east and Gezer to the north. The ties between Ashkelon and Egypt in the late 15h century are documented in Papyrus Hermitage 1116A, which is dated to the time of Amenhotep II (1427–1401 BCE). It includes list compiled by an Egyptian official detailing rations of breed and beer, that were provided to envoys of noble chariot warriors ( Maryannu ) from 12 Canaanite cities, including Ashkelon. It

4380-437: The top. The city remained loyal to Rome during the Great Revolt , 66–70 CE. The city of Ascalon appears on a fragment of the 6th-century Madaba Map . The bishops of Ascalon whose names are known include Sabinus, who was at the First Council of Nicaea in 325, and his immediate successor, Epiphanius. Auxentius took part in the First Council of Constantinople in 381, Jobinus in a synod held in Lydda in 415, Leontius in both

4453-425: Was "rediscovered", prompting Badr to order the construction of a new mosque and mashhad (shrine or mausoleum) to hold the relic, known as the Shrine of Husayn's Head . According to another source, the shrine was built in 1098 by the Fatimid vizier al-Afdal Shahanshah . During the Crusades , Ascalon was an important city due to its location near the coast and between the Crusader States and Egypt. It remained

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4526-412: Was a climate change causing increased precipitation, which destroyed the ecological condition that had served the locals for centuries. In the EB II-III (2900–2500 BCE), the site of Tel Ashkelon served as an important seaport for the trade route between the Old Kingdom of Egypt and Byblos . Excavations at the northern side of the mound revealed a mudbrick structure and numerous olive-oil jars. This port

4599-485: Was abandoned with the deurbanization of Canaan during the second half of the 3rd millennium BC (Intermediate Bronze Age). At that time, the center of settlement moved to the unwalled rural settlement at Barne'a . Ashkelon was resettled in the Middle Bronze Age on the background of country-wide urban renaissance, linked to the immigration of Amorites people from the north, as well as the revival of trade relations between Middle Kingdom of Egypt and Byblos . It soon become

4672-419: Was appointed governor of Ascalon and the western Nile Delta . Ridwan found refuge in Ascalon during his conflict with Bahram al-Armani in 1138–9. 3rd millennium BC The 3rd millennium BC spanned the years 3000 to 2001 BC. This period of time corresponds to the Early to Middle Bronze Age , characterized by the early empires in the Ancient Near East . In Ancient Egypt , the Early Dynastic Period

4745-406: Was buried in the city. During the Abbasid period , the power center of the caliphate shifted from Syria to Iraq. An inscription found by Charles Clermont-Ganneau in the 19th century indicates that the Abbasid caliph al-Mahdi ordered the construction of a mosque with a minaret in Asqalan in 772. Towards the end of the 9th century Abbasid rule in Syria dwindled. By 878 it was effectively under

4818-423: Was conquered by the Seljuks . Fatimid rule over Ascalon was nevertheless loosened, with the governor often exercising a greater latitude of authority over the city than the nominal authority of the Egyptian caliphate. In 1091, a couple of years after a campaign by grand vizier Badr al-Jamali to reestablish Fatimid control over the region, the head of Husayn ibn Ali (a grandson of the Islamic prophet Muhammad )

4891-432: Was deemed impregnable, and its proximities to Egyptian ports made it a primary concern for their Crusader army, as it continued to serve from time to time as base for small-scale incursions. In 1124 Tyre fell to the Crusaders, making Ascalon the last Fatimid stronghold on the Levantine coast. Baldwin II of Jerusalem led an attack against Ascalon in 1125, that repelled by the Muslims, who continued their incursions. In 1134,

4964-451: Was one of the first coastal sites to be established the by Phoenicians , and in Ashkelon's case, by Tyre . The Periplus of Pseudo-Scylax from the mid-4th century, the final decades of the Achaemenid rule, calls it "Ashkelon, the city of Tyre's people". Many inscriptions in the Phoenician language were found across the site, including ostraca bearing Phoenician names from the late 6th to late 4th centuries BCE, and one East Greek vase with

5037-519: Was one of the last Byzantine cities in the region to fall. It may have been temporarily occupied by Amr ibn al-As , but definitively surrendered after a siege to Mu'awiya I (who later founded the Umayyad Caliphate ) not long after he captured the Byzantine district capital of Caesarea in c. 640. Mu'awiya turned the town into a fortified garrison, settling cavalry there. During ' Umar 's and ' Uthman 's rule (634–644 and 644–656, respectively), tracts of land in Ascalon were awarded to Muslims. During

5110-408: Was still largely neolithic during the same period, the builders of megaliths were constructing giant monuments of their own. In the Near East and the Occident during the 3rd millennium BC, limits were being pushed by architects and rulers. Towards the close of the millennium, Egypt became the stage of the first popular revolution recorded in history. After lengthy wars, the Sumerians recognized

5183-402: Was subsequently rebuilt. Ascalon remained a major metropolis throughout antiquity and the early Middle Ages , before becoming a highly contested fortified foothold on the coast during the Crusades , when it became the site of two significant Crusader battles: the Battle of Ascalon in 1099, and the Siege of Ascalon in 1153. The Mamluk sultan Baybars ordered the destruction ( slighting ) of

5256-494: Was suggested that the inhabitants of Ashkelon viewed the dogs as sacred animals. The dogs were given special treatment in their burial, with each being interred in a shallow pit and their bones were always found in the same position. The dogs of the Canaan Dog breed, were both male and female, the majority were puppies but also matures. It is evident they died of natural causes, without human intervention or epidemic. Dogs played

5329-583: Was unsafe. A similar description was given by Persian scholar Nasir Khusraw who visited Palestine in 1047. The absence of a port was recounted also by later scholars such as Izz al-Din ibn Shaddad (1217–1285) and Abulfeda (1273 – 1331). It was cited as one of the reason why Ascalon was one of the last coastal cities to stand against the Crusaders. In the 1070s, along with a few other coastal towns in Palestine, it remained in Fatimid hands when most of Syria

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