NationMaster - Encyclopedia: Ashkelon

Ashkelon (Hebrew: אַשְׁקְלוֹן‎; Tiberian Hebrew ʾAšqəlôn; Arabic: عسقلان‎ ʿAsqalān (help· info); Latin: Ascalon) is a city in the western Negev, in the South District of Israel, which was formed out of the Arab town of al-Majdal in the 1950s. It is also the name of an ancient Philistine seaport on the east coast of the Mediterranean Sea just north of Gaza. Image File history File links AshkelonLogo. ... Hebrew redirects here. ... Arabic ( or just ) is the largest living member of the Semitic language family in terms of speakers. ... The city of Chicago, as seen from the sky The main square of the Catalan city of Sabadell during a popular celebration. ... Map of the districts of Israel There are six main administrative districts of Israel, known in Hebrew as mehozot (×ž×—×•×–×•×ª; singular: mahoz) and fifteen sub-districts known as nafot (× ×¤×•×ª; singular: nafa). ... The South District of Israel, highlighted. ... A dunam or dÃ¶nÃ¼m, dunum, donum is a unit of area. ... Hebrew redirects here. ... Tiberian Hebrew is an oral tradition of pronunciation for ancient forms of Hebrew, especially the Hebrew of the Bible, that was given written form by masoretic scholars in the Jewish community at Tiberias in the early middle ages, beginning in the 8th century. ... Arabic ( or just ) is the largest living member of the Semitic language family in terms of speakers. ... Image File history File links ArAsqalan. ... Latin is an ancient Indo-European language originally spoken in Latium, the region immediately surrounding Rome. ... Ruins in the Negev desert The Negev (Hebrew × Ö¶×’Ö¶×‘;, Tiberian Hebrew NÃ©á¸¡eá¸‡; Arabic Ø§Ù„Ù†Ù‚Ø¨ an-Naqab) is the desert region of southern Israel. ... The South District of Israel, highlighted. ... Map showing the location of Philistine land and cities of Gaza, Ashdod, and Ashkelon Map of the southern Levant, c. ... Composite satellite image of the Mediterranean Sea. ... Map of the Gaza Strip from The World Factbook. ...

History of the ancient city

Ashkelon was the oldest and largest seaport in ancient Canaan, one of the "five cities" of the Philistines, north of Gaza and south of Jaffa (Yafa). Archaeological excavations begun in 1985 led by Lawrence Stager of Harvard University are revealing the site with about 50 feet of accumulated rubble from successive Canaanite, Philistine, Phoenician, Iranian, Hellenistic, Roman, Byzantine, Islamic, and Crusader occupation. Image File history File links Size of this preview: 800 Ã— 420 pixel Image in higher resolution (1000 Ã— 525 pixel, file size: 11 KB, MIME type: image/gif) File links The following pages on the English Wikipedia link to this file (pages on other projects are not listed): Ashkelon ... Image File history File links Size of this preview: 800 Ã— 420 pixel Image in higher resolution (1000 Ã— 525 pixel, file size: 11 KB, MIME type: image/gif) File links The following pages on the English Wikipedia link to this file (pages on other projects are not listed): Ashkelon ... The Merneptah Stele is the reverse of a stela erected by Amenhotep III written by Merneptah. ... Canaan (Canaanite: ×›× ×¢×Ÿ, Hebrew: , Greek: Î§Î±Î½Î±Î¬Î½ whence Latin: Canaan; and from Hebrew, Aramaic: whence Arabic: â€Ž). Canaan is an ancient term for a region approximating present-day Israel(94%.) and West Bank and Gaza plus adjoining coastal lands and parts of Lebanon and Syria. ... A Pentapolis, from the Greek words penta five and polis city(-state) is geographic and/or institutional grouping of five cities. ... Map showing the location of Philistine land and cities of Gaza, Ashdod, and Ashkelon Map of the southern Levant, c. ... Map of the Gaza Strip from The World Factbook. ... Jaffa port Sunset at Jaffa port Jaffa ( Hebrew: ×™Ö¸×¤×•Ö¹, Yafo Arabic: ÙŠÙŽØ§ÙÙŽØ§ ; also Japho, Joppa; also, ~1350 B.C.E. Amarna Letters: Yapu; ), is an ancient port city located in south Tel Aviv, Israel on the Mediterranean Sea. ... Archaeology or sometimes in American English archeology (from the Greek words αρχαίος = ancient and λόγος = word/speech) is the study of human cultures through the recovery, documentation and analysis of material remains, including architecture, artefacts, biofacts, human remains, and landscapes. ... 1985 (MCMLXXXV) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Lawrence Larry Stager, Dorot Professor of the Archaeology of Israel and head of the Harvard Semitic Museum in the Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations at Harvard University has overseen excavations under the Leon Levy Expedition to Ashkelon, the great Philistine port city, since 1985. ... Harvard University (incorporated as The President and Fellows of Harvard College) , is a private university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA. One of the eight Ivies, it was founded in 1636. ... Canaan (Canaanite: ×›× ×¢×Ÿ, Hebrew: , Greek: Î§Î±Î½Î±Î¬Î½ whence Latin: Canaan; and from Hebrew, Aramaic: whence Arabic: â€Ž). Canaan is an ancient term for a region approximating present-day Israel(94%.) and West Bank and Gaza plus adjoining coastal lands and parts of Lebanon and Syria. ... Map showing the location of Philistine land and cities of Gaza, Ashdod, and Ashkelon Map of the southern Levant, c. ... Phoenician sarcophagus found in Cadiz, Spain; now in Archaeological Museum of CÃ¡diz. ... The Hellenistic period of Greek history was the period between the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC and the annexation of the Greek peninsula and islands by Rome in 146 BC. Although the establishment of Roman rule did not break the continuity of Hellenistic society and culture, which... This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... Byzantine Empire at its greatest extent c. ... Islam (Arabic: ) is a monotheistic religion based upon the teachings of Muhammad, a 7th century Arab religious and political figure. ... This article is about the medieval crusades. ...

In the oldest layers are shaft graves of pre-Phoenician Canaanites. 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 (607,000 m²), 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. Image File history File links Ask_Sarcopag. ... Image File history File links Ask_Sarcopag. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Size of this preview: 800 Ã— 600 pixel Image in higher resolution (3072 Ã— 2304 pixel, file size: 3. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Size of this preview: 800 Ã— 600 pixel Image in higher resolution (3072 Ã— 2304 pixel, file size: 3. ... Red sandstone interior of Lower Antelope Canyon, Arizona, worn smooth due to erosion by flash flooding over millions of years Sandstone is a sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-size mineral or rock grains. ... The Bronze Age is a period in a civilizations development when the most advanced metalworking has developed the techniques of smelting copper from natural outcroppings and alloys it to cast bronze. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with Separation barrier. ... Isometric view of a typical arch An arch is a curved structure capable of spanning a space while supporting significant weight (e. ... The Lierne vault of the Liebfrauenkirche, MÃ¼hlacker 1482. ...

The Bronze Age ramparts were so capacious that later Roman and Islamic fortifications, faced with stone, followed the same footprint, a vast semi-circle 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 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. EL or El may mean: Electroluminescence, an optical and electrical phenomenon where a material such as a natural blue diamond emits light when an electric current is passed through it. ... For other uses, see Baal (disambiguation). ...

The Philistines conquered Canaanite Ashkelon about 1150 BCE. 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 of Mycenaeic origin 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 BC). 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. Centuries: 13th century BC - 12th century BC - 11th century BC Decades: 1200s BC 1190s BC 1180s BC 1170s BC 1160s BC - 1150s BC - 1140s BC 1130s BC 1120s BC 1110s BC 1100s BC Events and Trends 1159 BC - Global tree ring event (period of arrested tree growth) lasting for 18... A clay tablet with writing in Linear B from Mycenae. ... The Sea Peoples is the term used for a mysterious confederacy of seafaring raiders who around 1200 BC sailed into the eastern shores of the Mediterranean, caused political unrest, and attempted to enter Egyptian territory during the late 19th dynasty, and especially during Year 8 of Ramesses III of the... The Mediterranean Sea is an intercontinental sea positioned between Europe to the north, Africa to the south and Asia to the east, covering an approximate area of 2. ... An Israelite is a member of the Twelve Tribes of Israel, descended from the twelve sons of the Biblical patriarch Jacob who was renamed Israel by God in the book of Genesis, 32:28 The Israelites were a group of Hebrews, as described in the Bible. ... Kingdom of Judah (Hebrew ×žÖ·×œÖ°×›×•Ö¼×ª ×™Ö°×”×•Ö¼×“Ö¸×”, Standard Hebrew Malá¸«ut YÉ™huda, Tiberian Hebrew Malá¸µÃ»á¹¯ YÉ™hÃ»á¸Äh) in the times of the Hebrew Bible, was the nation formed from the territories of the tribes of Judah, Simeon, and Benjamin after the Kingdom of Israel was divided, and was named after Judah... Nebuchadnezzar (or Nebudchadrezzar) II (ca. ... Centuries: 8th century BC - 7th century BC - 6th century BC Decades: 650s BC 640s BC 630s BC 620s BC 610s BC - 600s BC - 590s BC 580s BC 570s BC 560s BC 550s BC The 600s BC are the years 609 to 600 BC. Events and trends 609 BC - King Josiah...

Ashkelon was soon rebuilt. It was an important Hellenistic seaport, the birthplace of Herod the Great who rebuilt and enriched the city and it continued to flourish in the Roman and Byzantine periods. During the Crusades, Ashkelon (which was known to the Crusaders as Ascalon) was an important fortress. Although Fatimid forces were defeated at the Battle of Ascalon by the Crusaders in 1099, the city itself was not taken. In 1150 it was fortified with fifty-three towers by its Egyptian Fatimid rulers, to defend it against marauding Crusaders, but to no avail, for it fell three years later, after a months-long siege, to Baldwin III of Jerusalem. It was then added to the County of Jaffa, one of the most important Crusader seigneuries. Saladin retrieved the strategic port for Islam after the Battle of Hittin, July 4, 1187, but with the Third Crusade a few years later, Saladin systematically demolished Ashkelon lest it fall once more into the hands of the infidel. Indeed Richard the Lion-Hearted built a fort upon the ruins. Finally in 1270, the Mamluk sultan Baybars demolished Ashkelon for the last time, filling in its harbor and leaving it desolate. The term Hellenistic (established by the German historian Johann Gustav Droysen) in the history of the ancient world is used to refer to the shift from a culture dominated by ethnic Greeks, however scattered geographically, to a culture dominated by Greek-speakers of whatever ethnicity, and from the political dominance... Hordes (Hebrew: ×”×•Ö¹×¨Ö°×“×•Ö¹×¡, ; Greek: , ; trad. ... The Fatimids, Fatimid Caliphate or al-FÄtimiyyÅ«n (Arabic Ø§Ù„ÙØ§Ø·Ù…ÙŠÙˆÙ†) is the Shia dynasty that ruled over varying areas of the Maghreb, Egypt, and the Levant from 5 January 910 to 1171. ... Combatants Kingdom of Jerusalem Fatimids Commanders Godfrey of Bouillon al-Afdal Shahanshah Strength Possibly 10 000 Possibly 50 000 Casualties Unknown Possibly 10-12 000 For the siege and capture of Ascalon in 1153, see Battle of Ascalon (1153) The Battle of Ascalon took place on August 12, 1099, and... 1099 also refers to a United States tax form used for, among other purposes, reporting payments made to independent Contractors. ... Events Åhus, Sweden gains city privileges City of Airdrie, Scotland founded King Sverker I of Sweden is deposed and succeeded by Eric IX of Sweden. ... Events January 6 - Henry of Anjou arrives in England. ... The Siege of Ascalon took place in 1153, resulting in the capture of that Egyptian fortress by the Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem. ... Baldwin III (1130-1162) was king of Jerusalem from 1143-1162. ... The double County of Jaffa and Ascalon was one of the four major seigneuries of the Kingdom of Jerusalem, according to 13th-century commentator John of Ibelin. ... Artistic representation of Saladin. ... The Battle of Hattin in 1187 was a major setback in the fortunes of the Crusader movement, enabling the Muslims to regain control of Jerusalem from the Christians. ... For the United States holiday, the Fourth of July, see Independence Day (United States). ... // Events May 1 - Battle of Cresson - Saladin defeats the crusaders July 4 - Saladin defeats Guy of Lusignan, King of Jerusalem, at the Battle of Hattin. ... Saladin, from a 15th-century illuminated manuscript. ... Richard I (8 September 1157 â€“ 6 April 1199) was King of England from 1189 to 1199. ... For broader historical context, see 1270s and 13th century. ... A Mamluk cavalryman, drawn in 1810 A mamluk (Arabic: Ù…Ù…Ù„ÙˆÙƒ (singular), Ù…Ù…Ø§Ù„ÙŠÙƒ (plural), owned; also transliterated mameluk, mameluke, or mamluke) was a slave soldier who converted to Islam and served the Muslim caliphs and the Ayyubid sultans during the Middle Ages. ... al-Malik al-Zahir Ruk al-Din Baibars al-Bunduqdari (also spelled Baybars) (b. ...

History of the modern city

The Arab town of al-Majdal (Arabic: المجدل‎, Hebrew: אל-מג'דל‎; also spelled Majdal and Migdal) was described as a large village in the 16th century. By the time of the 1948 Arab-Israeli war, it had grown into a substantial town of about 11,000 residents. It was especially famous for its large weaving industry. Arabic ( or just ) is the largest living member of the Semitic language family in terms of speakers. ... Hebrew redirects here. ... Combatants Egypt Syria Transjordan Lebanon Saudi Arabia Iraq Holy War Army Arab Liberation Army Israel Commanders Glubb Pasha Abd al-Qadir al-Husayniâ€ Hasan Salamaâ€ Fawzi al-Qawuqji Yaakov Dori Yigael Yadin Strength Egypt: 10,000 initially rising to 20,000 Iraq: 5,000 initially rising to 15,000â€“18...

Soon after the declaration of the state of Israel, the Egyptian army occupied a large part of Gaza including Majdal. During the next few months, the town was subject to repeat Israeli attacks including air-raids and shelling. All but about 1000 of the town's residents had fled by the time it was captured by Israeli forces in Operation Yoav on November 4, 1948. General Yigal Allon ordered the expulsion of the remaining Arabs but the local commanders did not do so and the Arab population soon recovered to more than 2000 due mostly to refugees slipping back. During the next year or so, the Arabs were held in a confined area while a secret debate took place about their fate. Some, such as General Moshe Dayan and Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion wanted them expelled, while others, such as the left-wing minority party Mapam and the Israeli labor union Histadrut, wanted them to remain. The government decided that the Arabs should be expelled, but that they would not be expelled without their consent, which the government might have conceded because of growing international pressure. A carrot-and-stick campaign was carried out. Positive inducements included favorable currency exchange, and negative inducements included "black propaganda" and harassment such as night-time raids. Eventually most of the Arabs agreed to leave, though it was alleged that many never gave their consent. The majority were taken on trucks to the Gaza Strip where they joined their fellows in the refugee camps there. By October 1950, only 20 Arab families remained, most of whom later moved to Lydda or Gaza.^[1] Operation Yoav (also called Operation Ten Plagues or Operation Yoav) was an Israeli military operation carried out between October 15 - 22, 1948 in the Negev Desert in the 1948 Arab-Israeli War. ... November 4 is the 308th day of the year (309th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 57 days remaining. ... 1948 (MCMXLVIII) was a leap year starting on Thursday (the link is to a full 1948 calendar). ... Yigal Allon (Hebrew: ; October 10, 1918- February 29, 1980) was an Israeli Labour Party statesman. ... Moshe Dayan, DSO (Hebrew: ×ž×©×” ×“×™×™×Ÿ)a (May 20, 1915 â€“ October 16, 1981), was an Israeli military leader and politician. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... Mapam - United Workers Party (in Hebrew: מפם - מפלגת פועלים מאוחדת Mifleget Poalim Meuhedet) was initially a Marxist-Zionist party. ... The Histadrut (Federation [of labor]) or HaHistadrut HaKlalit shel HaOvdim BEretz Yisrael (×”×”×¡×ª×“×¨×•×ª ×”×›×œ×œ×™×ª ×©×œ ×”×¢×•×‘×“×™× ×‘××¨×¥ ×™×©×¨××œ) (Hebrew: General Federation of Laborers in the Land of Israel) is the Israeli trade union congress. ... 1950 (MCML) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will take you to calendar). ...

The Israeli national plan of June 1949 designed Al Majdal as the site for a regional urban center of 20,000 people. Mass repopulation of the vacated Arab houses by Jewish immigrants or demobilised soldiers began in July 1949 and by December the Jewish population had increased to 2,500. During 1949, the town was renamed Migdal Gaza, and then Migdal Gad. Soon afterwards it became Migdal Ashkelon. In 1953 the nearby neighborhood of Afridar was incorporated and the current name Ashkelon was adopted. By 1961, Ashkelon ranked 18th amongst Israeli urban centers with a population of 24,000. 1949 (MCMXLIX) was a common year starting on Saturday (the link is to a full 1949 calendar). ... 1953 (MCMLIII) was a common year starting on Thursday. ... 1961 (MCMLXI) was a common year starting on Sunday (the link is to a full 1961 calendar). ...

The population of Ashkelon in 2005 was 117,000. Ashkelon is currently a thriving city which has a newly built sports complex and a culture hall, making it the 8th largest city in Israel.

In 2005 the world's largest water desalination plant opened at Ashkelon with a capacity of 330,000 cubic meters of water produced per day. The project was undertaken by VID, which is a consortium between Veolia and IDE. The project at the time represented not only the largest desalination plant in the world but also the lowest cost desalination plant (0.52 $ per cubic meter). DWEERS energy recovery devices and FILMTEC^TM membranes were used in the design. Shevchenko BN350 desalination unit situated on the shore of the Caspian Sea. ...

References

1948 and after, Israel and the Palestinians is a collection of essays by the Israeli historian Benny Morris. ...

Sister cities

Image File history File links Flag_of_Canada_(bordered). ... CÃ´te Saint-Luc within the Island of Montreal. ... Image File history File links Flag_of_France. ... Aix (prounounced eks), or, to distinguish it from other cities built over hot springs, Aix-en-Provence is a city in southern France, some 30 km north of Marseille. ... Image File history File links Flag_of_Georgia_(bordered). ... Kutaisi (Georgian: ; ancient names: Aea/Aia, Kutatisi, KutaÃ¯ssi ) is Georgias second largest city in the western province of Imereti. ... Image File history File links Flag_of_Poland_corrected_(bordered). ... Sopot (pronounce: [sÉ”pÉ”t]; German: ; Kashubian: SopÃ²t) is a seaside town in Eastern Pomerania on the southern coast of the Baltic Sea in northern Poland, with a population of approximately 40,000. ... Image File history File links Flag_of_Uganda. ... Location of Entebbe within Uganda. ... Image File history File links Flag_of_the_United_States. ... Nickname: City of Roses, Stumptown, Bridgetown, PDX Location in Multnomah County and the state of Oregon Coordinates: Country United States State Oregon County Multnomah County Incorporated February 8, 1851 Government - Mayor Tom Potter Area - City 145. ... Image File history File links Flag_of_the_United_States. ... Nickname: Monument City, Charm City, Mob Town[1][2], B-more Motto: The Greatest City in America,[3] Get in on it. ...

Contents

History of the ancient city

History of the modern city

References

Sister cities

See also

External links

Contents

History of the ancient city GA_googleFillSlot("encyclopedia_square");

History of the modern city

References

Sister cities

See also

External links

History of the ancient city