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110-476: The national park encompasses the heart of ancient Ascalon . It is surrounded by a wall built in the mid-12th century by the Fatimid Caliphate . The wall was originally 2,200 meters in length, 50 meters in width and 15 meters in height. The remains of the wall are located in the eastern and southern parts of the national park. The site contains archeological remains of the different civilizations that lived in

220-475: A Samaritan edition of the Hebrew Bible, which has approximately 6,000 textual variations from Jewish editions. It is appropriate to focus only on the consonantal spelling when discussing unusually structured words from ancient or medieval works. The Tiberian vocalization was devised in order to add indications of pronunciation to the consonantal text of the Hebrew Bible, without changing the consonantal text. It

330-704: 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

440-612: 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

550-412: 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

660-510: A gate at 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

770-548: A lack of equivalence between the English and Hebrew alphabets . Conflicting systems of transliteration often appear in the same text, as certain Hebrew words tend to associate with certain traditions of transliteration. For example, For Hanukkah at the synagogue Beith Sheer Chayyim, Isaac donned his talis that Yitzchak sent him from Bet Qehila in Tsfat, Israel. This text includes instances of

880-613: 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 the city fortifications and the harbour in 1270 to prevent any further military use, though structures such as

990-401: A more general system of romanization is complicated by the long and varied history of the Hebrew language. Most Hebrew texts can be appropriately pronounced according to several different systems of pronunciation, both traditional and modern. Even today, it is customary to write Hebrew using only consonants and matres lectionis . There was no way to indicate vowels clearly in Hebrew writing until

1100-470: A phonetic transcription of one person's speech on one occasion. In Israel, a pronunciation known as General Israeli Hebrew or Standard Hebrew is widely used and documented. For Israeli speech and text where linguistic groups are not at issue, romanization can use a phonetic transcription according to Standard Hebrew pronunciation. However, there are many Israeli groups with differing pronunciations of Hebrew and differing social priorities. An attempt to devise

1210-547: 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

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1320-725: 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

1430-558: A seven-foot headless marble statue, which was smashed and thrown into the sea. In 1921, the British School of Archaeology in Jerusalem began excavations at Ascalon, focusing on the same columns and semi-circular wall explored by Lady Hester. They dated the earliest structure, featuring Corinthian columns and a row of pedestals, to Herod . The foot and arm of a colossal marble statue were found at this level. The British excavators identified

1540-577: A softer pronunciation of ח ‎ as in ancient Hebrew , Judeo-Arabic or Mizrahi Hebrew . Similarly, the Hebrew letter ת ‎ is transliterated as th in the word Beith , s in the word talis , and t in the word Bet , even though it is the same letter in all three words in Hebrew. The Hebrew letter ק ‎ is transliterated as c in Isaac , k in Yitzchak , and q in Qehila . Finally,

1650-555: A synod held in Lydda in 415, Leontius in both 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

1760-445: A vowel before yud at the end of a word or before yud then shewa naẖ inside a word, is transcribed as a diphthong (ai oi ui)—see the diphthongs section further down. In Classical Hebrew transliteration, vowels can be long (gāḏōl), short (qāṭān) or ultra short (ḥăṭep̄), and are transliterated as such. Ultra short vowels are always one of šəwā nāʻ ְ , ḥăṭep̄ səḡōl ֱ , ḥăṭep̄ páṯaḥ ֲ  or ḥăṭep̄ qāmeṣ ֳ . Šəwā ְ 

1870-447: A word spelled in another alphabet, whereas transcription uses an alphabet to represent the sounds only. Romanization can refer to either. To go the other way, that is from English to Hebrew, see Hebraization of English . Both Hebraization of English and Romanization of Hebrew are forms of transliteration. Where these are formalized these are known as "transliteration systems", and, where only some words, not all, are transliterated, this

1980-452: Is always always šəwā nāʻ (pronounced) if it is immediately after the word's first consonant, or after a consonant after a long vowel and before another pronounced consonant—otherwise, šəwā is realized as šəwā nāḥ (silent). The vowels ṣērē ֵ  and ḥōlem ֹ  are always long in all situations. The vowels ḥīreq ִ , səḡōl ֶ , páṯaḥ ַ , qāmeṣ ָ , qibbūṣ ֻ  and šūreq וּ ‎  are always long if they are

2090-492: Is a breakdown of each letter in the Hebrew alphabet, describing its name or names, and its Latin script transliteration values used in academic work. If two glyphs are shown for a consonant, then the left-most glyph is the final form of the letter (or right-most glyph if your browser does not support right-to-left text layout). The conventions here are ISO 259 , the UNGEGN system based on the old-fashioned Hebrew Academy system, and

2200-566: 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

2310-542: Is clearly made in the pronunciation of Academy and Israeli Hebrew, and is thus transliterated. If any word ends with one of הַּ חַ עַ ‎, then the vowel pataẖ is pronounced before the consonant, not after as it is written, and so the transliterated sequence is ⟨ah⟩ , ⟨aẖ⟩ , ⟨aʻ⟩ , etc. In certain rare words that are meant to begin with two consecutive consonants even in Classical Hebrew, an invisible səḡōl qāṭān vowel

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2420-497: Is known as "transliteration policy". Transliteration assumes two different script systems . The use of a French word in English without translation, such as bourgeois , is not transliteration. On the other hand, the use of a Hindi word in English, such as khaki (originally खाकी ), is transliteration. Transliteration of a foreign word into another language is usually the exception to translation, and often occurs when there

2530-600: Is not familiar with the Hebrew script. Many Jewish prayer books in the diaspora include supplementary romanization for some or all of the Hebrew-language congregational prayers. Romanized Hebrew is also used for Hebrew-language items in library catalogs and Hebrew-language place names on maps. In Israel, most catalogs and maps use the Hebrew script, but romanized maps are easily available and road signs include romanized names. Some Hebrew speakers use romanization to communicate when using internet systems that have poor support for

2640-404: Is not phonemic in those systems, and the difference is transliterated accordingly. Qamaẕ qatan when short is /o/, except when at the end of a word when not before a final consonant, in which case it is /a/. Qamaẕ gadol is usually /a/, but in rare situations in Classical Hebrew it can be treated as a long open /ọ/, which although pronounced identically to /ā/ (both were [ɔː] ), this a/o distinction

2750-505: Is often used in places where a vowel is long but not necessarily the word's stressed syllable. Lastly, there are exceptional circumstances when long vowels—even ṣērē and ḥōlem—may not force a following šəwā to become šəwā nāʻ, including for example names such as גֵּרְשֹׁם ‎ Gēršōm (not Gērəšōm as it might seem), בֵּלְשַׁאצַּר ‎ Bēlšaṣṣạr (not Bēləšaṣṣạr) and צִֽקְלַג ‎ Ṣīqlạḡ (not Ṣīqəlạḡ). Some of these seem to be learned exceptions, and most words under

2860-566: 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

2970-481: Is pronounced before the two consonants in Classical Hebrew and is so transcribed, because Classical words may not begin with more than one consonant. This rule does not apply to Academy and Israeli Hebrew, where consonant clusters are more tolerated. For example, the word שְׁתַּ֫יִם ‎ ("two") would appear as štáyim, but is actually ʼeštáyim. However, it remains simply shtayim in Academy and Israeli Hebrew. In 2006,

3080-1116: Is something distinctive about the word in the original language, such as a double entendre , uniqueness , religious, cultural or political significance, or it may occur to add local flavor. In the cases of Hebrew transliteration into English, many Hebrew words have a long history of transliteration, for example Amen , Satan , ephod , Urim and Thummim have traditionally been transliterated, not translated. These terms were in many cases also first transliterated into Greek and Latin before English. Different publishers have different transliteration policies. For example ArtScroll publications generally transliterate more words relative to sources such as The Jewish Encyclopedia 1911 or Jewish Publication Society texts. There are various transliteration standards or systems for Hebrew-to-English; no one system has significant common usage across all fields. Consequently, in general usage there are often no hard and fast rules in Hebrew-to-English transliteration, and many transliterations are an approximation due to

3190-471: 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

3300-605: 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) 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

3410-487: 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

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3520-630: 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

3630-624: 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 ,

3740-714: 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

3850-627: The Hebrew Bible presents Ashkelon as one of 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

3960-526: 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,

4070-469: 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 the ancient city. Ascalon has been known by many variations of

4180-568: 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),

4290-582: 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

4400-461: 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

4510-421: 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

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4620-532: 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 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,

4730-461: 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 the civil war. Ascalon enjoyed an era of prosperity after Abd al-Malik rebuilt and fortified it. Despite it not being a good harbor,

4840-488: 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

4950-582: 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

5060-531: 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,

5170-469: 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

5280-501: 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

5390-674: The Great. The building was contained 3 sections -a central hall and two side parts. According to the excavators, big marble columns and capitals surrounded the main hall imported from Asia Minor in merchant ship. Remains of column capitals with plant motifs, some bearing an eagle were the symbol of the Roman Empire. Ascalon Ascalon ( Philistine : 𐤀𐤔𐤒𐤋𐤍 , romanized: * ʾAšqalōn ; Hebrew : אַשְׁקְלוֹן , romanized :  ʾAšqəlōn ; Koinē Greek : Ἀσκάλων , romanized:  Askálōn ; Latin : Ascalon ; Arabic : عَسْقَلَان , romanized :  ʿAsqalān )

5500-487: The Hebrew Academy replaced their 1953 transliteration rules with new rules, and these were adopted as a United Nations standard in 2007. As of 2008 , migration to the new transliteration standard is still underway, and many signs and documents still use the 1953 conventions. The new 2006 rules attempt to more closely follow Israeli Hebrew vowel habits (such as the collapse of many shva na), but stop short of adopting most of

5610-422: The Hebrew Academy standard, they are transcribed as single graphemes (b g d k p t) at the beginnings of words, after other consonants, and after shewa ְ  or ẖatafim ֱ  ֲ  ֳ . In almost every other situation, they are transcribed as double letters (bb gg dd kk pp tt). This does not apply to common Israeli Hebrew transliteration, where there are no double consonants. The letters א ה ‎ at

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5720-450: The Hebrew alphabet can be romanized as Yisrael or Yiśrāʼēl in the Latin alphabet. Romanization includes any use of the Latin alphabet to transliterate Hebrew words. Usually, it is to identify a Hebrew word in a non-Hebrew language that uses the Latin alphabet, such as German , Spanish , Turkish , and so on. Transliteration uses an alphabet to represent the letters and sounds of

5830-426: The Hebrew alphabet. Frequently, Romanized Hebrew is also used in music scores, in part because music is written left-to-right and Hebrew is written right-to-left. Standard romanizations exist for these various purposes. However, non-standard romanization is widely seen, even on some Israeli street signs. The standards are not generally taught outside of their specific organizations and disciplines. The following table

5940-470: The Hebrew letter צ ‎ is transliterated variously as s (in Isaac ), tz (in Yitzchak ), and ts (in Tsfat ), again reflecting different traditions of spelling or pronunciation. These inconsistencies make it more difficult for the non-Hebrew-speaking reader to recognize related word forms, or even to properly pronounce the Hebrew words thus transliterated. Early romanization of Hebrew occurred with

6050-504: The Hebrew word יהודה ‎ ( Yehuda ) that we now know adapted in English as the names Judah , Judas and Jude. In the 1st century, Satire 14 of Juvenal uses the Hebraic words sabbata , Iudaicum , and Moyses , apparently adopted from the Greek. The 4th-century and 5th-century Latin translations of the Hebrew Bible romanize its proper names. The familiar Biblical names in English are derived from these romanizations. The Vulgate , of

6160-571: 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

6270-460: The Roman Forum. In 2009, GPR and probes were used in combination to study the city's medieval fortifications. Excavations have revealed the largest known dog cemetery in the ancient world . In May 2021, archaeologists from the Israel Antiquities Authority led by Dr. Rachel Bar Nathan have announced the discovery of remains of a 2,000-year-old Roman basilica complex- dates to the reign of Herod

6380-531: The Tiberian symbols. Many transliteration standards require a thorough knowledge of these principles, yet they usually do not provide practical details. A further complication is that the Roman alphabet does not have as many letters for certain sounds found in the Hebrew alphabet, and sometimes no letter at all. Some romanizations resolve this problem using additional non-Tiberian principles: Finally, for ease of reading it

6490-761: 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 was subsequently rebuilt. Ascalon remained

6600-441: The area, including Canaanites , Philistines , Persians , Phoenicians , Greeks , Romans , Byzantines , Muslims and Crusaders . Roman remains include marble and granite columns and capitals , a Roman basilica and Roman statues . The site also features a Middle Bronze Age gate with the world's earliest arch , dating back to approximately 1850 BCE. In 1815, Lady Hester Stanhope 's expedition to Ascalon constituted

6710-661: 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 , was buried in the city. During the Abbasid period ,

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6820-408: 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

6930-581: 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

7040-426: 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 ,

7150-423: 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

7260-461: The contact between the Romans and the Jews . It was influenced by earlier transliteration into the Greek language . For example, the name of the Roman province of Iudaea (63 BCE) was apparently derived from the Greek words Ἰούδα (Iouda) and Ἰουδαία (Ioudaia). These words can be seen in Chapter 1 of Esdras (Ezra) in the Septuagint , a Hellenistic translation of the Hebrew Bible into Greek. The Greek words in turn are transliterations of

7370-477: 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

7480-482: The early 5th century, is considered the first direct Latin translation of the Hebrew Bible. Apart from names, another term that the Vulgate romanizes is the technical term mamzer ( ממזר ‎). With the rise of Zionism , some Jews promoted the use of romanization instead of Hebrew script in hopes of helping more people learn Hebrew. One such promoter was Ithamar Ben Yehuda, or Ittamar Ben Avi as he styled himself. His father Eliezer Ben Yehuda raised him to be

7590-580: The ends of words without additional niqqud are silent and not transliterated. The letter ו ‎ at the end of a word with ẖolam ֹ  is also silent and not transliterated. The letter י ‎ at the end of a word after ẖiriq ִ  is also silent and not transliterated. The situation of the letter י ‎ at the end of a word after ẕere ֵ  or seggol ֶ  is more complicated, as they are silent in Classical Hebrew and in Hebrew Academy prescription and not transliterated in those systems, but they form diphthongs (ei) in Israeli Hebrew—see

7700-413: 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

7810-405: 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

7920-576: The first modern archaeological excavation in Palestine. Using a medieval Italian manuscript as her guide, she persuaded the Ottoman authorities to allow her to excavate the site in search of a large hoard of gold coins allegedly buried under the ruins of the Ascalon mosque. The governor of Jaffa , Abu Nabbut (Father of the Cudgel) was ordered to accompany her. On the second day of digging, the lower foundation walls of

8030-541: The first modern native speaker of Hebrew. In 1927 Ben-Avi published the biography Avi in romanized Hebrew (now listed in the online catalog of the Jewish National and University Library ). However, the innovation did not catch on. Political activist Ze'ev Jabotinsky , leader of Betar , and Chief Rabbi Kook , also expressed their support for the reform of Hebrew script using Latin letters. Romanized Hebrew can be used to present Hebrew terminology or text to anyone who

8140-524: 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

8250-399: The informal transliteration patterns. It still transliterates the diphthong [e̞j] as ⟨e⟩ , and it still transliterates separate ⟨ẖ⟩ and ⟨kh⟩ in all cases. It is unspecific about rules governing the transliteration of phonemes not traditionally native to Hebrew. Different purposes call for different choices of romanization. One extreme is to make

8360-573: 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,

8470-576: 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

8580-516: The modern common informal Israeli transcription. In addition, an International Phonetic Alphabet pronunciation is indicated—historical ( Tiberian vocalization ) for ISO 259, prescribed for Hebrew Academy, and in practice for Israeli. For the vowels further down, the letters ח and ט are used as symbolic anchors for vowel symbols, but should otherwise be ignored. For the letters בּ גּ דּ כּ פּ תּ ‎ with dagesh in ISO 259 Classical Hebrew and by

8690-399: The mosque were discovered at a depth of three or four feet, along with fragments of marble pillars, a Corinthian capital, a faience vessel, and two small pottery phials. Further exploration revealed several distinct phases in the history of the structure, leading to the conclusion that the site had originally been a pagan temple converted into a church and then a mosque. Stanhope's main find was

8800-519: 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

8910-488: 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

9020-453: The only area with a sequence that traces all periods, from Early Bronze through the Islamic and Crusader eras. This area also provides a complete record of Philistine occupation, from their arrival in the early 12th century BC to the destruction of Ascalon by Nebuchadnezzar in 604 BC. In 2007, ground penetrating radar (GPR) was used to find remains of the Islamic ramparts and a major basilica in

9130-551: 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 the rule of the Tulunids of Egypt, who developed

9240-591: The pronunciations of different communities by transliterating the Tiberian vocalization without attempting to transcribe a specific phonetic pronunciation. Notable varieties of Hebrew for which Tiberian vocalization is not suitable are the Hebrew of the Qumran community (as known from the Dead Sea Scrolls ) and of the Samaritans . For romanizations of Samaritan pronunciation, it is advisable to take quotations directly from

9350-491: 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

9460-434: The ransom effort and 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

9570-440: 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

9680-496: 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

9790-517: The same circumstances have šəwā nāʻ as expected, such as נָֽצְרַת ‎ Nāṣərạṯ (not Nāṣrạṯ). (This is all moot in Israeli Hebrew, where, as already mentioned, shva nach tends to opportunistically replace shva na where comfortable, so נָֽצְרַת ‎ is Natzrat not Natzerat, etc.) For the vowel qamaẕ ָ, whether the vowel is long or short in Classical Hebrew affects the pronunciation in Academy or Israeli Hebrew, even though vowel length

9900-475: The same letters in Israel (e.g. mainstream secular pronunciations used in the media versus Mizrahi, Arab, or Orthodox Ashkenazi colloquial pronunciations). For example, Hanukkah and Chayyim are transliterated with different initial letter combinations, although in Hebrew both begin with the letter ח ‎ ; the use of "ch" reflects German / Yiddish influence and pronunciation, whereas the "h" or "ḥ" may indicate

10010-442: The same word transliterated in different ways: The Hebrew word בית ‎ is transliterated as both Beith and Bet . These discrepancies in transliterations of the same word can be traced to discrepancies in the transliterations of individual Hebrew letters, reflecting not only different traditions of transliteration into different languages that use Latin alphabets, but also the fact that different pronunciation styles exist for

10120-505: 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

10230-439: The stressed syllable, or if they are in a syllable before only one consonant and another vowel, and in these cases they are transliterated as long. If they are unstressed and before a double consonant or a consonant cluster, or in the word's final unstressed syllable, then they are always short and transliterated as short. But if a vowel carries an accent ֫  or a meteg ֽ , then it is always long—a meteg in particular

10340-613: The structure as a municipal council hall. In 1948, the Palestinian village of Al-Jura (population 2,420) was ethnically cleansed in Operation Yoav and the land later incorporated into the park. In 1985, Harvard University archaeologist Lawrence Stager led an excavation of the seaport. Beginning in 2007, excavation projects have focused on the Early Iron and Late Bronze Age phases in Grid 38,

10450-647: 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

10560-676: 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

10670-568: The time of the Second Temple . Since an earlier time, multiple geographically separated communities have used Hebrew as a language of literature rather than conversation. One system of assigning and indicating pronunciation in Hebrew, the Tiberian vocalization , is broadly authoritative for Hebrew text since the end of the Second Temple period (Sáenz-Badillos, page xi). It is possible to accommodate

10780-486: The vowels and diphthongs sections further down. In any event, the shewa naẖ is placed between two adjacent consonants in all situations; if there is not even a shewa naẖ between consonants, then the first of the two consonants is silent and not transliterated—this is usually one of א ו י ‎, but even occasionally ה ‎ and rarely ש ‎ (in the name יִשָּׂשכָר ‎ Issachar ) are encountered silent in this fashion. In Israeli Hebrew transcription,

10890-535: 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

11000-520: 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

11110-547: 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

11220-533: Was an ancient Near East port city on the Mediterranean coast of the southern Levant of high historical significance, including early on as a major Philistine city, and later as a much contested stronghold during the Crusades . Its importance diminished after the Mamluks destroyed its fortifications and port in 1270 in order to prevent any future military and logistical use by the Crusaders . Traces of settlement in

11330-533: 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. Romanization of Hebrew The Hebrew language uses the Hebrew alphabet with optional vowel diacritics . The romanization of Hebrew is the use of the Latin alphabet to transliterate Hebrew words. For example, the Hebrew name spelled יִשְׂרָאֵל ‎ ("Israel") in

11440-473: 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 )

11550-579: 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,

11660-463: Was intended for experts in Biblical Hebrew grammar and morphology. Transliterations usually avoid the typographically complex marks that are used in Tiberian vocalization. They also attempt to indicate vowels and syllables more explicitly than Tiberian vocalization does. Therefore a technical transliteration requires the use of Tiberian principles, as mentioned below, rather than simply representing

11770-417: Was moved directly to 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

11880-454: 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

11990-488: 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

12100-472: 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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