Ascalon

Ascalon (Philistine: 𐤀𐤔𐤒𐤋𐤍, romanized: *ʾAšqalōn; Hebrew: אַשְׁקְלוֹן, romanized: ʾAšqəlōn; Koinē Greek: Ἀσκάλων, romanized: Askálōn; Latin: Ascalon; Arabic: عَسْقَلَان, romanized: ʿAsqalān) was an ancient Near East port city on the Mediterranean coast of the southern Levant that played a major role during several historical periods.

The site of Ascalon was first permanently settled in the Middle Bronze Age, and, over a period of several thousand years, was the site of several settlements called Ashkelon, Ascalon, or some variation thereof. During the Iron Age, Ascalon served as the oldest and largest seaport in Canaan, and as one of the five cities of the Philistine pentapolis, lying north of Gaza and south of Jaffa. The city 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 ancient and medieval history of Ascalon was brought to an end in 1270, when the Mamluk sultan Baybars ordered the city fortifications and the harbour to be destroyed, though some monuments, such as the Shrine of Husayn's Head, did survive. The 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 site, and was established at the site of al-Majdal, the later town established to the northeast during the Mamluk period.