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. Ashkelon was a thriving Middle Bronze Age (2000-1550 BCE) city of more than 150 acres, 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 Canaanite Wall and Gate

Within the huge ramparts, in the ruins of a sanctuary, a votive silver calf was found.

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.

 The Philistines conquered Canaanite Ashkelon about 1150 B.C.. 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. When this vast seaport, the last of the Philistine cities to hold out against Nebuchadnezzar finally fell in 604 B.C., burnt and destroyed and its people taken into exile, the Philistine era was over.

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.

The Roman Basilica

South of the basilica was a semicircular chamber with bleachers.

Byzantine church – Saint Mary Viridis Church

Baptismal place

Frescoes

The Muslims conquered Ashqelon in the seventh century and they fortified the city. Ashqelon reached the height of its fortification in the mid-twelfth century, when the muslim rulers of the Fatimid dynasty built a mighty wall around the city.

The Crusaders conquered the city in 1153 A.D. .

In 1270 the Mamluke Sultan Baibars destroyed the city.

The Crusaders walls

Waterwheel  and Well – Ottoman period

A Byzantine Church (1) - found at the new city of Ashqelon

A Byzantine Church (2) - found at the new city of Ashqelon

2 Sarcophagus was found, while building the new city.

The Egyptian Governor’s Residence

Among the palaces of Aphek, that one palace is the best preserved. It was built during the Late Bronze Age (1550-1200 B. C.), and was the home of the Egyptian governor of Aphek. Excavations in that site revealed many findings, such as rare scrolls written in cuneiform script, Acadian and Sumerian dictionaries.

During the Iron Age, a tough battle between the Israelites and the Philistines was mentioned in the Book of Samuel: “… and pitched beside Eben-ezer: and the Philistines pitched in Aphek…for there fell of Israel thirty thousand footmen. And the ark of God was taken; and the two sons of Eli… ” (I Samuel, 4). Aphek is mentioned as the place where the Philistines prepared for the decisive battle against the Israelites. The Israelites settled in Afek in the early tenth century B.C. Following King David’s victory over the Philistines.

During the Hellenistic Period, the place was named Pegai (springs). That name was preserved in the name of the nearby Arab village- Fajah.

During Roman Times, Herod built here a town which he named Antipartris, after his father.  Near the fortress archeologist uncovered A main street and a comercial quarter of the city of Antipatris.

 It is mentioned in the New Testament that on Paul’s way from Jerusalem to his prison in Caesarea, he and his guards stopped for the night in fortified Antipatris.

The Roman Cardo

At the time of the Ottoman rule, Sultan Salim II ordered to build a castle named Binar Bashi (“Spring Top”). The construction of that castle took place from 1571 through 1573. Its traces may be found even in present day.

The Ottoman Castle

The Yarkon Source

The Aphek ruins are located near the source of the Yarkon River.

The Water Pumps

In the Mandatory period the city of Jerusalem expanded, and with it the need for water. to solve this problem, in the  1930s the  British established a large  modern water system that pumped the water of the Yarkon springs to Jerusalem.

During the Hellenistic period it was an anchorage town, ruled by Seleucids and re-named Apollonia, as the Greeks identified Reshef with Apollo. Later, the Coastal plain, including Apollonia, was captured by the Hashmoneans. The historian Josephus flavius mentions Apollonia as one of the coastal cities ruled by Hashmonean King Alexander Jannaeus.

Under Roman rule, the size of the town increased. It was an important settlement between Jaffa and Caesarea along Via Maris, the coastal road. In 113 AD, Apollonia was destroyed partially by an earthquake, but recovered quickly. The harbor was built, and trade with Italy and North Africa developed.

The Roman Villa

During the Byzantine period, the town extended to cover an area of 70 acres. In the 5th and 6th century AD it was the second largest city in Sharon valley, after Caesarea, populated by Christian and Samaritans, having an elaborate church and a prosperous glass industry.

Byzantine Water Reservoirs

Water Cistern

 A rock-cut cistern to collect rainwater, above which a barrel arch was constructed.

Pool , a stones lined pool to collect water.

In 640 AD, the town was captured by Muslims, and the Semitic name Arsuf was restored. The town’s area decreased to about 22 acres and, for the first time, it was surrounded by a fortified wall with buttresses, to resist the constant attacks of Byzantine fleets from the sea. Large marketplaces appeared, and pottery production developed. In 809 AD, following the death of Harun al-Rashid, the local Samaritan community was destroyed and their synagogue ruined.

In 1101 Arsuf fell to a Crusader army led by Baldwin I of Jerusalem. The Crusaders, who called it Arsur, rebuilt the city’s walls and created the Lordship of Arsur in the Kingdom of Jerusalem. In 1187 Arsuf was captured by the Muslims, but fell again to the Crusaders on September 7, 1191 after a battle between Richard I of England and Saladin.

The Crusader’s Fortress

The Moat and remains of the Crusader bridge

The Inner Gate of the Fortress

Dinning Hall

Ovens

Ballista Stones

The Crusader’s Port

The Moat sourrounding the Crusader City

In 1265 sultan Baibars, ruler of the Mamluks, captured Arsur, after 40 days of siege. The Mamluks razed the city walls and the fortress to their foundations, fearing a return of the Crusaders. The destruction was so complete that the site has not been resettled since.

An Ottoman Lime-Kiln

The view from the fortress