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Presently a modern
industrial city and important seaport, Ashdod is also significant because
of its rich past history. In fact, archaeological excavations have
revealed 22 strata which testify to continuous settlement of Ashdod dating
back to the 17th century b.c.e. Among these finds are Canaanite and
Israelite fortifications, a musicians' stand and a Hellenistic plant for
extracting purple dye from murex, a purple shell. In the late Canaanite
period, Ashdod served as an important harbor city as is shown by
archaeological finds and references to its maritime trade in the archives
of Ugarit.
According to biblical tradition, it was a town of the
ancient Anakim ("giants"). After its conquest by the
Philistines, it became one of their five chief cities and they erected
there a temple dedicated to the god Dagon. Uzziah, king of Judah, breached
the fortifications of the town and built in the area. In 734 b.c.e. the
city surrendered to Assyria and in 712 b.c.e. Ashdod became the capital of
an Assyrian province.
Although the city was situated on the via maris, the
trade route near the sea, it was not directly on the coast but possessed
an ancient port which was called Ashdod Yam
("Ashdod-on-the-Sea"). With the decline of Assyrian power, Egypt
conquered the city after a siege of 29 years. In the sixth and fifth
centuries b.c.e., Ashdod was the Philistine capital, so that in the days
of Nehemiah, an "Ashdodite" was synonymous with a
"Philistine." Nehemiah fought against Ashdod's influence which
extended as far as Jerusalem.
The town continued to be a district capital in the
Hellenistic period when it was known as Azotus and it served as a Greek
stronghold down to the days of the Hasmoneans. Its suburbs were burnt by
Jonathan and the city was captured by John Hyrcanus. Ashdod then remained
in Hasmonean hands until its conquest by Rome, and later changed hands
numerous times, eventually becoming the property of Herod I, who gave it
to his sister Salome; she bequeathed it to Livia, the wife of Augustus
Caesar, from whom it was inherited by the emperor Tiberius. From the time
of the Hasmoneans until the second century c.e. Ashdod appears to have
been a Jewish town. Moreover, the discovery of a synagogue at
Ashdod-on-the-Sea with a Greco-Jewish inscription gives further evidence
of a Jewish community there in the sixth century c.e. |
