Ashdod first appears in Bible as the city of ancient giants called Anakim (Joshua 11:22). Later, it became one of the five cities of Philistines and they erected a temple dedicated to their God Dagon (Joshua 13:3, 15:46; I Samuel 5:1–7 and Amos 1:8). When Philistines captured the Ark of the Covenant from Jews, they brought it to Ashdod and placed it in the temple of Dagon. On two consecutive mornings, the residents of Ashdod awoke to find that their idol of Dagon had fallen on its face before the Ark. When God brought a plague of tumors on the people of Ashdod, they sent the Ark on to the city of Gath (1 Sam 4:1-5:8). Ashdod remained under Philistines until King Uzziah of Judah conquered it in 8th Cent BC (II Chronicles 26:6).
Later, the city went into Assyrian (Isaiah 20:1) and followed by Egyptian rulers. Ashdod was the Philistine capital in the post-Babylonian Exile period of Jews (Nehemiah 13:23-24). During Greek and later Hasmonean periods, Ashdod was known as Azotus (I Maccabees 5:68;10:84; 11:4). From the time of the Hasmoneans (1st Cent BC) until the 2nd Cent AD, Ashdod had a strong Jewish influence. In New Testament, Ashdod appears as Azotus in Acts 8:40-the only reference in New Testament.
The ruins what you see below are from Ashdod-Yam, also known as Kal'at Al Mina. Remind you that the structures you see here are not from biblical periods but mostly Arab and Crusader in origin (640-1099 AD). However, Ashdod-Yam was established before Arabs in Byzantine period (5th century AD). The biblical (Philistine) Ashdod is Tel-Ashdod, 5 km from Ashdod-Yam. There is also an archaeological site called Tel Mor very near Ashdod Port, with much ancient remains (Cannanite to Greek). We initially tried to visit Tel-Ashdod, but since it was an extremely hot day to move around, decided to skip the plan. May be another time...
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