TEL APHEK or BIBLICAL APHEK / ANTIPATRIS-A City inhabited from 4th Millenium BC to 20th Century AD.

"And the word of Samuel came to all Israel. Now Israel went out against the Philistines to battle, and pitched beside Ebenezer: and the Philistines pitched in Aphek" (I Samuel 4:1). "Then the soldiers, as it was commanded them, took Paul, and brought [him] by night to Antipatris" (Acts 23:31).

Situated at the origin of Yarkon River, Aphek's strategic position controling all the great trade routes linking the major powers of the Ancient Near East was very crucial. Aphek gets its name from the Hebrew word aphik=riverbed-the source of Yarkon River that flows through Tel Aviv today. The city is also known by various names as Tell Ras el-'Ain, Arethusa, Antipatris and Binar Bashi. Aphek was a Cannanite City (3000 BC), before it became under Philistine (12th Cent BC), Greek (332-37 BC), Herodian (1st Cent BC), Roman and Byzantine (1st-4th Cent AD) influences.

When Herod the Great became king (37-4 BC), he rebuilt Aphek and named it Antipatris after his father Antipater. Today, in Tel Aphek, you can easily see remains of the ancient Cardo (main street), of the Herodian city of Antipatris. The city was devastatingly destroyed in the earthquake of 363 AD. Since then no town was ever built on Aphek, until the Turkish Sultan Selim II erected a fort, Binar Bashi in 1572 AD. What you see on Tel Aphek today are the remains of Binar Bashi (the head of the springs).

Similarly, not far from the site of Tel Aphek, Crusaders (12 Century AD) built a fortress called Mirabel. The Crusader fortress was built over a much earlier Jewish fort named Migdal Aphek, that was damaged during the great revolt against the Romans (68 AD). Today, the fort is part of a Muslim Tomb complex Shekh Tzedik and can be easily seen from the site of Tel Aphek.

In the Old Testament, Aphek is mentioned eight times (Joshua 12:18, 13:4, 19:30; I Samuel 4:1, 29:1; I Kings 20:26, 20:30; II Kings 13:17. Aphek first appears in the Bible, when Israelites conquered the city under the leadrship of Joshua (12:18). Later, Aphek became under Philistine rule. It was in Aphek, the Israelites suffered one of their worst battle defeats by loosing 30,000 men and 'the Ark of Covenant' to the Philistines (I Samuel 4). Aphek also appears at the times of King Saul and David (I Samuel 29). It was to this Aphek, then known as Antipatris that St: Paul was taken by Roman soldiers (Acts 23:31).