Ashdod, Israel Tourism

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in the town.

History

Ancient Ashdod, which lay to the south of the modern town, is mentioned along with Gaza and Gath in the 12th-11th centuries B.C. as a town of the Anakims, and it appears along with Gaza, Ashkelon, Gath and Ekron as one of the five lordships of the Philistines (Joshuah 13,3). When the Philistines carried off the Ark of the Covenant they took it first to Ashkelon and then to the temple of Dagon in Ashdod (1 Samuel 5,1-5). Although conquered by the Assyrians in 732 B.C., Ashdod remained an independent city state. Then in the sixth-fifth centuries, under the Persians, it developed into an important port town. In the Hellenistic period (third century B.C.) it was known as Azolus - a name which was also used by the Crusaders in the 12th century. The Arabs called it Minat el-Qala ("castle harbor"). In more recent centuries it was a modest little village: its development began in 1957, when the Israeli government decided to establish the industrial settlement of Ashdod, with a deep-sea harbor, on a site 3km/2mi north of the ruins of the old town.

Ashdod is a modern town with a well planned street layout, but it has little to offer the tourist. The best general view of the town and the port installations is to be had from the hill on the northern edge of the town center (photography forbidden).