Ashqelon - National Park (Ancient Ashkelon)

Some 2km/1.25mi south of the town center of Ashqelon, in a National Park (camping site, picnic areas, restaurants, beautiful bathing beach), are the remains of ancient Ashkelon, separated from the modern town by a broad belt of gardens and orange plantations. The whole area, which contains numerous remains ranging in date from the Philistine period to the Middle Ages, is bounded by a semicircular wall of the Crusader period, both ends of which reach down to the sea.

The wall, built by Richard Coeur de Lion in 1192, had four gates - the Jaffa Gate in the north, the Jerusalem Gate in the east, the Gaza Gate in the south and the Sea Gate in the west. From the entrance at the north end of the site a road leads to a large parking lot. Just south of this are remains of the Roman period, notably large Corinthian capitals, column bases and other fragments from the huge Hundred-Columned Stoa built by Herod the Great. The apse at the south end of the stoa was much altered in later centuries, most recently as the prayer niche of a mosque. In this is a large relief depicting the kneeling Atlas bearing the globe, with a goddess of Victory hovering over him. Another relief shows the goddess Isis with her son Horus. Elsewhere in the park, which is beautifully laid out, are numerous other ancient remains, mainly columns and fountain-houses.

At the south end of the site, by the old harbor, is the mound on which the Philistine town once stood; it is reached by taking a path which bears right off the main avenue. Projecting from the wall running along the old harbor, which has no facing, can be seen Roman columns built into the wall to strengthen it.