Difference between revisions of "Ashdod"

<p> Asdod was ten miles north of [[Ashkelon]] and two and a half miles east of the [[Mediterranean]] Sea on the [[Philistine]] plain. It was the northernmost city of the Philistine pentapolis recorded in &nbsp;Joshua 13:3 . [[Ashdod]] occurs in written history first in the Late [[Bronze]] period where it is mentioned in the trade documents of the Ras Shamra tablets discovered at [[Ugarit]] (ancient trade center near the Mediterranean coast in northern Syria). Ashdod is described as a manufacturer and exporter of textiles, specifically purple wool. The city name also occurs in the [[Egyptian]] list of names, <i> Onomasticon of Amanope </i> (263). </p> <p> Old [[Testament]] In the Old Testament Ashdod was a place where some of the [[Anakim]] remained during the time of Joshua (&nbsp;Joshua 11:22 ). See Anakim. As one of the five chief cities of the [[Philistines]] it stood yet to be possessed by Joshua (&nbsp;Joshua 13:3 ), who allocated it to the tribe of Judah (&nbsp;Joshua 15:46-7 ). David subdued the Philistines, implicitly including Ashdod (&nbsp;2 Samuel 5:25; &nbsp;2 Samuel 8:1 ), but it was not described as under Israel's control until [[Uzziah]] (783-742 B.C.) captured it (&nbsp;2 Chronicles 26:8 ). Perhaps the most infamous contact between Ashdod and [[Israel]] is reported in &nbsp;1 Samuel 4-6 when the Philistines defeated the army of Israel in battle, killed the two sons of Eli, [[Hophni]] and Phinehas, and captured the ark of the covenant. </p> <p> Although the city was captured by Uzziah, it did not remain long under Judah's control and regained enough strength to revolt from [[Sargon]] II in 711 B.C. The [[Assyrians]] were able quickly to subdue the Philistines, and they remained under [[Assyrian]] control until captured by the Egyptian [[Pharaoh]] Psammetichus I (664-610) after a 29-year siege as reported by Herodotus. Under [[Nebuchadnezzar]] (604-562 B.C.), [[Babylon]] soon captured this territory and took the king of Ashdod prisoner. </p> <p> The prophets of Israel spoke about the city of Ashdod in various military, political and moral contexts (&nbsp;Nehemiah 13:23-24; &nbsp;Isaiah 20:1-6; &nbsp;Jeremiah 25:20; &nbsp;Amos 1:8; &nbsp;Zechariah 9:6 ). Throughout the [[Persian]] period the city remained a threat to Israel. </p> <p> Extra-biblical Sources In the Greek period Ashdod was known as [[Azotus]] and was a flourishing city until being captured by Israel during the Maccabean period. [[Judas]] Maccabeus destroyed altars and images in Ashdod (&nbsp;1 [[Maccabees]] 5:68 ), and [[Jonathan]] later burned the temple of Dagon, those who took refuge there, and ultimately the city itself (&nbsp;1 Maccabees 10:84-87 ). </p> <p> [[Josephus]] reported that Pompey separated Ashdod from Israel after his victory (63 B.C.), [[Gabinius]] rebuilt the city, and it was joined to the province of Syria. [[Augustus]] granted it to Herod the Great. Herod left it to his sister Salome, who in turn willed it to Julia, the wife of Augustus. Its greatness as a city ended with the Roman destruction of A.D. 67, although it was occupied at least through the sixth century. </p> <p> Archaeological Evidence The major archaeological work on Ashdod was done from 1962-72 under the direction of D. N. Freedman and others. Some evidence remains from Chalcolithic and Early Bronze times, but the major remains date from Middle Bronze and later including a walled city dating around 1625 B.C. A major destruction of the city was indicated by a three foot layer of ash and debris dating about 1250 B.C. Two extensive Philistine occupation levels date from the twelfth and eleventh centuries B.C. The Iron Age showed a flourishing community, and an Iron II temple yielded many cultic artifacts. </p> <p> [[George]] W. Knight </p>

<p> One of the five chief cities of the Philistines. It was assigned to Judah, but was not subdued by them, and thus became a thorn in their sides. &nbsp;Numbers 33:55 . It was to this city that the ark was taken by the Philistines, and where Dagon their fish-god fell before it. &nbsp;1 Samuel 5:1-7 . Uzziah broke down its wall, and built cities near it. &nbsp;2 Chronicles 26:6 . It was on the high road from Palestine to Egypt which doubtless led Sargon king of [[Assyria]] to take it by his general, about B.C. 714. &nbsp;Isaiah 20:1 . [[Herodotus]] records that Psammetichus, king of Egypt, besieged it for 29 years. Jeremiah speaks of Ashdod as one of the places which was made to drink of the fury of God. &nbsp;Jeremiah 25:15-20 . The Maccabees destroyed the city, but Gabinius rebuilt it at the time of the conquest of [[Judaea]] by the Romans, B.C. 55, and it was afterwards assigned on the death of Herod the Great to his sister Salome. It was situated about 3 miles from the Mediterranean, and midway between Gaza and Joppa. It is now called <i> Esdud, </i> or <i> Esdood, </i> 34 40' E 31 46' N , and is wretched in the extreme, though lying in a fertile plain. It is called in the N.T. AZOTUS, where Philip was found after baptising the eunuch. &nbsp;Acts 8:40 . Its inhabitants are referred to as ASHDODITES, ASHDOTHITES. &nbsp;Joshua 13:3; &nbsp;Nehemiah 4:7 . </p>

<p> [[Ashdod]] (''Ăsh'D'' ''Ŏd'' ), ''Stronghold, Castle.'' One of the five confederate cities of the Philistines, allotted to Judah, &nbsp;Joshua 15:46-47 : the chief seat of Dagon-worship, &nbsp;1 Samuel 5:1-12. It was three miles from the Mediterranean, and midway between Gaza and Joppa. The place is called Azotus in the New Testament. &nbsp;Acts 8:40. It is now a mean [[Tillage]] called Esdud; near it are extensive ruins. </p>

<p> (Heb. Ashdod', אִשְׁדּוֹד, a ''Stronghold;'' Sept. and N.T. ῎Αζωοτς ), the Azotus of the Greeks and Romans, and so called in &nbsp;1 Maccabees 4:15; &nbsp;Acts 8:40 (see also Plin. Hist. Nat. v, 14; Ptolem. v, 16); a city of the Philistine Pentapolis, on the summit of a grassy hill (Richardson, Travels, ii, 206), near the Mediterranean coast (comp. Joseph. Ant. 14:4, 4), nearly mid. way between Gaza and Joppa, being 18 geographical miles north by east from the former (270 stadia north, according to Diod. Sic. 19:85), and 21 south from the latter; and, more exactly, midway between [[Askelon]] and Ekron, being 10 geographical miles north by east from the former, and south by west from the latter (see Cellar. Notit. ii, 599; Mannert, VI, i, 261 sq.). Ashdod was a city of the Philistines, and the chief town of one of their five confederate states (&nbsp;Joshua 13:3; &nbsp;1 Samuel 6:17). It was the seat of the worship of Dagon (&nbsp;1 Samuel 5:5; &nbsp;1 Maccabees 11:4), before whose shrine in this city it was that the captured ark was deposited and triumphed over the idol (&nbsp;1 Samuel 5:1-9). Ashdod was assigned to Judah (&nbsp;Joshua 15:47); but many centuries passed before it and the other Philistine towns were subdued (&nbsp;1 Kings 4:24), (See Philistines); and it appears never to have been permanently in possession of the Judahites, although it was dismantled by Uzziah, who built towns in the territory of Ashdod (&nbsp;2 Chronicles 26:6). It is mentioned to the reproach of the Jews after their return from captivity that they married wives of Ashdod; the result of which was that the children of these marriages spoke a mongrel dialect, compounded of [[Hebrew]] and the speech of Ashdod (&nbsp;Nehemiah 13:23-24). It was a place of great strength; and being on the usual military route between Syria and Egypt, the possession of it became an object of importance in the wars between Egypt and the great northern powers. Hence it was secured by the Assyrians under Tartan (B.C. 715) before invading Egypt (&nbsp;Isaiah 20:1 sq.); and about B.C. 630 it was taken by Psammetichus, after a siege of twenty-nine years, the longest on record (Herodot. ii, 157). That it recovered from this blow appears from its being mentioned as an independent power in alliance, after the exile, with the [[Arabians]] and others against Jerusalem (&nbsp;Nehemiah 4:7). </p> <p> The destruction of Ashdod was foretold by the prophets (&nbsp;Jeremiah 25:20; &nbsp;Amos 1:8; &nbsp;Amos 3:9; &nbsp;Zephaniah 2:4; &nbsp;Zechariah 9:6), and was accomplished by the Maccabees (&nbsp;1 Maccabees 5:68; &nbsp;1 Maccabees 10:77-84; &nbsp;1 Maccabees 11:4). It is enumerated among the towns which Pompey joined to the province of Syria (Joseph. ''Ant. 14:'' 4, 4; ''War,'' i, 7, 7), and among the cities ruined in the wars, which Gabinius ordered to be rebuilt ''(Ant. 14:'' 5, 3). It was included in Herod's dominion, and was one of the three towns bequeathed by him to his sister Salome ''(War, 17:'' 8, 1; 11:5). The evangelist Philip was found at Ashdod after he had baptized the Ethiopian eunuch (&nbsp;Acts 8:40). Azotus early became the seat of a bishopric; and we find a bishop of this city present at the councils of Nice, Chalcedon, A.D. 359, Seleucia, and Jerusalem, A.D. 536 (Reland, Palestina, p. 609). Ashdod subsisted as a small unwalled town in the time of Jerome. It was in ruins when [[Benjamin]] of [[Tudela]] visited Palestine (Itin. ed. Asher, i, 79); but we learn from [[William]] of [[Tyre]] and Vitriacus that the bishopric was revived by the Latin Christians, at least titularly, and made suffragan of Treves. Sandys (Travailes, p. 151) describes it "as a place of no reckoning;" and Zuallart (Voyage, 4:132) speaks of it as an [[Arab]] village (comp. [[Van]] Troilo, 1666, p. 349). Irby and Mangles (p. 180) describe it as an inhabited site marked by ancient ruins, such as broken arches and partly-buried fragments of marble columns; there is also what appeared to these travellers to be a very ancient khan, the principal chamber of which had obviously, at some former period, been used as a [[Christian]] chapel. The place is still called Esdud (Volney, Trav. ii, 251; Schwarz, Palest. p. 120). The name occurs in the cuneiform inscriptions (q.v.). The ancient remains are few and indistinct (Hackett, Illustra. of Script. p. 185). The ruined khan to the west of the village marks the Acropolis of the ancient town, and the grove near it alone protects the site from the shifting sand of the adjoining plain, which threatens, at no distant day, entirely to overwhelm the spot (Thomson, Land and Book, ii, 319). </p> <p> The inhabitants are styled (אִשְׁדּוֹדִי '','' &nbsp;Nehemiah 5:7; ''"Ashdothites,"'' &nbsp;Joshua 13:3; the dialect is the Pim. אִשְׁדּוֹדִית, ''Ashdodith','' Sept. Ἀζωτιστί, Vulg. ''Azotice,'' A. V. "in the speech of Ashdod," &nbsp;Nehemiah 13:24). </p>

<p> '''''ash´dod''''' ( אשׁדּוד , <i> ''''''ashdōdh''''' </i> ; Ἀζωτός , <i> '''''Azōtós''''' </i> ; modern <i> '''''Esdūd''''' </i> ): One of the five chief cities of the Philistines. The name means stronghold or fortress, and its strength may be inferred by the fact that Psammetik I, of Egypt, besieged it for many years (Herodotus says 29). Some of the Anakim were found there in the days of Joshua (&nbsp;Joshua 11:22 ), and the inhabitants were too strong for the [[Israelites]] at that time. It was among the towns assigned to Judah, but was not occupied by her (&nbsp;Joshua 13:3; &nbsp;Joshua 15:46 , &nbsp;Joshua 15:47 ). It was still independent in the days of Samuel, when, after the defeat of the Israelites, the ark was taken to the house of Dagon in Ashdod (&nbsp;1 Samuel 5:1 , &nbsp;1 Samuel 5:2 ). We have no account of its being occupied even by David, although he defeated the Philistines many times, and we have no definite knowledge of its coming into the hands of Judah until the time of Uzziah (&nbsp;2 Chronicles 26:6 ). Ashdod, like the other Philistine towns, came under the authority of the Assyrian monarchs, and we have mention of it in their records. It revolted against Sargon in 711 bc, and deposed the Assyrian governor, Akhimiti, who had been appointed by him in 720. Sargon at once dispatched a force to subdue the rebels and the city was severely punished. This is referred to by Isaiah (&nbsp;Isaiah 20:1 ). Amos had prophesied such a calamity some years before (&nbsp;Amos 1:8 ), and Jeremiah refers to "the remnant of Ashdod" as though it had continued weak until his day (&nbsp;Jeremiah 25:20 ). Zephaniah (&nbsp;Zephaniah 2:4 ) refers to the desolation of Ashdod and Zechariah to its degraded condition (&nbsp;Zechariah 9:6 ). It continued to be inhabited, however, for we find the Jews intermarried with them after the return from Babylon (&nbsp;Nehemiah 13:23 , &nbsp;Nehemiah 13:24 ). In the Maccabean period we are told that Judas and Jonathan both took it and purified it of idolatry (1 Macc 5:68; 10:84). In these passages it is called Azotus , as it is also in the New Testament (&nbsp;Acts 8:40 ). In the 4th century ad it became the seat of a bishopric. It had been restored in the time of Herod, by the Roman general Gabinius, and was presented to Salome, the sister of Herod, by the emperor Augustus. It is now a small village about 18 miles Northeast of Gaza. </p>