Road station

Azoton

Ashdod

Azoton is Ashdod, the old Philistine city where the Old Testament places the cult of Dagon. It lay a little inland with its own harbour on the coast, and a late Roman list of cities even distinguishes inland Azotus from Azotus by the sea. Its position on the main road from Egypt to Syria made it a prize: the Assyrians took it around 711 BC, and Herodotus says the pharaoh Psammetichus captured it only after a siege of twenty-nine years. The Maccabees destroyed it, and the Roman general Gabinius rebuilt it.

Find Azoton on the interactive Roman map →

Auf Deutsch anhören · All place stories · More places in Israel