Ashdod is the sixth-largest city in Israel. Located in the country's Southern District, it lies on the Mediterranean coast 32 kilometres south of Tel Aviv and 20 km (12 mi) north of Ashkelon. Ashdod's port is the largest in Israel, handling 60% of the country's imported goods.
Yavne is a city in the Central District of Israel. In 2022, it had a population of 56,232.
Apollonia, known in the Early Islamic period as Arsuf and in the Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem as Arsur, was an ancient city on the Mediterranean coast of today's Israel. In Israeli archaeology it is known as Tel Arshaf. Founded by the Phoenicians during the Persian period in the late sixth century BCE, it was inhabited continuously until the Crusader period, through the Hellenistic, Roman, and Byzantine periods, during the latter being renamed to Sozusa. It was situated on a sandy area ending towards the sea with a cliff, about 34 kilometres (21 mi) south of Caesarea.
Isdud was a Palestinian town, on the site today known as Tel Ashdod. In the 1940s the village had thousands of Arab and Jewish inhabitants, but was largely depopulated in the 1948 Arab-Israeli War. By 1992, only ruins remained.
The archaeology of Israel is the study of the archaeology of the present-day Israel, stretching from prehistory through three millennia of documented history. The ancient Land of Israel was a geographical bridge between the political and cultural centers of Mesopotamia and Egypt.
Madaba is the capital city of Madaba Governorate in central Jordan, with a population of about 60,000. It is best known for its Byzantine and Umayyad mosaics, especially a large Byzantine-era mosaic map of the Holy Land. Madaba is located 30 kilometres south-west of the capital Amman.
Gath or Gat was one of the five cities of the Philistine pentapolis during the Iron Age. It was located in northeastern Philistia, close to the border with Judah. Gath is often mentioned in the Hebrew Bible and its existence is confirmed by Egyptian inscriptions. Already of significance during the Bronze Age, the city is believed to be mentioned in the El-Amarna letters as Gimti/Gintu, ruled by the two Shuwardata and 'Abdi-Ashtarti. Another Gath, known as Ginti-kirmil also appears in the Amarna letters.
Modi'in-Maccabim-Re'ut is a city located in central Israel, about 35 kilometres (22 mi) southeast of Tel Aviv and 30 kilometres (19 mi) west of Jerusalem, and is connected to those two cities via Highway 443. In 2022 the population was 99,171. The population density in that year was 1,794 people per square kilometer.
Tel Maresha is the tell of the biblical Iron Age city of Maresha, and of the subsequent, post-586 BCE Idumean city known by its Hellenised name Marisa, Arabised as Marissa (ماريسا). The tell is situated in Israel's Shephelah region, i.e. in the foothills of the Judaean Mountains, about 2 kilometres (1.2 mi) southeast of Beit Gubrin.
The Madaba Map, also known as the Madaba Mosaic Map, is part of a floor mosaic in the early Byzantine church of Saint George in Madaba, Jordan.
Minat al-Qal'a is a medieval coastal fort protecting the port known as Ashdod-Yam, which was historically separate from Ashdod proper but whose archaeological remains are today located on the southern beach of the sprawling modern city of Ashdod. The fort was built by the Umayyads and later restored by the Crusaders.
Nessana, Modern Hebrew name Nizzana, also spelled Nitzana, is an ancient Nabataean city located in the southwest Negev desert in Israel close to the Egyptian border. It started by being a caravan station on the ancient Incense Road, protecting a western branch of the road which allowed access to Egypt to the west via the Sinai, and to Beersheba, Hebron and Jerusalem to the northeast. It was first used by Nabataean merchants, and later also by Christian pilgrims.
Early Byzantine mosaics in the Middle East are a group of Christian mosaics created between the 4th and the 8th centuries in ancient Syria, Palestine and Egypt when the area belonged to the Byzantine Empire. The eastern provinces of the Eastern Roman Empire and its continuation, the Byzantine Empire, inherited a strong artistic tradition from pagan Late Antiquity. The tradition of making mosaics was carried on in the Umayyad era until the end of the 8th century. The great majority of these works of art were later destroyed but archeological excavations unearthed many surviving examples.
Shilta was a Palestinian Arab village in the Ramle Subdistrict of Mandatory Palestine. Sitting on a hill, It was probably settled in the 19th century. It was depopulated during the 1948 Arab–Israeli War on July 18, 1948, by the First Battalion of the Yiftach Brigade in the Operation Danny. It was located 15 km east of Ramla.
Yavne-Yam or Minet Rubin is an archaeological site located on Israel's Southern Coastal Plain, about 15 km south of Tel Aviv. Built on eolianite hills next to a small promontory forming the sole anchorage able to provide shelter to seagoing vessels between Jaffa and the Sinai, Yavne-Yam is notable for its role as the port of ancient Yavne. Excavations carried out by Tel Aviv University since 1992 have revealed continuous habitation from the second millennium BCE up to the Middle Ages; the famous Yavne-Yam ostracon is named after the site.
The Paralia, also known as Medinat HaYam was a coastal eparchy in Palestine during Hellenistic and Roman times, ruled by the Seleucid Empire between 197 and 99 BCE, as part of the Coele-Syria province. According to Josephus, the inhabitants of the region were primarily Greek city-dwellers. The name appears in the 6th-century Madaba Map, appended to the town of Ashdod-Yam, as Azotos Paralos, ca. 3 kilometers south of Modern Ashdod.
Tel Tanninim, in Arabic Tell al-Milāt, is an ancient tell on the shore of the Mediterranean, near the mouth of Nahal Tanninim, in the vicinity of the modern Arab town of Jisr az-Zarka, Israel.
Ascalon was an ancient Near East port city on the Mediterranean coast of the southern Levant of high historical significance, including as a much contested stronghold during the Crusades. Its importance diminished after the Mamluks destroyed its fortifications and port in 1270 in order to prevent any future military and logistical use by the Crusaders.
Ashdod or Azotus was an ancient Levantine metropolis situated at Tel Ashdod, 'Mound of Ashdod', an archaeological site located a few kilometers south of the modern Ashdod in present-day Israel.
