The Canaanite Fortifications of Ashqelon

The Canaanite Fortifications of Ashqelon. . The Canaanite city was established in approximately 1950 BCE and some 15,000 people lived here. The 600-dunam city was fortified by a wall and a moat about 100 years after it was established, in defense against the Egyptian threat. The wall stood atop a glacis 15 meters high, and surrounded the city in a two-kilometer-long arc. The city gate was built of calcareous sandstone (kurkar) and mud-bricks in the form of a vaulted archway, which was two meters wide and four meters high, with an arched gate at either end. This is the oldest arched gate in the world. The gate before you has been restored by Israel Antiquities Authority experts. , The Philistines, who came from the region of the Aegean Sea, conquered Ashqelon in 1175 BCE, and it became one of their five central cities. The Philistine city was smaller than the Canaanite one, and was also fortified. During the Roman, Byzantine, and Muslim periods, the city wall was built on a huge glacis in the style of the Canaanite fortification that preceded it. , The wall that can be seen today on the eastern and southern side of ancient Ashqelon dates from the Muslim period.