Ashdod
אַשְׁדּוֹד
Where was biblical Ashdod? At Tel Ashdod, inland, with its port at Ashdod-Yam, about 35 km southwest of Tel Aviv. I mark it certain.
The Philistines carried the captured Ark into the temple of Dagon at Ashdod. Next morning they found their god fallen on his face before it. The morning after, he lay broken on the threshold, his head and hands cut off.
By Aaron Shaffier, licensed Israel tour guide and mapmaker · About the mapmaker
- Site today
- Tel Ashdod, inland, with its port at Ashdod-Yam
- How sure
- Certain The name, the sources and the finds all agree.
- Other names
- Azotus, Isdud, Tel Ashdod, Ashdod-Yam
- Location
- 31.7803° N, 34.6217° E (Google Maps)
How we know where it was
The name never disappeared. Hebrew Ashdod became Azotus in Greek and Isdud in Arabic, the name of the village that stood beside the tel.
The Assyrians supply a date. Inscriptions of Sargon II describe his capture of Ashdod and its harbor. Isaiah dates a prophecy by the same campaign, "the year the Tartan came to Ashdod." The Tartan was the Assyrian commander. Earlier, King Uzziah of Judah had broken through Ashdod's wall.
Excavators exposed a huge city here. The Philistine layers begin in the 12th century BCE, with Mycenaean-style pottery that points back across the sea to the Aegean. There is a six-chambered gate from the Iron Age, and there are remains from the Assyrian period. All of it fits Ashdod's place as one of the five Philistine capitals.
One detail matters for reading the map. Ancient Ashdod was not on the beach. The city stood about 5 km inland, and its port was Ashdod-Yam, a fortress town on the coast to the west. The label covers both the city and its harbor.
Ashdod's language outlived its kings. Nehemiah was dismayed to find Jewish children who spoke "Ashdodite" and could not speak the language of Judah.
Visiting today
Tel Ashdod is a national park southeast of the modern city, with little restored for visitors. Later fortress ruins at Ashdod-Yam stand on the beach south of the modern city.
Read it in the Bible
Verse numbers follow the Hebrew Bible. In a handful of chapters English Bibles count one verse off.
See Ashdod on the interactive map →
The whole Land on your wall
A hand-drawn map of Biblical Israel, with more than 160 places from Dan to Kadesh Barnea, printed on archival matte paper.
Free with every print: a companion ebook on every place on the map, a $19.99 value.
From $49.99 · Free US shipping
Get the print + free ebookNearby places
- Ashkelon 15 km southwest
- Ekron 22 km east
- Gath 23 km southeast
- Timnah 27 km east
- Gezer 30 km east
- Azekah 31 km east