Day 9, Monday June 18th

Day 9, June 18:

Today was awful.  Really awful.  But rather than write about that I am going to add in some of the other stuff that I didn’t go into detail about earlier.    

I know it was a while ago, but I have a lot of notes about Tracy’s lecture (from the 12th) that I was not able to type up yet.  So, Tracy started where Dan left off, in the Persian period (538-330 BCE).  During the Persian period, Ashkelon was politically Persian but culturally Ashkelon Phoenician. 

One of the most interesting discoveries that has been made thus far that dates to the Persian period, and I mentioned it briefly before… the dog burials. Dating to the 5th century BCE, over 1,400 dogs have been discovered so far.  The largest concentration has been in grid 50, which appears to be some kind of dog graveyard or cemetery.  The graves vary, sometimes containing one dog, sometimes several, and do not appear to have been marked in any way.  This can be assumed because later burials cut into the previous burials, so they probably didn’t know the exact locations of all of the dogs that were buried.  The dogs have mostly been found laid out with their tails and legs tucked in under their bodies.  What is curious is that the dogs range from days old to old age, both males and females have been found, and there is no evidence whatsoever of any slaughter marks.  It is fascinating to think about.  An epidemic doesn’t fit either, because the animals are not all from the same time period and it appears that the dog burials span a period of over a century.  Some people have mentioned that maybe it has to do with the influence of Zoroastrianism in the region, because they believed that dogs were special in some way.  I really need to learn more about Zoroastrianism.  I really don’t know anything about it and it comes up all the time. 

Today, I listened to Paula explain an interesting question that came up.  Apparently, what appeared to be a small dog or puppy was found in grid 51.  Ben, one of the Troy students, went to dig it up and brought it back to the compound to be looked at.  It’s skull was not intact, but judging by the fusion that can be seen in the bones, it is a mature animal.  When animals are young, their bones are more flexible, and there is an area of cartilage near the ends of the bone to allow for growth.  As an animal matures, these areas of cartilage begin to fuse and harden into bone.  So, the amount of cartilage versus bone is one of the main ways to determine the age of an animal at the time of death.  They thought that the animal that Ben excavated today was a puppy, until upon further examination, they realized that it was not a puppy because the bones were fused.  This means that it is a mature animal.  So, this brings new questions to the table.  First of all, there are many possibilities that need to be explored to help determine what kind of animal it is.  Paula said that it was possible that it is a toy breed of dog, but none have been found near that size before.  They also considered the fact that maybe it was a fox.  I don’t know the context of the animal because they didn’t discuss that in the car, but it sounds like maybe it was inside a building amongst other items of material culture because the discussion turned to having foxes as pets.  I don’t know if that was made as a suggestion in this case, or if we started talking about foxes and how people have bred some to be pets (and apparently its very popular in Morocco). 

Back to Tracy’s lecture… so, after the Persian period was the Hellenistic period (330-31 BCE).  During this time, we can see evidence of the emergence of an orthogonal city, which is most obvious in grid 38.  In grid 47 (my grid) the walls of a monumental public building were found near the Odeon.  During this time period we start to see monumental architecture in Ashkelon in general. 

Another interesting thing that has been found dating back to the Hellenistic period is a coin.  The coin depicts Cleopatra, and it turns out that Ashkelon was an ally to the famed Egyptian.  The coin is the one that I mentioned earlier when I mentioned the Israel museum.  It is really incredible because it is in really excellent condition.  On the right is a picture of the coin, in its display in the ancient money exhibit in the Israel museum.  

After the Hellenistic period came the Roman period (31 – 324 CE).  This is when we see even more evidence of monumental architecture.  Apparently in the 1st century CE, Ashkelon was named a free city but evidence for occupation was found.  I am not sure what I meant by my notes here so may have to go back and ask Tracy some more questions about it.  I also have a note about Garstang and Herod’s cloisters with no elaboration.  Maybe if I can get on the internet later I can look up more about that too. 

In the Roman period, Ashkelon had several theaters.  There is a large theater located in the southeast corner of the city that remains unexcavated.  It seated 5,000 – 8,000 people.  The smaller theater I have mentioned already, and that is the Odeon in grid 47.  Based on the dimension of the orchestra and knowledge of acoustics, it appears that it seated about 1,000 people.  This would have been used for smaller plays or things like poetry readings.  It dates back to the late 2nd or early 3rd century CE. 

In grid 38, bathhouses have been found which also date back to the roman period.  It is thought that the bathhouse also served as a brothel.  Hundreds of erotic oil lamps have been found inside and in the vicinity.  In addition, there are oil lamps depicting animals and other imagery.  Underneath the bathhouse, in the sewer system, the remains of over 100 infants were found.  This is one of the reasons that it is thought to have been a brothel.  All of the infants were newborns and discarded in the sewer system.  It is likely that the women who worked in the brothel discarded the infants as a form of post-birth birthcontrol.  Not sure how to phrase that to make it sound right… post-birth abortion?  In any event, it adds to the idea that the bathhouse operated as a brothel. 

Moving on from the Roman period, we have the Byzantine period (390-640 CE).  During this time period, there was a proliferation of churches.  Even dating back to this period, the 

churches all face towards the East.  Evidence has also been found that suggests that Ashkelon was well known for its wine, which was believed to have been highly regarded for its medicinal uses. 

Some of this is known because of the records we have from different people who lived or traveled through Ashkelon.  Julian of Ascalon is one such example.  He wrote a 6th century text regarding the rules of design and construction.  It was written specifically for Ashkelon (Ascalon), and highlights the differences between Ashkelon and other cities.  He talks about how certain trades should be moved outside of the city and where it is appropriate to set up shop.  He suggests that glass workers and garum makers live outside of the city, for example.  Garum was a type of fish sauce (if I remember correctly) that probably didn’t smell too hot while it was being made. 

The famous Madaba map, found in St. George’s church in Madaba, Jordan, gives the most evidence as to what the Near East looked like at the time.  The map is a mosaic, and was uncovered in the 19th century.  Ascalon is depicted in the Madaba map and is the view shown is from inside of the city looking west.  It shows the Jerusalem gate, one of the four gates of the city, flanked by two towers.  It also shows the colonnaded streets.  The reconstructed street system shows that there were four city gates.  The Jaffa gate, Jerusalem gate, Gaza gate, and the sea gate.

During this time we also see a transformation of the urban plan.  Encroachment upon the roadway starts during the byzantine period and we know this because of archaeological evidence and Julian of Ascalon, who discusses when it is considered appropriate to move into the roadway.  In addition, residential architecture at the time was set up as single-family homes and as multi-unit condos.

In 640 CE, the Islamic period begins and lasts until 1153.  In 640, Ashkelon surrendered on terms with the newly established Muslim empire.  Ashkelon was named a ribat, or fortified outpost.  Soldiers were encouraged to settle there and were given land close to the coast.  Evidence from this period indicates that Ashkelon was a flourishing city.  The Church of St. Stephen in Umm al-Rasas Jordan, dating to the 8th C. (during the Abbasid dynasty), shows a map of Ashkelon depicted from outside of the city, looking west into the city.  The Jerusalem gate is shown flanked by towers and with a fortified city wall.  

A house from this time period, discovered in grid 37, has pairs of rooms on two sides of a courtyard.  Inside the courtyard there is a sunken pool, suggesting that whoever lived in the house was likely to have been wealthy. 

In 969 CE, during the Fatamid period, Ashkelon had close ties with Egypt.  Ceramics were imported from China, Morocco, and Iraq, in addition to other places across the Near East and Africa.  The Cairo Geniza, is a series of documents ffrom the Jewish community in Fustat.  The majority of the documents date from the 10th – 13th century and include records about marriage contracts, house sales, and many other aspects of daily life.  It is also mentioned that if a merchant has red cloth to sell, they should travel to Ashkelon because red cloth was very popular here. 

This brings us to the crusader period, which began in 1153.  There was a battle fought outside of the walls of Ashkelon in 1100, but crusaders were unable to capture the city until 1153.  Saladin managed to recapture the city in 1187 for 4 years, until he destroyed the city in 1191.  Ashkelon is a strategically important location, which I will go into in detail in my next post, and Saladin did not want the crusaders to have control over this important outpost.  Richard the Lionhearted eventually took the city again but reached an agreement with Saladin and destroyed what was left of the city in 1192, after spending 4 months refortifying the city. 

There is some stuff that I left out of here but I think that this is probably enough details to bore anyone who actually reads my blog to death!  :)