Askalon

Askalon, Ascalon, or Askulan, a town of Palestine on the coast of the Mediterranean, 14 miles north of Gaza. It was one of the five chief cities of the Philistines (Judges i. ii.), and is supposed to have been colonised from Tyre. The Jews ultimately became possessed of it, and Herod made it the second city of his kingdom. The temple of Derceto was a remarkable feature of the place. The Crusaders won a great victory here in 1099, but in 1270 the Saracens destroyed the fortifications, and Askalon is now a heap of disjointed masonry.