One of the five great Philistine cities (the Pentapolis: Gaza, Ashkelon, Ashdod, Gath, Ekron), an ancient seaport on the Mediterranean coast about ten miles north of Gaza. Ashkelon's biblical appearances span much of the OT: Samson killed thirty men of Ashkelon to pay his wager-debt to the Philistines (Judg 14:19); David's lament over Saul's death prays Tell it not in Gath, publish it not in the streets of Askelon (2 Sam 1:20). The prophets pronounce repeated judgment: Jeremiah 47, Zephaniah 2:4-7, Zechariah 9:5, Amos 1:8, Jer 25:20. Ashkelon's long history continued past the OT period into Roman times; Herod the Great built up the city in the first century BC. Archaeology has uncovered extensive Canaanite, Philistine, Persian, Hellenistic, and Roman remains, including the oldest known city wall in the Levant (c. 1850 BC) and a Roman-era street that ran through ancient public buildings.