Who Destroyed Ashkelon? on Some Problems in Relating Text to Archaeology

WHO DESTROYED ASHKELON? ON SOME PROBLEMS IN RELATING TEXT TO ARCHAEOLOGY

Hans M. Barstad

The destruction of Ashkelon by Nebuchadnezzar in 604 bce appears to belong among the better-known facts of scholarship.1 At least this is what we may learn when presented with the secondary literature in the area. Since publications are numerous, however, I can only mention a couple of the more recent studies in the present context. Quite representative, and particularly influential, of course, are some of the more prestigious encyclopaedias of our subject. According to David Schloen, the Philistine period ended with Nebuchadnezzar’s destruction of the city in 604 bce. Schloen also claims that: Evidence has also been found for the final fiery destruction of Philistine Ash- kelon in 604 bce, including the complete skeleton of one of the victims of the disaster lying amid the burnt debris.2 And Lawrence Stager writes: “In 604 bce, Nebuchadnezzar destroyed Ashkelon and led Aga’, the last king of Philistine Ashkelon, into exile in Babylon.”3

1 The Jubilar and the present author have spent much time in the Isaiah scroll. I am very grateful that I can offer these few lines on another common interest. 2 See David Schloen, “Ashkelon,” in OEANE 1:222. 3 See Lawrence E. Stager, “Ashkelon,” in NEAEHL 1:104. Since this article provides a fine survey of prevalent views concerning the destruction of Ashkelon, I will comment and quote from it in some detail. In Stager’s NEAEHL essay, there is very little documenta- tion for Iron II (p. 107) whereas the Persian period is the richest on the site (pp. 107–108). There is no mention of the Babylonian period under ‘excavation results,’ which indicates that little relevant to the Neo-Babylonian period has been found. Under ‘history’ (p. 104), Stager writes: “In the seventh century bce Ashkelon was ruled by Mitinti II, son of Sidqa, a vassal of Esarhaddon and of Ashurbanipal. After the decline of the Assyrian empire in the West, first the Egyptians (in the time of Psamtik I) and then the Babylonians gained ascendancy. In 604 bce, Nebuchadnezzar destroyed Ashkelon and led Aga’, the last king of Philistine Ashkelon, into exile in Babylon. The sons of Aga’, sailors, and various nobles received rations from Nebuchadnezzar. Herodotus (I, 103–106) reports that Scythian sol- diers sacked the temple of Aphrodite Ouriana (the Celestial Aphrodite) at Ashkelon, which was considered by the Greeks to be the ‘oldest temple consecrated to this deity.’ Because Scythians served in Nebuchadnezzar’s army, it is possible that Herodotus singled out this episode to epitomize the general destruction of Ashkelon by the Babylonians in 604 bce Mopsus, seer and hero of the Trojan war, reached Ashkelon and died there (according to 346 hans m. barstad

Quite characteristic is also the following quotation taken from Donald Redford: Meanwhile, in the same month, Nebuchadnezzar invested Ashkelon. Before the end of December it had been captured and utterly destroyed. Antimeni- das, a Greek mercenary and brother of the poet Alcaeus, was serving with the Babylonian army on this occasion; and a fragment of Alcaeus in honor of his brother’s homecoming describes the awful fate of the city, many of whose inhabitants had been sent to the House of Hades. The remaining population together with Aga the king was deported to Babylonia, where an expatriate community calling itself ‘Ashkelon’ was to be found in the following century. The uninhabited ruins were to stand a haunt for the wild beasts for over a hundred years, a mute witness to the Babylonian fury.4 Ephraim Stern writes laconically that Nebuchadnezzar conquered Ash- kelon in 604 bce, and “took its king captive, destroyed the city, and deported all its inhabitants.”5 Daniel M. Master also considers the destruction of Ashkelon during the Neo-Babylonian period to be an historical fact: . . . when Nebuchadnezzar destroyed Ashkelon in 604 bce. Nebuchadnezzar claims to have made the site a ‘tell,’ and recent archaeological excavations have shown that he accomplished his goal.6 We notice from the few, but fairly representative, quotations above, how Schloen refers to evidence for the final fiery destruction of Philistine Ash- kelon; Stager writes that the city was destroyed; Redford that it was utterly destroyed, and that all inhabitants were deported to Babylon; Stern that all inhabitants were deported; Master that the destruction made the city

the fifth-century bce Lydian historian Xanthos). Under the Persians, Ashkelon became a ‘city of the Tyrians’ and the headquarters of a Tyrian governor (Pseudo-Scylax, Periplus I, 78, late fourth century bce). The Phoenicians curried favors from their Persian overlords by providing naval power and maritime wealth. Coastal cities as far south as Ashkelon grew rich from Phoenician commerce . . .” (p. 104). 4 Donald B. Redford, Egypt, Canaan, and Israel in Ancient Times (Princeton, NJ: Prince ton University Press, 1992), 455–56. 5 Ephraim Stern, Archaeology of the Land of the Bible. Vol. 2. The Assyrian, Babylonian, and Persian Periods 732–332 bce (ABRL; New York: Doubleday, 2001), 304. 6 Daniel M. Master, “Trade and Politics: Ashkelon’s Balancing Act in the Seventh Century bce,” BASOR 330 (2003): 47–64, 61. Master, in another essay, dates a market place at Ashkelon in the following way: “The date of this market is secure because fills beneath it contain East Greek Wild Goat II pottery, creating a terminus post quem for the foundation of the market of at least 625 bce Moreover, the end of the Ashkelon market is marked by the comprehensive destruction wrought by Nebuchadnezzar in 604 bce” Daniel M. Master, “From the Buqê‘ah to Ashkelon,” in Exploring the Longue Durée. Essays in Honor of Lawrence E. Stager (ed. J. David Schloen; Winona Lake, IN: Eisenbrauns, 2009), 305–17, 312.