Ekron

Ekron

otheruses1|the Philistine cityThe city of Ekron ( _he. עֶקְרוֹן Unicode|"ʿeqrōn", also transliterated "Accaron") was one of the five cities of the famed Philistine 'pentapolis,' located in southwestern Canaan.

During the Iron Age, Ekron was a border city on the frontier contested between Philistia and the kingdom of Judah. Located at a site now known as Tel Mikne (or "Tel Miqne"), its identification with the Biblical city was possible due to its presence in the small Palestinian village of Akir, whose name is thought to be derived from the ancient name.Thomson, 2004, p. 534/]

Ekron lies 35 kilometers west of Jerusalem, and 18 kilometers north of Gath, on the western edge of the inner coastal plain. Excavations in 1981-1996 at the low square tel have made Ekron one of the best documented Philistine sites.

Ekron was a settlement of the indigenous Canaanites. The Canaanite city had shrunk in the years before its main public building burned in the thirteenth century BCE; it was refounded by Philistines at the beginning of the Iron Age, ca 1200s BCE.

Ekron is mentioned in the Book of Joshua 13:2-3:

:"This is the land that still remains: all the regions of the Philistines and all those of the Geshurites from Shihor, which is east of Egypt, northward to the boundary of Ekron."

Joshua 3:13 counts it the border city of the Philistines and seat of one of the five Philistine city lords, and Joshua 15:11 mentions Ekron's satellite towns and villages. The city was reassigned afterwards to the tribe of Dan (Joshua 19:43), but came again into the full possession of the Philistines. It was the last place to which the Philistines carried the ark before they sent it back to Israel (1 Samuel 5:10; 6:1-8).

There was here a noted sanctuary of Baal. The Baal who was worshipped was called Baal Zebul, which some scholars connect with "Beelzebub", known from the Hebrew Bible: (2 Kings 1:2):

:Ahaziah fell through the lattice in his upper chamber at Samaria and was injured. So he sent messengers whom he instructed: "Go inquire of Baal-zebub, the god of Ekron, whether I shall recover from this injury." (JPS translation)

Non-Hebrew sources also refer to Ekron. The siege of Ekron in 712 BCE is depicted on one of Sargon II's wall reliefs in his palace at Khorsabad, which names the city. Ekron revolted against Sennacherib and expelled Padi, his governor, who was sent to Hezekiah, at Jerusalem, for safe-keeping. Sennacherib marched against Ekron and the Ekronites called upon the aid of the king of Mutsri. Sennacherib turned aside to defeat this army, which he did at Eltekeh, and then returned and took the city by storm, put to death the leaders of the revolt and carried their adherents into captivity. This campaign led to the famous attack of Sennacherib on Hezekiah and Jerusalem, in which Sennacherib compelled Hezekiah to restore Padi, who was reinstated as governor at Ekron.

Excavations in the temple complex at Tel Miqne in 1996 recovered a significant artifact for the corpus of Biblical archaeology, a dedicatory inscription of the seventh-century king of Ekron 'Akish. The inscription not only securely identifies the site, it gives a brief king-list of rulers of Ekron, fathers to sons: Ya'ir, Ada, Yasid, Padi, 'Akish. [S. Gitin, T. Dothan, and J. Naveh, "A Royal Dedicatory Inscription from Ekron," Israel Exploration Journal 47 (1997): 9-16]

Of more than local interest is the recipient of the inscription, 'Akish's divine "Lady. May she bless him, and guard him, and prolong his days, and bless his land." The name or title of the Lady of Ekron is "Ptgyh" or "Ptnyh". Aaron Demsky (Demsky 1997) reads the name as"Ptnyh" and relates it to the title "Potnia" ("Mistress") [See "Potnia theron" the "Mistress of the Animals".] that was applied to the Great Goddess of the Aegean, in her various local manifestations, which include Mycenaean sites. A much earlier [http://www.kchanson.com/ANCDOCS/westsem/ekron.html representation of the Lady of Ekron, perhaps thirteenth century BCE] offers her left breast.

Ashdod and Ekron survived to become powerful city-states dominated by Assyria in the seventh century BCE. The city may have been destroyed by the Neo-Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzer II around 603 BCE, but it is mentioned, as "Accaron", as late as 1 Maccabees 10:89.

Notes

External links

* [http://www.mfa.gov.il/mfa/go.asp?MFAH0g700 History of Ekron through archaeology of the Tel Mikne site.]
* [http://www.kchanson.com/ANCDOCS/westsem/ekron.html The Ekron inscription]
* Trude Dothan and Seymour Gitin, [http://cojs.org/cojswiki/Ekron_of_the_Philistines,_Trude_Dothan_and_Seymour_Gitin,_BAR_16:01,_Jan/Feb_1990. Ekron of the Philistines] BAR 16:01, Jan/Feb 1990

References

* Demsky, Aaron. "The Name of the Goddess of Ekron: A New Reading," "Journal of the Ancient Near Eastern Society" vol. 25 (1997) pp.1-5
* M. G. Easton, "Illustrated Bible Dictionary" 1897
* Schoville, Keith; [http://www.stone-campbelljournal.com Stone Campbell Journal] , Vol. 4, No. 1

Bibliography

*Citation|title=The Land And The Book: Or, Biblical Illustrations Drawn From The Manners|author=W. M. Thomson|year=2004|publihser=Gorgias Press LLC|ISBN=1593331304|


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  • EKRON — (Heb. עֶקְרוֹן), one of the capital cities of the Philistine Pentapolis. According to the Bible, Joshua allotted it to the tribe of Dan on its northeastern border with Judah (Josh. 15:11, 45–46; 19:43), and Judges 1:18 relates that it was… …   Encyclopedia of Judaism

  • Ekron — Ekron, KY U.S. city in Kentucky Population (2000): 170 Housing Units (2000): 69 Land area (2000): 0.113426 sq. miles (0.293771 sq. km) Water area (2000): 0.000000 sq. miles (0.000000 sq. km) Total area (2000): 0.113426 sq. miles (0.293771 sq. km) …   StarDict's U.S. Gazetteer Places

  • Ekron, KY — U.S. city in Kentucky Population (2000): 170 Housing Units (2000): 69 Land area (2000): 0.113426 sq. miles (0.293771 sq. km) Water area (2000): 0.000000 sq. miles (0.000000 sq. km) Total area (2000): 0.113426 sq. miles (0.293771 sq. km) FIPS code …   StarDict's U.S. Gazetteer Places

  • Ekron — (a. Geogr.), so v.w. Akaron …   Pierer's Universal-Lexikon

  • Ekron — Ekron, die nordöstlichste der fünf Hauptstädte der Philister, auf der Grenze von Juda, verehrte den Fliegengott Baal Sebub (Beelzebub, s. d.). E. wird unter diesem Namen noch in den Kreuzzügen erwähnt. Jetzt liegt dort Akir, 9 km südwestlich von… …   Meyers Großes Konversations-Lexikon

  • Ekron — Ekron, Akkaron, die nördlichste der fünf Hauptstädte der Philister, erst unter den Makkabäern jüdisch …   Kleines Konversations-Lexikon

  • Ekron — Ekron,   Vulgata: Accaron, die nördlichste der fünf Philisterstädte, 701 v. Chr. von Sanherib erobert; gehörte erst unter den Makkabäern zu Juda (1. Makkabäer 10, 89); vermutlich identisch mit Khirbet el Muqanna, etwa 20 km westlich von Aschdod …   Universal-Lexikon

  • Ekron — ist eine in der Bibel genannte Stadt der Philister. Inhaltsverzeichnis 1 Ausgrabungen …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Ekron — Canaanite and Philistine city in ancient Palestine. It was one of the five cities of the Philistine Pentapolis and was located in what is now central Israel. Though allocated to Judah after the Israelite conquest, it was a Philistine stronghold… …   Universalium

  • Ekron (disambiguation) — Ekron may refer to:*Ekron, a city in Canaan, famous for its domination by the Philistines *Ekron, Kentucky *The former name of Mazkeret Batya, Israel *Akron, Ohio …   Wikipedia

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