ities to hold out against Nebuchadnezzar finally fell in 604 BC, burnt and destroyed and its people taken into exile, the Philistine era was over
Classical period
Ashkelon was soon rebuilt. Until the conquest of Alexander the Great, Ashkelon's inhabitants were influenced by the dominant Persian culture. It is in this archaeological layer that excavations have found dog burials. It is believed the dogs may have had a sacred role, however evidence is not conclusive. After the conquest of Alexander in the 4th century BC, Ashkelon was an important Hellenistic seaport.
According to the Tanakh, Ashkelon is one of the cities given to the Jewish people as a heritage. The Jews of Judea drove the Greeks out of the region during the Maccabean Revolt, which lasted from 167 to 160 BC. The Hasmonean Kingdom was then established, which Ashkelon thereafter became a part of.
The Hasmonean kingdom fell in 63 BC, and the area was incorporated into the Roman Republic. Queen Cleopatra VII used Ashkelon as her place of refuge when her brother and sister exiled her in 49 BC. She organized an army on the site but did not need to use it due to Julius Caesar's arrival in Alexandria. Ashkelon was later placed under the rule of Herod the Great, a Jewish client king of Rome. Ashkelon may have even been his birthplace. Josephus states Ashkelon was not ceded to Herod the Great in 30 BC, yet he built monumental buildings there: bath houses, elaborate fountains and large colonnades. The city remained loyal to Rome during the Great Revolt, 66–70 AD, and in the following centuries it grew to be an important centre. It appears on a fragment of the 6th century AD Madaba Map.
Crusader era
During the Crusades, Ashkelon (known to the Crusaders as Ascalon) was an important city due to its location near the coast and between the Crusader States and Egypt. In 1099, shortly after the Siege of Jerusalem (1099), an Egyptian Fatimid army that had been
