Everything about Arsuf totally explained
Arsuf (;,, also known as
Arsur or
Apollonia) was an ancient city and fortress located in
Israel, about 15 kilometres north of modern
Tel Aviv, on a cliff above the
Mediterranean Sea. The city site, Tel Arsuf, was intensively excavated from 1994. In 2002, Apollonia National Park was opened here.
Modern Arsuf is a small settlement north of Apollonia (area 0.25
km², 90 inhabitants).
Town history
The town was settled by
Phoenicians in the
6th or
5th century BC, and named
Arshuf after
Resheph, the
Canaanite god of fertility and the underworld. It was then a part of the
Persian Empire and governed from
Sidon. Phoenicians of Arshuf produced precious purple
dye, derived from
murex mollusks, which they exported to the
Aegean.
During the
Hellenistic period it was an anchorage town, ruled by
Seleucids and re-named
Apollonia, as the Greeks identified Reshef with
Apollo.
Under
Roman rule, the size of the town increased. It was an important settlement between
Jaffa and
Caesarea along
Via Maris, the coastal road. In
113 AD, Apollonia was destroyed partially by an earthquake, but recovered quickly. The harbor was built, and trade with Italy and North Africa developed.
During the
Byzantine period, the town extended to cover an area of 70 acres. In the
5th and
6th century AD it was the second largest city in Sharon valley, after Caesarea, populated by Christian and
Samaritans, having an elaborate church and a prosperous glass industry.
In
640 AD, the town was captured by
Muslims, and the
Semitic name Arsuf was restored. The town's area decreased to about 22 acres and, for the first time, it was surrounded by a fortified wall with buttresses, to resist the constant attacks of Byzantine fleets from the sea. Large marketplaces appeared, and pottery production developed. In
809 AD, following the death of
Harun al-Rashid, the local Samaritan community was destroyed and their synagogue ruined.
In
1101 Arsuf fell to a
Crusader army led by
Baldwin I of Jerusalem. The Crusaders, who called it
Arsur, rebuilt the city's walls and created the
Lordship of Arsur in the
Kingdom of Jerusalem. In
1187 Arsuf was captured by the Muslims, but fell again to the Crusaders on
September 7,
1191 after a
battle between
Richard I of England and
Saladin.
John of Ibelin, Lord of Beirut (
1177—
1236) became Lord of Arsur in
1207 when he married Melisende of Arsur (born c.
1170). Their son John of Arsur (c.
1211—
1258) inherited the title. The title then passed to John of Arsur's eldest son Balian (
1239—
1277). He built new walls, the big fortress and new harbor (
1241). From
1261, the city was ruled by the
Knights Hospitaller.
In
1265 sultan
Baibars, ruler of the
Mamluks, captured Arsur, after 40 days of siege. The Mamluks razed the city walls and the fortress to their foundations, fearing a return of the Crusaders. The destruction was so complete that the site hasn't been resettled since.
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