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Sacred Stones in Indian Civilization: with Special Reference to Megaliths

Sacred Stones in Indian Civilization: with Special Reference to Megaliths

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<< Our Photo Pages >> Tel Dor - Ancient Village or Settlement in Israel

Submitted by motist on Friday, 08 April 2022  Page Views: 722

Multi-periodSite Name: Tel Dor Alternative Name: Tantura
Country: Israel Type: Ancient Village or Settlement
Nearest Town: Zihron Ya'akov  Nearest Village: Dor
Latitude: 32.616330N  Longitude: 34.915970E
Condition:
5Perfect
4Almost Perfect
3Reasonable but with some damage
2Ruined but still recognisable as an ancient site
1Pretty much destroyed, possibly visible as crop marks
0No data.
-1Completely destroyed
2 Ambience:
5Superb
4Good
3Ordinary
2Not Good
1Awful
0No data.
4 Access:
5Can be driven to, probably with disabled access
4Short walk on a footpath
3Requiring a bit more of a walk
2A long walk
1In the middle of nowhere, a nightmare to find
0No data.
4 Accuracy:
5co-ordinates taken by GPS or official recorded co-ordinates
4co-ordinates scaled from a detailed map
3co-ordinates scaled from a bad map
2co-ordinates of the nearest village
1co-ordinates of the nearest town
0no data
5

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Tel Dor
Tel Dor submitted by motist : Tel Dor (Vote or comment on this photo)
This ancient Phoenician port city is located on a mound on the Carmel coast in what is now Israel, and was one of the greatest cities along the northern shore. Dor is listed in the Bible as one of the cities that joined the northern coalition of Canaanite kings against the invading Israelites in the 13th century BC (Joshua 11 1-2)

Bronze age

Dor was a Canaanite city, founded in the Mid-Bronze period at about 20C BC. It was mentioned in 12C BC Egyptian sources as a marine city of “D-jr”.

The Canaanite city was protected by a massive high walls, surrounded by the sea on its west and south side, and a wet moat on the east and north side (which eventually was covered by sand). The mound is mostly man-made and accumulated additional height over the years. It was, according to the standards of its times, invincible. Even until the Roman period, it was a “fortress hard to be taken” (as per Roman historian Josephus Flavius).

Iron (Biblical) age I – Israelites conquest

Dor is listed in the Bible as one of the cities that joined the northern coalition of Canaanite kings against the invading Israelites in the 13th century BC (Joshua 11 1-2): “And it came to pass, when Jabin king of Hazor had heard those things, that he sent to Jobab king of Madon …, and And to the kings that were on the north of the mountains… and in the borders of Dor on the west”. The battle at the “waters of Merom” was the Canaanites last stand, and they lost – Joshua annihilated their armies, plundered their cities and burnt the city of Hazor.

The city of Dor surrendered to the Israelites (Joshua 12 7,23): “And these are the kings of the country which Joshua and the children of Israel smote on this side Jordan on the west, from Baalgad in the valley of Lebanon even unto the mount Halak, that goeth up to Seir; which Joshua gave unto the tribes of Israel for a possession according to their divisions… The king of Dor in the coast of Dor…”.

However, Canaanite Dor was not subdued and repopulated by the Israelite tribe of Menashe, who only later taxed them (Joshua 17 11-12): “And Manasseh had … the inhabitants of Dor and her towns … Yet the children of Manasseh could not drive out the inhabitants of those cities; but the Canaanites would dwell in that land. Yet it came to pass, when the children of Israel were waxen strong, that they put the Canaanites to tribute, but did not utterly drive them out”. The Israelites preferred to dwell in the hills to the east of the Carmel shore, which was a common Israelite settlement pattern.

Iron (Biblical) age I – Invasion of “Sea people”

The excavations revealed a total destruction of the city in the middle of the 11th century BC. This destruction may have been attributed either to the Phoenicians from Tyre and Sidon, or to the invasion of the “sea people” or Philistines, who invaded and settled along the eastern shores of the Levant. The Bible wrote about this (Amos 9 7): “Have not I brought up Israel out of the land of Egypt? and the Philistines from Caphtor…”. Caphtor is the island of Cypress. Another Biblical source points out to the source of the Philistines (Jeremiah 47 4): “Because of the day that cometh to spoil all the Philistines, and to cut off from Tyrus and Zidon every helper that remaineth: for the LORD will spoil the Philistines, the remnant of the country of Caphtor”.

Ramses III (1168BC) naval battle relief in Medinet Habu, at Tebes, Upper Egypt. It tells about the invasion: “The foreigners made a conspiracy in their island…their confederation ware Plst, Skl, … no land could stand before them…they were coming towards Egypt, and fire walked before them.” This period of the waves of invasions is dated roughly to the 12th C BC. The identity of the invaders is not certain, and several hypotheses attempt to resolve the origins of these people. Another Egyptian source (“Wen-Amon” scroll, 1080BC) lists Dor as the kingdom of the “Skl” people, one of these sea people named by Ramses. They may have been, according to some scholars, Sikels from Sicily.

A few years later, the city became a Phoenician city for a short period (1050-1000BC).

Iron (Biblical) age II

King David managed to suppress the Philistines and include their cities in his kingdom. Dor was incorporated into Solomon’s kingdom (1 Kings 4 1-2, 11): “So king Solomon was king over all Israel. And these were the princes which he had… The son of Abinadab, in all the region of Dor”.

The Israelite kings held the city until 925BC, when Israel – under King Rehoboam son of Solomon – was conquered by the Egyptian king Shishak (1 Kings 14 35): “And it came to pass in the fifth year of king Rehoboam, that Shishak king of Egypt came up against Jerusalem”.

Assyrians

The city was ruled by the Israeli kings until it was destroyed in 732BC by the Assyrian King Tiglath-Pileser III, who annexed the area (as per 2 Kings 15: 29: “In the days of Pekah king of Israel came Tiglathpileser king of Assyria, and took … Galilee…and carried them captive to Assyria”).

The Assyrians made Dor and Megiddo their regional northern capital cities, rebuilding the city they just destroyed. A new gate and walls were constructed.

Phoenician city

The Assyrians ruled here for 100 years, and were followed by the Babylonians (630BC-538BC) and the Persians (538-332BC). The excavations in Tel Dor unearthed many remains from the Persian period. During this time, Dor was managed by the Phoenicians, who made it thriving marine port city. The Phoenicians were the great marine merchants of those times, mastered the seas of the Mediterranean, and established cities all along the coast of Israel. Dor had three natural bays that were used as docking quays, and natural lagoons to the south of the site made it an ideal safe haven for their vessels. Furthermore, the city was located on the crossroad of two branches of the greatest ancient route – Via Maris – north through the coast of the Carmel and the north-east through Yokneam.

The unprecedented growth lasted until a partial destruction by the Egyptians in 399-380BC, but then returned to Persian control (380BC) .

Hellenistic Period

Following Alexander the Great conquest, the city was transformed to a Phoenician-Hellenistic city (332BC- 57BC). It kept its ancient name with some variation (Dora). It was known as the city of Doros son of Poseidon the Sea God, who according to Greek mythology founded the city. The city was rebuilt in a grand scale, and became one of the important cities along the northern coast. This reconstruction in an ancient mound is rare, and in most ancient cities the Greeks founded cities outside of the old ones. However, Dor is an exception since its port was still required by the Greeks and the Romans. After all, there are but a few good anchoring bays in this region.

Josephus Flavius described the city as a “fortress hard to be taken” when in 138BC Antiochos IV placed a siege on it from land and sea (Antiquities 13 7, Wars 2 2): “As Antiochus was now come to Seleucia, and his forces increased every day, he marched to fight Trypho; and having beaten him in the battle, he ejected him out of the Upper Syria into Phoenicia, and pursued him thither, and besieged him in Dora which was a fortress hard to be taken, whither he had fled. He also sent ambassadors to Simon the Jewish high priest, about a league of friendship and mutual assistance; who readily accepted of the invitation, and sent to Antiochus great sums of money and provisions for those that besieged Dora, and thereby supplied them very plentifully, so that for a little while he was looked upon as one of his most intimate friends; but still Trypho fled from Dora to Apamia, where he was taken during the siege, and put to death, when he had reigned three years”.

The city minted their own coins (205-199BC), an indication of its importance. Their mintage symbol was Δω (“Do”), the prefix letters of the city.

Early Roman – “ruler of Seas”

After Pompey conquered the land in 63BC, the Roman general separated Dor from the Hasmonean Kingdom, granting it an autonomous city status (Wars 2 7): “Pompey … also took away from the nation all those cities that they had formerly taken… and reduced Judea within its proper bounds… He also made other cities free from their dominion… maritime cities, Gaza, and Joppa, and Dora“.

The city also minted their own coins, counting the years since Pompey’s conquest.

The local mintage, a symbol of the city’s importance, continued during other periods (44/45, 32/22BC, 14/15 through 75/76, 111/112, 117, 143/145, 210-211).

The icon of Doros, son of Poseidon (Neptune in Roman mythology), was a common symbol on these coins. An example of such coin is seen here, from the time of Caesar Nero Claudius (54-68AD).

Over 50 types of Dorian coins are known. They were used in the region and found in many ancient cities. Of course, many of Dora coins were found in the Dor excavations.

A coin from Trajan reads “Holy Dora, city of Asylum, Autonomous, Ruler of Seas”. This indeed it the motto of the Roman Dora.

Dor was rebuilt in Roman standards. A massive reconstruction was managed by Gabinus, Pompey’s general in Syria. A Roman theater was constructed in the north side of the city. The city population increased substantially, and required an improved water supply. This was based on two aqueducts that fetched water from a distance of 12KM from Tata spring south-east of Meir Shfeya in the Daliah creek, and from springs near Kibbutz Ma’ayan-Zvi.

Sadly, most of the Roman building blocks were stolen by the Arab villagers of Tantura, who resided on the south side of the southern bay.

Late Roman – Decline

The city is seen in the Peutinger map (Peutingeriana tabula) of the 4th C Imperial Roman roads. It is named “Thora”, which is marked by a red square in the center of this section of the map. Dor, according to the Roman map, was a major city which was connected Caesarea Maritama (“Cesaria”) to Acre (“Ptolma”) and Tyre (“Tyro”).

King Herod (37-4BC) received Dor under his rule in 32BC. However, Herod realized that Dor’s port was too small and during winter the vessels had to anchor outside the bays. This great builder King embarked on a grand scale project – building a modern large port in Caesarea maritime.

After the foundation of Caesarea by King Herod , the focus of the maritime commerce shifted from Dor to Caesarea, since the harbors of Caesarea were larger and deeper, and was better equipped to handle the ever increasing maritime trade. Many of the residents of Dor transferred to the bigger and larger city, and thus Dor started to decline.

Byzantine Period – death of the city

The city was mostly deserted by the 3rd century AD and the city above the mound was abandoned. Therefore, there are no Byzantine remains on top of the mound.

During the 4th century a large basilica was constructed on the south-east side of the city, and was a seat of Bishops. This church, located outside of the mound, supported the pilgrims along the road to Jerusalem. The church was destroyed in the 7th century after the Arab conquest. Since then the site was used as a Arab cemetery.

Crusaders fortress

The Crusaders built a fortress on the acropolis (high city), on the south-western side of the city. This was the Crusader’s fortress of Merle, constructed by the French noble family De-Merle, who lived in Dor. The Crusaders removed all Roman structures from the area of the hill, cut a trench near area D, and rebuilt a fortress using the Roman pillars and rocks. In 1187 the fortress was acquired by the Crusader Templars, who held it until their retreat in 1264. It was then demolished by the Mamlukes.

Ottoman Period

In 1757 Daher el-Omar, the Bedouin ruler of the Galilee, captured the port city of Tantura (Dor). He expanded the capacity of the port in order to expand the export of cotton and olive trade with Europe.

In 1799 the French army, commanded by Napoleon, retreated from the failed siege of Acre, and camped here. They dumped and buried their heavy canons, blew up the ammunition, and retreated to Jaffa. Some of this gear was located and now on display at the Dor Museum.

Dor was examined in the PEF survey (1866-1877) by Wilson, Conder and Kitchener. It appears in the the section of this map of 1878, named “el Burj” (citadel). They wrote: “The ruins consist of a mound with a tower towards the south, the remains of a harbour, and of a colonnaded building near it, of a large cistern called el Hannaneh, and of a causeway leading north and south to the east of the town. Rockcut tombs also exist north and south of the ruin

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Tel Dor
Tel Dor submitted by motist : Tel Dor (Vote or comment on this photo)

Tel Dor
Tel Dor submitted by motist (Vote or comment on this photo)

Tel Dor
Tel Dor submitted by motist (Vote or comment on this photo)

Tel Dor
Tel Dor submitted by motist (Vote or comment on this photo)

Tel Dor
Tel Dor submitted by motist (Vote or comment on this photo)

Tel Dor
Tel Dor submitted by motist

Tel Dor
Tel Dor submitted by motist

Tel Dor
Tel Dor submitted by motist

Tel Dor
Tel Dor submitted by motist

Tel Dor
Tel Dor submitted by motist

Tel Dor
Tel Dor submitted by motist

Tel Dor
Tel Dor submitted by motist

Tel Dor
Tel Dor submitted by motist

Tel Dor
Tel Dor submitted by motist

Tel Dor
Tel Dor submitted by motist

Tel Dor
Tel Dor submitted by motist

Tel Dor
Tel Dor submitted by motist

Tel Dor
Tel Dor submitted by motist

Tel Dor
Tel Dor submitted by motist

Tel Dor
Tel Dor submitted by motist

Tel Dor
Tel Dor submitted by motist

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"Tel Dor" | Login/Create an Account | 1 comment
  
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Re: Tel Dor by Tuatha on Wednesday, 20 April 2022
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Further information on the settlements and populations of this area can be found, inter alia, in "1177BC:the Year Civilization Collapsed" by Eric H CLINE.
It considers the entire region as an interactive web, from Egypt to the Black Sea and Persia.
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