Apollonia-Arsuf
Since 1996, wide-scale archeological
excavations have been conducted at the site,
but mainly in the Crusader fortress, with a view of turning it into a
national park. Portions of the city wall and
its eastern gate were found, as were the remains
of the fortress" defenses and buildings.
The Crusader city and fortress,
now known as Apollonia-Arsuf, were built on
a cliff overlooking the Mediterranean Sea,
some 15 km. north of modern Tel
Aviv.
Excavations conducted periodically
since the 1950s have revealed that a settlement
was established on the site during the Persian period (6th-5th centuries BCE), known as Arshuf,
after the Canaanite-Phoenician god of fertility
and the underworld, Reshef. During the Hellenistic period, Reshef was identified with the Greek
god Apollo and hence the name Apollonia. The
inhabitants of this ancient town produced
a special purple dye derived from murex mollusks
and exported it, making use of the natural
anchorage. During the Roman period, the size of the town increased; the
remains of a large, elegant villa constructed
in the finest Roman architectural tradition
were uncovered. But it was during the Byzantine period that the town became very prosperous,
and expanded to cover an area of about 70
acres. The remains of buildings, industrial
installations and an elaborate church of this
period have been exposed. In the Early Arab
period, when the Semitic name Arsuf was restored
to the town, its area decreased to about 22
acres and, for the first time, it was surrounded
by a fortified wall with buttresses.
Shortly after the Crusaders
conquered Jerusalem in 1099, they made their first attempt to
capture Arsuf. They failed, because of the
lack of a fleet to impose a naval blockade.
But in the spring of 1101, after only a short
battle, the city fell to the Crusader army
commanded by Baldwin I, King of Jerusalem.
The Crusaders rebuilt the city wall of Arsur
(their way of pronouncing the name) and constructed
a fortress on the cliffs overlooking the sea.
After the defeat of the Crusaders at the Horns
of Hattin in 1187, Arsuf came under Muslim control, but on 7 September 1191, in a battle
fought outside the city between the Crusader
army under Richard the Lion-Heart and the
Muslim army under Salah ed-Din (Saladin) the
Muslims were defeated. Arsur was once again
ruled by the Crusaders, who refortified it
in the mid-13th century. Crusader rule came
to an end in 1265, when, after a forty-day
siege, the city was conquered by the Mamluk ruler Baibars and the defenders of the fortress
surrendered. The Muslims razed the city walls
and the fortress to their foundations, fearing
a return of the Crusaders. The destruction
was so complete that the site has not been
resettled since, and over the next several
hundred years its remains were covered by
earth and wind-blown sand.
The Fortifications
of the City
A portion of the city wall
of Apollonia-Arsur and a corner tower were
exposed in the southeaestern part of the city.
The city-wall was 2.2 m. thick, constructed
of well-trimmed kurkar blocks and cement.
A 9 m.-wide moat protected the wall, its outer
edge supported by a stone counter scarp. The
city gate was located in the center of the
eastern wall. It consisted of two elongated,
semi-circular towers that protruded outward
from the line of the wall. The towers were
widened toward their bases, reaching a diameter
of 4.4 m. The 2.2m.-wide gateway was probably
reached via a wooden bridge, supported by
an arch, over the moat.
The Crusader
Fortress
The Crusader fortress at Apollonia-Arsur is
located in the northwestern corner of the city.
The fortress was protected by three fortification
networks that included walls with towers and
a moat. The walls surrounded the fortress on
four sides; in addition, a 30 m.-high cliff
in the west provided adequate protection. The
fortress was constructed of trimmed kurkar reinforced
with cement. Its water supply was assured by
large cisterns built below it, in which rainwater
was collected.
The outer fortification system consisted
of a retaining wall, the foundations of which
were laid in the bottom of the moat and five
semi-circular towers, each 23 m. in diameter,
with loopholes for archers. This wall created
a solid, wide-based podium on which stood
the middle defensive system. A particularly
broad moat, up to 30 m. wide and some 14 m.
deep, protected the fortification; the outer
wall of the moat supported a high counter
scarp. A 4.5 m.-wide pilaster protruding from
the southeastern corner of the moat and another
pilaster located opposite it on the inner
side of the moat indicate that there was a
wooden drawbridge, which provided access to
the fortress over the moat.
The middle fortification and the main gate.
The 4 m.-thick wall was protected by semi-circular
towers. The gate facing east consisted of
two elongated apsidal towers, 12 x 4.5 m.
each, that widened toward their bases. One
entered the towers from the inner courtyard
via openings in their western side. The passageway
between the towers was paved with rectangular,
evenly laid kurkar slabs. Stone benches stood
along the walls on both sides of the entrance.
The threshold of the gate, made of a marble
pillar in secondary use, was exposed in its
entirety. The two wooden door wings closing
the gate were mounted on iron hinges, one
of which was preserved intact. In front of
the entrance were pilasters with grooves used
to lower an iron net to protect the door.
The inner defensive system consisted of 3
m.-wide wall segments that closed the inner
courtyard of the fortress. On the western
side the courtyard was closed by a sturdy
tower, which served as the donjon of the fortress.
The inner courtyard, measuring 28 x 10 m.,
gave access to parts of the inner fortress
and to the arched halls beneath it. Around
the courtyard were rooms and halls with vaulted
roofing and staircases leading to second storeys,
which served as the garrison"s barracks.
Large, round grindstones were found on the
northern side of the courtyard; the kitchen
of the fortress (10 x 7 m.) was located in
the courtyard"s northwestern corner.
It was paved with stone slabs and contained
five ovens, two tubs for water, a piped water
system and had a small service room. The donjon
is located on the western side of the courtyard,
opposite the gate. Its upper part, planned
as an octagonal tower, was later converted
into a square one. It was probably 10 m. high
and was intended as a final refuge for the
defenders of the fortress. The lower part
of this tower consisted of a 4m.-wide, elongated
hall, roofed with a graded vault; it opened
to the subterranean spaces which led towards
the harbor.
Significant evidence of
the Mamluk siege in 1265 and the ensuing battle to conquer
the city and the fortress was found. One of
the tunnels, which had been cut beneath the
city"s fortifications in an attempt to
topple them, was uncovered and massive stones
from the collapse were found in the moat.
A huge layer of ash, produced by a conflagration,
covered parts of the fortress and large numbers
of arrowheads and ballista stone balls were
found scattered everywhere.
Sources: Israeli
Foreign Ministry |