Antipatris
Sign in to saveAntipatris (, ) was a city built during the first century BC by Herod the Great, who named it in honour of his father, Antipater. The site, now a national park in central Israel, was inhabited from the Chalcolithic period to the Late Roman period. The remains of Antipatris are known in Modern Hebrew as Tel Afek (), and in Arabic as Khulat Rās al-‘Ayn ('castle of the head of the spring'), after the nearby riverhead of the Yarkon. It has been identified as either the tower of Aphek mentioned by Josephus, or the biblical Aphek, best known from the story of the Battle of Aphek. During the Crusader
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Key facts
- Ancient site.name
- Antipatris
- Ancient site.alternate_name
- Tel Afek, and Kŭlảt Râs el ’Ain, the castle of the spring-head
- Ancient site.image
- Afek_IMG_8217.JPG
- Ancient site.map_type
- Israel center ta#Israel
- Ancient site.grid_position
- 144/167 PAL
- Ancient site.location
- Central District, Israel
- Ancient site.region
- Levant
- Ancient site.type
- Settlement
- Ancient site.condition
- In ruins
via Wikipedia infobox
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- archaeological site
- Part of
- Aphek
- Named after
- Antipater the Idumaean
- Country
- Israel
- Located in
- Central District
- Time zone
- UTC+02:00
- Image
- האגם הגדול בתל אפק.jpg
via Wikidata · CC0
Article
12 sectionsContents
- History
- Aphek
- Antipatris
- Ottoman Ras al-Ayn
- Yarkon-Tel Afek national park
- Excavation
- Area A
- Trade links and relations
- See also
- References
- Bibliography
- External links
Antipatris (, ) was a city built during the first century BC by Herod the Great, who named it in honour of his father, Antipater. The site, now a national park in central Israel, was inhabited from the Chalcolithic period to the Late Roman period. The remains of Antipatris are known in Modern Hebrew as Tel Afek (), and in Arabic as Khulat Rās al-‘Ayn ('castle of the head of the spring'), after the nearby riverhead of the Yarkon. It has been identified as either the tower of Aphek mentioned by Josephus, or the biblical Aphek, best known from the story of the Battle of Aphek. During the Crusader period the site was known as Surdi fontes, "Silent springs". The Ottoman fortress known as Binar Bashi or Ras al-Ayn was built there in the 16th century.
Antipatris/Tel Afek lies at the strong perennial springs of the Yarkon River, which throughout history has created an obstacle between the hill country to the east and the Mediterranean to the west, forcing travellers and armies to pass through the narrow Afek Pass between the springs and the foothills of Samaria. This gave the location of Antipatris/Tel Afek its strategic importance.