Ashdod

Ashdod (in N. T. Azotus), on the Mediterranean, 21 miles S. of Jaffa, once a strongly fortified city of the Philistines, and the seat of the worship of Dagon (Cp. 1 Sam. iii.). It was taken by the Assyrians 715 B.C., by the Egyptians in the next century, and destroyed by the Maccabees. It was rebuilt by the Romans, but is now a poor village.