Image Details

The Philistine staging area for the battle with the Israelites described in 1 Samuel 4 was at Aphek. Here we see Tell Aphek from the south. Aphek guards a narrow pass between the springs of the Yarkon River to the west and the mountains of Samaria to the east. The fortress was built by the Turks in the 17th century, the latest structure on a site first occupied in 3000 B.C. The square grids in the left foreground and within the fortress walls are the areas currently being excavated. The Israelite staging area for the battle was at Ebenezer, probably the modern site of Izbet Sartah.