Antipatris (Tel Afek)

Tel Afek is close by. A mere 15 mins drive from the house on HaNevel. So even bwo was into the morning trip. The ancient city has been around since the Chalcolithic (between the Neolithic and Bronze age where copper tools were used alongside stone, around 4th millennium BCE). The city sat strategically on the Via Maris, the trade route between Egypt and the north. It fell into ruins and was rebuilt by Herod, and named Antipatris after his father (Antipater II of Judea). The city served as a fort for many years until destroyed by an earthquake in 363 CE.

It was later used as a fortress by the Crusaders, Arabs and Ottomans and the remaining citadel is of Turkish origin (it has been extensively restored).

The morning coffee. Bwo likes it very very strong - so we used up all the coffee we had. Ned to get more.
The three musketeers.
This is some of the citadel. There is a big open space in the middle.
The citadel guarded the strategic pass below. There are a lot of these cracks from which to fire arrows at the passing hoards.
A nice picture by bwo. Lots of nicely reconstructed stone.
This is the most complete of the six late Bronze age palaces at the site (Canaanite period 1550-1200 BCE). The are stairways going up, that indicate there was a second floor. The palace was destroyed in a battle around 1230 BCE. There are layers of burnt bricks and arrow heads were found in the walls.

The outer walls are nice and thick.

A view from around the side.
Tel Afek is close to the source of the Yarkon river and there are lots of lakes and pools. It's all very picturesque.
Before we left I went to check out the current excavations. This is a Audion, or a small theater built during the last stages of Antipatris' habitation. Building was stopped after the 363 CE earthquake destroyed much of the city.

It was a nice short trip and we were home by 9:30am. Good to have a site close by for a change.