One of the five Philistine cities, on the Mediterranean coast — a major seaport, and one of the oldest continuously occupied sites in the region, mentioned in Egyptian texts centuries before Israel's monarchy. It is paired with Gath in David's lament, 'proclaim it not in the streets of ASHKELON' (2 Samuel 1:20) — the two named as the places where the news would be celebrated. The prophets return to it repeatedly in their oracles against Philistia (Amos 1:8; Zephaniah 2:4-7; Jeremiah 47:5-7).