The northernmost of the five Philistine cities, and the nearest of them to Israelite territory — which is why Ahaziah's delegation goes there. Identified since 1957 with Tel Miqne, and confirmed in 1996 by one of the most satisfying finds in Levantine archaeology: a dedicatory inscription in a 7th-century temple naming the city as Ekron and listing five of its rulers, including two kings known from Assyrian records. In the ark narrative of 1 Samuel it is the last of the Philistine cities the captured ark is sent to, and the one that finally sends it home.