Achaemenid Administration of the Southern Levantine Coast

This article reassesses the evidence for the Persian administration of coastal Palestine and the role of Sidon and Tyre in resettling the coast. Recent research on the Persian levels excavated at Ashkelon has shed new light on the nature of the Phoenician reoccupation of the site after the destruction of the Philistine city in 604 bce and the development of the settlement in the following centuries. This paper examines the urban form and economic life of the re-founded Persian-period settlement. It argues that the site is best conceptualized as a commercial town that was closely connected to the network of Tyrian and Sidonian outposts along the southern Levantine coast. Finally, it considers Ashkelon within the broader context of the coastal zone of the southern Levant and explores the varying ways in which Persian rule impacted settlement and urbanism in this region.