Information about Ashkelon itself will be provided after this announcement.

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Finds from the Neolithic period provide evidence of human settlement in Ashkelon (outside the area of the national park) as far back as 10,000 years ago.

The origin of the name Ashkelon appears to come from the root of the word "shekel", denoting a measure of weight – a fitting name for a commercial port city. The specific name Ashkelon is mentioned in the Egyptian execration texts of the 19th century BCE, and it appears again in other, later Egyptian inscriptions.

In biblical times, Ashkelon was one of the cities of Philistine pentapolis. The city is mentioned in David's lament over the deaths of Saul and Jonathan. "Tell it not in Gat, publish it not in the streets of Ashkelon, lest the daughters of the Philistines rejoice, lest the daughters of the uncircumcised exult" (2 Samuel 1:20). Ashkelon is also related to the heroic deeds of Samson. It was here that Samson struck down 30 Philistines and took their garments to pay his companions after they solved his famous riddle (Judges 14).

Ashkelon also played a part in the battle against the Assyrians. Zedaka, ruler of Ashkelon, joined the rebellion of Hezekiah king of Judah (701 BCE). In response, Senacherib king of Assyria took over the city, and replaced the treacherous ruler with one of his subjects. The Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar, who came to the city later, was less merciful. In 604 BCE he deported Aga, the last Philistine king of Ashkelon, and razed the city to the ground.

During the Persian period, Ashkelon was a prosperous commercial city under the auspices of the port cities of Tyre and Tsidon. A cemetery was found in the excavations of Tel Ashkelon containing the bones of more than 1,500 dogs. In the 6th and 5th centuries BCE, it was customary to bury dogs in their own cemeteries, and they may even have been worshipped.

After Alexander the Great conquered the land of Israel in 332 BCE, Ashkelon became an independent Hellenistic city, and its residents adopted the Greek language and culture.

The high point of Ashkelon's prosperity came in the Roman period. The city covered an area that was 1100 m from north to south, and 600 m in width. This area was too small to contain its growing population, and gradually a dense cluster of small villages and farms sprang up around the city. 35 settlement sites from the Byzantine period (4th – 7th centuries CE) have been found around Ashkelon, which were the city's agricultural hinterland. The city became a regional wheat trading center, and also had date orchards, vegetable gardens, and vineyards. To this day, a particular variety of onion called scallion bears a reminder of the name of Ashkelon. During the Byzantine period (5th – 6th centuries CE) Ashkelon was a center for fine wines, which were sent from its port to the countries of Europe.

The Arabs conquered Ashkelon in the 7th century. They gave it a special status because of a shrine (mashad) in which tradition said that the head of Husayn ibn Ali, grandson of Muhammad, was preserved, while the rest of his body was buried in Karbala, in Iraq. In 1154 the skull was moved to Cairo, for fear that it would fall into the hands of the Crusaders.

In 1153 the Crusaders took the city, but they were forced to abandon it in 1187, for fear of the renowned Muslim general Salah ad-Din (Saladin). After his forces were roundly defeated in the battle of Arsuf (Apollonia) in 1191, his emirs claimed that they were not able to defend Ashkelon against the approaching army of Richard the Lionheart. To his chagrin, Salah ad-Din was forced to destroy the city wall: "It is easier for me to lose all my sons than to move a single stone from these walls", he said. The Crusaders took control of Ashkelon that same year, but in 1270 the Mameluke Sultan Beybars captured the city and destroyed it, and it did not rise again until modern times.

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