Ashkelon (ăsh'ke-lŏn), and Askelon (ăs'ke-lŏn), migration. One of the five cities of the Philistines by the sea and ten miles north of Gaza; taken by Judah, Judges 1:18; visited by Samson; Judges 14:19; and its destruction predicted in Jeremiah 47:5; Jeremiah 47:7; Amos 1:8; Zechariah 9:5; Zephaniah 2:7. Ashkelon was the seat of worship of the Philistine goddess Astarte, whose temple was plundered by the Scythians, b.c. 625; was the birthplace of Herod the Great. Ashkelon is noticed in the Tel-el-Amarna tablets, 1480-1450 B. C, as worshippers of Dagon