kindness of Assyrians
Gaza emerged in the mid-2nd millennium BC, alongside Early Bronze Age settlements. to. The city belonged to the Egyptian pharaohs and was their stronghold in Canaan, a region now divided between Israel, Lebanon, Syria and Jordan. In the 12th century BC. to. Gaza and the surrounding lands fell into the hands of the Philistines, a seafaring people. During the biblical events, the city was under their rule when the captive hero Samson destroyed the temple of Dagon on himself and the Philistines after the beautiful Delilah cut off her hair, depriving her of her power.
At the beginning of the Assyrian conquest, the city was located on the trade route from the Nile Delta to the Eastern Mediterranean and also served as a terminus for incense caravans from Arabia. In the 700s BC. to. Two “superpowers” – Egypt and Assyria – fought over the city, and local rulers accepted the protection of one of the sides. In 734 BC. to. Assyrian troops under Tiglath-pileser III launched an attack on Gaza, and its ruler Hanunu fled to Egypt without a fight. When it became clear that the pharaohs would not have much concern or help left, Hanunu returned to the throne of Gaza, which had become a city dependent on Assyria.
When Tiglath-pileser III died, Hanunu took advantage of the chaos and joined the anti-Assyrian coalition led by the ruler of the city of Hamatha in what is now western Syria. However, the new Assyrian king II. Sargon quickly defeated the main forces of the rebels and headed south towards Gaza.
Hanun’s troops and the remaining allies were aided by a corps sent from Egypt. Despite this, the Assyrians won the battle of Rafia, the modern city of Rafah in the southernmost part of the Gaza Strip.
Contrary to the custom of the time, Hanunu was not flayed for treason, but simply taken to Assyria; there he was probably forced to take part in a “victory parade” or ostentatiously swear allegiance to Sargon.
Gaza not only did not suffer during the conflict, but also retained its independence as a vassal of Assyria. The empire probably did not want to lose a valuable trading city and quarrel with its elites. Thus, the ancestors of the Gaza Strip were not harmed by this struggle. I escaped easily.
Achilles impersonator
The fate of the city’s inhabitants under Alexander the Great was much sadder. The route of the Macedonian king to conquer the Persian Achaemenid Empire stretched from Anatolia to Egypt and was on the way to Gaza. The city was the last obstacle on the way to the Nile Delta, and therefore the eunuch Batis, who served Darius III, concentrated a large army here, preparing for a siege. Gaza was about 18 meters above the surrounding area, making it a good fortress.
In October 332 BC. The siege began. Since the walls were on a hill, the attackers tried to build walls and place rams on them. They also tried to dig under the walls so that the fragile walls would collapse. At first the defenders were successful: they mounted an attack to destroy the Macedonian siege equipment and managed to wound it, with Alexander personally launching a counterattack with a guard detachment.
But this could not continue for long – before Gaza, Macedonian troops stormed the impregnable fortress of Tire, located on a coastal island in the south of modern Lebanon. After a while, siege weapons were transferred from Tire to Gaza, as a result of which the walls collapsed in many places. On the fourth attempt, the troops entered the city and began to gain the upper hand. Gazans fought hard and were aided by Arab mercenaries. There is a known case when one of them pretended to surrender and was taken to the camp. There he rushed the Arab king, but the mercenary was only able to lightly wound him before he was cut to death.
The defenders almost did not surrender, so about 10 thousand local soldiers died in the battle. After the battle, Batis refused to kneel before Alexander and angrily ordered the eunuch to be brutally executed. A rope was passed around his heels, he was tied to a cart, and Batis was dragged around the city until he died. This was an imitation of the hero Achilles, who treated his enemy Hector in this way.
Alexander severely punished resistance. Gaza’s men were killed, women and children were sold into slavery, and the cities were populated by Bedouins sympathetic to Alexander. Later, Gaza became a polis and one of the centers of Greek culture.
Cycle of destruction and rebirth
Alexander the Great started an evil tradition, and Gaza has been suffering regularly ever since. First, he fell on the millstone of the struggle between Judea and the Ptolemaic dynasty of Egypt (the heirs of Alexander), who waged a mortal war with the entire pagan Greek civilization and proclaimed the cult of Yahweh. In 96 BC. to. The Jewish king Alexander Yannai formed an alliance with the Ptolemies, besieged Gaza and captured it within a year. The city was destroyed and its inhabitants (those who could not escape) were killed.
Gaza was revived half a century later, when the region became part of the Roman Empire in 63 BC. to. A period of relative calm began and in the 1st century AD. to. The role of the city increased due to the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans. Gaza became rich again, as in ancient times, and traded with Arabia. The city was a favorite of the Roman authorities and Emperor Hadrian; Under the command of Emperor Hadrian, the most famous stadium in the entire East was built, and wrestling and oratory competitions were held.
Islam emerged in the 7th century, and many Gazans converted to Islam under Byzantine rule before the Arab conquest. In 634, the city was built by Hz. It was surrounded by the Caliph’s army under the command of Amr ibn al-As, one of Muhammad’s companions. Interestingly, at that time the Jewish community was fighting on the side of Byzantium, unlike the Arab inhabitants and Muslims. As a result, after a three-year siege, the city was captured, but al-As did not continue the massacre or destroy the city.
For the next several centuries, Gaza remained a relatively prosperous city: in 867, a Christian writer described the city as “rich in everything”. However, with the arrival of the Crusaders in 1100, the city began to decline for economic reasons and the Templars tried to use Gaza Hill as a castle. The city was revived for a time, but was soon virtually destroyed by Salah ad-Din, the leader of the Islamic world in its struggle against the crusader kingdoms. Unable to take the hilltop castle, he burned the city around it and killed many of the inhabitants. A few years later, both the city and the castle were handed over to the Muslims in exchange for the release of the sect’s master from captivity.
Despite the losses, the city continued to survive until Genghis Khan’s grandson Hulagu approached the walls in 1260. The city was completely destroyed and existed only as a small village in the following years.
Egyptian rulers tried to restore it, but in 1294 the Mongols destroyed Gaza again.
The city’s next heyday came under Ottoman rule, when Gaza became the capital of Palestine. The Ottomans repaired the Grand Mosque (damaged by bombing) and built many baths and bazaars. The same situation continued under Egyptian rule in the 19th century. The next time the city came close to destruction was during World War I, when three major battles for Gaza took place between the Ottoman Empire and British forces. Considering that European cities were turned into piles of rubble during the period of artillery and trench warfare, the same fate could have been expected in Gaza, but it was a bit lucky. The bombing damaged many buildings but did not destroy the city.
From then until 2023, the city never again faced the risk of completely losing its appearance.
It is difficult to give a clear answer to why the city was constantly reborn after many sieges, destruction and deaths of its inhabitants. It probably owes a debt to geography: Gaza lies on the sea route between Egypt and Palestine, and the high ground serves as a natural fortification and observation point.
The Israeli army could launch a full-scale attack on Gaza at any time to destroy the Hamas group, and the international community is worried about the fate of the ancient city. And now, a new turning point in history, where it is unknown whether Gaza will be reborn or not. I’d like to think so, though.