Ascalon
- Ancient name
- Ashkelon, Ashkelon?
- Modern name
- Ashkelon
- Modern country
- Israel
- Coordinates
- 31.67, 34.55
The crusader stronghold of Ascalon, located along the Levantine coast between Gaza and Jaffa, was much diminished in Dati's day due to the Mamluk sultan Baybars' decision in 1270 to have its citadel and harbor destroyed to forestall any crusader attempts to retake it; see also Jaffa and Caesarea. 14th- and 15th-century writers mainly note it as a site of ancient ruins, and it is not mentioned in Dati's text, only on some of the Sfera maps. Campbell #1527.
This toponym does not appear in the poem, only on the maps accompanying it.
Map of the location M045
Variant spellings of Ascalon in Sfera manuscripts
| Variant | Manuscripts |
|---|---|
| achalona | Marc1 |
| asaclena | Ricc15 |
| asailona | Pal6 |
| asailonone | Bal |
| Asalona | Clas2, Cors2 |
| ascalon | NYPL3, Ricc12 |
| ascalona | Con4, Cs1, He2, Laur3, ME2, NB, Pal5 |
| ASCALoNA | Ashb3 |
| Ascalona | Fo, Magl2, Morg, Parm2, Pnc4, Wie1 |
| Aschalon | Con3 |
| aschalona | Fn6, Med3, Par1, Ricc8 |
| aschaloni | Fn3 |
| ascolona | Fn9, Pnc5 |
| assailonone | Laur5 |
| astalona | Con1, He3, Per2 |
- Suggested citation
- Beneš, Carrie. “Ascalon.” Gregorio Dati’s La sfera = The Globe: A Digital Edition, May 3, 2026. https://la-sfera-staging-a8db029690a6.herokuapp.com/toponyms/ascalon/.