DORA
Israel.
An important city on the Palestinian coast, the capital of a satrapy in the Persian period.
According to Skylax (first half of 4th c. B.C.), Dora was
a Tyrian colony. By the middle of the 3d c. B.C. there
was a royal fortress there (I Macc. 15:11-14). When the
Seleucid kingdom of Syria began to decline, Dora and
nearby Strato's Tower were ruled by the tyrant Zoilus,
from whom Alexander Jannaeus obtained Dora through
negotiation (
Joseph. AJ 13.324-35). After the conquest
of Palestine by Pompey in 64 B.C., Dora became autonomous and was rebuilt by Gabinius (
Joseph. BJ 1.156,
409). During the Roman period there still was a strong
fortress there (
AJ 13.223-24.324; 14.76; 15.333). On the
eve of the Revolt against the Romans, the emperor's
statue was placed in the local synagogue (Joseph.
Vit.
31). In the early 3d c. A.D. Septimius Severus annexed it
to Phcenicia. In the Byzantine period Dora became part
of Palestina Prima. Eusebius (
Onom. 78.9) refers to
Dora as a town in ruins, a description later confirmed
by the pilgrim Paula (Hieron.
Pregr. Paulae 5).
Its remains consist of the ancient mound. Trial excavations have produced traces of continuous occupation
from the Late Bronze Age to the Persian period. The
remains of the Hellenistic, Roman, and Byzantine towns
are by far the most extensive and cover a large area.
Close to the coast are the imposing remains of a Roman
temple and theater. The city had a double harbor, the
division made by a natural cliff, on which was built a
massive tower. To the Byzantine period belong remains
of a large church.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
J. Garstang & J. W. Phytian-Adams,
Bulletin of the British School of Archaeology in Jerusalem 4 (1924) 35-45, pls. I-III; 6 (1924) 65-73; G. M.
Fitzgerald, ibid. 7 (1925) 80-98; M. Avi-Yonah,
The
Holy Land from the Persian to the Arab Conquests
(536 B.C. to A.D. 640). A Historical Geography (1966).
A. NEGEV
