After leaving the site of my previous blog post, Migdal Afeq (Mirabel), I found myself at the bus stop on the main road just outside of Rosh HaAyin, heading for my next location: Tel Afeq (Antipatris). The summer heat was rather getting to me so I made a quick decision and flagged down a taxi to take me to the nearby national park of Tel Afeq.

Binar Bashi fortress at Tel Afeq

Dropping me off at the picnic areas, I took the shaded tables as an opportunity to dip into the pastries I had bought earlier that morning in Ramat Gan. It was then that I noticed that my third destination of the day, Yarkon National Park, was actually considered a joined park with Tel Afeq and that the two of them were somewhat connected by a trail through some fields. And so I started my explorations at the dry rain pond and headed for the Roman cardo.

Antipatris’ cardo

Along the cardo, an ancient main street, I came upon an odeum (a small Greek and Roman theatre building) and then a memorial for the 41 Jewish lives lost to the Alexandroni Brigade is offensive attacks on the Iraqi forces entrenched at both Tel Afeq and the Migdal Afeq area in 1948.

Roman odeum

Historical remains on the tel extend back to the Chalcolithic period with notable ruins from the Egyptian/Canaanite times and the Roman era. Biblical Aphek is mentioned as well, having been the location of the Philistine camp during two disastrous battles with the Israelites, resulting in the Philistines capturing the Aron (or, Holy Ark of the Covenant). In the Greek period a city by the name of Pagae (“Springs”) was founded, just one of many in a historical timeline, all coveting control over the important Via Maris trade route. Herod created the city of Antipatris, named after his father, during his rule of the Holy Land in the Roman era. Antipatris as he knew it, filled with Jews, was destroyed by Vespasian during the Great Revolt some fifty-odd years later.

Binar Bashi seen from the air in the early 1930’s (photo: Library of Congress)

Next along the cardo is the Roman forum and then the crown of the tel – the impressive Ottoman fortress known as Binar Bashi.

The southwest tower

Built between 1572 and 1574, Binar Bashi was the first really important development on Tel Afeq since the existence of Antipatris. During the Crusader period, the land was part of a gift parceled out to Balian of Ibelin by King Fulk of Jerusalem, with castle Mirabel being the regional stronghold. Tel Afeq was reduced to a district estate for the knights of the House of Ibelin. Binar Bashi (originally called Pinar Basi in Turkish, meaning “Head of the Springs”) was a fortified khan commissioned by the son of Suleiman the Magnificent.

Turkish soldier watching me from the window

I was rather impressed with the standing of the fortress, especially the octagonal southwest corner tower. As I reached the northwest tower I spotted a raptor sitting on the ruined wall a little ways away. The bird you see below is none other than a steppe buzzard and minutes later he took off and was immediately heckled midair by some crows. Thank you master ornithologist Yoav Perlman for identification, for I am hopeless at Old World raptors.

Steppe buzzard

Returning to the stony ruins, I walked around the excavated and restored remains of what once was an Egyptian governor’s palace lording over the Canaanite royal city after the Egyptian conquest of the Holy Land (which culminated in their victory at Tel Megiddo). The size and quantity of Egyptian-era winepresses at Tel Afeq suggests trade significance for importing wine to the Nile Delta area.

Egyptian governor’s palace

Leaving the fortress and its blisteringly hot and mostly unshaded courtyard, I then walked over to the British pumping station complex. Pockmarked by bullet holes in the concrete walls, this building was used by Iraqi soldiers, and subsequent to local victory, by Israeli troops during the War for Independence. Built in the 1930’s, this pumping station was used to provide water for Jerusalem, as well as other local cities, sending the water to the water station in Latrun. With the Yarkon springs being the second most prosperous source of fresh water (after the springs at Tel Dan in the north), the British tapped into it and so do we – the discharge rate being some 200 million cubic metres a year.

British water pumping station

Looping around the water station, I walked along the slightly overflooded rain pool and enjoyed myself photographing the incredible lush view and the plentiful waterfowls.

Spying on a grey heron through the plants

Ready to move on to the next destination, I said farewell to the pied kingfisher near the back gate of the park and began my walk through the adjacent fields alongside the springs and streams at the source of the Yarkon.

Pied kingfisher

Next stop: Yarkon National Park!

This past Thursday I went on a three-pronged trip while down in the centre of the country. I began my adventure in Ramat Gan, just outside of Tel Aviv, buying pastries and an iced coffee before hopping on a bus out of the city. I then took another bus which dropped me off near the entrance of Rosh HaAyin, a city bordering the Shomron (Samaria), where I walked a little ways through a construction site, heading for the Crusader castle of Mirabel.

Migdal Afeq (Mirabel)

Known as either Migdal Afeq or Migdal Tzedek nowadays, the national park is named for either the nearby Biblical Aphek or the Bedouin sheikh al-Sadiq, respectively. I climbed the hill and approached the castle from the south, walking the dirt road. This aerial photo of the castle was taken by Biblewalks, and they graciously allowed me to use it in my post (see also the aerial video tour HERE):

Migdal Afeq from above (photo: Biblewalks)

I had heard from a friend that the site was under construction and closed to visitors, and hoped that there would be nobody there when I arrived, but, there was, in fact, a lone man holding watch over the ruins.

Inside the castle courtyard

I passed the scaffolding-decorated walls and entered the castle’s interior. The following conversation was short and successful with the man returning to sit in a doorway, leaving me to explore Mirabel unhindered. The first thing to really catch my eye was a large lintel stone inscribed with Greek lettering delineating a Byzantine church.

Greek-inscribed lintel

Migdal Afeq served an important role in protecting the ancient trade route from Egypt to Syria, known as the Via Maris. However, whatever stood at Migdal Afeq in those times was only ever a satellite to the much more important Tel Afeq, just a few kilometres to the northwest (although not to be confused with Tel Afeq at Ein Afeq between Akko and Haifa). During the Roman period a Jewish village existed, and during the Great Revolt, was destroyed by Cestius Gallus and the 12th Legion.

Israeli flag flying proud

In Crusader times the castle known as Mirabel was constructed after the land was gifted to Balian of Ibelin, the founder of the Ibelin dynasty, by King Fulk of Jerusalem. Interestingly enough, Ibelin is just a corruption of the ancient Jewish Yavne and to this day there is an Arab village near Haifa called I’billin and I wonder if it’s not named after the once-powerful Frankish family. Mirabel was captured by Saladin’s brother in 1187 and the castle was used by the Ayyubid forces until 1191 when Saladin ordered the castle destroyed in preparation for the Third Crusade. Most of the ruins seen today were built by the Ottomans, although some parts (including the keep seen in the photo below) are original Crusader construction – identifiable by the larger ashlars used in building.

The Crusader keep flanked by arched Ottoman rooms

In the 1800’s, Bedouins settled around the fortress and called their village Majdal al-Sadiq, named after their leader whose domed tomb surrounded by other graves still stands on an adjacent hill.

Sheikh al-Sadiq’s tomb

When I was finished exploring the site, being careful around the construction areas, I asked the watchman when he imagined the archaeologists would arrive. I waited around for a bit, taking the time to explore the outside of the castle, passing what seemed to be a water cistern just outside the castle wall. One interesting thing that I saw was this set of old lime kilns with an old quarry in the background. Apparently, the limestone quarried from here was used to build the white stoned-buildings of old Tel Aviv from the 1920’s through the 1940’s.

Old lime kilns with quarries in the background

Returning to the castle’s interior, I greeted some arriving men only to find out that they were the construction crew and their foreman. Just blending in to the environment I was able to learn a little about the reconstruction process of ancient castles.

The healing process

At last, I fretted over time lost waiting for the archaeologists to show so I left, headed for the second site on my day’s itinerary: Tel Afeq (Antipatris)