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Antipatris
During the Middle Bronze Age (2000-1550 BC), Egypt maintained a presence in the land of Israel, with governors posted along important trade routes, such as Bethshean and Aphek, which guarded the bottleneck from the Via Maris to the Jezreel Valley. This palace excavated among the Crusader ruins at Aphek (later Antipatris) reveal a luxurious multi-level structure where the Egyptian governor would have lived and overseen the taxation and trade in the region.
Aphek was already ancient even before it was granted to the tribe of Asher during the period of conquest. Located on a strategic bottleneck of the coastal roads, this was a valuable site which Herod the Great redesigned as a Romanesque city, complete with a theater and cardo, or main North-South street (pictured above). He renamed it Antipatris, after his father, and it was to this city that Claudias Lysias brought Paul to escape the Jewish plot.
