or ASHDOD (now Esdud), a city of Palestine, near the sea-coast, 10 miles N.N.E. of Askalon. It was the chief town of one of the five states of the Philistines, and the seat of the worship of Dagon. Although assigned to the tribe of Judah, it was many centuries before it was subdued, and it appears never to have permanently been in their possession. The site is marked by ancient ruins, such as broken arches and fragments of marble columns. There is also what appears to be a very ancient khan, the principal chamber of which had obviously at some former period been used as a Christian chapel.