The Old City of Lod

The old city of Lod has a history that spans over 7,000 years, having switched hands from one civilization to the next. It is located near Tel Aviv in Israel. Archaeological finds place its earliest settlement to the 5th millenium B.C. It later became home to Jewish scholars and merchants during the Hellenestic period. But in the Roman-Jewish war starting in 66 A.D., the city was destroyed.

Eventually the city was established once again under Roman rule, with many of the inhabitants now Christian. St. George, the martyred Roman soldier in the Guard of Diocletian, is said to have been killed in the city during the 4th century AD, according to legend. By the 7th century, the city fell in the Arab conquest of Palestine, and become a capital for the caliphate. Centuries later it would also be taken over and under the control of the crusaders from 1099 to 1191.

In more recent history, the city has once again been threatened by destruction. Much of that damage came during the Arab-Israeli war in 1948 when the city was known as Lydda under its Arabic name. The city now acts as a major transportation center, with Israel's largest international airport not far, and there are few remains of the original historical city left. The few surviving relics date to the Mameluke (1260–1517) and Ottoman (1517–1917) periods. But in 1996 a large Roman mosaic from the 4th century was found at the site. This discovery hopes to help revamp Lod into more of a tourist destination.