Achziv ( ʾAḵzīḇ) or Az-Zeeb () is an ancient site and depopulated Palestinian town on the Mediterranean coast of northern Israel, between the border with Lebanon and the city of Acre. It is located north of Acre on the coast of the Mediterranean Sea, within the municipal area of Nahariya. Today it is an Israeli national park.
Excavations have unearthed a fortified Canaanite city of the second millennium BCE. The Phoenician town of the first millennium BCE is known both from the Hebrew Bible and Assyrian sources. Phoenician Achzib went through ups and downs during the Persian and Hellenistic periods. In early Roman times the town, known as Acdippa, was a road station. The Bordeaux Pilgrim mentions it in 333-334 CE still as a road station; Jewish sources of the Byzantine period call it Kheziv and Gesiv. There is no information about settlement at the site for the early Muslim period. The Crusaders built a new village with a castle there. During the Mamluk and Ottoman periods a modest village occupied the old tell (archaeological mound).
In modern times the site was known as the Palestinian town of Az-Zeeb, with a population of almost 2,000. It was depopulated during the Haganah's Operation Ben-Ami, on May 14, 1948, the last day of the British Mandate for Palestine.
The sole permanent resident of Achziv since declaration of the State was Eli Avivi (1930-2018), an Israeli photographer and micronationalist who hosted visitors to the legally disputed micronation of "Akhzivland", a small stretch of beach where he lived since 1975 until his death.
Etymology
Mentioned in the Bible by its ancient name Achzib, evidence of human settlement at the site dates back to the 18th century BCE. During the Roman period (and in classical literature) the imperial authorities called it Ecdippa, Ecdeppa, or Ecdippon. By the early Middle Ages, the Arab name for the village "Az-Zeeb", or "al-Zib" ( meaning 'trickster') was locally in common usage. Az-Zeeb is a shortened form of the site's original ancient Canaanite/Phoenician name, Achzib.
History
Human settlement at the site dates to as early as the 18th century BCE; and by the 10th century BCE it was a walled town. A tell excavated between 1941–44 and 1959-1964 found evidence of settlement from the Middle Bronze Age II, through the Roman period and the Early Middle Ages. Achziv was the first fortified settlement found at the site by archaeologists.
Middle Bronze Age
Middle Bronze Age IIA
In the Middle Bronze IIA (MBIIA), remains are found at Phase N5 with features including child burials in storage jars below floors.
Middle Bronze Age IIA-B
At the transition from MBIIA to MBIIB, the settlement was subject to a violent destruction.
Middle Bronze Age IIB
In the Middle Bronze IIB (MBIIB), Phase N4 was part of a large Canaanite port city. The massive ramparts, some 4.5 m (15 ft) high, protected the city proper and a large area of port facilities. To the north and south the city extended to the two nearby rivers, which the Canaanite engineers connected by a fosse, thus transforming Achzib into an island. A substantial destruction level from the beginning of the Late Bronze Age proves that even these fortifications were eventually not sufficient. A fierce conflagration ended Phase N4 and led to the transition to the MBIIC/LBI in Phase N3.
Iron Age
By the 1000 BCE, Achziv was a prosperous and fortified Phoenician town. Conquered by the Assyrian empire in the 8th century BCE, however, it was subsequently ruled by the Persians during the rule of the Roman Empire.
Achzib is mentioned in the Book of Joshua (19:29) and Book of Judges (1:31) as a town assigned to the tribe of Asher in the Hebrew Bible, but the Asherites did not manage to conquer it from the Phoenicians: And the fifth lot came out for the tribe of the children of Asher ... and the outgoings thereof are at the sea from the coast to Achzib. () Asher did not drive out the inhabitants of Acco, ... or of Achzib ... ()
According to Biblical history, King David added the city into his Kingdom, but King Solomon returned it to Hiram I as part of the famous pact; archaeological evidence indicates that it remained Phoenician.