Achziv
Achziv Beach National Park
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 Shown within Israel
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| Location | Israel |
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| Region | Northern District |
| Coordinates | 33°02′57″N 35°06′08″E / 33.04917°N 35.10222°ECoordinates: 33°02′57″N 35°06′08″E / 33.04917°N 35.10222°E |
| History | |
| Events | Battle of Casal Imbert (1232), part of the War of the Lombards |
Achziv is an ancient site on the Mediterranean coast of northern Israel, between the border with Lebanon and the city of Acre - 15 kilometers north of Acre, within the municipal area of Nahariya. Today it is an Israeli national park. The legally disputed "micronation" of "Akhzivland" is located in the immediate vicinity.
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 Roman times 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. During the Mamluk and Ottoman periods a modest village occupied the old tell (archaeological mound). This village was depopulated during the 1948 Arab-Israeli war. The only permanent resident of Achziv is an Israeli who has been welcoming visitors to a small stretch of beach where he has lived since 1975.
The first fortified settlement found by archaeologists is a large Canaanite port city from the Middle Bronze Age IIB (1800-1550 BCE). 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.
According to the Hebrew Bible, the area including the Phoenician city of Achzib was assigned to the tribe of Asher, but the Asherites did not manage to conquer it from the Phoenicians:
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