Tel Afek National Park

December 2nd 2010

Tel Afek, located in Tel Aviv and adjacent to the Yarkon Park, was built by Herod the Great to honor his father, Antiparis. Prior to Herod, it was a strategic location for Egyptian forces, Philistines, and Israelites during the Bronze Age, and then built up by Herod. It was destroyed by an earthquake in the fourth century but later used by the Crusaders, Arabs, and Turks. Today, it is the perfect location for a picnic. Though it is a bit off the beaten track today, during the biblical era it guarded the Yarkon River and overlapped the ancient Via Maris highway.