Ekron

The city of Ekron (Hebrew: עֶקְרוֹן ʿeqrōn, also transliterated Accaron), was one of the five cities of the famed Philistine pentapolis, located in southwestern Canaan.

Following the 1996 discovery of the Ekron inscription, Ekron was positively identified with the mound of Tel Miqne (Hebrew) or Khirbet el-Muqanna (Arabic). The tell lies 35 kilometers west of Jerusalem, and 18 kilometers north of Tell es-Safi, the almost certain site of the Philistine city of Gath, on the grounds of Kibbutz Revadim on the eastern edge of Israel's coastal plain.

Location

Numerous locations have been suggested for Ekron, including Aqir, Qatra, Zikrin and Caesarea Maritima.

Jerome wrote that Ekron was to the east of Azotus and Iamnia (consistent with the modern interpretation), however he mentioned also that some equated the city with Straton's Tower at Caesarea Maritima. This may be a reference to Rabbi Abbahu's identification of Ekron with Caesarea in Megillah (Talmud).

Robinson first identified the Arab village of Aqir as the site of Ekron in 1838, and this was accepted until it was contested by Macalister in 1913, who suggested Khirbet Dikerin, and Albright in 1922, who suggested Qatra.

Ekron (disambiguation)

Ekron may refer to:

Ekron (comics)

Ekron is a fictional character in the publications of DC Comics.

Fictional character biography

Ekron is an ancient construct supposedly created by the Guardians of the Universe of Oa. By the 21st century it was little more than a large floating head serving as the Green Lantern of the planet Vengar. The eye of Ekron possesses properties and powers similar to those of the Green Lanterns' power rings, and was designed as the rings' prototype. During the Infinite Crisis event, one of Ekron's eyes was stolen by the alien bounty hunter Lobo, which left Ekron powerless against an invasion headed by the supervillain Lady Styx. This invasion annihilated all of the space sector Ekron was pledged to protect, driving the construct insane. Ekron's attempts to reclaim its lost eye pulled it into conflict with Lobo, and other DC characters such as Animal Man, Adam Strange, and Starfire, the latter of whom used the eye to stop villains from destroying an entire space sector.

The eye of Ekron itself features prominently in many future-set storylines in the DC universe, as the weapon the "Eye of Ekron", wielded by the Emerald Empress of the Fatal Five, nemeses of the Legion of Super-Heroes.