Ascalus () was a son of Hymenaeus and brother to Tantalus (unrelated to the well-known mythological Tantalus), and a general of the

Lydia Lydia (; ) was an Iron Age Monarchy, kingdom situated in western Anatolia, in modern-day Turkey. Later, it became an important province of the Achaemenid Empire and then the Roman Empire. Its capital was Sardis. At some point before 800 BC, ...

n king Aciamus. His brother Tantalus was said to have been a native of Magnesia, so it is reasonable to assume that Ascalus was as well. However, Ascalus was sometimes described -- by Xanthus among others -- alongside other mythical Lydian figures such as king Cambles, so it also seems possible that Ascalus himself may have been more a mythological than historical figure. Ascalus was said to have fallen in love with a woman who lived on the

Mediterranean The Mediterranean Sea ( ) is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the east by the Levant in West Asia, on the north by Anatolia in West Asia and Southern ...

coast of the

southern Levant The Southern Levant is a geographical region that corresponds approximately to present-day Israel, Palestine, and Jordan; some definitions also include southern Lebanon, southern Syria and the Sinai Peninsula. As a strictly geographical descript ...

, and settled there to be close to her, founding the town of

Ascalon Ascalon or Ashkelon was an ancient Near East port city on the Mediterranean coast of the southern Levant of high historical and archaeological significance. Its remains are located in the archaeological site of Tel Ashkelon, within the city limi ...

, an

ancient Near East The ancient Near East was home to many cradles of civilization, spanning Mesopotamia, Egypt, Iran (or Persia), Anatolia and the Armenian highlands, the Levant, and the Arabian Peninsula. As such, the fields of ancient Near East studies and Nea ...

port city that survived until the 13th century.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Asbamaeus Lydians Mythological people from Anatolia