Wikipedia's first sentence called it “ancient near east port city on the mediterranean coast of the southern levant that played several major roles i”. Today it says “ancient near east port city on the mediterranean coast of the southern levant of high historical and archaeolog”. The one-line description Wikipedia serves to search engines and AI systems read “Ancient Levantine city and Crusade-era fortress”. It now reads “Ancient city on the Levantine coast known from Ancient, Classical, and Medieval times”.
Measured, not asserted. Every count, date and revision on this page was taken from Wikipedia's own history and checked against the live article. The words quoted are theirs.
Machine-checked against the full current article on 2026-08-03.
We saved snapshots of this article over twenty years; you are reading the October 6, 2023 one. Red dashes: removed from Wikipedia since.Pale dots: rewritten; the numbered note shows what it says now.Red text: written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot.1 tap a number or a side note to jump between them
The opening as it read in October 6, 2023
Ancient Levantine city and Crusade-era fortress This article is about the ancient city and archeological site.1Ascalon ( Philistine : 𐤀𐤔𐤒𐤋𐤍 , romanized: * ʾAšqalōn ; ; ; ; ) was an ancient Near East port city on the Mediterranean coast of the southern Levant that played several major roles in history.2The site of Ascalon was first permanently settled in the Middle Bronze Age , and, over a period of several thousand years, was the site of several settlements called "Ascalon", or some variation thereof. During the Iron Age, Ascalon served as the oldest and largest seaport in Canaan , and as one of the five cities of the Philistine pentapolis , lying north of Gaza and south of Jaffa .3The city remained a major metropolis throughout antiquity and the early Middle Ages , before becoming a highly contested fortified foothold on the Palestinian coast during the Crusades .4In the later medieval period, the city was the site of two significant Crusader battles: the Battle of Ascalon in 1099, and the Siege of Ascalon in 1153.5In 1270, Mamluk Sultan al-Ẓāhir Baybars demolished ‘Asqalān, its citadel and harbor as part of a wider decision to destroy the Levantine coastal towns in order to forestall future Crusader invasions. Some monuments, like the shrine of Sittna Khadra and Shrine of Husayn's Head survived. According to Marom and Taxel, this event irreversibly changed the settlement patterns in the region. As a substitute for ‘Asqalān, Baybars established Majdal ‘Asqalān, 3 km inland, and endowed it with a magnificent Friday Mosque, a marketplace and religious shrines. Ottoman tax records attest the existence of the village of Al-Jura adjacent to citadel walls from at least 1596. That residual settlement survived until its depopulation in 1948. The modern Israeli city of Ashkelon takes its name from the site, but its historical center is roughly 4 km (2.5 mi) inland from the site, situated on and around the Palestinian town of al-Majdal . "Ḥamāma: The historical geography of settlement continuity and change in Majdal 'Asqalan's hinterland, 1270–1750 CE" .6
This is Wikipedia's own text, saved in our repository. Their copy of it is revision 1175473624.
The opening as it stood in 2025 10 passages from the previous snapshot no longer appear
Ancient city on the Levantine coast known from Ancient, Classical, and Medieval times This article is about the ancient city and archaeological site.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 limits of the modern Israeli city of Ashkelon .Traces of settlement exist from the 3rd millennium BCE , with evidence of city fortifications emerging in the Middle Bronze Age .During the Late Bronze Age , it was integrated into the Egyptian Empire , before becoming one of the five cities of the Philistine pentapolis following the migration of the Sea Peoples .The city was later destroyed by the Babylonians but was subsequently rebuilt.Ascalon remained a major metropolis throughout the classical period, as a Hellenistic city persisting into the Roman period.Christianity began to spread in the city as early as the 4th century CE.During the Middle Ages it came under Islamic rule, before becoming a highly contested fortified foothold on the coast during the Crusades .Two significant Crusader battles took place in the city: the Battle of Ascalon in 1099, and the Siege of Ascalon in 1153.The Mamluk sultan Baybars ordered the destruction ( slighting ) of the city fortifications and the harbour in 1270 to prevent any further military use, though structures such as the Shrine of Husayn's Head survived.The nearby town of al-Majdal was established in the same period.The village of Al-Jura existed adjacent to the deserted city until 1948.There are <ref group=lower-alpha> tags or templates on this page, but the references will not show without a template or template (see the help page ).
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 1292479099. This is our newest snapshot; the live article may have moved again since.
Today
Wikipedia's first sentence called it “ancient near east port city on the mediterranean coast of the southern levant that played several major roles i”. Today it says “ancient near east port city on the mediterranean coast of the southern levant of high historical and archaeolog”. The one-line description Wikipedia serves to search engines and AI systems read “Ancient Levantine city and Crusade-era fortress”. It now reads “Ancient city on the Levantine coast known from Ancient, Classical, and Medieval times”. Read the current article and compare.
Oct '23
2025
Counts in the opening at each snapshot. Green: the word gained ground. Red: it was cut. Grey: no change.
What Wikipedia says this is
Every article opens by defining its subject. This one was redefined since 2023, and today's defining sentence is their current revision.
Then
ancient near east port city on the mediterranean coast of the southern levant that played several major roles i
Now
ancient near east port city on the mediterranean coast of the southern levant of high historical and archaeolog
Struck red text is no longer in the article; dotted amber text was rewritten. Every revision id links to Wikipedia's copy; the text shown is our own saved copy. Data: /data. Wikipedia text is CC BY-SA; quoted for the record; not affiliated with Wikipedia.
