By Levi Clancy for Student Reader on
Tel Dor, the best-preserved Persian Period settlement, was a very sophisticated port city (there were even special structures for boats to pull into).
© Birmingham Museums & Art Gallery. Used with permission.
The Eastern mound was residential and had a Hippodamian plan that heralds from a late Persian style. The architecture itself is heavily Phoenician. Area D had canine burials. Dor and Joppa were given to Eshmun'azar II by the Persian king. Dor's destruction was likely due to the Persian king's 348 BC military action against coastal Phoenician cities that were revolting.
The Dor Favissae (aka Dor Crypts) were established during the 5th and 4th centuries BC.
They contained discarded cult objects, including: a clay mold for fertility figurines (Asherah or Astarte); a head of Ba'al-Zeus with Greek helmet; the Bes amulet (Egyptian deity; made of bone); and horse and rider figurines. Two different views of 6th-5th century horse and rider figurine from Cyprus are shown to the left.