Jaffa Port

1 · POSITION

Jaffa is claimed to be the oldest port in the world, with walls of sun-dried brick from the sixteenth century BC. For most of the last two thousand years it was where pilgrims to Jerusalem came ashore. The register holds it as the reason the road inland existed at all. [1, 2]

2 · AN ANCIENT HARBOUR

Thutmose III is said to have taken the city about 1469 BC, and the Amarna letters describe it as an Egyptian district with royal stores. Cedar for Solomon’s Temple came ashore at Jaffa, about 950 BC, and from here the prophet Jonah sailed for Tarshish. [1, 2]

3 · THE PILGRIM PORT

Under Arab rule from 636 Jaffa became the port of entry for Christian and Jewish pilgrims and took over Caesarea’s trade. In the Crusades it was the main gateway to Jerusalem. Under the Mamluks pilgrims often waited days aboard ship for permission to land, and many died on the road inland. [1]

4 · STEAM AND RAIL

From the 1850s steamers on regular lines from Marseilles, Trieste and later Odessa called at Jaffa, anchoring offshore because of the rocks while passengers came in by small boat. The Jaffa–Jerusalem railway opened in 1892 for pilgrims and tourists. The riots of 1936 paralysed the port, and once Tel Aviv’s port opened Jaffa never regained its standing; today it is a fishing and yacht harbour of restaurants and cafés. [1, 2]

5 · ⚑ CANDOUR

⚑ The claim to be the oldest port in the world is reported, not established; another source speaks of more than seven thousand years of use. The cedar and Jonah are biblical accounts. [1–2]