[3][1] Ancient Anthedon is identified with Khirbet Teda,[3][1] an archaeological site near Beit Lahia, in the present-day Gaza Strip, where excavations uncovered evidence of habitation from the Iron Age to the Byzantine and Islamic periods, including Hellenistic houses, Roman structures, and Byzantine tombs, though detailed findings are yet to be published.
Some parts of the city wall are still standing, and port structures are visible: they were explored by a Franco-Palestinian archaeological expedition between 1995 and 2005, under the direction of Father Jean-Baptiste Humbert.
Archaeologists have discovered a Roman-era cemetery dubbed Ard al-Moharbeen Necropolis, with over 100 graves including ornate tombs in which coins for passage to the underworld were placed inside the mouths of the deceased.
[7] This was documented by archaeological excavations jointly executed from 1996 onwards by the Palestinian Authority and the French École Biblique of Jerusalem.
[8] Anthedon is first mentioned by Flavius Josephus in Jewish Antiquities,[9] dealing with the period when it was captured by the Hasmonean ruler of Judea, Alexander Jannaeus, and destroyed.
[10] Later, Anthedon along with coastal sections of Judaea, passed into the hands of Cleopatra and then to Augustus (Octavian), who assigned it to Herod.
[11] Herod renamed the city Agrippias in honor of Agrippa, a Roman general and son-in-law of Octavian Augustus.
In 2023 during the Israel-Hamas War, the Balakhiyah (Anthedon) site was listed by a cultural heritage preservation report as completely destroyed by direct shelling.
[19] The latter informs us about one Zenon, brother of Nestabus and Eusebius (both martyred in AD 362 as a result of prosecution by Julian the Apostate) who fled to Anthedon.