by lighters from ships at sea. Dora was the city where Antiochus, ruler of the Hellenistic Seleucid Empire with the aid of Simon Maccabaeus, laid siege to the usurper Trypho. During Pompey's invasion of Judea, Dora was razed, along with all the coastal towns, only to be rebuilt under Gabinius's direction. Dor was an important salt production site, as attested to by pools and channels dug along the coast. By the mid-3rd century CE, the city had deteriorated to little more than a fishing village. Byzantine period The importance of Dor/Dora rose again from the 4th to the 7th century CE, becoming by the 5th century the center of a bishopric. Several bishops of Dora of that period are mentioned in Christian church records. The settlement migrated off the ancient tel to the area east of it, centering on the church complex, which served as a way-station for pilgrims traveling to the holy places. In 1950–52 a church was excavated by J. Leibowitz, in 1979–1983 by C. Dauphin, and 1994 by S. Gibson and Dauphin. Underwater exploration of a Byzantine wreck salvaged a medium-size boat constructed with iron nails. Based on coins recovered from the site, the boat dates to c. 665 CE, a decade after the Muslim conquest. Artifacts include several objects testifying to the practice of light-fishing. Early Islamic period The village of Tantura, further south, was probably established after the church was abandoned in the Early Islamic period. 34 apparently Muslim graves, dating from the 8th to the 14th century, have been excavated from the area of the ruined Byzantine church. Crusader period In the Middle Ages, a small fort surrounded by a moat was built on the southwestern promontory of the tell, overlooking the entrance to the southern bay. Dor has been identified with the Crusader principality of Merle, although excavations at the site, known in Arabic as Khirbet el-Burj, indicate that the moat was dug later, in the 13th century. The fort was in the possession of the Knights Templar until 1187, when it was conquered by Sultan Saladin after the Battle of Hattin. The Templars retook it shortly afterwards, at the latest during the Third Crusade. In the autumn of 1191, Richard the Lionheart rested there with his army as he waited for the Acre fleet. Eventually, the fort was controlled by the Mamluks along with the Château Pèlerin by 1291 or earlier. Later