ABSTRACT
Some 15 km north of the centre of Tel Aviv/Jaffa, on a cliff above the sea, lies the desolate crusader town of Arsur. Although the town was known under several names including Apollonia, Sozousa, Arsuf the Frankish name-form Arsur shall be preferred in this chapter because it was the name used during the period in question. During the crusader period, Arsur was the centre of a small lordship between the Mediterranean and the slopes of the mountains of Samaria. In addition, it is precisely the connection between the town and its hinterland that has been the focus of a recently completed four-year German-Israeli collaborative project between the Universities of Tubingen and Tel Aviv. Probably due to its small size, the administration of the crusader lordship of Arsur could still be managed entirely from the town's castle, since fortified towers are completely absent in its rural territory.
