Caesarea
Caesarea is located on the
Mediterranean coast, about midway between Haifa and Tel Aviv. Archeological
excavations during the 1950s and 1960s uncovered remains from many periods,
in particular, a complex of fortifications of the Crusader city and the Roman theater.
During the past 20 years, major
excavations conducted by numerous expeditions from Israel and abroad have
exposed impressive reminders of the forgotten grandeur of both the Roman and the Crusader cities.
The Roman City
Founded by King Herod in the first
century BCE on the site of a Phoenician and Greek trade post known as
Straton’s Tower, Caesarea was named for Herod’s Roman patron, Augustus Caesar. This city
was described in detail by the Jewish historian Josephus Flavius.
(Antiquities XV. 331 ff; War I, 408 ff) It was a walled city, with the largest harbor on the
eastern Mediterranean coast, named Sebastos, the Greek name of the
emperor Augustus.
The temple of the city, dedicated
to Augustus Caesar, was built on a high podium facing the harbor. A broad
flight of steps led from the pier to the temple. Public buildings and
elaborate entertainment facilities in the imperial tradition were erected.
King Herod’s palace was in the southern part of the city.
In the year 6 CE, Caesarea became
the seat of the Roman procurators of
Provincia Judaea and headquarters of the 10th Roman Legion. In the 2nd and
3rd centuries, the city expanded and became one of most important in the
eastern part of the Roman Empire,
classified as the "Metropolis of the Province of Syria Palaestina,"
Caesarea played an important role
in early Christian history. Here the baptism of the Roman officer Cornelius took place; (Acts
10:1-5, 25-28) from here Paul set sail for his journeys in the eastern
Mediterranean; and here he was taken prisoner and sent to Rome for trial.
(Acts 23:23-24)
The palace was built on a rock promontory jutting out into the sea,
in the southern part of the Roman city. The excavations revealed a large architectural complex, measuring 110
x 60 m., with a decorative pool, surrounded by porticoes. This elegant
structure in its unique location was identified as Herod’s palace. (Antiquitites,
XV, 332) The palace was in use throughout the Roman period, as attested to by two
columns with Greek and Latin dedicatory inscriptions naming governors of
the province of Judea.
The theater is located in the very south of the city. It was
commissioned by King Herod and is the earliest of the Roman entertainment facilities built in
his kingdom. The theater faces the sea and has thousands of seats resting
on a semi-circular structure of vaults. The semi-circular floor of the
orchestra, first paved in painted plaster, was later paved with marble.
In the excavated theater a stone
was found, bearing parts of an inscription mentioning Pontius Pilate,
Procurator of Judea, and the Tiberium (the edifice in honor of the Emperor
Tiberius) which he built.
The amphitheater, on the city’s southern shore, was also mentioned by
Josephus Flavius. It was north-south oriented and measured 64 x 31 m. Its
eastern and rounded southern side are well preserved; the western side was
largely destroyed by the sea. A 1.05 m-high wall surrounded an arena,
covered with crushed, beaten chalk. When first built in the Herodian
period, it seated about 8,000 spectators; in the first century CE seating
areas were added, increasing its capacity to 15,000. The dimensions, shape
and installations indicate that this amphitheater was used for racing
horses and chariots and was, in fact, a hippodrome. An inscription found
here reads Morismus [the] charioteer. During the second century, the
amphitheater was rebuilt and adapted for use as a more standard type of
amphitheater.
The Aqueduct, which provided an abundant supply of water, was built in
the Herodian period; it was later repaired and enlarged to a double channel
when the city grew. The upper aqueduct begins at the springs located some
nine kilometers northeast of Caesarea, at the foot of Mt. Carmel. It was
constructed with considerable engineering know-how, ensuring the flow of
water, by gravity, from the springs to the city. In some portions, the
aqueduct was supported by rows of arches, then it crossed the kurkar ridge
along the coast via a tunnel. Entering the city from the north, the water
flowed through a network of pipes to collecting pools and fountains
throughout the city. Many inscriptions in the aqueduct ascribe
responsibility for its maintenance to the Second and Tenth Legions.
Byzantine Caesarea
During this period, Caesarea
became an important Christian center. The Church Father Origen founded a
Christian academy in the city, which included a library of 30,000
manuscripts. At the beginning of the 4th century, the theologian Eusebius,
who served as Bishop of Caesarea, composed here his monumental Historia
Ecclesiastica on the beginnings of Christianity and the Onomasticon, a
comprehensive geographical-historical study of the Holy Land.
Byzantine Caesarea was surrounded by a
2.5 km. long wall, which protected the residential quarters built outside
the Roman city. It had a 3 m.-wide
city gate in its southern section. Side by side with the Christian
population and its numerous churches, there were Jewish and Samaritan
communities that built elaborate synagogues. During this period, the Roman inner harbor was blocked and
buildings were constructed on what had become dry land. A row of vaults
serving as shops was built against the podium wall facing the port.
The main church was the Martyrion
of the Holy Procopius, built in the 6th century upon the remains of the
Roman temple on the podium. The octagonal, 39 m.-wide church stood within a
square precinct measuring 50 x 50 m., surrounded by rooms along its walls.
The floor was paved with marble slabs in a variety of patterns. Of the rows
of columns in the building, several Corinthian capitals decorated with
crosses were found.
A very large and elaborate
building, which included numerous courtyards and rooms spread over the area
of an entire insula (block of buildings) and surrounded by the main
streets of the city, was dubbed the government building. Its entrance was
from the cardo (north-south main street), its western side supported by a
row of vaults, which had once served as port warehouses. One such vault
facing the decumanus (east-west main street) was plastered and
decorated with red and black wall paintings, including depictions of Jesus
and the twelve apostles.
A large hall with an apse, located
in the center of the government building, served as the hall of justice.
Fragments of a Greek inscription found here refer to an imperial decree
dealing with fees that clerks of the court may collect for services
rendered. In the northeastern part of the building was a group of rooms
with mosaic floors; one with a quote from Paul’s Letter to the Romans.
(13:3) Rectangular niches in the walls of a long hall north of the hall of
justice probably served as an archive.
Remains of a 5th century synagogue
were found on the seashore north of the harbor. The rectangular building
faces south towards Jerusalem.
Architectural details were found in its ruins, including capitals with
carved menorot (candelabra), a
column inscribed shalom and parts of a Hebrew inscription listing the
twenty-four priestly courses in the Temple in Jerusalem.
Remains of several other large
buildings were exposed, among them an elaborate 4th century renovated
bathhouse. It consisted of groups of courtyards and rooms with benches
along the walls, most of them paved with mosaics, and in the caldarium (hot-room) area were several rooms with a heating system (hypocaust). Some
particularly elegant rooms were paved in marble and had mosaic decorations
on the walls; one depicts a female with the words "pretty woman"
next to it.
Inside the amphitheater, which was
no longer in use, a two-level palace was built with a staircase connecting
the two levels. The upper level included two courtyards and rooms paved in
colored tiles or mosaics and served as the residence. The lower level had a
courtyard with an apse on one side, paved in colored tiles. Along this
courtyard stood two rows of columns with a marble chancel screen between
them and in the northern wall was a fountain with a rectangular basin below
it. This lower level served as an open garden.
Arab Caesarea
In 639, Caesarea was conquered by
the Arabs and its importance, as well as its population, dwindled. Urban
areas were abandoned and replaced by agricultural terraces. This Arab town
was surrounded in the 10th century by a 3 m.-thick wall, remains of which
were found during the excavations.
Caesarea of the Crusaders
In 1101, the Frankish army under
King Baldwin I conquered Caesarea. Caesarea became the seat of an
archbishop and not only Franks but also eastern Christians and Muslims
settled there. The Genoese found a green-colored glass vessel in the city
and declared it to be the Holy Grail, the goblet used by Jesus at the Last
Supper. It was taken to Genoa and placed in the Church of San Lorenzo.
Caesarea was captured by Saladin
in 1187 after only a short siege. It was retaken in 1191 by Richard the
Lion Heart, King of England, who exiled the Muslim inhabitants.
Because of the growing Muslim
threat, Louis IX, King of France (who was later canonized), restored and
fortified Caesarea in 1251-52. A magnificent 4 m.-thick wall, some 1.6 km.
long, surrounded the city, which covered an area of about 40 acres. It was
also protected by a glacis, towers and a 10 m.-deep and 15 m.-wide moat.
Access to the city was via gates,
the main one located in the eastern wall. Approach to the main gate, of the
indirect access type, was via a bridge built on arches which were supported
by piers at the bottom of the moat. The square gatehouse had a
cross-vaulted ceiling supported by consoles decorated with floral motifs.
The doors were closed on the inside with wooden bars and were protected on
the outside by an iron grill, which was lowered through a slot from the
ceiling. These most impressive fortifications were described in great
detail by contemporary Crusader chroniclers.
The cathedral of the Crusader city was built on the podium
raised by King Herod to serve as his city’s acropolis. The 12th century
cathedral, the eastern part of which was added in the middle of the 13th
century, was a modest structure measuring 55 x 2 m. The hall was divided
into a central nave and two aisles that ended in the east in three apses;
the floor was paved in mosaics. The vaulting was supported by rectangular
piers and pilasters.
The end of Crusader Caesarea came in 1265, when
the Mamluk Sultan Baybars attacked the
city. After a short siege, the Crusader defenders gave up hope and evacuated the city. The conquering Mamluks, fearing a return of the Crusaders, razed the city’s
fortifications to the ground.
Caesarea is a most impressive
archeological site, open to the public. One can visit the Roman-period
theater, King Herod’s palace, the amphitheater and much more. One can
also cross the moat, enter the restored Crusader city and look towards the harbor from the top of the podium.
Sources: Ministry
of Foreign Affairs |