CAESAREA MARITIMA
Palestine, Israel.
Founded in the years 22-10 or 9 B.C. by Herod the Great,
close to the ruins of a small Phoenician naval station
named Strato's Tower (Stratonos Pyrgos, Turns Stratonis), which flourished during the 3d to 1st c. B.C. This
small harbor was situated on the N part of the site.
Herod dedicated the new town and its port (limen
Sebastos) to Augustus. During the Early Roman period
Caesarea was the seat of the Roman procurators of the
province of Judea. Vespasian, proclaimed emperor at
Caesarea, raised it to the rank of Colonia Prima Flavia
Augusta, and later Alexander Severus raised it to the
rank of Metropolis Provinciae Syriae Palestinae. During
Late Roman and Byzantine times, Caesarea was an important center of both Jewish and Christian learning.
The city flourished in the Byzantine period; its long decline began after its conquest by the Moslems in A.D. 640.
The more than 500 ha which comprise the area of
Caesarea have been only partly excavated. To the N
remains of houses of the Phoenician station have been
discovered and remains of Jewish synagogues of Late
Roman and Byzantine times, identified by dedicatory
inscriptions and by capitals decorated with Jewish
symbols.
In the central area, facing the ancient harbor, remains
of a huge podium have been unearthed, presumably that
of the Temple of Augustus and Rome, described by
Josephus Flavius. It consisted of a series of five vaulted
structures, each ca. 21 by 7 m, and 15 m high. To the
N of it, and of approximately the same size, are a series
of chambers, filled with crushed sandstone. Nothing of
the superstructure remained, but reused in walls of later
buildings numerous fragments of marble statues were
found, belonging most probably to that temple. To the
W of the podium extended the limen Sebastos. The harbor consisted of an artificially excavated basin and the
harbor proper, which was protected by two breakwaters,
one 250 m long, the other 600 m long. The harbor thus
occupied an area of ca. 200,000 sq. m.
At the S extremity of Caesarea a Roman theater has
been excavated. The earliest of its kind in Palestine, it
was built by Herod the Great. Of the original building
are preserved the cavea and a series of 14 superimposed
floors made of fine plaster, painted in geometric, floral,
and formal designs, made to resemble marble. The scaena
had a rectangular central exedra, flanked by shallow,
half-rounded niches. The podium and the pulpitum were
also plastered and painted. The theater was rebuilt in the
2d c. A.D. The scaena took the form of a large circular
exedra, flanked by two deep rectangular niches, adorned
by columns. The podium and the orchestra were faced
with marble. In the 3d c. a large half-rounded exedra,
like that at Dugga, was added at the back of the scaena
frons. In the 3d and 4th c. A.D. the theater was adapted
for water games. During the Byzantine and Arab periods
it formed part of a large circular fortress.
Sections of the water supply system of Caesarea, which
was probably built during Herod's reign, have also been
excavated. It consisted of a double, arched conduit, which
conveyed the water from springs at the foot of Mt. Carmel, 12 km to the NE of the city. A lower level aqueduct
conveyed water from the Crocodile river, about 10 km to
the N of Caesarea.
To the Byzantine period belongs a city wall, which
encircled an area of ca. 60 ha. Within the wall were
discovered remains of a street, probably identical with
the Roman decumanus, as well as churches and other
Christian religious institutions, richly decorated with
mosaics.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
A Reifenberg, “Caesarea, A Study in
the Decline of a City,”
Israel Exploration Journal 1
(1950-51); M. Avi-Yonah, “The Synagogue of Caesarea,”
Rabinowitz Bulletin 3 (1963); A. Negev, “The High
Level Aqueduct at Caesarea,”
Israel Exploration Journal
14 (1964); A. Frova,
Scavi di Caesarea Maritima (1966);
id.,
Caesarea (1967).
A. NEGEV
