Everything about Caesarea Maritima totally explained
Caesarea Maritima (Greek: παράλιος Καισάρεια), called Caesarea Palaestina from 133 CE onwards, was a city and
harbor built by
Herod the Great about 25–13 BC. Today, its ruins lie on the
Mediterranean coast of
Israel about halfway between the modern cities of
Tel Aviv and
Haifa, on the site of Pyrgos Stratonos ("Strato" or "Straton's Tower", in Latin
Turris Stratonis). Caesarea Maritima shouldn't be confused with other cities named to flatter the Caesar:
Caesarea Philippi in the
Golan Heights or
Caesarea Mazaca in Anatolian
Cappadocia. The city was described in detail by the
1st century Roman Jewish historian
Josephus (
Jewish Antiquities XV.331ff;
Jewish War I.408ff).
History
Roman rule
Herod built his palace on a promontory jutting out into the sea, with a decorative pool surrounded by
stoas. In 13 BCE, Caesarea became the civilian and military capital of
Judaea, and the official residence of the
Roman procurators and
governors,
Pontius Pilatus, praefectus and
Antonius Felix. Remains of the principal buildings erected by Herod and the
medieval town are still visible today, including the city walls, the castle and a Crusader cathedral and church.
Archaeological excavations in the 1950s and 1960s uncovered remains from many periods, in particular, a complex of Crusader fortifications and a
Roman theatre. Other buildings include a temple dedicated to
Caesar; a
hippodrome rebuilt in the 2nd century as a more conventional
amphitheater; the Tiberieum, which has a
limestone block with a
dedicatory inscription that's the only secular record of Pontius Pilate; a double
aqueduct that brought water from springs at the foot of
Mount Carmel; a boundary wall; and a 200 ft (60 m) wide moat protecting the harbour to the south and west. The harbor was the largest on the eastern Mediterranean coast. Caesarea grew rapidly, becoming the largest city in Judea, with an estimated population of 125,000 over an urban area of 3.7 square kilometers.
In 66 CE, a massacre of Jews here and the desecration of the local synagogue led to the disastrous
Jewish revolt.
Vespasian declared it a colony and renamed it Colonia Prima Flavia Augusta Caesarea.
Early Christian mentions of Caesarea in the apostolic period follow the acts of Peter who established the church there when he baptized
Cornelius the Centurion (
Acts, 10, 11). The
Apostle Paul often sojourned there (9:30; 18:22; 21:8), and was imprisoned at Caesarea for two years before being taken to Rome (23:23, 25:1-13).
Christian hub
After the revolt of
Simon bar Kokhba, which ended with the destruction of
Jerusalem, Caesarea became the center of
Christianity in Palestine; however, there's no record of any bishop of Caesarea until the end of the 2nd century, when a council was held there to regulate the celebration of Easter. In the 3rd century
Origen wrote his
Hexapla and other exegetic and theological works while living there.
Eusebius was one of its archbishops (315 - 318).
The main church, a martyrion (martyr's shrine) to an as yet unknown saint, was built in the 6th century and sited directly upon the podium that had supported the
Roman temple, as was a widespread Christian practice. Throughout the Empire, prominently-sited pagan temples were rarely left unconsecrated to the new rites: in time the Martyrion's site was re-occupied, this time by a mosque. The Martyrion was an octagon, richly re-paved and surrounded by small radiating enclosures. Archaeologists have recovered some foliate capitals that included representations of the
Cross.
Through Origen and especially the scholarly presbyter
Pamphilus of Caesarea, an avid collector of books of Scripture, the theological school of Caesarea won a reputation for having
the most extensive ecclesiastical library of the time, containing more than 30,000 manuscripts:
Gregory Nazianzus,
Basil the Great,
Jerome and others came to study there.
An elaborate government structure contained a
basilica with an apse, where magistrates would have sat, for the structure was used as a hall of justice, as fragments of inscriptions detailing the fees that court clerks might claim attest.
An unusually well-preserved, sixth century, mosaic gold and colored glass table patterned with crosses and rosettes and found in 2005
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Muslim occupation
In the 7th century, the city was captured first by the Persians, then in 638 by the
Muslims, and in one or the other upheaval the great library was destroyed. 20,000
Jews and 30,000
Samaritans who lived in the city prior to the Muslim occupation (according to the Arab historian
al-Baladhuri) vanished altogether from the historical record.
Crusader city
The walls remained, but within them the population dwindled and agriculture crept in among the ruins. When
Baldwin I took the city in 1101/2, during the
First Crusade, it was still very rich, nevertheless. A legend grew up that in this city was discovered the
Holy Grail around which so much lore accrued in the next two centuries.
Perhaps the Holy Grail was recovered more than once, for the
Genoese found a green glass goblet that they identified as the Chalice and expatriated to Genoa, where it was placed in the church of San Lorenzo.
The city was strongly refortified and rebuilt by the Crusaders. A lordship was created there, as was one of the four archbishoprics in the kingdom (see
Archbishop of Caesarea).
A list of thirty-six Latin bishops, from
1101 to
1496 has been reassembled by 19th century papal historians; the most famous of these is probably
Heraclius. After that the Latin "Bishop of Caesarea" became an empty title.
The bishops didn't govern:
Saladin retook the city in
1187; it was recaptured by the Crusaders in
1191, and finally lost by them in
1265 this time to the
Mamluks, who ensured that there would be no more battling over the site— where the harbor has silted in anyway— by razing the fortifications - in line with their practice in other formerly-Crusader coastal cities.
Modern times
Caesarea lay in ruins until its resettlement by the
Ottomans as Kaisariyeh in 1884, after which the ruins were much damaged. In the 1950s and 60s, modern archaeology uncovered details of Crusader ramparts and the theater of the Roman city. More recent work has filled out the picture .
Caesarea has recently become the site of what bills itself as the world's first underwater museum, where 36 points of interest on four marked underwater trails through the ancient harbor can be explored by divers equipped with waterproof maps.
Gallery
Image:P1020466.JPG|Palm tree growing on city walls
Image:Caesaria City Walls.JPG|City Walls
Image:Caesarea 443.JPG|Chamber tomb
Further Information
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