Caesaria

On Monday morning, we packed up and left Tel Aviv.   Our bus driver Hani took us to the ancient city of Caesaria, about an hour north of Tel Aviv.  Caesaria is a city with an amazing history.  I did not record all of the dates for the following events - they are well known to archaeologists and historians, but I will give them only approximately.  Dates are presented in the Hebrew style - using BCE (before the common era) and CE (common era) rather than BC and AD which may be more familiar to many people.

Around 20 BC, Herod - a Jew who greatly admired the Romans, was appointed by Marc Antony to be the Jewish governor of Palestine.  He was charged with building a great port - in the style of Alexandria and other great ports - as the gateway to the region.   After Marc Antony was overthrown by Octavius Caesar, he continued as the Jewish governor and finished this mammoth project.   When completed, the new city of Caesaria - a few dozen miles north of the ancient port of Jaffa - had a magnificent harbor with a huge breakwall.  An enormous temple to the Roman gods was built near the entrance to the harbor.   An amphitheater for drama and a hippodrome for chariot races were built nearby, along with many fortifications and residences.  Roman aqueducts were built to transport fresh water from its sources to the city - and parts of it continue to this day.

After the death of Herod about 30 years later, the Romans were no longer able to find Jews they trusted to manage their Palestinian interests, so they sent Roman governors to rule the region.  Perhaps the most famous was Pontius Pilate - known to Christians everywhere as the governor who condemned Jesus to die on the cross.   An inscription found by archaeologists records the presence of Pontius Pilate in Caesaria, at least for a short period of time.

In about 300 CE, Emperor Constantine of Rome accepted Christianity, and the Roman Empire gave way to the Byzantine Empire.  During the rule of the Byzantines, some earthquakes and storms did major damage to the breakwall and other structures; repairs were made but the harbor lost some of its glory.  Also during this era, the temple to the Roman gods was demolished and replaced with a beautiful cathedral.

Around 650 CE, the armies of the new Moslem religion swept into the region.  They demolished the cathedral and built an equally magnificent mosque.

Around 1000 CE, the Christians of Europe wanted to reclaim the Holy Land from the Moslems and the era of the Crusades began.  For two hundred years, the control of different  parts of the Holy Land changed according to the outcomes of the Crusades.  Caesaria was no different.

When the Crusades ended, Caesaria and much of the rest of Palestine came under the control of the Mamluk sultanate.  During their reign, Caesaria was destroyed almost completely, leaving only ruins which existed for many hundreds of years.

In the mid-1600s, the Ottoman Empire took control of the region.   They retained it until World War I.  In the 1800s, some reconstruction began in Caesaria.  In 1882, a group of refugees from Bosnia settled there.   Caesaria had no shortage of building materials, as the stones used to build the older facilities were available for their use.

Subsequent reconstruction continued under the British Mandate following World War 1, and has intensified under the State of Israel starting in  1948.  Under Israeli rule, archaeologists have reconstructed much of the ancient buildings, using the records of Josephus and other historians of the Roman and Byzantine eras.   The pictures below represent many of the things we saw during our two hours at Caesaria (not nearly enough time, but as subsequent posts will show, we had plenty more to do on Monday):

The entrance to the port of Caesaria

The harbor at Caesaria, with the breakwall partially rebuilt

A description of the Amphitheater at Caesaria

A reproduction and description of the tablet recognizing the visit of Pontius Pilate to Caesaria

The site of the Governor's palace.   Note the fresh-water swimming pool surrounded by the salt-water Mediterranean Sea.

The pillars of Caesaria framing the power plant of Tel Aviv

      

The Hippodrome of Caesaria  Approximately 300 meters in length.

Note how the excavation of the area of the Hippodrome left part of the site undisturbed so that future visitors could see the layers of successive civilizations.

A description of the harbor in the time of the Crusaders

 

The Crusaders' harbor at Caesaria

The gateway into Caesaria at the time of the Crusaders.