Caesarea

District: Haifa

Altitude: 20m/65ft

Situation and characteristics

The site of the ancient city of Caesarea, half way between Tel Aviv and Haifa, offers not only its fascinating ancient remains but also a variety of holiday and recreational facilities. In summer concerts are given in the restored Roman theater as part of the Israel Festival. The principal sights of Caesarea are the Crusader city and the Roman theater, both of which are now included in a National Park (single admission ticket for both sites). The remains of the ancient aqueduct on the beach to the north can be seen without a ticket; it is reached by way of a select residential area with beautiful gardens. History

The site was first occupied by the Phoenicians, who built a harbor here in the fourth century B.C.; it is believed that their settlement lay to the north of the Crusader city, round Strato's Tower. After the conquest of the country by Alexander the Great in 332 B.C. the site was occupied by Greeks. In 22 B.C. Herod the Great began the construction of a large city which he named Caesarea in honor of Augustus. With its temple of Augustus, theater, hippodrome and excellent water supply Caesarea developed into a considerable town with a busy harbor, occupied by both Jews and non-Jews. When Judaea became a Roman province Caesarea was from A.D. 6 the residence of the Roman procurators, including Pontius Pilate (A.D. 26-36), during whose term of office Christ was crucified, and Felix (52-60), who held the Apostle Paul prisoner here for two years (Acts 23,35). About A.D. 35, probably in the time of Pilate, Peter baptized the centurion Cornelius in Caesarea (Acts 10) - upsetting the "apostles and brethren" in Judaea, since this was the first time a non-Jew had been baptized (Acts 11,1-18). Strife between the Jewish and the Greek population of the town led to the Jewish rising of 66, which was ruthlessly repressed by Vespasian and his son Titus in 70. In 69 Vespasian was proclaimed Emperor in Caesarea and granted the town the status of a Roman colony. After the repression of the second Jewish rising led by Bar Kochba its spiritual leader, Ben Akiba, was tortured to death in Caesarea in 135.

In the first century the Apostle Philip established a Christian community in the town, and by the end of the second century it was the see of a bishop. In the third century the theologian and spiritual writer Origen, a native of Alexandria, taught in Caesarea and founded his famous library. From 313 to 340 Eusebius, the first ecclesiastical historian, was bishop of Caesarea, of which he was probably a native. Around 500 Procopius, the historian of the age of Justinian, was born in the town. This era ended with the Arab conquest in 637, and thereafter the harbor lost all importance. The Crusaders occupied Caesarea in 1101, but it was not until 1254 that the French king Louis IX re-fortified the town - though the new walls enclosed only a fraction of the area of the ancient city. Only 21 years later the Mameluke Sultan Baibars captured the town, whose harbor now became completely silted up. At the end of the 19th century the Turkish authorities resettled Muslim refugees from Bosnia on the site of the Crusader city. Further Jewish settlement began in 1940 with the establishment of the kibbutz of Sedot Yam. Archeological investigation of the site began in 1951 and is still continuing. A number of important finds, including a figure of Artemis of the third century B.C. and an important Byzantine mosaic, are now in the Israel Museum in Jerusalem.