CAESAREA
(Caes·a·reʹa).
An important seaport city built by Herod the Great on the Mediterranean seacoast during the latter part of the first century B.C.E. The original site was previously known as Straton’s or Strato’s Tower, thought to be so named after a Sidonian ruler. Now called Keisariyeh, it is situated about twenty-three miles (37 kilometers) S of Mount Carmel and about fifty-four miles (86.9 kilometers) N-NW of Jerusalem.
The Jewish historian Josephus is the prime source of information about the construction and early history of the city. Herod the Great had received the site along with Samaria and other towns, as a gift from Caesar Augustus. After rebuilding Samaria, which he named Sebaste, he turned his attention to the seacoast and proceeded to build a magnificent port and city at Strato’s Tower, the construction covering a period of ten to twelve years, and the time of its dedication coming about the year 10 B.C.E. (according to some authorities). These projects were named in honor of Caesar Augustus, the city being called Caesarea Sebastos. The city was built in Grecian style with colonnades, arches, a temple, theater, amphitheater, and a hippodrome with seating capacity for some 20,000 persons. An aqueduct supplied Caesarea with fresh water, and a drainage system underneath the city carried water and sewage out to the sea.
The major feat, however, was the construction of the city’s artificial harbor. The coastline in this area is very regular, affording virtually no protection for ships against the prevailing winds from the SW. Herod built a mole or breakwater some 200 feet (61 meters) wide out into the sea by lowering huge stones, described by Josephus as fifty feet (15.2 meters) long, eighteen feet (5.5 meters) wide, and nine feet (2.7 meters) high, setting them into water twenty fathoms (36 meters) deep and on top of reefs. The harbor entrance lay toward the N and, according to modern investigation, was 180 yards (164.6 meters) wide. Caesarea thereafter rivaled Joppa in importance as a principal seaport on the Palestinian coast S of Phoenicia. It was also situated on the caravan route running from Tyre down to Egypt and had excellent communications with the cities inland as well.
Following the removal of Herod the Great’s son, Archelaus, in the year 6 C.E., Caesarea became the official residence of the Roman procurators who governed Judea. In the Bible account of the Acts of Apostles the city figures prominently both as a seaport and a seat of government.
Philip, who had accomplished successful missionary service in Samaria, subsequently engaged in “declaring the good news” in the coastal territory from the city of Ashdod in Philistia through all the cities on up to Caesarea, about fifty-five miles (88.5 kilometers) to the N. (Acts 8:5-8, 40) Shortly thereafter, Paul’s conversion took place and, due to a plot against him when he began preaching in Jerusalem, the disciples there took their new brother to the seaport of Caesarea and sent him off to his hometown, Tarsus. (Acts 9:28-30) As the main headquarters for the Roman military forces, Caesarea was a natural place for the centurion Cornelius to have his residence. The city, though having a substantial number of Jewish residents, is considered to have been mainly of Gentile population. It was thus a significant site for Peter to be divinely directed to in the year 36 C.E. for the purpose of witnessing to uncircumcised Cornelius and his relatives and intimate friends and for their baptism as the first uncircumcised Gentiles to be admitted into the Christian congregation.—Acts 10:1-48.
It was to Caesarea that Herod Agrippa I withdrew after his unsuccessful imprisonment of Peter, and here he received the delegations from Tyre and Sidon and shortly thereafter died (44 C.E.), as an expression of God’s adverse judgment. (Acts 12:18-23) Paul went through Caesarea on returning to Palestine when nearing completion of his second and third missionary tours. (Acts 18:21, 22; 21:7, 8) At the time of his second visit, Paul and his companions lodged with Philip the evangelizer, who possibly settled in Caesarea at the close of his earlier preaching tour. Some of the local disciples now accompanied the apostle from that seaport up to Jerusalem, though Paul had been warned by the prophet Agabus while in Caesarea of the danger awaiting him.—Acts 21:10-16.
Due to an assassination plot against him in Jerusalem, Paul, under arrest, was later taken to Caesarea under heavy guard and delivered to Governor Felix for trial. (Acts 23:23, 24) The notable contrast between the emotional religious prejudice and riotous conditions in Jerusalem and the relatively orderly conditions in Caesarea are considered as evidence of the strong Roman influence in the latter city as well as its position as the chief garrison of Roman troops. Governor Festus, who succeeded Felix, obliged Paul’s Jewish opposers in Jerusalem to come down to Caesarea to present their charges against him, at which time Paul appealed to Caesar rather than face trial in Jerusalem. (Acts 25:1-12) While still in Caesarea awaiting transfer to Rome, Paul was able to give a strong witness concerning Christianity before Festus and his royal visitors, King Agrippa II and his sister (and incestuous companion) Bernice. (Acts 25:13, 22-27; 26:1-32) From Caesarea Paul, as prisoner, set sail on the voyage that would eventually bring him to Rome.—Acts 27:1, 2.
During the reign of Nero, bitter rivalry broke out between the Jewish and Syrian inhabitants of Caesarea, and incidents there are considered to have served to ignite the flame of revolt that eventually led to the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 C.E. The year before Jerusalem’s fall, Vespasian was proclaimed emperor of Rome at Caesarea, where he was exercising command of the Roman forces suppressing the Jewish revolt.
In 1961 a stone was found in the theater of Caesarea bearing a Latin inscription that includes the name of Pontius Pilate, the first such inscription to be found.
[Picture on page 273]
Ruins of the ancient coastal city of Caesarea