CAESAREA sĕs’ ə re’ ə (Καισαρεία). Caesarea, garrison port of Rome on the Pal. coast, sixtyfive m. from Jerusalem, was a foundation of the first Herod and a monument to that subtle diplomat’s pro-Rom. policy. On the long harborless coast of Pal., Joppa was the one port S of Carmel equipped with some natural protection, but Joppa was violently national and rabidly anti-Rom. Herod knew his Jewish subjects too well to make the mistake of turning Joppa into a Rom. bridgehead. It was better to begin on neutral, unencumbered ground, in spite of the vast expense entailed in providing the open roadstead of Caesarea with effective harbor works. The building of these was a fine feat of engineering. A breakwater 200 ft. wide was built against the southern gales. The water ran to twenty fathoms; this depth was filled with enormous blocks of limestone, some of them fifty ft., by ten, by nine. On this foundation were a mole and quay with adequate defenses. The enclosed haven was larger than Pieraeus, opening like modern Haifa to the safe N.

The city took twelve years to build. It had places of assembly, an amphitheater, a temple to Rome and Augustus, and a drainage system which speaks of Rom. engineering. In the theater a dedication stone in fragmentary form has been discovered bearing part of the name of Pontius Pilate. But the harbor dwarfed the magnificence of the town, and a coin of Nero bears the inscr. “Caesarea by Augustus’ Harbor.” “Caesarea,” said Tacitus, “is the capital of Judaea.” It housed the 3,000 troops, an inadequate garrison which was stationed there. It was the procurator’s headquarters. The aqueduct, which brought in the water supply, ran over brick arches and was vulnerable to enemy attack. Perhaps there was a supplementary system of tanker ships, for the city seems to have been a safe haven for the Rom. administration even during the great rebellion. All resident Jews were massacred when the rebellion broke out in a.d. 66. Paul was imprisoned here, secure from Jewish assassination plots, and the last of the Herods, Agrippa and Bernice, found refuge here during the war. After Rom. times Caesarea fell into decay. The blight of the Arab fell upon the coast, and the Crusaders, for Rome’s reasons, were the only intruders to give attention to the restoration of the port. Their great defenses are visible today, over and mingled with the surviving memorials of Rome. It is a rewarding but demanding site for archeological investigation, and much will emerge from the Israeli program of digging and research.

Bibliography E. M. Blaiklock, Cities of the New Testament, ch. 14 (1965).