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Tyndale Open Bible Dictionary

CAESAREA

City named in honor of Augustus Caesar, built by Herod the Great from 22 to 10 BC. The 8,000-acre (3,240-hectare) site lies 25 miles (40 kilometers) south of modern Haifa, in the beautiful plain of Sharon on Israel’s Mediterranean coast. Known as Caesarea Maritima, it became the administrative center of the country throughout the period of Roman occupation. Three Roman governors of Palestine lived there: Felix (Acts 24), Festus (25:1, 4-6, 13), and Pontius Pilate, who visited Jerusalem on special occasions (as in Jn 19). Archaeologists found Pilate’s name carved in stone in the theater at Caesarea.

Caesarea served as the major seaport of Judea in NT times. Since the southern Palestinian coastline lacked a good harbor, Herod created one by building two huge breakwaters that could shelter ships from Mediterranean storms.

A Roman officer named Cornelius was converted to Christianity in Caesarea (Acts 10:1, 24). Later, the apostle Peter visited Philip, a prominent Christian leader who lived there (21:8). Paul spent more than two years in prison in Caesarea (24:27–25:1) and embarked from there on his journey to Rome (ch 27). In AD 70 Roman general Titus returned to Caesarea after conquering Jerusalem, as did Flavius Silva in AD 73 after defeating the fortress cities of Masada and Herodium (both in eastern Judea).

Continuous excavations since 1971 have added to the wealth of information about Caesarea. Herod built a high-level aqueduct to bring freshwater from Mt Carmel to Caesarea; the water originated from springs to the northeast and traveled in an underground aqueduct to Mt Carmel. A smaller aqueduct brought brackish water from a spring north of the city for irrigation. Large sewers (mentioned by the Jewish historian Josephus), flushed by the action of the sea, have been found running under the city. A 30,000-seat hippodrome (racetrack) lay on the east side of the city. It appears to have been built in the second century AD but was destroyed during the Muslim invasion of 640, along with a large archives building on the coast. Excavation of the archives building produced several inscriptions on its mosaic floors, among which were two quotations of the Greek text of Romans 13:3. Still lying beneath the ground and visible only in infrared photography is a large amphitheater northwest of the hippodrome.

Excavations in 1976 produced the first evidence of Strato’s Tower, the Hellenistic site near which Herod built Caesarea, according to Josephus. A small synagogue was excavated north of a large fort built at the Herodian harbor during the Crusades. The harbor area contained many stone storerooms; although 7 have been entered, as many as 73 may still lie unexcavated. One storeroom was reused by the Roman legions as a Mithraeum (a cultic center dedicated to the Persian god Mithras), the only one ever found in Palestine. The city of Caesarea was not rebuilt after its destruction by Muslims in the 13th century.