Caesarea National Park

There was a little village at the place called Strato’s Tower (or Straton’s) which may have been a prominent structure used by navigators named after a local king or ruler.

The Greek historian, Strabo, reported there was a small ship landing at Strato’s Tower and that is all that is known about this area before Herod’s time. The latter received the whole Sharon Valley and Strato's Tower as a gift and tribute for loyalty from the Roman Emperor Augustus. Out of gratitude, Herod called his new coastal city Ceasarea.

It was built largely of imported white marble, specified by a “magnificent plan” devised by Herod and took 10 to 12 years to build the city and inaugurated around 13 -12 BC. The city had a royal palace, civil buildings, an amphitheater, a hippodrome, aqueducts, warehouses, artificial port and a defense wall surrounding it.

One of the most beautiful and splendid structures in Caesarea was a temple described as, “remarkable for its beauty and grand proportions; it contained a colossal statue of the emperor, not inferior to the Olympian Zeus which served as its model” (Josephus Flavius, 1st century Jewish historian).

Along the Mediterranean coast, from Jaffa 30 miles south to Dor 8 miles north there was no natural bay.  For the first time in the history, Herod engineered and built an artificial port in Caesarea which was completely man made. He submerged an enormous stone breakwater around 200 feet wide. The entrance to the haven was designed to face north for protection from southwestern storms and sand which washed in from the Nile River to the south. According to the description of Josephus Flavius, the port was as big as the one in Athens; therefore, one of the largest in the ancient world at that time.

The city was planned and built in typical Roman style with great ambition to become a provincial hub and a capital of the king. Herod imported white marble and many structures were built from it. Then he also built a magnificent palace, a theater (considered to be the oldest in the Middle East) and a hippodrome where he loved to preside and participate in the horse chariot races!

After Herod's death, the Romans made Caesarea a provincial center from which they ruled Judea. Procurators established court facilities and the Roman auxiliary forces recruited from the local pagan population which were stationed at Caesarea.

In front of the reconstructed theater, there is an exhibition of statues discovered in Caesarea during the excavations. There are just a few in Caesarea with the most valuable statues are on display in Israel's museum in Jerusalem. The statues give an idea of the beliefs of the local population and about the splendor of Greco-Roman art and architecture. 

King Herod the Great built the theater in Caesarea to sponsor performances which the Greeks called spectacles.

There were 4000 seats in the theater (3800 now) and it was divided into upper and lower levels. There were entrances (vomitoria) to both levels. The theater consisted of seats (cavea), the stage (scaenae frons) and of course there was an orchestra for performances. In the Roman period these performances turned into rather cheap amusement for the crowds intended to distract them from complaints and riots. Native pantomimes replaced serious tragedies and dramas of the rich Greek culture. Sponsors of the performances gained affection of the crowd.

Herod and his heirs would appear wearing royal garments leading to the excitement and applause of the public. The theater thus served also for the political announcements and addresses. We can safely assume that the following events described by Josephus Flavius and the evangelist Luke took place in Caesarea's theater.

 “ In 44 C.E., the Jewish king Agrippa, king of Judea, stood in the theater of Caesarea, clothed in a garment woven of silver threads that glittered in the first rays of sunlight. To those who looked upon him, he seemed awesome and terrible. The spectators were the leading men of the kingdom. Everyone in positions of authority had gathered in Caesarea to celebrate athletic contests founded by Agrippa’s grandfather, Herod the Great, who had built the city two generations earlier. The king’s flatterers chanted with one voice, ‘Be merciful to us,’ adding, for if before we feared you as a man, now and henceforth we confess that you are more than human’. Agrippa did not reject this adulation, which dangerously approached idolatry, nor did he admonish his flatterers for their explicit impiety. Hence God punished him with a sharp pain in his belly, from which he died in agony five days later “(Josephus Flavius).

“Now about that time Herod the king stretched out his hand to harass some from the church. Then he killed James the brother of John with the sword. And because he saw that it pleased the Jews, he proceeded further to seize Peter also...And he went down from Judea to Caesarea, and stayed there...So on a set day Herod, arrayed in royal apparel, sat on his throne and gave an oration to them. And the people kept shouting, “The voice of a god and not of a man!”  Then immediately an angel of the Lord struck him because he did not give glory to God. And he was eaten by worms and died”                                          (Acts 12:1-3,18; 21-23). 

There is an ongoing dispute among the historians about who built Caesar’s palace.

The remains of the promontory palace excavated at the site are comprised of two wings. The upper wing perhaps served administrative purposes and called the Praetorium as it is in other palaces.  A king would give audience to his subjects, have his decrees proclaimed and local rulers would judge people in this part of the palace.

It is suggested that precisely here, another famous character from the New Testament, apostle Paul was tried and judged. The book of Acts tells that Paul was arrested by the Romans in Jerusalem and “brought by night to Antipatris. The next day... they came to Caesarea and had delivered the letter to the governor, they also presented Paul to him... And he commanded him to be kept in Herod's Praetorium" (Acts 23:31-32, 34).

In 1961, an Italian archaeological team led by Antonio Frova discovered a stone with a sensational inscription mentioning the Roman governor Pontius Pilate. The partial inscription reads (conjectural letters in brackets):

(Dis Augusti) Tiberieum

(Ponti)us Pilatus

(Praef)ectus Iuda(ea)e

(Fecit d) e(dicavit)

The probable interpretation and translation from Latin into English reads:

"To the Divine Augusti (this) Tiberieum

 Pontius Pilate

The prefect of Judea

has dedicated (this)."

In effect, this inscription is the earliest and the only contemporary mention of Pontius Pilate known from the New Testament and writings of Jewish historians, Philo and Josephus Flavius, and Roman historian, Tacitus.