CESAREA - CAESAREA

Caesarea Palaestina, also called Caesarea Maritima, a town built by Herod the Great about 25 --13 BC, lies on the sea-coast of Israel about halfway between Tel Aviv and Haifa, on the site of a place previously called Pyrgos Stratonos ("Strato" or "Straton's Tower," in Latin Turris Stratonis). Caesarea Palaestina should not be confused with other cities named to flatter the Caesar, Caesarea Philippi, also in Israel, or Caesarea Mazaca in Anatolian Cappadocia.

Herod the palace-builder did not neglect his new city: his palace at Caesarea was built on a promontory that jutted out into the sea, with a decorative pool surrounded by stoas. The civil life of the new city began in 13 BC, when Caesarea was made the civil and military capital of Judaea, and the official residence of the Roman procurators and governors, Pontius Pilatus, praefectus and Felix. The city was described in detail by the Jewish historian Josephus (Jewish Antiquities XV.331ff; Jewish War I.408ff).

Remains of all the principal buildings erected by Herod existed down to the end of the 19th century. Remains of the medieval town are also visible, consisting of the walls (one-tenth the area of the Roman city), the castle, the site of the modest Crusader cathedral and church.

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