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Caesarea - location profile

Location and Setting

• Caesarea was located on the Mediterranean coast thirty-three miles north of Joppa and sixty miles northwest of Jerusalem.
• The Roman emperor, Caesar Augustus, gave the site to Herod the Great. Between 25 and 13 B.C., Herod constructed his most extensive building project there, a city designed on the Roman model. He named the city in honor of the emperor, and the harbor, Sebastos, the Greek equivalent of Augustus.
• Herod built his seaport on the site of the old Phoenician city, Strato’s Tower. The place was given this name after the king of Sidon, Strato I, erected a tower as a lighthouse and built a small, fortified port to provide anchorage for ships sailing in the eastern Mediterranean. No natural ports existed along Israel’s coast. During bad weather, this could be a dangerous sector on the major shipping route from Alexandria to Phoenicia, Syria, and eventually to Athens and Rome. To provide a safe haven, Herod created an artificial harbor, constructing large breakwaters.
• Caesarea’s harbor was as large as that of Piraeus, Athens’ port. It brought status and revenue to Herod’s kingdom. He used the port to import materials for his numerous building projects. The harbor also made Palestine easily accessible to Rome, only a ten-day voyage away.
• The city of Caesarea encompassed 165 acres. It boasted a theater, an amphitheater, a hippodrome, palaces, public buildings, storerooms, residential areas, and a sewer system.
• The enormous scale of this project is revealed in the dimensions of some of the structures. The hippodrome, seating 38,000 people, was 1500 feet long and 250 feet wide. The theater was three hundred feet in diameter and could accommodate four thousand people. Some of the stones used to build the harbor’s breakwater were fifty feet long, eighteen feet wide, and nine feet thick.
• A seven-mile aqueduct brought water to the city from Mount Carmel.

Historical and Biblical Significance

• Caesarea was the site of many conflicts between the Jewish and Gentile populations. Demonstrations against the Roman control of Palestine were frequent, culminating in the Jewish Revolt of A.D. 66.
• Pontius Pilate, prefect (governor) of Judea, lived in the governor’s residence in Caesarea. An inscription on a stone found recently in the theater reads: "Pontius Pilate, the Prefect of Judea, has dedicated to the people of Caesarea a temple in honor of Tiberius."
• After baptizing the Ethiopian eunuch, Philip was "transported" to Azotus (Ashkelon) and from there continued to Caesarea, evangelizing as he traveled (Acts 8:40).
• As a result of Paul’s boldly proclaiming Jesus in Jerusalem, the Hellenistic Jews there plotted to put him to death. Believers who were concerned for his life, brought Paul down from Jerusalem to Caesarea to return him to his hometown of Tarsus (Acts 9:28,29).
• An angel of the Lord visited Cornelius, a God-fearing Roman centurion at Caesarea, instructing him to send for Peter who was in Joppa (Acts 10:1-8).
• Immediately after Peter’s vision of various animals lowered from heaven in a white sheet, messengers arrived, summoning Peter to the centurion’s residence in Caesarea, a two-day journey up the coast. There Peter first preached the gospel to Gentiles. Cornelius and his Gentile household believed in Jesus and received the gift of the Holy Spirit, validating the fact that salvation was for all people (Acts 10:24-48).
• Herod Agrippa I died in Caesarea after "being eaten by worms" as God’s judgment on him for receiving praise due only to the Lord (Acts 12:19, 21-23).
• The apostle Paul returned from his second and third missionary journeys to the port of Caesarea (Acts 18:22; 21:8). After his third journey, Paul stayed in the city with Philip and his four virgin daughters who were prophetesses. Paul then proceeded to Jerusalem with several disciples from Caesarea (Acts 21:9-16).
• Because of danger to his life, the Roman authorities in Jerusalem sent Paul to Caesarea for trial. The apostle gave a bold witness to Christ during his hearings before Felix, Festus, and King Agrippa. Under house arrest for two years at Caesarea, Paul eventually used his Roman citizenship to appeal to Caesar for a hearing (Acts 23:23- 26:32).

Bibliography

1. DeVries, LaMoine F. Cities of the Biblical World. Peabody: Hendrickson Publishers, 1997.
2. Harrison, R.K. "Caesarea." The New Bible Dictionary. 2^nd ed. Ed. J.D. Douglas. Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 1982.
3. Lockyer, Sr., Herbert, ed. Nelson’s Illustrated Bible Dictionary. Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1986.
4. Tenney, Merrill C. ed. The Zondervan Pictorial Bible Dictionary. Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing House, 1967.
5. Vamosh, Miriam Feinberg. Caesarea, Queen of the Coast. Israel: ERETZ Ha-Tzvi Inc., 1996.