Caesarea by the Sea

the first thing we did on our first full tour day was visit Caeserea Maritima, or Caesarea by the Sea.

an aerial view of the ruins that i took from the plane....or wikipedia, whatevs.

there we sat in the renovated ruins of the theater that Herod the Great built to the highest standards of the day. (you can see it in the bottom right of the aerial photo above) it is still used for concerts today. the foundation is old, but the seats are new. the theater is believed to be the place where Herod Agripa I was smote by God and eaten by worms (Acts 12.19-23).

backstage at the theater

this archway is called a vomitorium in Latin.

derived from the Latin word which means to spew forth.

many people could push through it at once.

this town was a significant site in the spreading of the gospel. Peter visited Cornelius here (Acts 10). Paul gave his testimony to Felix, Festus, and King Herod Agrippa II (Acts 24-26).

the Caesarea harbor is now under water, but the ruins still speak to the building style of Herod the Great. i think that was one of the most fascinating things to see throughout the country. Herod built many things and by no means did he do it small. the foot print of the palace by the sea was extravagant as were many of his other buildings. he had a personal pool in the courtyard of the palace. and located right next to the palace was a place for chariot races, a hippodrome i think is what it was called. (in the aerial pic above it is the long narrow pill shaped area near the coast.)

the palace would have been to the left in this picture

Herod's pool, or what's left of it

this is original tile that was uncovered, the tile work is beautiful

long after the Herods, the crusaders lived in Caeserea and were taken over by Muslims who destroyed the city. if only these ruins could talk, i can't even imagine the stories that they would have to tell.