Many Christians overlook Caesarea when they visit Israel. Caesarea is very interesting, but lets face it; when you have a limited amount of time and you came all that way for a religious experience, you can't afford to waste time. The bottom line is that Caesarea is about Rome, not about Jesus.The Roman Empire was something new and different in this neck of the woods. (That’s why it's called the 'Classic Period' and not 'Ancient History'.) It's not as if the Romans were imaginative or inventive. Romans weren't original. They conquered other people and hijacked their resources and ideas and civilizations, and by fusing those cultures they produced a new society. The sea had always served as a barrier, a natural defense between nations, but once it was a Roman sea, the Mediterranean was transformed into a conduit of goods and information connecting diverse cultures from the farthest corners of the known world. Perhaps not today's 'global village', but certainly one big 'Mediterranean village' and the only village around.
When you think about it, it's odd that Rome left such a significant mark on little far away Israel. Yet by far there are more Roman ruins and artifacts here than from any period before or after. Even the sites most identified with the holy land are actually Roman. The Wailing Wall – Roman; Al Aqsa, on a Roman built forum. So how did Rome come into ownership of the land of Israel?
To answer that, one must understand family dynamics. When my little brother Barry and I were kids we would fight over stuff. The rule was that if we took it to my mom, then no matter what it was, no matter who was right, my mom got it. That's how we learned to always settle things between ourselves and to never bother my mom.
In 67 B.C. the Hasmoneans ruled Judea. Two Hasmonean princes with funny names, Hyrcanus and Aristobulus, got into a big fight over which one would get to be the king. Their mom was deceased, so the boys unwisely took the matter to the next best thing - Pompey, the Roman governor of nearby Syria. Naturally Pompey knew all about my mom's rule, so since the kids couldn't play nice, Pompey (in the name of Rome) got the kingdom.
Pompey let his good friend Antipater the Idumean administrate Judea. Antipater had been a pagan, but converted to Judaism, so the Romans figured it was a good fit. Jewish enough to relate to the Judeans, but pagan enough to serve his Roman masters.
Antipater was succeeded by his son Herod the Great, so called to tell him from his little known cousin, Herod the Loser. Herod (the Great) was determined to integrate his new kingdom with Rome's Mediterranean Village, and to do this he needed a deep sea harbor. The only problem was that the east Mediterranean coast running north from the mouth of the Nile until modern day Haifa is devoid of natural harbors. Until then, all the ports in ancient land of Israel had simply been river inlets to the sea.
Not one to be thwarted by geology, Herod chose a most unlikely site. As a rule of thumb, all cities in ancient times were founded near fertile land in order to feed the population, a source of water and on a site that can be easily defended. Herod picked a flat spot of beach real estate surrounded by sand dunes to build the city he would call Caesarea.
Most histories claim that Herod built Caesarea. This is not true. Herod was much too busy in his palace cooking up schemes to murder his family and baby Jesus. Slaves and Roman engineers built Caesarea. Using the latest in Roman technology, they built breakwaters out into the sea laying cement that sets underwater, producing Sebastos, the largest artificial harbor in the Mediterranean. The city was to be a hub of commerce, so lack of nearby farmland was not an issue – they would buy food. Diverting subterranean water reservoirs with a system of shafts and tunnels in the Carmel mountains 20 miles away, they were able to flood a dammed up coastal plain of almost 2000 acres, thus producing enough pressure to transport water by gravitation in aqueducts to the city center. As for fortifications, Caesarea's defense was a good offence – a staging point for legions to crush any potential threat.
Romans weren't all work and no play. An amphitheater large enough to hold horse races (seating an estimated 5000 spectators) was built along the beach, and a theater added to the south, facing the sea (Later to be abandoned; the view is breathtaking, but in the afternoons until sundown the audience is blinded by the setting sun. Eventually a new one had to be built facing north. Wonder what became of the architect responsible for that snafu….) Herod's palace was built on a promontory jutting out into the sea, complete with swimming pool surrounded by a portico. The palace was located so as to be within visual contact with the port, amphitheater and theater. Much like a laptop, the king and Roman procurators that succeeded him could monitor their investments in real time, or flip over to the latest diversion – all from the comfort of home.
Caesarea was a modern concept and it worked. The only major port on the southeastern shore of the Mediterranean and on the crossroads of the Via Maris, it funneled goods from east to west, and legions from west to east. Within a century it replaced Jerusalem as capital of 'Provincia Palesina" after Jewish Judea had been crushed.
With trade flourishing in the Mediterranean and an efficient network of roads, there was a revolution in communications – suddenly people on opposite sides of the empire were only a message away.
CaesarChat, 33 A.D.
Tiberius wrote: Hey, PP - what's up?
(2 months later)
Pontius Pilate wrote: Not much, Tibi. Galilean noob says he's Messiah. lol
(2 months later)
Tiberius wrote: Messiah???
(2 months later)
Pontius Pilate wrote: Jewish king lol
(2 months later)
Tiberius wrote: kill him
(2 months later)
Pontius Pilate wrote: did that, but he's alive again lol
(2 months later)
Tiberius wrote: OMG
(2 months later)
Pontius Pilate wrote: U reckon?
A dedication carved in limestone was found in the theater mentioning Pontius Pilate, one of the few pieces of physical evidence supporting the story told in the New Testament. But this is only a subtle hint to the role Caesarea played in the Christian story. It was from here that the baton was passed from an underground sect of Jews to the nations.
.
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Saint Peter was sleeping on the roof one day (As one who lives in sunny Israel, I find that in itself a miracle.) when an angel appeared and laid out a spread of clam chowder, fried shrimp, sizzling bacon and cheese burgers - all yummy, none Glatt kosher. "Dig in," commands the angel. (I often go up on my roof hoping to see this angel, but it seems his appearances are limited to Reform Rabbis.) Obviously, there was only one thing to do after a miracle like this – go report it to Cornelius, the Roman commandant in Caesarea. It took no more than putting tref on the menu to convince Cornelius to convert to Christianity, and the rest is history.
Caesarea was the launching point of Christianity. From here the apostle Paul set out to spread the gospel, where he preached to Agrippa, and where he was imprisoned and wrote his epistles until sent to Rome.
If Jesus would have arrived at any time prior or any place other than Rome's Mediterranean village, his message would have stagnated in a local Judean backwater. But ironically, the very empire that sought to suppress the new faith facilitated it. Christianity traveled the same arteries of commerce that sustained Rome, new congregations networked on Imperial lines of communication, and words could never have been more convincing that the living object lessons of martyrs in the arenas, produced and directed by Rome.
So while Israel is the cradle of Christianity, the Mediterranean village was its playground. In Caesarea you see the port from where the word was spread to every nation, the courts where saints defended their faith and the arena where they paid the price. It's all there.
If you want to understand Christ, you have to see Israel; if you want to understand Christianity, go to Caesarea.
