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CAESAREA FIELD REPORT PART 8

IV.8. The harbor (the Ralli-Museum)

3 pm we are back in the national park to visit the crusaders city. The city was walled in and protected with a moat that was filled with water.

Standing next to the Podium built by Herod, which he artificially raised  by constructing retaining walls on top of vaults built beneath, we have to imagine the temple he erected to Augustus.

The temple was surrounded by huge columns with marble from far away.

There were two statues inside, representing Augustus and Rome. Herod made those statues copying the famous statue of Zeus in Olympia, (only 500 years later), and copying the statue of Hera of Samos. He wanted to express his wish to connect himself to those ancient traditions, and make them part of the Roman tradition.

The Temple was knocked down and we can discern the remains of diagonal walls of a church from the 5^th century CE found inside the area of the temple. The church was destroyed upon arrival of the Moslem invaders who built on the same site a mosque.

The height of the original temple could be extrapolated through the number of pillars and the distance between them.

In the 13^th century at end of where the temple and church had stood, the Crusaders attempted to construct a huge church which eventually collapsed because it was built on the roman vaults and not on solid ground. A smaller chapel was subsequently built there later.

He called the harbor SEBASTOS (the Greek name for Augustus). In building and giving names to his buildings he wanted to give a message to the people and to Rome.

Avner Raban (who has just passed away 10 days ago) excavated the harbor. All dimensions are available now.

We turn towards the sea and face the biggest artificial harbor of the world. Not much can be seen today: the harbor was built on sandy grounds, and in spite all the precautions that Herod took it sank into the sand. Only what was built on rock (kurkar) survived.

However, divers would be able to see a great deal of the foundations of the harbor. Another option today would be by flying over the harbor, whose walls – shape and shade –  still can be made out in and under the water

Raban did in fact excavate also under water

The Crusader city was much smaller than the Byzantine city, about 800 Dunams.

The modern harbor is about 1/5 of the size of Herod’s harbor.

We are looking at the top of the harbor where there was the citadel.

The size of the harbor – 200 dunam – was much bigger than the temple mount in Jerusalem which took up 144 dunam.

Lighthouses:

At the entrance of the harbor stood 2 lighthouses. Other harbors with similar lighthouses at approximately the same time were Alexandria and Athens (both harbors were built in a natural bay.) The sandy beach – the sand had shifted north from the Nile-delta – may be great for tourism, but it certainly was and is no good for boats.

In the winter boats had to stay in the harbors since the stormy season would make it impossible for boats to sail. Therefore all boats and their crews arriving before the winter had to stay in Caesarea, needing shelter, which was also a source of income for the population.

Herod built the most beautiful harbor in history.

The harbor could host approx. 100 boats of 500 tons each.

As a result of this new harbor the Nabateans who had used until then the harbor of Ashquelon for shipping their goods, abandoned Ashquelon and used the harbor of Caesarea. This in turn meant that more people would stay during the winter in the city and would also spend more money.

In raising the standard of living but not asking for higher taxes Herod attracted many people to the city.

The harbor of Caesarea was one of the greatest investments of Herod and meant also a new gateway. Formerly only Egypt had such a gateway.

All rulers referred to it who kept its importance until the arrival of Israel who had no interest in the harbor. When the crusaders invaded the area the harbor was revived but on a much smaller scale. 

Baybars destroyed the city.

Moslems from Bosnia were brought here by….for shelter (Maagan Michael).

There were about 50 families who built a small town on the ruins of Caesarea.

One of the refugees, Akram Akrugal, became interested in archaeology. He later became head of the archaeological department of the University of Istanbul.

During WWI, a pigeon with message flew into the tower of the Minaret and was uncovered. This led to the discovery of the underground NILI spy ring which was centered in Zichron Yaacov.

BUILDING OF THE HARBOR

In order to achieve the goal of building this artificial harbor he invented something completely new: he was the first builder to use hydraulic concrete to be poured in cracks of bricks that hardened also in water. 

Wooden rafts of 15x3x5 m would pull the arriving ships into place.

Wooden double wall into which a mixture of concrete and rubble were poured in. The rafts sank slowly into the water and he also used melted lead for hardening.

Although the walls of the pier were huge 60x800m, Herod did not trust it and built another wall (around it)

The undertaking of building this harbor seems like an unbelievable task and seems almost like a miracle (but it was not included as one of the 7 ancient wonders of the world for the simple reason that it was built 500 years too late (after the accepted list was created).

Part of the concrete that was found is in the museum in Sdot Yam which houses many of the artifacts found in the excavations

The nearby kibbutz rends out boats with a glass bottom.

The obvious question to ask is why did Herod not use the natural port of Haifa? The answer is as simple as well: Haifa was not within his reach – already Dor, which is only  10km north of Caesarea, was not in Herod’s hands.

Most harbors are built on the basis of a natural bay.

We are resting on the lawn: this was the inner part of the port.

V CHRISTIANITY 

Christian Connections to Caesarea

Paul: was arrested, but then wanted to be tried as a Roman citizen. He spent time in Caesarea on his way to the trial and subsequent execution in Rome.

Peter, staying in Jaffa with Simon the Tanner had a vision of a white sail with all kinds of unclean (unkosher) animals descending from it. He was then given notice that a Roman officer from Caesarea was interested in conversion. From this vision, comes the concept that   Peter accepted Caesarea into Christianity, meaning a turn towards the conversion of pagans and not just working among the Jews.

Cornelius became chrstian and this became a  turning point that changed history. 

Antioch – disciples Abs. Chapter 10 concerning Caesarea

ORIGEN – originuns:

Bishop of underground Christian community, very knowledgeable, collected all, and translated into Greek = Hexapella, and collected all available translations incl. Septuagint.

Eusebius = Bishop, was arrested because he was Christian. After Constantine legalized Christianity, Eusebius became one of his advisors and one of the most important of the Bishops. He was a prolific writer who wrote some very important works including a Church history and the Onomasticon= book of holy country, geography – basically a gazetteer of the entire country. We have an understanding that the Medaba map was based on Eusebius’ Onomasticon.

During the First century, CE, the power of the Bishops was more or less equal. Susequently, Caesarea remained one of the more important Christian centers, together with Jerusalem.

Talmudic sources on Caesarea:

Rabbi Abu…part of the Jerusalem Talmud was written in Caesarea and 

Rabbanan de Caesarium wrote 5^th century.

Initially pagan city, Caesarea subsequently became a stronghold for Jews and Christians.

Source in English: Kenneth Hollum: Herod’s dream 

Article in National Geographic about lighthouses – copy of one in Alexandria.

CAESAREA FIELD REPORT PART 7

Remains from the Byzantine time

We are now leaving Herod’s Caesarea (will look for more remains of Herod later), and move 500 years forward. We are introduced to another important general rule regarding excavations: what is higher is later in history. Here it would be from the Byzantine time.

We are walking toward a heightened podium from the 6^th century CE, into the large bath-house and spa of the Byzantine city which was built or renovated from the Roman bath that had been built by Herod. While the walls are from the Byzantine time, the baths themselves are from Roman times.

In Jerusalem near Binjamei Ha’uma excavators found a Roman factory which produced small pillars and tubes of ceramics and other utensils needed to build bath houses. Parts of the factory can be visited today in the basement of the Binjanei Ha’uma.

We visit the large area that covers the bath-house and ancient “spa”.

Later the Ottomans adapted and adopted the idea of bathing (Turkish baths!)

IV.6. The Bath House 

The Bath House was an invention of the Roman culture and didn’t just serve the hygiene but was also an institution where one met and socialized and relaxed. Sand-like material and oil was used to wash the body and to soften the skin – very much like in a modern health-club. There were also bath-tubs to immerse oneself and hot rooms.

Still the main purpose was to socialize, to get together, walk around, do business. There was an entrance fee. (There were different bath-houses for the less fortunate (=less rich).

In the Talmud the Rabbis discussed whether Jews were allowed to go to the bath-house or not. The problem was the statues found there. The Rabbis ruled in favor: after all, the statue is there to please us, not for us to worship them …). The bath itself was constructed in a very sophisticated, complicated way.  It had a double floor that was kept apart with dozens of approx. 30 cm high pottery-pipes. (Imagine two boxes, a smaller one inside a bigger one, and the smaller kept “afloat” on small pillars). Hot air was produced outside in furnaces and then blown through a gap in the wall into the space between the two floors, thus heating the water above the second floor. Signs of the original pipes are still visible on the walls. There were also wet and dry saunas. In order to walk on the very hot floors cold water was poured on them.

Bathers did not immerse themselves immediately into the hot water but acclimatized slowly: first they traversed the frigidarium (cold), then the tepidarium (tepid), before entering the water of the cauldarium (hot). 

North of the baths we find what we could describe as an ancient “fitness club and the beauty center”. (Today, the Romans would surely add a cafeteria!)

IV.7. The Cardo and the Decamanos

Adjacent to those buildings was a private house, then we come to the “shopping arcade” of the Romans (cardo), crossed by another street. All Roman cities had a similar layout and street-system. They were built as “blocks”, comparable to Manhattan, the blocks were called “insula”.  Each block was dedicated to a particular function, be it bathing, living, shopping, or storage. The north-south-axis was the cardo, the east-west-axis was the decomanus. The pavement of the streets are from Byzantine times, but they were built on the same place where older, Roman streets were located. The excavators removed the pavement and discovered older (Roman) roads underneath. In some parts the original street was reconstructed. Herod’s layout of the streets was kept by later rulers; just the level was raised up. There are many more streets that are waiting to be excavated.

Below us we see the great imperial storage (porea) that was used to store wheat and barley, wine and other storable goods.

We are now approaching the center of the city, which was the financial center.

Caesarea was the first local financial center, and later the Byzantines built on the ruins of the Roman period their own financial center.

During the Roman period, those buildings had two barrel vaulted floors, on the ground level being the offices for the employees; the more important managers were located on the second level.

The buildings were very beautiful, with mosaic floors and great halls. 

On the sidewalks of the main road, we can imagine Romans discussing their tax issues, the hoarse-races, the latest gossip.…

We look down at the corridors of the vaults beneath us, the archives. The state of preservation is quite impressive, considering that they are 1800 years old. The whole area was used in the Roman era for the procurator and his entourage. The governor would be sitting in the palace. In Byzantine times, they would re-fortify the walls, build the moat, thus destroying several Roman buildings and walls, since the moat had to be dug pretty deep and the awareness of preservation had not been established until 1500 years later.

We can see the vaults that support the structures above them.

There were several synagogues in Herod’s time and throughout later times, but no remains were found in Caesarea (so far, anyway). The synagogue that was excavated in the north of the city is from the Talmudic period.

We continue through an un-excavated area of the Byzantine city, through which we can have a glimpse of the second hippodrome to the right (east) with its obelisk.

2 pm – 2.45 pm: Lunch-break at a mall of kibbutz Dor Akiva.

Afterword: I can highly recommend having a wonderful food break inside the national park. There are some excellent restaurants located close to the sea, with appropriate views. They include pasta for dairy food lovers, and a nearby meat restaurant. Both carry kosher certificates. In addition snacks are also available in the general harbor vicinity. If you want to keep the kids occupied some of the interactive attractions found in the park are guaranteed to not only keep them engaged but also provide a great educational experience! There are toilet facilities, mainly around the main entrance complex. I would strongly recommend taking advantage of them before deciding to stroll through the site, as it can be quite a distance. Being close to the water has the added benefit of a relaxing sea breeze, but please keep an eye on the local weather forecast as some parts of the year can endure brutal heat conditions. That brings me to a must remember: Always, get hydrated before getting dehydrated. It’s easy to get carried away with the delight of being in Israel and the excitement of visiting any famous site. However, this can also lead to forgetting basic safety concerns, and drinking plenty of water is high on the list! Sun hats, skin protection, sun glasses etc. are also important items to bring with you. But once you get into a sensible routine the golden rule is to have plenty of fun! So make sure you have any device that can take those family memories, and don’t forget to smile for the camera!

Our tour guide course will now take us to the next destination:

Ralli-museum of Art (for an excellent model and artifacts of Caesarea) –Winter only open Fri-Sat; From March – open every day from 10:30-15:30 except for Sunday and Wednesday (Tel: 04-636 05 88/04-626 1013)