Page 12 - A Walk to Caesarea / Joseph Patrich

The main periods reviewed are the Herodian, Roman, Byzantine periods – a time of
prosperity and growth of the settlement – and the early Muslim and Crusader periods,
when the area of the city was greatly reduced. Caesarea was in ruins from the later
Muslim period until the nineteenth century, when the Ottoman authorities settled
families that had fled from Bosnia in the ruins within the confines of the Crusader
city. The archaeological excavations at the site began in the 1950s and great impetus
was gained in the 1990s and the early twenty-first century.

The archaeological guide is arranged according to a number of routes for walking
tours: The Internal Route – from south to north, within the wall of the Roman-
Byzantine city – describes the main complexes: the Roman theater, Herod’s palace,
the race course and starting gates of the racing chariots, Late Roman-Byzantine
mansions of the wealthy, the complex of warehouses, the Byzantine governor’s
palace. Also included are the harbor and remains on the hill overlooking the harbor:
the temple Herod built to Augustus and Rome, the octagonal church that replaced
it, and the Crusader cathedral and cloister, eventually erected on its remains. Also
discussed as part of this route are the Crusader city wall, its harbor fortress, and the
city’s eastern gate. Located further north, beyond the Crusader wall, are the remains
of a Jewish synagogue, remnants of the Herodian city wall, and the aqueducts.

The peripheral route refers to remains located to the east, beyond the Crusader
wall: the Roman circus/hippodrome and remains of the oval amphitheater north
of it, both of which are close to the Byzantine wall that delineated the city on the
east. In addition, the book contains a route following the course of the aqueducts
to Caesarea, from the Tsabarim spring in the south of the Carmel Ridge up to the
Tanninim Lake; a visit to the Antiquities Museum in Kibbutz Sdot Yam and to the
Archaeological Exhibition in the Ralli 1 Museum in new Caesarea.

The graphic reconstructions of the structures and complexes offered in the book
(Herod’s palace, the stadium and the horseracing arena, the arena temple [sacellum]
and the martyrs’ chapel that replaced it, the wealthy mansions, the palace of the
Byzantine governor, the Mithraeum and so on), were intended to illustrate to the
readers how the structure or the entire architectural complex would have looked.
Obviously, the starting point of each of this type of graphic reconstruction is the
actual remains, but incorporated in the depiction of a structure or an entire complex
are additional considerations as well, including, among other things, information
derived from similar structures at other sites; a definitive architectural style and the
like. Similarly, it is clear that the reconstructions also have an element of supposition;
their purpose is didactic. The presentation of a sweeping historical and archaeological
picture of Caesarea, referring to all periods, must naturally consider the findings
from each of the Caesarea excavations, not only my own. The limited framework
available, however, necessitated compact writing that does not allow for specifying
in each instance differences of opinion in the interpretation or reconstruction of one
structure or another. Clearly, then, the text reflects my position, which is based on an
analysis of the literary sources and the archaeological finds.

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