Page 132 - A Walk to Caesarea / Joseph Patrich

118 Archaeological Review Mosaics such as these are typical of the sixth century. It may be that benches that were
a not preserved were set along the length of the walls. The floor was later damaged,
when a well was dug to provide water for the garden plots prepared in this area during
the seven-year Muslim siege on Caesarea and after its conquest. Near this hall runs
Alley 3. It is roofed and one may walk along it as far as the latrine in vault 54 and
then climb steps leading from there to the lookout of the Byzantine governor’s palace.

The public part of the government compound sprawled over two-thirds of the
insula, which is the section uncovered by the excavations. The remaining third,
which was ruined by the Crusader moat and city wall, was large enough to include
the private, residential wing of the compound. This probably contained courtyards,
gardens and additional halls, beside the residential rooms themselves. A long
corridor that was uncovered at the northern end of the complex (today buried
under the kurkar road) apparently separated the public wing from the private.
Of this wing, only the bathhouse was partially exposed (Fig. 134a–b). A broad
staircase located to the west of the “archive” (Fig. 135) led to a round antechamber

b

Fig. 134a–b
a. Proposed reconstruction

of the bathhouse of the
Byzantine governor’s
palace, view from the
southwest, unroofed
b. Proposed reconstruction
of the bathhouse of the
Byzantine governor’s
palace, view from the
northeast, with roofing

Fig. 135
Remains of a broad staircase
that connected the upper
level of the governor’s palace
with the bathhouse wing,
looking south