Page 168 - A Walk to Caesarea / Joseph Patrich

154 Archaeological Review Dwellings of the Wealthy Outside the
a City Walls

b Wealthy dwellings (villae suburbanae) were also
uncovered outside the city walls. The most impressive
c is the villa located to the northwest of the city at a
distance of a few hundred meters from the city wall.
Its central courtyard was decorated with the “Birds
Mosaic” (Fig. 173a–d). An extraordinary finding
indicating the wealth of the villa owner is a table
plate inlaid with golden glass tesserae (Fig. 174). The
villa was situated atop a hill overlooking the sea and
the city. Further away, within the boundaries of Ramat
haNadiv Park, two farmhouses from the Herodian and
the Byzantine eras were excavated, which perhaps
also belonged to the rich landlords of Caesarea.

Fig. 173a–d
a–c. The mosaics of the main courtyard and the surrounding

porticos in the “Birds Mosaic Villa”
d. The “Birds Mosaic,” a sketch

d