Page 172 - A Walk to Caesarea / Joseph Patrich

158 Archaeological Review A Corinthian capital decorated with a seven-branched menorah (Fig. 179) and
two fragments of a chancel screen originated in the synagogue. One of them shows
Fig. 179 the four species. Also exhibited are fragments of tombstones decorated with Jewish
Corinthian capital decorated with symbols (Fig. 46a–c, above, p. 42).
a seven-branched candelabra
(menorah) The coin collection is very variegated, the oldest of which being silver Athenian
tetradrachms. There is a group of Seleucid bronze coins from the second half of the
Fig. 180 second century BCE, the time of Straton’s Tower, and Jewish coins from the times
Selection of Roman Imperial oil of the Hasmoneans, Herod and his dynasty, and the Great Revolt (one from year
lamps 4 of the revolt), as well as Judaea Capta coins struck at the mint of the Roman
administration in Caesarea. Most of the collection is of Roman provincial city coins
minted in Caesarea and many other cities, or imperial coins struck in Rome. The
name of the city of Caesarea is first mentioned on coins of Agrippa I, from the years
42/3 43/4 CE. Municipal minting ceased in 253 CE. The collection has numerous
Antoninian double denarius coins minted from the time of Caracalla (from 214)
to the time of Diocletian (295/6). There is also a large number of bronze coins
of various nominal values from the Byzantine era, as well as gold coins from this
period. Included as well are a sizable number of bronze coins from the Early Arab
period (8th–9th centuries CE), among them coins minted again in Caesarea, and
gold and silver coins from the Fatimid period. Coins from the Later Muslim period,
following the Crusader era, are also featured. The Crusader coins date from the
twelfth and thirteenth centuries. From this period, too, are European feudal and
royal coins. Also included are a few nineteenth-century Ottoman coins and lead
bullae (seals) that belonged to the Crusader lords of Caesarea (Fig. 62, above, p. 57).

The collection also contains over one hundred gemstones of precious and
semiprecious stones, as well as some of pâte de verre (glass paste). There are also four
amulets. Most of the gemstones are oval, while a few are round or rectangular. In

some instances, the decoration is carved on the convex side while
in others it is on the flat side. There is also a Sassanid gemstone
and seal, four Arab gemstones-seals, and a Crusader glass paste
gemstone.

The collection of pottery lamps also spans the entire time the
city existed: “Herodian” knife-pared, wheel-made lamps, mold-
produced imported or local lamps (Fig. 180), Phoenician lamps,
lamps from the Late Roman and from the Byzantine periods,
and lamps from the Arab period.

Attention should also be paid to the collection of findings
retrieved from the sea: jars, anchors, sailing and fishing equipment,
and so on, as well as various bone and glass finds.

Visiting days and hours: Sunday–Thursday 10:00–16:00; Friday 10:00–13:00
Open on Saturday only to groups by advance reservation with the Kef Yam Company, tel: 04–636 4444
Museum tel: 04–636 4367
Entrance fee