Page 18 - A Walk to Caesarea / Joseph Patrich

4 Historical Review

Straton’s Tower – The Hellenistic City that Preceded Caesarea

(Stratonos Pyrgos, Stratonis Turris, Straton Tower, S´ ar Tower)

In the past, a prevailing hypothesis was that Straton’s Tower had been founded
during the Persian period by one of the kings of Sidon whose name in Greek was
Straton (and in Phoenician ‘Abd-Ashtarth – the name of three kings of Sidon) to
serve as a post for maritime commerce. Yet, the dearth of findings from the Persian
period yielded by excavations has cast doubt on this supposition. Seemingly, the
settlement was founded only in the Hellenistic period – in the third century BCE –
in the time of Ptolemy II, king of Egypt, by an unknown Greek hero named Straton,
perhaps an admiral of Ptolemy, and it was named after him. The foundation myth
of Straton’s Tower was preserved among the Gentile inhabitants of Caesarea, its
successor, as a typical Greek foundation myth.

Fig. 7 The Foundation Myth of Straton’s Tower is presented in three scenes on an
The Louvre Caesarea Cup
ornate bronze cup, now in the Louvre, produced roughly in the mid-fourth century CE in
a workshop in Caesarea (Figs. 7–8, scenes II–IV). It is 8.2 cm high and its upper diameter
is 20.2 cm; it is decorated with incised drawings inlaid with niello and sheeted with silver
and brass. The scenes of interest to us tell their story from left to right, counterclockwise,
and inscriptions identify the figures. Structurally, the story is similar to foundation myths
of colonies that were prevalent in the Greek world.

Scene II presents the story of three figures who came to consult an oracle of Apollo:
Strato(n), Lysimachos, and Ctesipon. Straton
is depicted beardless, with a ribbon (diadem)
tied about his head, the ends of which are
waving from behind – an emblem suggesting
his identification as a king. Lysimachos has a
beard and is holding a sword – like a man of
war; Ctesipon is also beardless.
Scene III, presents in three episodes their
sea voyage and landing on a hostile shore
haunted by lions: an adventure on shore; a
god of a river or a fountain who is sitting on a
rock. Between the two ships appears a small
boat sailing among waves filled with fish,
with a single oarsman sitting in it. Three

figures appear on each ship. The main figure on the ship on the right is naked and his
fists are projected forward. This vessel has already reached the shore; its sail has been
folded and a rope ladder or ramp has been tossed into the sea. A figure carrying a bundle
on its shoulder is descending the ramp. Two other nude figures are on the shore. Despite
the lack of inscriptions, it seems that the three may be identified as Straton, Lysimachos,
and Ctesipon of the previous scene. A wavy horizontal line divides the picture on the