Page 37 - A Walk to Caesarea / Joseph Patrich

A Walk to Caesarea: A Historical-Archaeological Perspective 23

Remains uncovered in the south were attributed Fig. 21
to a second theater, which was presumably built Headless statue seated on a
in the second century. A large Roman circus throne, probably of Emperor
was constructed on the outskirts of the city in Hadrian, purple porphyry
the southeast, and an oval amphitheater was granite
built on the edge of the city in the northeast. A
ludus, a barrack for training gladiators, operated Fig. 22
in Caesarea; it had a small arena. Thus, four Statue head of Emperor
new entertainment structures were added to Hadrian and drawings of the
the Roman city, which already had a theater four sides, marble
and a stadium: an odeum, a second theater, a
circus, and an amphitheater. A Hadrianeum –
apparently a temple for the imperial cult of
Hadrian – which is mentioned in an inscription
of the Byzantine period, was located within the
confines of the Herodian city. A purple granite
statue of Hadrian, seated on a throne (Fig. 21),
was probably venerated in this temple, which
was certainly located not far from where the
statue was found. Today the statue stands at
the edges of a mosaic-paved plaza located east
of the eastern gate of the Crusader city wall.
A smaller marble bust of the emperor was also
found (Figs. 22a–b). In the time of Hadrian a
second aqueduct was added to the city (channel B), attached to the older arched
aqueduct (channel A), and this may indicate not only that there was a large military
force in the city (reduced after the suppression of the Bar Kokhba rebellion) but
also population growth. The expansion of the built urban area attests to this as
well. In the days of Antoninus Pius (138–161), a large imperial bathhouse was
erected in Caesarea. Its location is not known, but from its dimensions one may
assume that it stood outside the Herodian wall. The Herodian theater underwent
comprehensive refurbishment, when a new scaenae frons of marble and gray and
red granite replaced the Herodian one, which was covered with multi-color plaster

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