Page 44 - A Walk to Caesarea / Joseph Patrich

30 Historical Review

presence of the Roman army in the city and of its cosmopolitan character. The
Louvre Cup, manufactured in Caesarea in 340–350, indicates the validity of pagan
rites in the city many years after Christianity had become a legal state religion
under Emperor Constantine in 324.

As for Christianity, in c. 190, the Quatrodeciman synod convened in Caesarea
under the leadership of the bishop of the city, Theophilus; it discussed the time
Easter should be observed. Some Christian sects thought, similar to the Jews, that
the festival begins on 14 Nisan in the evening, which could fall on any day of the
week, not necessarily on Friday night, as it came to be afterwards in the Christian
world, and as the Christians follow today. Until then, almost no information is
available on the Christian community in Caesarea. The convening of the synod
there shows that by then Caesarea had already gained importance as a prominent,
significant Christian center. From the beginning of Christianity until the tenure of
Eusebius (315/16–339), we know the names of only ten bishops of the city. There
were short religious persecutions during the times of the Emperors Decius (249–
251) and Valerius (253–260). In 303–311, the Christian community of Caesarea,
as elsewhere in the Empire, suffered religious persecution decreed by Diocletian and
others in power. Their story is found in Eusebius’ work on the martyrs of Palaestina.
After them, Christianity was already recognized as a permitted religion.

Byzantine Caesarea

In the Byzantine era (324–640/41 CE), Caesarea reached its ultimate expansion
and covered an area of some 275 acres. Until the fifth century, the city developed
and spread beyond the course of the Herodian wall without having an outer
defence wall – proof of the rather good security situation. The wall and towers
of the Byzantine city, built in the fifth century, encompassed an area three times
larger than that delimited by the Herodian wall. The eastern gate was adorned
with marble arches (Fig. 32). In the north a small gate was found, blocked by later
construction. This expansion reflects a substantial growth in population, the exact
dimensions of which is in dispute; some speak of 100,000 people, while others
maintain the number was much lower – only 35,000. According to a source from
the Muslim period (Al-Bala¯dhur¯ı ), at the time of the Arab conquest the city had
20,000 Jews and 30,000 Samaritans (he puts the total number of soldiers in it at
700,000! This, apparently, should be divided by 10).

At this time, too, it was a flourishing maritime city, with a heterogeneous
population and cosmopolitan character. The harbor, whose wharves had begun to
sink as early as the first century CE – to the point that the merchants looked on
brokenheartedly at the ships smashed against them – underwent comprehensive
reconstruction by emperor Anastasius (491–517). For that endeavor he received
great praise from the rhetor Procopius of Gaza. Caesarea’s international commerce is
known from archaeological findings; this is especially attested to by the rich variety
of pottery. Yet, two factors led to the decline in the administrative and religious