Page 49 - A Walk to Caesarea / Joseph Patrich

A Walk to Caesarea: A Historical-Archaeological Perspective 35

The Muslim conquest in 640 or 641, which had been preceded intermittently by a Fig. 37 (left)
siege that went on for seven years, resulted in a sharp fading of urban life, especially The warehouses compound.
in the southwestern zone of the city, in which there were two government precincts Proposed reconstruction of an
and wealthy mansions. This was preceded by the Persian conquest of 614, which underground wheat granary
lasted until 627 and also led to a decline in urban life. built beneath a room with a
mosaic floor
Notable among the building projects, other than the wall, is the octagonal
church erected c. 500 on the site of the abandoned temple to Augustus and Rome, Fig. 38 (right)
whose stones had been looted as time passed. Southeast of the church a private The warehouse compound,
bathhouse was built – perhaps for the use of the bishop, whose palace might have the vast dolia room
stood on part of the church compound. To its east a large cistern was found. To the
south, beneath the temple platform, a sigma-shaped market complex was erected,
which was comprised of stores in its circumference. In 385 the upper aqueduct was
restored through the establishment of channel D (below, p. 146), which bypassed
Nah. al Tanninim Lake on the south. A terracotta pipe brought water to the city
from the south. A network of lead and terracotta pipes, which passed under the
streets paved with slabs of kurkar and limestone, carried water to various public
installations: fountains, nymphaea, bathhouses, latrines, and gardens. Piped water
also reached the houses of the wealthy. At the end of the Byzantine era, however,
the water-supply system deteriorated and in many parts of the city wells replaced
water supplied through pipes. A eulogy written by Choricius of Gaza in 534/36
on Stephanus, governor of Palaestina Prima, praised the improvement in the water
supply of Caesarea and the cleaning of the Upper Level aqueduct. The Roman
circus in the southeast remained the only entertainment facility still operating in
the sixth century, but it probably ceased to function in mid-century.

On the strip of coast between the palace of the dux and that of the civil
governor, two or three magnificent wealthy mansions were built. These were
large-dimension, private palaces of wealthy landowners who also built warehouse
complexes next to their dwelling, which were used to store agricultural produce
from their fields and its supply to residents of the city.
The finds indicate that mainly grains were stored there in
underground granaries, oil in large earthenware containers

0 5 10 cm