Page 53 - A Walk to Caesarea / Joseph Patrich

A Walk to Caesarea: A Historical-Archaeological Perspective 39
In one of the houses in the north of the city, hidden beneath the floor, a hoard of
99 solidi dating from the second half of the fourth century was discovered (Fig. 41).
A gold solidus was found in the trench of a public toilet (latrine) at the crossroads
of streets W1 and S1. One may also learn of the wealth of the city’s inhabitants
from a small hoard of gold objects, including jewelry, crosses, and a small silver box,
found in the Byzantine fortress (kastron), built around the Roman theater (Fig. 42).

Fig. 42
A treasure trove of jewelry
and cross pendants found
in excavations of the theater
and the wall of the fortress
(Fortezza) surrounding it.
Byzantine period

The Organization of Horse Races – The Economic Aspect

The organization of horse races was in the purview of the imperial government and ensured a variety of local
sources of income for it. Their details are preserved in the “hippotrophoi inscription” – named for those who care
for the imperial stables. The inscription is in Greek and dated to the fourth-seventh centuries. The races took place
only in the circus in the southeast of the city, after the Herodian hippo-stadium was shortened and ceased to be
used for races as early as the third century; by the mid-fourth century it no longer functioned at all. The inscription
enumerates levies on various sources of municipal income: income from the maritime transit commerce fees and
different anchoring charges (stolos, dikeration, tetrakerati); levies on the managers of the games and income from
city games (synarchiai); income from the poll tax and levies on buildings (hypopyrgion); import and export taxes