Page 64 - A Walk to Caesarea / Joseph Patrich

50 Historical Review

Fatimid rule (969–1099). One of the inscriptions, which was discovered in shallow
water in the sea near the theater, is a building inscription speaking of a fortified
structure the Tulunids built.

In 662, Mucawiya, the conqueror of the city, installed Persians there, who
had been brought from al-Bas.ra and Baalbek, and Indians. At that time the area
around the city was known to be a swampy land not recommended for settlement.
Seemingly, the lengthy years of siege had resulted in neglect in caring for the fields
and draining the streams. But from later descriptions – by Muqaddasi (985) and by
Nasir i-Khusrau (1047) – we get a totally different picture, of a flourishing land full
of productive fruit trees.

Al-Muqaddasi Describes Caesarea, c. 985 – the Beginning of the Fatimid Rule

“Qaysariyah lies on the coast of the Greek (i.e., Mediterranean) Sea. There is no city more beautiful, nor any
better filled with good things; plenty has its well-spring here, and useful products are on every hand. Its lands are
excellent and its fruits delicious; the town also is famous for its buffalo-milk and its white bread. To guard the city
is a strong wall and without it lies the well-populated suburb (rabad. ca¯mer), which the fortress (h.is.n) protects.
The drinking-water of the inhabitants is drawn from wells and cisterns. Its great Friday mosque is very beautiful”
(al-Muqaddasi, al-aq¯al¯ım, 174, trans. Le Strange).

Description by the Persian Traveler Nasir i-Khusrau (1047, about 50 years before the
Crusader Conquest)

“Qaysariyah lies seven leagues [c. 21 miles] distant from Acre. (It is) a fine city, with running waters, and palm-
gardens, and orange and citron trees. Its walls are strong, and it has an iron gate. There are fountains that gush
out within the city; also a beautiful Friday mosque, so situated that in its court you may sit and enjoy the view of
all that is passing on the sea. There is preserved here a vase made of marble, that is like to Chinese porcelain, and
it is of a size to contain 100 Mann [c. 90 liters/34 gallons] weight of water” (Nasir i-Khusrau, The Book of Travels/
Safarnama 18, trans. Le Strange).

Neither of them mentions a harbor, so it seems that it played no pivotal role in the
city’s economy. The reduced city was fortified with a new wall. For its construction,
stones were taken from nearby Byzantine buildings. Lime kilns in which marble
items were burned for the production of quicklime were also discovered outside
the course of the wall; they were apparently constructed in the Abbasid period in
connection with building the new city wall. Later the wall was reinforced, probably
by Ah. mad ibn Tulun, as well as by the Fatimids. This was the fortified city the
Crusaders besieged.