Page 65 - A Walk to Caesarea / Joseph Patrich

A Walk to Caesarea: A Historical-Archaeological Perspective 51

Vaults

Street

Iron and glass melting

Bldg. 1 Bldg. 4
Cyaorudrt- BlCydaogrud.r2t-
Courtyard Bldg. 11
Tabun Bldg. 10
Corridor

Street Bldg. 12 Bldg. 15
Courtyard Corridor

Bldg. 5 Street Bldg. 18
Installations
Bldg. 3 Street
BldCgo.ur1ty6ard
Bldg. 7 Installations Courtyard
Courtyard Bldg. 17
Bldg. 13
Bldg. 14
Courtyard

Bldg. 6

Legend Bldg. 8 EntranceyCaorudrt- Entrance
Alley
External wall Courtyard
Internal wall Bldg. 25

Well Well Bldg. 9 Installations Bldg. 26
Water cistern Internal wall Courtyard
or settling pit Street Installations
drainage Street Bldg. 22 Bldg. 24
channel
Floors Bldg. 21 Street
Stone yCaorudrt-
Installations
Mosaic Bldg. 23

Bldg. 20

0 10 Bldg. 19 Courtyard
20 30 m

In place of the octagonal church a magnificent Friday Mosque was erected, Fig. 57
overlooking the sea. Around it, and to its west, in the area of the clogged internal
harbor, a residential neighborhood was built with streets and quite spacious houses. Map of remnants of the
In the Fatimid period underground granaries were incorporated in many of them Fatimid period built upon
(Fig. 57), apparently intended for storing black pepper. The houses had wells and the silted internal harbor.
cesspits for sewage. To the east of the elevated platform, upon which stood the The neighborhood included
mosque, a Byzantine bathhouse continued to operate until the earthquake of 749. dwellings with cisterns and
The section of the harbor warehouses in area LL, which had been abandoned for underground granaries for
several decades after the conquest, was again put to use. Remains of structures were storing agricultural produce
uncovered also to the east of the Muslim wall. Two hoards from this period, which
were discovered in two separate places at the base of the main mosque (Figs. 58,
59) may reflect the threat of the Crusader siege.

Owing to Byzantine naval superiority, Caesarea was situated on the naval frontier
and served the Muslims as a guard post against attacks from the sea. After the
conquest, and so as to prevent the recapture of Syria and Palestine by the Byzantines
through the sea, the early caliphs – cUmar ibn al-Khat.t.ab and his successor,
cUthman ibn cAffan (644–656) – ordered Mucawiya ibn Abu Sufyan, governor
of Syria (al-Sham) from 640 and in time the first Umayyad caliph (660–680),