Scenes from Caesarea
| Caesarea is an ancient city, built by King Herod the Great and named after Herod's patron, Augustus Caesar, roughly 20 B.C. The city sported a modern port (well, for 20 B.C.), and all the amenities that the Romans were used to: baths, theaters, etc. Under Herod, its population grew to about 100,000 people. The Jews and Greek speaking population clashed constantly, culminating in the Jewish revolt of 66 A.D. , which was brutally put down by Titus. Some 2500 Jews were then slaughtered thru coerced participation in gladiator games. Henceforth Caesarea became a Roman colony and the local Roman capital for nearly 600 years. It was later ruled and built by the Byzantine, and later by the Arabs. The Crusaders conquered it, rebuilt it as a crusader city, only to lose it to Saladin, who raized it. At one point in its history there was even a group of Bosnian Moslems who tried making it their home. Today all that's left are antiquities, hinting at the grandeur of the place in ages past. |
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In front of the Roman theater.