Caesarea Maritima

History of the Town

The small town of Straton's Tower was established during the Persian period, when the Palestinian coast was governed by the Phoenician kings of Tyre and Sidon. The town was part of the territory that Herod received from Octavian (Augustus Caesar) after the battle of Actium in 31 B.C.E., when Octavian reconfirmed Herod as king of Judea and increased the size of his kingdom. Herod rebuilt Straton's Tower as a showcase Greco-Roman port city and renamed it Caesarea. Herod's establishment of Caesarea followed the precedent of Alexander the Great and his Hellenistic successors, but instead of naming it after himself he named it in honor of Octavian – a brilliant move that demonstrated Herod's loyalty to his new patron. Herod's city of Caesarea had two components: the settlement (on land), called Caesarea Maritima, and the harbor, called Sebaste (Sebastos is Greek for Augustus). A glance at a map of Palestine reveals that the coastline is relatively even and lacks large natural harbors and anchorages. Herod's new harbor filled this gap, and the city quickly became Palestine's major port city.

Caesarea had a long history and flourished for centuries. Its importance increased after Herod Archelaus was removed from rule in 6 C.E., when it became the seat of the local Roman governor (prefect or procurator) in Palestine (although Herod had a palace at Caesarea, Jerusalem was the capital of his kingdom). After Paul was arrested, he was imprisoned in the Roman governor's palace at Caesarea for two years before being shipped off to Rome for trial and (presumably) execution (Acts 23:23–24, 33). Caesarea was a Greco-Roman city with a large Gentile population and a minority of Jews. By Paul's time, the inhabitants also included some members of the early church: “The next day we left and came to Caesarea; and we went into the house of Philip the evangelist, one of the seven, and stayed with him.…After these days we got ready and started to go up to Jerusalem. Some of the disciples from Caesarea also came along and brought us to the house of Mnason of Cyprus, and early disciple, with whom we were to stay” (Acts 21:8, 15–16). Tensions between Jews and Gentiles at Caesarea contributed to the outbreak of the First Jewish Revolt in 66 C.E., when a pagan ceremony conducted on the Sabbath near the entrance to a synagogue sparked riots.