Caesarea National Park: An Archaeological Site in Israel
Table of Contents
Visitor Information
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Official Website: en.parks.org.il
Country: Israel
Civilization: Byzantine, Crusader, Early Islamic, Greek, Phoenician, Roman
Remains: City
Context
Caesarea National Park is situated on Israel’s central Mediterranean coastline, encompassing the archaeological remains of Caesarea Maritima. The site occupies a coastal plain characterized by a low rocky promontory adjacent to a once sheltered bay, positioned approximately midway between the modern cities of Tel Aviv and Haifa within the jurisdiction of the contemporary Caesarea municipality.
The site’s significance derives from its strategic maritime location and its role as a major urban center established by Herod the Great in the late first century BCE. The artificial harbor and city constructed here served as a focal point of Roman imperial administration in the early centuries CE. Subsequent Byzantine occupation introduced Christian religious and architectural elements, while early Islamic layers attest to continued, albeit diminished, settlement after the seventh century. A catastrophic earthquake in 551 CE severely damaged the harbor and urban fabric, a fact corroborated by both archaeological strata and historical sources. Crusader occupation in the twelfth century reactivated the site’s military and urban functions before its eventual decline in the medieval period.
Systematic archaeological investigations commenced in the early twentieth century and intensified following the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948. Excavations, including underwater surveys, have revealed extensive remains spanning multiple periods, preserving a stratigraphic sequence from the Hellenistic through Crusader eras. The site is currently managed as a protected national park and archaeological reserve, with finds conserved both on-site and in regional institutions.
History
Caesarea National Park encapsulates the historical trajectory of a coastal settlement that evolved through successive cultural and political dominions. Originating as a Phoenician maritime outpost, it was transformed under Herod the Great into a prominent Roman port city. Over time, Caesarea functioned as a provincial capital, an early Christian ecclesiastical center, and a contested fortress during the Crusades. Its development and decline reflect broader regional dynamics, including imperial administration, religious transformations, and military conflicts, documented through a rich archaeological record spanning from the 4th century BCE to the late medieval period.
Phoenician Foundation and Expansion (4th century BCE – 90 BCE)
The earliest phase of occupation at the site corresponds to a Phoenician foundation known as Straton’s Tower, established in the 4th century BCE under the auspices of Sidonian monarchs, possibly Abdashtart I or Straton I. Functioning primarily as a naval station and trading post, the settlement occupied a coastal position lacking natural harbor protections. Archaeological evidence reveals a substantial curved fortification wall enclosing approximately 270 dunams (27 hectares), with a coastline extending about 1.5 kilometers. The harbor, though unprotected by natural breakwaters, provided anchorage for merchant vessels, as attested by papyri referencing ships such as those of Zenon docking there. The site’s name reflects the Hellenized form of the Sidonian royal name, indicating its integration within the Phoenician maritime network and its role in regional commerce and naval activities.
Hasmonean Rule and Jewish Settlement (90 BCE – 63 BCE)
In 90 BCE, the Hasmonean ruler Alexander Jannaeus captured Straton’s Tower, incorporating it into the expanding Hasmonean kingdom. This conquest, commemorated in the Jewish text Megillat Ta’anit as a significant victory over a rival stronghold, marked the site’s transition to Jewish control. The settlement continued to function as a regional naval base and shipbuilding center for two generations under Hasmonean administration. Archaeological data confirm ongoing occupation during this period, though the urban scale remained modest compared to later Roman developments. The Hasmonean presence introduced Jewish cultural and religious elements, although specific architectural remains from this phase are limited.
Roman Conquest and Herodian Construction (63 BCE – 4 BCE)
Following Pompey’s annexation of the region in 63 BCE, Straton’s Tower was incorporated into the Roman province of Syria and granted autonomous city status. After Octavian’s victory at Actium in 31 BCE, Herod the Great was granted control over the coastal territories, including Straton’s Tower. Between 22 and 10 BCE, Herod undertook an extensive rebuilding program, renaming the city Caesarea in honor of Emperor Augustus. Central to this transformation was the construction of Sebastos, a vast artificial deep-sea harbor featuring two extensive breakwaters constructed with Roman hydraulic concrete, imported pozzolana from Italy, and local kurkar stone. This harbor was among the largest of its kind in the ancient world, designed to rival the port of Alexandria.
Herod’s urban development included the erection of public buildings such as storerooms, markets, baths, a temple dedicated to Roma and Augustus, and a palatial complex with decorative pools and stoas. The city hosted large-scale entertainment events in a theater overlooking the Mediterranean. Despite the advanced engineering techniques employed, the harbor suffered from structural vulnerabilities due to the use of local materials, construction over a geological fault line, and seismic activity, which contributed to its gradual deterioration.
Imperial Roman Period (6 CE – 4th century CE)
In 6 CE, Judea was reorganized as a Roman province, with Caesarea supplanting Jerusalem as the administrative and military capital. The city served as the official residence for Roman governors, including Pontius Pilate and Antonius Felix. During this period, Caesarea expanded rapidly, reaching an estimated population of approximately 125,000 inhabitants and covering nearly 3.7 square kilometers, making it the largest urban center in Judea.
Under Emperor Vespasian, Caesarea was elevated to the status of a Roman colonia, designated Colonia Prima Flavia Augusta Caesarea. The city’s population was ethnically diverse, comprising Jews, Greeks, Romans, and other groups. Social tensions occasionally erupted, exemplified by the 26 CE protest against Pilate’s eagle standards and the Jewish revolt of 66 CE, which was partly incited by conflicts involving Greek merchants in Caesarea. Following the revolts, the city was settled by Roman veterans, and the province was renamed Syria Palaestina in 135 CE.
Archaeological remains from this era include a large Roman theater, a hippodrome reconstructed in the 2nd century CE, a temple dedicated to Roma and Augustus, and a double aqueduct system supplying water from Mount Carmel. A circus modeled on Rome’s Circus Maximus was constructed under Emperor Hadrian, measuring approximately 450 by 70 meters, used for chariot races and public spectacles. The city’s infrastructure encompassed markets, warehouses, and a governor’s palace with administrative offices and a bathhouse bearing legionary stamps. The Jewish community remained significant, maintaining synagogues and engaging in trade and agriculture, though intercommunal relations fluctuated.
Early Christian and Byzantine Period (3rd century – 640 CE)
Caesarea emerged as a prominent center of early Christianity, associated with figures such as Philip the Deacon and Paul the Apostle, who was imprisoned there prior to his journey to Rome. The city was home to notable Christian scholars including Origen, author of the Hexapla, and Eusebius, the 4th-century bishop and church historian. Caesarea developed a renowned theological school and housed one of the largest ecclesiastical libraries of the period, containing over 30,000 manuscripts. The Nicene Creed may have originated in this intellectual milieu.
By the 4th century CE, Caesarea was the metropolitan see of the province of Palaestina Prima, exercising ecclesiastical jurisdiction over Jerusalem until the Council of Chalcedon in 451 CE established Jerusalem as a patriarchate. Byzantine Caesarea featured significant Christian architecture, including a 6th-century octagonal martyrion church constructed atop Herod’s temple podium, richly decorated with mosaics and Christian iconography. The city remained the provincial capital through the 5th and 6th centuries and was briefly occupied by Sassanid Persian forces in 614 CE before Byzantine reconquest in 625 CE.
A major earthquake in 551 CE caused extensive damage to the harbor and urban structures, rendering the port unusable. This event is documented both archaeologically and in contemporary historical accounts, marking a critical turning point in the city’s decline during the Byzantine period.
Early Islamic Period (640 – 11th century)
Caesarea was conquered by Muslim Arab forces around 640 CE and incorporated into the military district (jund) of Filastin. The city lost its status as provincial capital, with administrative centers relocating to Ludd and later Ramla. Archaeological evidence reveals a destruction layer associated with the conquest, though some scholars interpret the decline as gradual rather than sudden. Muslim historian al-Baladhuri attributes the city’s fall to betrayal by a local leader named Yusef, with approximately 4,000 captives taken to Medina as war booty.
Despite diminished prominence, Caesarea maintained a reduced population including Jewish and Samaritan communities. Al-Baladhuri’s figures of 20,000 Jews and 30,000 Samaritans at the time of conquest are debated but indicate significant minority groups. Under the Umayyad Caliphate, the city experienced partial resettlement and agricultural use. By the 11th century, Caesarea was refortified; contemporary traveler Nasir Khusraw described it as a fortified city with strong walls, an iron gate, running water, palm gardens, and a Friday mosque overlooking the sea. This mosque was later converted into the Crusader church of St. Peter.
Crusader Period (1101 – 1265)
In 1101, Baldwin I of Jerusalem besieged and captured Caesarea after a 15-day siege employing trebuchets and siege towers. The city was looted, many men were killed, and women and children enslaved. Baldwin established a Latin archbishopric, inaugurating Crusader ecclesiastical administration. Caesarea became an important port and lordship within the Kingdom of Jerusalem, with ten Latin archbishops recorded between 1101 and 1266.
The city changed hands multiple times during the Crusades, including Saladin’s capture in 1187 and Crusader recapture in 1191. In 1251, King Louis IX fortified Caesarea with high walls and a deep moat, portions of which survive today. By this period, the Jewish and Samaritan populations had sharply declined, with traveler Benjamin of Tudela recording only 200 Jews and 200 Samaritans. In 1265, the Mamluk Sultan Baibars captured and destroyed Caesarea to prevent its reuse as a Crusader stronghold, leaving the site in ruins and ending its urban role.
Ottoman Period and Early Modern Era (1516 – 1948)
Caesarea became part of the Ottoman Empire in 1516, remaining under Ottoman control for four centuries. In the 17th century, the settlement comprised approximately 100 Moroccan Muslim families and a small Jewish minority. By the 18th century, the site had declined to ruins inhabited by impoverished fishermen.
Daily Life and Importance by Period
Phoenician Foundation and Expansion (4th century BCE – 90 BCE)
During its initial phase as Straton’s Tower, the settlement functioned as a Phoenician maritime outpost under Sidonian control. The population comprised primarily sailors, traders, and artisans engaged in ship provisioning, navigation, and coastal commerce. Social organization likely included local elites overseeing maritime trade and religious cults dedicated to Phoenician deities such as Melqart, although direct archaeological evidence for cultic structures at the site is limited. The substantial curved fortification wall indicates organized urban planning and communal defense.
Economic activities centered on harbor services and trade, with anchorage facilities supporting merchant vessels navigating the eastern Mediterranean. Archaeological remains suggest small-scale workshops producing pottery and maritime equipment.
Roman Conquest and Herodian Construction (63 BCE – 4 BCE)
Herod the Great’s reconstruction transformed Caesarea into a cosmopolitan Roman city and major port. The population diversified, including Roman settlers, local Jews, Greeks, and other eastern Mediterranean peoples.
Imperial Roman Period (6 CE – 4th century CE)
Under direct Roman provincial rule, Caesarea expanded into the largest urban center in Judaea, with a population estimated at 125,000. The demographic mix included Romans, Greeks, Jews, and other ethnic groups, with a complex social hierarchy of veterans, merchants, priests, and administrators. Inscriptions mention duumviri and other municipal magistrates governing civic affairs.
Economic life was diverse and vibrant, featuring large-scale maritime trade, agriculture, crafts, and administrative services. The city’s infrastructure included markets, warehouses, a hippodrome, circus, and aqueducts supplying water for public baths and fountains. Workshops produced pottery, glass, and textiles. Diet remained varied, with local produce supplemented by imported goods from across the empire.
Residential quarters ranged from modest homes to luxurious domus with mosaic floors and painted walls. The theater and circus hosted public entertainment, while the forum served as a commercial and social center. Transportation combined maritime shipping with road networks connecting Caesarea to inland regions. Religious practices were pluralistic: pagan temples to Roma and Augustus coexisted with Jewish synagogues and emerging Christian communities. The city was the seat of Roman governors, including Pontius Pilate, and held colonia status, reflecting its administrative prominence.
Early Christian and Byzantine Period (3rd century – 640 CE)
As Christianity gained dominance, Caesarea evolved into a ecclesiastical center. The population included Christian clergy, scholars, Roman officials, and local inhabitants of diverse backgrounds. Bishops such as Eusebius shaped religious and intellectual life, with the city hosting a renowned theological school and a vast library.
Economic activities shifted toward sustaining the Christian community and provincial administration. Agriculture and trade continued but on a reduced scale compared to the Roman peak. Public buildings included churches, martyrion shrines, and basilicas richly decorated with mosaics and Christian iconography. Domestic interiors featured Christian symbols alongside traditional Roman decorative motifs.
Early Islamic Period (640 – 11th century)
Following the Muslim conquest, Caesarea’s population decreased and diversified, including Christians, Muslims, Jews, and Samaritans. Social hierarchy adapted to Islamic governance, with local leaders and military officials administering the city under the Jund Filastin district. The city lost provincial capital status, diminishing its political role.
Crusader Period (1101 – 1265)
The Crusader conquest introduced a Latin Christian population, including knights, clergy, merchants, and artisans. The social hierarchy featured a lordship governed by a Latin archbishop and feudal lords, supported by military garrisons and local inhabitants. The Jewish and Samaritan populations had largely declined by this time.
Economic activities revived around the port, serving as a key Crusader harbor facilitating trade and military logistics. Craftsmen produced weapons, textiles, and building materials. Agricultural estates supplied food to the city. Domestic buildings included fortified residences and ecclesiastical structures with Gothic architectural elements.
Caesarea was a fortified lordship within the Kingdom of Jerusalem, with significant military and administrative functions. King Louis IX’s 13th-century fortifications enhanced its defenses. The city’s repeated capture and recapture illustrate its contested strategic importance until its destruction by the Mamluks in 1265, ending its urban role.
Remains
Architectural Features
Caesarea National Park preserves extensive architectural remains spanning from the Hellenistic through Crusader periods, illustrating the site’s transformation from a Phoenician coastal settlement into a Roman provincial capital and later a medieval fortress. The original Hellenistic city was enclosed by a curved fortification wall covering approximately 270 dunams (27 hectares). Subsequent expansions and fortifications were added in later periods. Construction materials include local kurkar sandstone, Roman hydraulic concrete, and imported marble elements. The urban layout follows a grid plan with a principal east-west street (decumanus) near the coastline.
Herod the Great’s building program in the 1st century BCE introduced monumental public works, including an artificial deep-sea harbor, a palace complex, and entertainment venues. Byzantine modifications added Christian religious buildings atop earlier Roman foundations. Crusader fortifications from the 12th and 13th centuries include high walls and a moat, parts of which survive. The site also contains remains from the early Islamic period, including a mosque converted from a Byzantine church. Over time, the city’s size and complexity fluctuated, with decline evident after the 6th-century earthquake and final abandonment following the Mamluk destruction in 1265.
Key Buildings and Structures
Harbour of Sebastos
Constructed between 22 and 15 BCE by Herod the Great, the Harbour of Sebastos was an extensive artificial deep-sea port on a coastline lacking natural harbors. Dedicated to Emperor Augustus around 10/9 BCE, it enclosed approximately 100,000 square meters, making it the largest open-sea artificial harbor of its time. The harbor featured two breakwaters: a southern breakwater approximately 500 meters long and a northern breakwater about 275 meters in length. These were constructed using underwater lime and pozzolana concrete, with over 24,000 cubic meters of pozzolana imported from Puteoli (Italy).
Construction techniques included driving wooden stakes to form underwater concrete boxes, a double-planked floating box method with a 23-centimeter gap filled with pozzolana, and sinking barges filled with concrete and lime mortar. The concrete quality was inferior to Italian ports due to local lime and mixing issues. The harbor was built over a geological fault, causing gradual settling and tilting. A tsunami in the 1st or 2nd century CE likely damaged the structure. By the 6th century CE, the harbor was unusable, and the breakwaters now lie submerged more than five meters below sea level.
Herod’s Palace
Situated on a promontory extending into the sea, Herod’s Palace was constructed in the late 1st century BCE. The two-story complex included a decorative pool surrounded by stoas (covered walkways) and a bathhouse with bricks stamped by the Roman Tenth Legion “Fretensis.” The palace was later adapted as the residence of Roman and Byzantine governors. It lies south of the Crusader walls along the main decumanus street near the coastline.
The palace contained a basilica with an apse that functioned as a hall of justice, evidenced by inscriptions detailing court clerk fees. Archaeological remains include a large central hall flanked by corridors on both sides and two levels of rooms. The structure’s masonry primarily consists of local kurkar stone and Roman concrete.
Theatre of Caesarea
Constructed during Herod the Great’s reign (circa 22–10 BCE), the theatre was built mainly of local kurkar stone and plaster. It originally seated approximately 4,000 spectators. Later additions during the reign of Emperor Septimius Severus (late 2nd century CE) included marble and porphyry columns. The theatre is situated along the coastline, providing views of the Mediterranean Sea.
The venue hosted gladiatorial games, theatrical performances, and major sports competitions held every five years. The northern end of the seating area (cavea) contains starting gates, indicating its dual use as a hippodrome or circus for chariot races. Excavated by an Italian team in the late 1950s, the theatre has undergone restoration and conservation, enabling its use for cultural events since 1961. A dedicatory inscription known as the “Tiberieum,” found in 1961, honors Pontius Pilate and may relate to the theatre complex.
Temple of Roma and Augustus (Sebasteion)
Built in the 1st century BCE by Herod, the Temple of Roma and Augustus was dedicated to the goddess Roma and Emperor Augustus. It was situated within a sacred precinct enclosed by walls. The temple’s construction primarily used local kurkar stone and featured a deep pronaos (front porch) and a peripteral layout suggested by surviving remains. A staircase ascended from west to east, and the exterior was covered with a thick layer of fine stucco, giving it a monumental appearance.
Late Roman additions included marble elements. In the Byzantine period, a 6th-century octagonal martyrion church was constructed directly atop the temple podium. This church was richly paved and surrounded by small radiating enclosures, with archaeological finds including foliate capitals bearing Christian crosses. During the Islamic period, the structure was repurposed as a mosque. A nymphaeum (monumental fountain) was located at the northwest corner of the temple complex; first excavated in 1961 and re-excavated in the 1990s, it was reopened to the public in 2014.
Hippodrome / Circus
The hippodrome, inspired by Rome’s Circus Maximus, was constructed in the 2nd century CE east of the city in a large open area. It measured approximately 450 meters in length and 70 meters in width. The structure included stone seating (cavea), now mostly robbed, supported by vaulted substructures. A central dividing barrier (spina) ran along the track’s length, featuring water basins and an obelisk made of granite imported from Aswan, Egypt. Stone cones marked the turning points of the spina.
The hippodrome was used for chariot races and related public spectacles until the 6th century CE. Its remains are fragmentary but identifiable through the surviving seating foundations and track layout.
Byzantine Octagonal Martyrion Church
Constructed in the 6th century CE directly on the podium of Herod’s Temple of Roma and Augustus, this octagonal martyrion church served as the main Byzantine church in Caesarea. The building was richly paved and surrounded by small radiating enclosures. Archaeological finds include capitals decorated with foliate motifs and Christian crosses. The church was later reoccupied and converted into a mosque during the Islamic period.
Large Public Bath Complex
Located south of Herod’s Palace, the large public bath complex was built during the Roman and Byzantine periods. It included a palaestra (exercise yard) where bathers warmed up before entering the baths. The bathhouse was rectangular and surrounded by rooms on all sides. The floors featured opus sectile mosaics, and stone benches likely served as waiting areas.
The entire complex was constructed on a raised floor to reduce moisture damage to sensitive documents, indicating administrative use. The bath complex formed part of the governmental quarter and included heating systems typical of Roman baths.
Aqueduct System
Caesarea was supplied with water by multiple aqueducts drawing from springs up to 12 kilometers away. The “High Aqueduct” consisted of three channels built at different times. Channel A, probably dating to the Herodian period, was a single channel originating from the Ein Shuni springs near Binyamina. Channel B was constructed during Emperor Hadrian’s reign by the Tenth Legion and extended water sources, including a six-kilometer tunnel and a five-kilometer open channel. Channel C dates to the Byzantine period.
The aqueducts crossed the kurkar ridge at Jeser az-Zarqa via a tunnel with maintenance shafts. Near the sea, sections were covered to prevent sand intrusion. A siphon system of ceramic pipes was used to cross soft ground prone to subsidence.
City Walls and Fortifications
The original Hellenistic city was enclosed by a curved wall covering approximately 270 dunams. Crusader fortifications, built or reinforced in 1251 by King Louis IX, included high walls and a deep moat; parts of these survive today. The Crusader citadel was surrounded by the sea and included a fortified harbor.
In the 11th century, Muslim rulers refortified the city with strong walls and an iron gate. The Mamluks destroyed the fortified city completely in 1265 to prevent its reuse as a Crusader stronghold. Surface traces of a boundary wall and a 60-meter-wide moat protecting the harbor to the south and west have been identified.
Domestic and Residential Areas
Villas of wealthy landowners were located south of Herod’s Palace, each associated with large storage complexes to the north. Residential buildings from the 19th-century Bosnian Muslim village period are generally one story high and built in blocks. The governor’s house from this period is an exception, featuring two stories. The Bosnian mosque, a simple stone building with a red-tiled roof and cylindrical minaret, survives from the 19th century.
Mosaic Floors
A rare, high-quality mosaic dating from the 2nd to 3rd century CE was discovered near a Crusader bridge in 2018. Measuring approximately 3.5 by 8 meters, it depicts three male figures in togas, geometric patterns, and a damaged Greek inscription. A 6th-century mosaic panel made of glass gold and colored opaque glass tesserae was found in 2005, patterned with crosses and rosettes; it was used as a table.
Burial: Roman Marble Sarcophagus
Discovered in 2025, a marble sarcophagus dating to approximately 1,700 years ago depicts a drinking contest between the gods Dionysus and Hercules. The relief includes Maenads, satyrs, Hermes, Pan, panthers, and lions. Conservation experts restored and assembled the sarcophagus.
Other Remains
Additional remains include a large Roman market building and storerooms, underground grain storage silos associated with villas, and a Crusader bridge. Archaeological evidence of a destruction layer linked to the Muslim conquest in 640 CE has been identified. Remains of a mosque converted from a Byzantine church are also present.
Archaeological Discoveries
Excavations at Caesarea have uncovered a variety of artifacts spanning from the 4th century BCE through the medieval period. Pottery includes amphorae and tableware from Phoenician, Roman, Byzantine, and Islamic contexts. Numerous inscriptions have been found, including dedicatory texts related to Herod’s constructions and reused blocks mentioning Pontius Pilate.
Coins from multiple periods have been recovered, including Roman imperial issues and over 2,000 gold coins dating to the Fatimid period discovered underwater in 2015 and re-examined in 2021. Tools related to agriculture and crafts, as well as domestic objects such as lamps and cooking vessels, have been documented. Religious artifacts include statuettes, altars, and ritual vessels from pagan, Christian, and Islamic phases.
These finds were made in various contexts, including domestic quarters, workshops, sanctuaries, and street layers, reflecting the site’s long occupation and diverse economic and religious activities.
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