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Caesarea Palaestina, also called '''Caesarea Maritima''', a town built by Herod The Great about 25 –13 BC, lies on the sea-coast of Israel about halfway between Tel Aviv and Haifa , on the site of a place previously called ''Pyrgos Stratonos'' ("Strato" or "Straton's Tower," in Latin ''Turris Stratonis''). Caesarea Palaestina should not be confused with other cities named to flatter the Caesar, Caesarea Philippi , also in Israel, or Caesarea Mazaca in Anatolian Cappadocia . Herod the palace-builder did not neglect his new city: his palace at Caesarea was built on a promontory that jutted out into the sea, with a decorative pool surrounded by stoas. The civil life of the new city began in 13 BC, when Caesarea was made the civil and military capital of Judaea, and the official residence of the Roman procurators and governors, Pontius Pilatus , ''praefectus'' and Felix. The city was described in detail by the Jewish historian Josephus ('' Jewish Antiquities '' XV.331ff; '' Jewish War '' I.408ff). Remains of all the principal buildings erected by Herod existed down to the end of the 19th century. Remains of the Medieval town are also visible, consisting of the walls (one-tenth the area of the Roman city), the castle, the site of the modest Crusader cathedral and church. Archaeological excavations during the 1950s and 1960s uncovered remains from many periods, in particular, a complex of fortifications of the Crusader city and the that brought water from springs at the foot of Mount Carmel ; a boundary wall; and, chief of all, a gigantic mole, 200 ft (60 m) wide, built of stones 50 ft (15 m) long, in 20 fathoms (40 m) of water, protecting the harbour on the south and west exposures. The harbor at Caesarea Palaestina, 180 yd (180 m) across, was then the largest harbor on the eastern Mediterranean coast. The city quickly grew to become the largest city in Judea, with an estimated population of 125,000 in an urban area of 3.7 km&2. Josephus included detailed descriptions of Caesarea in ''Jewish Antiquities'' 15.331 and in the ''Jewish War'' 1.408, for the massacre of Jew s at this place led to the Jewish rebellion and to the Roman war. Vespasian made it a colony and called it ''Colonia Prima Flavia Augusta Caesarea'': the old name persisted, however, and still survives as "Kaisarieh". Early Christian mentions of Caesarea in the apostolic period follow the acts of Peter who established the church there when he baptized the Cornelius The Centurion ( Acts , 10, 11). The Apostle Paul often sojourned there (9:30; 18:22; 21:8), and was imprisoned at Caesarea for two years before being taken to Rome (23:23, 25:1-13). After the revolt of Simon Bar Kokhba , which ended with the destruction of Jerusalem , Caesarea became the center of Christianity in Palestine; however, there is no record of any bishop of Caesarea until the end of the 2nd century, when a council was held there to regulate the celebration of Easter. In the 3rd century Origen wrote his '' Hexapla '' and other exegetic and theological works while living there. Eusebius was one of its archbishops (315 - 318). The main church was the ''Martyrion of the Holy Procopius'', built in the 6th century and sited directly upon the podium that had supported the . Through Origen and especially the scholarly prespyter , Basil The Great , Jerome and others came to study there. An elaborate government structure contained a Basilica with an apse, where magistrates would have sat, for the structure was used as a hall of justice, as fragments of inscriptions detailing the fees that court clerks might claim attest. In the 7th century, the city was captured first by the Persians, then in 638 by the Muslims , and in one or the other upheaval the great library was destroyed. 20,000 Jews and 30,000 Samaritans who lived in the city prior to the Muslim occupation (according to the Arab historian Al-Baladhuri ) vanished altogether from the historical record. The walls remained, but within them the population dwindled and agriculture crept in among the ruins. When retook the city in 1187; it was recaptured by the Crusaders in 1191, and finally lost by them in 1265 this time to the Mamluk s, who ensured that there would be no more battling over the site— where the harbor has silted in anyway— that they razed the fortifications. Caesarea lay in ruins until its resettlement by the Ottomans as Kaisariyeh in 1884, after which the ruins were much damaged. In the 1950s and 60s, modern archaeology uncovered details of Crusader ramparts and the theater of the Roman city. More recent work has filled out the picture {Link without Title} . SEE ALSO EXTERNAL LINKS
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