Caesarea

Caesarea, seaport of ancient Palestine, on the coast of Samaria, north of Joppa (modern Tel Aviv-Yafo, or also known as Tel Aviv-Jaffa). Founded about 22 bc by the Judean king Herod the Great, it was named in honor of the Roman emperor Augustus. Herod provided the city with an amphitheater, a number of imposing temples and public buildings, excellent water-supply and drainage systems, and a magnificent harbor, protected by a breakwater. Ruins of some of these structures, including the breakwater, are extant. According to the New Testament (see Acts 10), it was at Caesarea that the disciple Peter converted Cornelius, the first Gentile to accept Christianity. In ad 66, on the outbreak of the Jewish revolt against Roman rule, the citizens of Caesarea vigorously supported the revolutionary cause. Most of the Jewish inhabitants were massacred after the Romans reestablished their authority in the city, and there the Roman general Vespasian made his headquarters during the subsequent fighting. In July 69, while at Caesarea, Vespasian was proclaimed emperor of the Roman Empire by his troops. Following the fall of Jerusalem in 70, Caesarea was made capital of Roman Palestine. Later, as an episcopal see, the city figured significantly in the early history of the church. About 232 the Christian teacher and theologian Origen founded a school there. After 638, when Caesarea fell to the Muslims, the city declined steadily. It was captured and plundered (1102) by troops under Baldwin I, ruler of the Latin kingdom of Jerusalem and a leader of the First Crusade. Caesarea was razed (1265) by the Mamluk sultan of Egypt, Baybars I. The site of the ancient city is occupied by modern Sedot Yam, Israel.