Caeserea  

 (pictures: Fr. Tomas)

King Herod decided in 22 BC to use the site for a deep-water port. Herod determined that the port and the city he was creating would become outstanding achievements of his reign and among his great contributions to the prosperity of his kingdom. Employing the finest architects of the time and the most up-to-date engineers over twelve years of non-stop construction, Herod saw his stout stone breakwaters go up north and south of the harbor. He constructed a theater and a stadium, and threw a wall around the eastern side of the city, enclosing about 400 acres

Caesarea (Palestine), is a city on the shore of the Mediterranean, on the great road from Tyre to Egypt, about 70 miles northwest of Jerusalem, at the northern extremity of the plain of Sharon. It was built by Herod the Great (B.C. 10) who named it after Caesar Augustus, hence called Caesarea Sebaste (Gr. Sebastos = "Augustus"), on the site of an old town called "Strato's Tower." It was the capital of the Roman

province of Judaea, the seat of the governors or procurators, and the headquarters of the Roman troops. It was the great Gentile city of Palestine, with a spacious artificial harbor. It was adorned with many buildings of great splendor, after the manner of the Roman cities of the West.

 Caesarea’s harbor was as large as that of Piraeus, Athens’ port. It brought status and revenue to Herod’s kingdom. He used the port to import materials for his numerous building projects. The harbor also made Palestine easily accessible to Rome, only a ten-day voyage away.

The city of Caesarea encompassed 165 acres. It boasted a theater, an amphitheater, a hippodrome, palaces, public buildings, storerooms, residential areas, and a sewer system.

The enormous scale of this project is revealed in the dimensions of some of the structures. The hippodrome, seating 38,000 people, was 1500 feet long and 250 feet wide. The theater was three hundred feet in diameter and could accommodate four thousand people. Some of the stones used to build the harbor’s breakwater were fifty feet long, eighteen feet wide, and nine feet thick.

A seven-mile aqueduct brought water to the city from Mount Carmel.

It was Jesus’ practice to teach in metaphors and parables that related to the physical context in which He was ministering, e.g. "fishers of men" and "a sower went out to sow" spoken on the shore of the Sea of Galilee where fishing and sowing could

readily be observed. It is likely, therefore, that on this occasion, as they stood before this rock bluff, Jesus’ choice of the metaphor, petra, reflected this practice.
Jesus made four historic predictions at Caesarea Philippi. They concerned:

The Church: (Matt 16:18) For the first time, Jesus announced His purpose to build an ekklesia (Church), a community of the redeemed, called out to be His Body on earth, to witness to Him while He was absent.
The Keys of the Kingdom: (Matt 16:19) The keys refer to authority in the ekklesia. This power would also be shared by the other apostles (Matt 18:18; John 20:20-23). This authority was given to the apostles to enable them to lead the first generation of believers after Pentecost until the epistles were written, that revealed Jesus’ standards and provisions for His ekklesia.

Jesus’ coming death and resurrection: (Matt 16:21-23) Jesus announced His death and resurrection, the events that would provide the redemption essential for the Church to come into existence.

Jesus’ call to discipleship: (Matt 16:24-27) Jesus used the example of His own obedience to the Father, even to death, as He taught His followers this basic definition of a disciple. After His return to the Father, Jesus’ Body on earth would be composed of those who would deny themselves and follow Him.

Here Cornelius the centurion was converted through the instrumentality of Peter and thus for the first time the door of faith was opened to the Gentiles. Philip, the evangelist, resided here with his four daughters. From this place Saul sailed for his native Tarsus when forced to flee from Jerusalem and here he landed when returning from his second missionary journey He remained as a prisoner here for two years before his voyage to Rome.

Here on a "set day," when games were celebrated in the theatre in honor of the emperor Claudius, Herod Agrippa I appeared among the people in great pomp, and in the midst of the idolatrous homage paid to him was suddenly smitten by an angel, and carried out a dying man. He was "eaten of worms" thus perishing by the same loathsome disease as

his grandfather, Herod the Great. It still retains its ancient name Kaiseriyeh, but is now desolate.

Caesarea Philippi became a center of Greek-Roman culture, a city known for its pagan worship, its prestigious status as the capital city of Herod Philip’s domain, and its significant Gentile population. References to "the district of Caesarea Philippi" (Matt 16:13) and "the villages of Caesarea Philippi" (Mark 8:27) reflect the city’s status as the power center of Philip’s territory.
Pontius Pilate, prefect (governor) of Judea, lived in the governor’s residence in Caesarea. An inscription on a stone found recently in the theater reads: "Pontius Pilate, the Prefect of Judea, has dedicated to the people of Caesarea a temple in honor of Tiberius."

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