Caesarea

Caesarea Maritima was the great artificial harbor and city built by Herod the Great, and the seat of the Roman governors of Judea. In apostolic times the Gentile Cornelius was converted here, opening the way for the good news to reach the nations; Paul later passed through the city repeatedly, was held prisoner here for two years and made his defense before the Roman governors and King Agrippa, before sailing from here for Rome.

Caesarea stood on the Mediterranean coast, about forty kilometers south of Mount Carmel and eighty-seven kilometers northwest of Jerusalem. The site began as a small Phoenician anchorage called Strato’s Tower. In 30 B.C.E., Augustus granted it to Herod the Great. Over some twelve years Herod built a vast artificial deep-water harbor on the open shore and adorned the new city with a temple, palace, theater, hippodrome, markets and aqueducts. It was inaugurated around 10 B.C.E. and named Caesarea in honor of Caesar Augustus — Caesarea Maritima, “Caesarea by the Sea,” to distinguish it from such cities as Caesarea Philippi. From 6 C.E., when Judea became a Roman province, Caesarea was the governor’s residence; auxiliary troops such as the “Italian band” were stationed there, and chronic tension between its Jewish and Greco-Syrian inhabitants in 66 C.E. helped spark the First Jewish Revolt. In Acts, Caesarea is the pivotal stage on which the good news crossed ethnic boundaries. After Stephen’s martyrdom, Philip preached through Samaria and the coastal region, “declaring the good news to all the cities until he got to Caesarea” (Acts 8:40), and he later made his home there. When the newly converted Saul was threatened by Greek-speaking Jews in Jerusalem, the brothers “led him down to Caesarea and sent him off to Tarsus” (Acts 9:30). Most momentous are Acts 10–11: Cornelius, a centurion of the Italian band stationed at Caesarea, was devout, God-fearing and generous to the people; an angel directed him to send for Peter in Joppa, while Peter’s vision taught him that God is not partial. Peter came to Caesarea and preached in Cornelius’ house, and while he was still speaking, holy spirit fell on all the Gentiles listening, who were then baptized. Peter later defended his actions in Jerusalem, recalling “three men who had been sent from Caesarea” (Acts 11:11), evidence that the door of salvation had opened to the nations. Herod Agrippa I was struck down in the city for his pride (Acts 12:19-23). At the close of his second missionary journey Paul “landed at Caesarea” and greeted the congregation (Acts 18:22); near the end of his third journey, disregarding the prophet Agabus’ warning of bonds, he went up to Jerusalem but first stayed at “the house of Philip the evangelizer” in Caesarea (Acts 21:8, 16). After his arrest in the temple, Paul was rushed down to Caesarea under an escort of two hundred soldiers and seventy horsemen (Acts 23:23, 33), held for about two years under the governors Felix and Festus, and made his defense before King Agrippa and Bernice. Finally, having “appealed to Caesar,” he set sail from the harbor of Caesarea for Rome (Acts 25:1, 13; 27:1-2). The harbor city Herod built thus became a hinge point between the gospel’s reach to the Gentile world and Paul’s chain of witness.