Caesarea

This was a visit south of Haifa at the Caesarea National Park. Caesarea was built by Herod I or Herod the Great over 2,000 years ago. It was built on another ancient city from the 4th century BCE. Herod was known for his colossal building projects and we saw three of them on this trip. This park spans the time from Herod’s Roman ruins up through the Crusader period, in many layers. We spent a couple of hours here but we could have spent more time here.

I don’t think I’ve ever visited a major Roman ruins that didn’t have an amphitheater, and Caesarea was no exception. You can tell from looking at Vicky that it was a bright and sunny day. You can see that this amphitheater still gets used.

In the middle of the next photo was the Herodian hippodrome. I included this photo more to give a small idea about the size and scope of Caesarea.

Caesarea was one of the largest and most magnificent ports in the Mediterranean back in Herod’s time.

The Caesarea Nymphaeum was the public fountain that stood at the center of center of ancient Caesarea and one of the town’s main monuments. It was both decorative and provided drinking water.

Our guide said that barely ten percent of this park has been uncovered. We watched an excavation that was underway by Israel and Vanderbilt University. It looked like slow work.