Every year when I usually do my trips this beautiful land of my ancestors, delivery to the people of Israel about the eternal promise to Abraham, step by many biblical and archaeological sites, but undoubtedly one of the most impressive is Caesarea Maritima.

The Old City of Caesarea is located on the Mediterranean coast, midway between Tel Aviv and Haifa. Archaeological excavations during the decades of 50 and 60 revealed remnants of many periods and particularly the fortifications complex of the Crusader city and the Roman theater. The city is now only a small part of modern Israeli town of Caesarea, one of the most modern and richest in the country.

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During the past 20 years, major excavations conducted by numerous archaeological expeditions from Israel and abroad that have exposed impressive remains of distant grandeur of the Roman town and later city of the Crusaders.

The City of Roman Period

Caesarea was founded by King Herod in the first century a.E.C. up the foundations of an old and small Greco-Phoenician city, the location of a small commercial port called Straton's Tower.

Caesarea played an important role in the history of early Christianity. It was here that according to the book of Acts, there was the baptism of the Roman centurion Cornelius (Acts 10: 1-5, 25-28) and all your family. The Apostle Paul left here for your journey through the eastern Mediterranean, and here it was taken prisoner and sent to Rome for trial (Acts 23: 23-24).

The great aqueduct of Caesarea

The great aqueduct of Caesarea was built to ensure an abundant supply of water. It was built in the Herodian period, and later repaired and doubled to lead water into a dual channel, because of the growth of the city population.

Caesarea in the Byzantine Period

During this period, Caesarea became an important center Roman Christian. Origen, one of the Church Fathers, founded a Christian school in the city that had a library with over 30,000 manuscripts. At the beginning of the fourth century, Eusebius theologian, who was bishop of Caesarea, composed here his monumental Historia Ecclesiastica of early Christianity and Onomasticon a comprehensive geographical-historical study of the Holy Land.

Caesarea during the Arab period

In 639, Caesarea was conquered by the Arabs and its importance and population declined, decreasing dramatically due to abandonment. Urban areas were abandoned and replaced by agricultural terraces. The Arab town was surrounded in the tenth century of the Christian era, by a wall of 3 m thick, whose remains were found during excavations.

Caesarea in the period of the Crusaders

In 1101, the Frankish army under King Baldwin I conquered Caesarea hands of Muslims. This has become a headquarters for a bishopric and in addition to the Franks, they were also established Eastern Christians and Muslims. The Genoese found in the city a green glass vase and declared that it was the Holy Grail, the cup used by Jesus at the Last Supper. They took him to Genoa and placed in the Church of St. Lawrence in Italy.

Caesarea was later captured by Saladin in the year 1187 of the Christian era, after a short and hard siege. It was retaken in 1191 by Richard the Lionheart, King of England, who exiled its Muslim inhabitants.

Caesarea is one of the most majestic archaeological sites in Israel which is open to the public. The new excavations in the 90s were conducted by two expeditions: the Israel Antiquities Authority was directed by S. Porat; and the Joint Expedition of Caesarea, was organized by the Maritime Research Centre of the University of Haifa, directed by A. Raban of the University of Maryland, led by K. Holum, and the Institute of Archaeology at the University of Haifa, directed by J. Patrich.

Another impressive archaeological discovery in National City Caesarea Park, on the coast of Israel.

In an archaeological excavation the Israel Antiquities Authority in the National Park Caesarea, initiated by the CDC and the Rothschild Foundation, was discovered this morning (Thursday, 12/24/2015), a marble statue of a ram near of an ancient building of a church from the Byzantine period.
The lamb that appears in Christian art, as he carried on the shoulders of the Good Shepherd (Jesus, described as a shepherd who cares for his sheep), and sometimes was on the right or left. The lamb is the believers in Christianity or Jesus himself, in his suffering and death, which had been intended, according to the faith, to atone for the original sin. (John 29: 1)

In Roman art the lamb appeared alongside Hermes in Greek mythology or Mercury, or Egyptian mythology representing the god Amun.

According to Dr. Peter Gendelman and Mohamed Khater, directors of the excavation on behalf of the Israel Antiquities Authority, "Caesarea never ceases to amaze and now this statue was amazing discovery.

 

 

Ancient Christianity is not described Jesus as a person, instead it was used symbols, the lamb was one of them. Coincidentally or not, the statue was unveiled on Christmas Eve. It is possible that the statue we found was part of the Byzantine church of the century VI or VII in Caesarea, but it is also possible it has been made before, even in the Roman period, and was incorporated into the church structure in secondary use later. "

Roman Fountain discovered in Caesarea Maritima

02/11/2014 - The city of Caesarea Maritima is a true pearl of antiquity on the banks of the Mediterranean Sea. Another striking finding of biblical archeology in the State of Israel. According to Raanan Kislev, director of the Antiquities Authority Conservation Department of Israel, the Roman Nymphaeum source was discovered in the northern part of the Roman temple of Caesarea.

According to information from the Israel Antiquities Authority, the region had already been excavated in the 50s, however, had been covered again, purposely to maintain the conservation of the site. Recently the Antiquities Authority of Israel decided to find out the site and prepare it for the visitors, it was then that another discovery came to light, with the public pool that existed on the site was also found a source that according to archaeological authorities would have been built in the first century.

Soon the site will be prepared to be visited by tourists and this will be a new attraction in the already so rich in archeology Caesarea. The intension of archeology authority is to restore not only the power but also the channel that carried water to her, allowing water to flow in place after about 2,000 years buried in the sand.

The source discovery sheds a little more light on the Biblical Archeology in Caesarea Maritima and tells us a little about the life of the city's citizens in antiquity.