I. CESAREA PALESTINA, or Cmsarea of Pales tine, so called to distinguish it from the other Cm sarea, or simply Cmsarea, without addition, from its eminence as the Roman metropolis of Pales tine, and the residence of the procurator. It was built by Herod the Great, with much of beauty and convenience, twenty-two years before the birth of Christ, on a spot where had formerly stood a tower called Straton's Tower.
The whole coast of Palestine may be said to be extremely inhospitable, exposed as it is to the fury of the western storms, with no natural port afford ing adequate shelter to the vessels resorting to it. To remedy this defect, Herod, who, though an arbitrary tyrant, did much for the improvement of Judma, set about erecting, at immense cost and labour, one of the most stupendous works of anti quity: He threw out a semicircular mole, which protected the port of Cmsarea on the south and west, leaving only a sufficient opening for vessels to enter from the north ; so that, within the en closed space, a fleet might ride at all weathers in perfect security. The mole was constructed of im mense blocks of stone brought from a great dis tance, and sunk to the depth of 20 fathoms in the sea. The best idea of the work may perhaps be realized by comparing it as to design and execution with the Breakwater at Plymouth. Besides this, Herod added many splendid buildings to the city: among which was a temple, dedicated to Cmsar, a theatre, and an amphitheatre ; and when the whole was finished, which was within twelve years from the commencement of the undertaking, he fixed his residence there, and thus elevated the city to the rank of the civil and military capital of Tudma, which rank it continued to enjoy as long as the country remained a province of the Roman empire (Joseph. Antig. xv. 9, etc. See Dr. Mans ford, Script. Gazetteer). Vespasian raised Cmsarea to the rank of a Roman colony, granting it first, exemption from the capitation tax, and afterwards from the ground taxes (the real fits Italicum, see COLONY). The place was, however, inhabited chiefly by Gentiles, though some thousands of Jews lived in it (Joseph. De Bell. jitd. iii. 9. t ; iii. 14; Antiq. xx. S. 7; Vita, ii).
Cmsarea is the scene of several interesting cir cumstances described in the New Testament, such as the conversion of Cornelius, the first-fruits of the Gentiles (Acts x.); the residence of Philip the Evangelist (Acts xxi. 8); the journey thither of St. Paul ; his pleading there before Felix; his im prisonment for two years; and his final pleading before Festus and King Agrippa (Acts xxiv.) It was here also, in the amphitheatre built by his father, that Herod Agrippa was smitten of God, and died (Acts xii. 2 T-23).
It seems there was a standing dispute between the Jewish and Gentile inhabitants of Cmsarea, to which of them the city really belonged. The for mer claimed it as having been built by a Jew, meaning King Herod; the latter admitted this, but contended that he built it for them and not for Jews, seeing that he had filled it with statues and temples of their gods, which the latter abomi nated (Joseph. De Bell. yud. ii. 13. 7). This quarrel sometimes came to blows, and eventually the matter was referred to the Emperor Nero, whose decision in favour of the Gentiles, and the behaviour of the latter thereupon, gave deep offence to the Jews generally, and afforded occasion for the first outbreaks, which led to the war with the Romans (Joseph. De Bell. 'Ira'. ii. 14). One of the first acts of that war was the massacre of all the Jewish inhabitants by the Gentiles, to the number of 20,000 (Joseph. zs. s. ii. 18. 1).
In later times, Cmsarea is chiefly noted as the birth-place and episcopal see of Eusebius, the celebrated Church historian, in the beginning of the 4th century.—J. K.
Addendum.—Cmsarea, the once proud capital of Palestine, is now a desolate and dreary ruin. It bears its old name, though corrupted into the Arabic form Kaisariyeh. It lies on the coast of the Mediterranean, between Carmel and Joppa, about 35 miles north of the latter. The ruins of the city are strewn along the winding shore, pro jecting here and there into the sea, and presenting huge masses of masonry, and long files of pros trate granite and marble columns, to the fury of the restless waves. A strong medimval wall, with small bastion towers at intervals, encompasses it on the land side, enclosing an oblong area about half a mile long and a quarter wide. The lower part of the wall is still almost perfect, but the upper part has been thrown over in huge frag ments into the dry moat. In the interior all is ruin ; not a single building remains entire. There are huge piles of rubbish, almost concealed by the dense jungle of thorns and thistles ; and there are a few shattered arches, and two or three solitary pillars rising up among them like tombstones in a neglected cemetery. In the southern wall is a gateway, still nearly entire. It was doubtless by it Philip entered the city, for it is on the road to Joppa. And on the rising ground a little within it, stand four massive buttresses, the only remains of the great cathedral in which Eusebius, the father of ecclesiastical history, presided for a quar ter of a century. But the most interesting part of the ruins is the old harbour. It is unfortunately not only destroyed, but a large portion of its materials has been carried off for the rebuilding of the ramparts of Acre. The mole of which Josephus writes in such glowing terms, was a continuation of the southern wall of the city. The ruins of nearly too yards of it still remain above the water, and form that bold and picturesque promontory now so familiar to us from sketches and photo graphs. There was evidently a strong tower or castle at this point, perhaps in ancient times the residence of the governor of the city. About roo yards farther north are the remains of another mole; and between the two is a little bay with a sandy beach. The foundations of the moles are composed of huge blocks of stone, such as are seen in the old wall round Mount Moriah, and in the substructions of Baalbec ; but the upper part is much more recent, and probably not older than the time of the crusades.
The city of Herod evidently extended consider ably beyond the present walls. A few heaps of hewn stones and debris, half covered with sand, and partly overgrown with jungle, serve to mark its site. Many columns, too, of marble and granite lie about, and doubtless many more have been buried beneath the sand drifts. A broad low ridge of sand-hills, thickly sprinkled with thorny shrubs and bushes, runs along the eastern side of the ruins, shutting out all view of the plain of Sharon. The site of Cmsarea is thus singularly lonely and desolate. Solitude keeps unbroken Sabbath there. The sighing of the wind as it sweeps over the shattered walls and through the sun-dried jungle ; and the deep moaning of the sea as each wave breaks on the cavernous fragments of the ancient mole, are the only sounds that fall upon the travel ler's ears as he wanders over the site of Caesarea.— (Handbk. for S. and P., p. 365. )—J. L. P.