Caesarea Maritima

For the modern town north of the ancient port, see Caesarea. For other places with the same name, see Caesarea (disambiguation).
Caesarea Maritima
Παράλιος Καισάρεια

The ruins of Caesarea Maritima
Shown within Israel
Location Caesarea, Israel
Region Roman Judea, Syria Palaestina
Coordinates 32°30′0″N 34°53′30″E / 32.50000°N 34.89167°E / 32.50000; 34.89167Coordinates: 32°30′0″N 34°53′30″E / 32.50000°N 34.89167°E / 32.50000; 34.89167
Type Settlement
History
Builder Herod the Great
Founded 10 BC
Abandoned 1265
Periods Roman Empire to High Middle Ages
Cultures Roman/Byzantine; Crusader fortress
Site notes
Management Israel Nature and Parks Authority
Website Caesarea National Park

Caesarea Maritima (also Caesarea Palestinae;[1] Greek: Parálios Kaisáreia, Παράλιος Καισάρεια) is an Israeli National Park in the Sharon plain, including the ancient remains of the coastal city of Caesarea.

The city and harbor were built under Herod the Great during c. 22–10 BC near the site of a former Phoenician naval station known as Stratonos pyrgos (Στράτωνος πύργος).[2] It later became the provincial capital of Roman Judea, Roman Syria Palaestina and Byzantine Palaestina Prima provinces. The city was populated throughout the 1st to 6th centuries CE and became an important early center of Christianity during the Byzantine period, but was mostly abandoned following the Muslim conquest of 640. It was re-fortified by the Crusaders, and finally slighted by the Mamluks in 1265.

The name Caesarea (Καισάρεια) was adopted into Arabic as Qaysaria قيسارية . The location was all but abandoned in 1800. It was re-developed into a fishing village by Bosniak Muslim immigrants after 1884, and into a modern town of after 1940, in 1977 incorporated as the municipality of Caesarea (Hebrew Kesariya קיסריה) within Israel's Haifa District, about halfway between the cities of Tel Aviv and Haifa.[3]

The ruins of the ancient city, on the coast just about 2 km south of modern Caesarea, were excavated in the 1950s and 1960s and the site was incorporated into a new national park in 2011.

Classical era

Foundation

Aerial photo
Remains of the ancient Roman aqueduct
The theatre

The site of the former Phoenician naval station was awarded to Herod the Great in 30 BC. Herod built his palace on a promontory jutting out into the sea, with a decorative pool surrounded by stoas. He went on to build a large port and a city, which he named in honour of his patron Caesar Augustus.[1][4]

In the year AD 6, Caesarea became the civilian and military capital of Iudaea Province and the official residence of the Roman procurator Antonius Felix, and prefect Pontius Pilatus.[5]

This city is the location of the 1961 discovery of the Pilate Stone, the only archaeological item that mentions the Roman prefect Pontius Pilate, by whose order Jesus was crucified.[6] It is likely that Pilate used it as a base, and only went to Jerusalem when needed.[7] It is also the supposed location of "Herod's tomb".[8]

Roman Judea

The city was described in detail by the 1st-century Roman Jewish historian Flavius Josephus.[9] Josephus describes the harbor as being as large as the one at Piraeus, the major harbor of Athens.[10] Remains of the principal buildings erected by Herod and the medieval town are still visible today, including the city walls, the castle and a Crusader cathedral and church. Caesarea grew rapidly, becoming the largest city in Judea, with an estimated population of 125,000 over an urban area of 3.7 square kilometres (1.4 sq mi). According to Josephus, the outbreak of the Jewish revolt of AD 66 was provoked by Greeks of a certain merchant house in Caesarea sacrificing birds in front of a local synagogue.[11]

According to Josephus, Caesarea was the scene in AD 26 of a major act of civil disobedience to protest Pilate's order to plant eagle standards on the Temple Mount of Jerusalem.[12]

The emperor Vespasian raised its status to that of a Colonia, with the name Colonia Prima Flavia Augusta Caesarea.

In AD 70, after the Jewish revolt was suppressed, games were held here to celebrate the victory of Titus. Many Jewish captives were brought to Caesarea Maritima; Kasher (1990) claims that 2,500 captives were "slaughtered in gladiatorial games".[13]

After the destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70, Caesarea became the provincial capital of the Judaea Province, before the change of name to Syria Palaestina in 135, in the aftermath of the Bar Kokhba revolt.[14] Caesarea was one of four Roman colonies for veterans in the Syria-Phoenicia region.[15]

Caesarea is mentioned in the 3rd century Mosaic of Rehob, with respect to its non-Jewish population.

Sebastos harbor

Caesarea hippodrome

When it was built in the 1st century BC, Sebastos Harbor ranked as the largest artificial harbor built in the open sea, enclosing around 100,000 m2.[16][17][18] King Herod built the two jetties of the harbor between 22 and 15 BC,[19] and in 10/9 BC he dedicated the city and harbor to Caesar (sebastos is Greek for Augustus).[20] The pace of construction was impressive considering size and complexity. The breakwaters were made of lime and pozzolana, a type of volcanic ash, set into an underwater concrete. Herod imported over 24,000 m3 pozzolana from Pozzuoli, Italy, to construct the two breakwaters: the 500 meter long on the south and the 275 meter long on the north.[21] A shipment of this size would have required at least 44 shiploads of 400 tons each.[19] Herod also had 12,000 m3 of kurkar quarried to make rubble and 12,000 m3 of slaked lime mixed with the pozzolana.

Architects had to devise a way to lay the wooden forms for the placement of concrete underwater. One technique was to drive stakes into the ground to make a box and then fill it with pozzolana concrete bit by bit.[17] However, this method required many divers to hammer the planks to the stakes underwater and large quantities of pozzolana were necessary. Another technique was a double planking method used in the northern breakwater. On land, carpenters would construct a box with beams and frames on the inside and a watertight, double-planked wall on the outside. This double wall was built with a 23 cm (9 in) gap between the inner and outer layer.[22] Although the box had no bottom, it was buoyant enough to float out to sea because of the watertight space between the inner and outer walls. Once it was floated into position, pozzolana was poured into the gap between the walls and the box would sink into place on the seafloor and be staked down in the corners. The flooded inside area was then filled by divers bit by bit with pozzolana-lime mortar and kurkar rubble until it rose above sea level.[22]

On the southern breakwater, barge construction was used. The southern side of Sebastos was much more exposed than the northern side, requiring sturdier breakwaters. Instead of using the double planked method filled with rubble, the architects sank barges filled with layers of pozzolana concrete and lime sand mortar. The barges were similar to boxes without lids, and were constructed using mortise and tenon joints, the same technique used in ancient boats, to ensure they remained watertight. The barges were ballasted with 0.5 meters of pozzolana concrete and floated out to their position. With alternating layers, pozzolana based and lime based concretes were hand placed inside the barge to sink it and fill it up to the surface.[22]

At its height, Sebastos was one of the most impressive harbors of its time. It had been constructed on a coast that had no natural harbors and served as an important commercial harbor in antiquity, rivaling Cleopatra’s harbor at Alexandria. Josephus wrote: “Although the location was generally unfavorable, [Herod] contended with the difficulties so well that the solidity of the construction could not be overcome by the sea, and its beauty seemed finished off without impediment.”[23] However, there were underlying problems that led to its demise. Studies of the concrete cores of the moles have shown that the concrete was much weaker than similar pozzolana hydraulic concrete used in ancient Italian ports. For unknown reasons, the pozzolana mortar did not adhere as well to the kurkar rubble as it did to other rubble types used in Italian harbors.[21] Small but numerous holes in some of the cores also indicate that the lime was of poor quality and stripped out of the mixture by strong waves before it could set.[21] Also, large lumps of lime were found in all five of the cores studied at Caesarea, which shows that the mixture was not mixed thoroughly.[21] However, stability would not have been seriously affected if the harbor had not been constructed over a geological fault line that runs along the coast. Seismic action gradually took its toll on the breakwaters, causing them to tilt down and settle into the seabed.[23] Also, studies of seabed deposits at Caesarea have shown that a tsunami struck the area sometime during the 1st or 2nd century.[24] Although it is unknown if this tsunami simply damaged or completely destroyed the harbor, it is known that by the 6th century the harbor was unusable and today the jetties lie more than 5 meters underwater.[25]

Early Christian center

According to the Acts of the Apostles, Caesarea was first introduced to Christianity by Philip the Deacon,[26] who later had a house there in which he gave hospitality to Paul the Apostle.[27] It was there that Peter the Apostle came and baptized Cornelius the Centurion and his household, the first time Christian baptism was conferred on Gentiles.[28] Paul's first missionary journey. When newly converted Paul the Apostle was in danger in Jerusalem, the Christians there accompanied him to Caesarea and sent him off to his native Tarsus.[29] He visited Caesarea between his second and third missionary journeys,[30] and later, as mentioned, stayed several days there with Philip the Deacon. Later still, he was a prisoner there for two years before being sent to Rome.[31]

In the 3rd century, Origen wrote his Hexapla and other exegetical and theological works while living in Caesarea. The Nicene Creed may have originated in Caesarea.

The Apostolic Constitutions says that the first Bishop of Caesarea was Zacchaeus the Publican, followed by Cornelius (possibly Cornelius the Centurion) and Theophilus (possibly the address of the Gospel of Luke).[32] The first bishops considered historically attested are those mentioned by the early church historian Eusebius of Caesarea, himself a bishop of the see in the 4th century. He speaks of a Theophilus who was bishop in the 10th year of Commodus (c. 189),[33] of a Theoctistus (216–258), a short-lived Domnus and a Theotecnus,[34] and an Agapius (?–306). Among the participants in the Synod of Ancyra in 314 was a bishop of Caesarea named Agricolaus, who may have been the immediate predecessor of Eusebius, who does not mention him, or who may have been bishop of a different Caesarea. The immediate successors of Eusebius were Acacius (340–366) and Gelasius of Caesarea (367–372, 380–395). The latter was ousted by the semi-Arian Euzoius between 373 and 379. Lequien gives much information about all of these and about later bishops of Caesarea.[35]

The Latin archbishopric of Caesarea in Palestina was made a Roman Catholic titular see in 1432 (Zweder van Culemborg).[36]

The Orthodox Church of Antioch[37] and the Melkite Catholic Church[38] also consider Caesarea a titular see.

Theological library

Through Origen and especially the scholarly presbyter Pamphilus of Caesarea, an avid collector of books of Scripture, the theological school of Caesarea won a reputation for having the most extensive ecclesiastical library of the time, containing more than 30,000 manuscripts: Gregory Nazianzus, Basil the Great, Jerome and others came to study there. The Caesarean text-type is recognized by scholars as one of the earliest New Testament types. The collections of the library suffered during the persecutions under the Emperor Diocletian, but were repaired subsequently by bishops of Caesarea.[39] It was noted in the 6th century, but Henry Barclay Swete[40] was of the opinion that it probably did not long survive the capture of Caesarea in 640, though a modern historian might attribute more destruction to its previous capture by the Sassanids (in 614).

Byzantine period

Caesarea became the capital of the new province of Palaestina Prima in 390.

As the capital of the province, Caesarea was also the metropolitan see, with ecclesiastical jurisdiction over Jerusalem, when rebuilt after the destruction in the year 70. In 451, however, the Council of Chalcedon established Jerusalem as a patriarchate, with Caesarea as the first of its three subordinate metropolitan sees.

Caesarea remained the provincial capital throughout the 5th and 6th centuries. It fell to Sassanid Persia in the Byzantine–Sasanian War of 602–628, in 614, and was re-conquered by Byzantium in 625, but was lost for good to the Muslim conquest in 640.

The fall of the city was allegedly the result of the betrayal of a certain Yusef, who conducted a party of troops of Muawiyah into the city.[41] The city appears to have been partially destroyed upon its conquest. The 7th-century Coptic bishop John of Nikiû, claims "the horrors committed in the city of Caesarea in Palestine", while the 9th-century historian Al-Baladhuri merely states that the city was "reduced".[42]

Later history

Arab rule

The former Palaestina Prima was now administered as Jund Filastin, with the capital first at Ludd and then at Ramla. Al-Biladhuri (d. 892) mentions Qaysaria as one of ten cities captured in the conquest of Palestine.

The city likely remained inhabited for some time under Arab rule, during the 7th and 8th century, albeit with much reduced population. Archaeological evidence shows a clear destruction layer identified with the conquest of 640, followed by some evidence of renewed settlement in the early Umayyad period.[43] It appears that the harbour remained in use for some time, but it was allowed to silt up and it was unusable by the 9th century.

By the 11th century, it appears that the town had once again been developed into a fortified city. Writing in 1047, Nasir-i-Khusraw describes it as "a fine city, with running waters, and palm-gardens, and orange and citron trees. Its walls are strong, and it has an iron gate. There are fountains that gush out within the city".[44] This is in agreement with William of Tyre's description of the Crusaders' siege in 1101, mentioning catapults and siege engines used against the city fortifications.[45]

Crusades

Remnants of the walls and moat built by Louis IX of France in 1251

Caesarea was re-taken by Baldwin I in the wake First Crusade, in 1101. Michael the Syrian records that the city was "devastated upon its capture",[46]

William of Tyre (10.15) describes the use of catapults and siege towers, and states that the city was taken in an assault after fifteen days of siege and given over to looting and pillaging. He also mentions (10.16) the discovery of a "vessel of the most green colour, in the shape of a serving dish" (vas coloris viridissimi, in modum parapsidis formatum) which the Genuese thought to be made of emerald, and accepted as their share of the spoils. This refers to the hexagonal bowl known as the Sacro Catino in Italian, which was brought to Genoa by Guglielmo Embriaco and was later identified as the Holy Chalice.[47]

Caesarea was incorporated as a lordship (dominion) within the Kingdom of Jerusalem, and the Latin See of Caesarea was established, with ten archbishops listed for the period 1101–1266 (treated as titular see from 1432–1967). Archbishop Heraclius attended the Third Lateran Council in 1179.

Saladin retook the city in 1187; it was recaptured by the Crusaders in 1191. In 1251, Louis IX of France fortified the city, ordering the construction of high walls (parts of which are still standing) and a deep moat. The city was finally lost in 1265, when it fell to the Mamluks, who destroyed it completely to prevent its re-emergence as a fortress, in line with their practice in other formerly-Crusader coastal cities.

Ottoman era

Further information: Caesarea
Minaret of the 19th-century Bosnian mosque

Caesarea lay in ruins until the nineteenth century, when the village of Qisarya (Arabic: قيسارية‎‎, the Arabic name for Caesarea) was established in 1884 by Bushnaks (Bosniaks) – immigrants from Bosnia, who built a small fishing village on the ruins of the Crusader fortress on the coast.[48][49]

Archaeology and reconstruction

Archaeological excavations in the 1950s and 1960s uncovered remains from many periods, in particular, a complex of Crusader fortifications and a Roman theatre. Other buildings include a temple dedicated to Caesar; a hippodrome rebuilt in the 2nd century as a more conventional theater; the Tiberieum, which has a limestone block with a dedicatory inscription.[6] This is the only archaeological find with an inscription mentioning the name "Pontius Pilatus"; a double aqueduct that brought water from springs at the foot of Mount Carmel; a boundary wall; and a 200 ft (60 m) wide moat protecting the harbour to the south and west. The harbor was the largest on the eastern Mediterranean coast.

The main church, an octagonal martyrion, was built in the 6th century and sited directly upon the podium that had supported a Roman temple, as was a widespread Christian practice. The Martyrion was richly paved and surrounded by small radiating enclosures. Archaeologists have recovered some foliate capitals that included representations of the Cross. The site, used by Herod for his pagan temple, then reconsecrated as a church, would in time be re-occupied, this time by a mosque.

An elaborate government structure contained a basilica with an apse, where magistrates would have sat, for the structure was used as a hall of justice, as fragments of inscriptions detailing the fees that court clerks might claim attest. A well-preserved 6th-century mosaic gold and colored glass table patterned with crosses and rosettes was found in 2005.[50][51]

Since 2000 the site of Caesarea Maritima is included in the "Tentative List of World Heritage Places" of the UNESCO.[4]

References

  1. 1 2  Gilman, D. C.; Thurston, H. T.; Colby, F. M., eds. (1905). "Cæsarea Palestinæ". New International Encyclopedia (1st ed.). New York: Dodd, Mead.
  2. ↑ "Founded in the years 22-10 or 9 B.C. by Herod the Great, close to the ruins of a small Phoenician naval station named Strato's Tower (Stratonos Pyrgos, Turns Stratonis), which flourished during the 3d to 1st c. B.C. This small harbor was situated on the N part of the site. Herod dedicated the new town and its port (limen Sebastos) to Caesar Augustus. During the Early Roman period Caesarea was the seat of the Roman procurators of the province of Judea. Vespasian, proclaimed emperor at Caesarea, raised it to the rank of Colonia Prima Flavia Augusta, and later Alexander Severus raised it to the rank of Metropolis Provinciae Syriae Palestinae." A. Negev, "CAESAREA MARITIMA Palestine, Israel" in: Richard Stillwell et al. (eds.), The Princeton Encyclopedia of Classical Sites (1976).
  3. ↑ Raban and Holum, 1996, p. 54
  4. 1 2 "In the year 30 BCE the (Phoenician) village was awarded to Herod, who built a large port city at the site, and called it "Caesarea" in honor of his patron Octavian Augustus Caesar....The city transformed rapidly into a great commercial center, and by the year 6 BCE became the headquarters of the Roman government in Palestine. Since Caesarea had no rivers or springs, drinking water for the prospering Roman and Byzantine city was brought via a unique high-level aqueduct, originating at the nearby Shuni springs, some 7.5 km northeast of Caesarea. [...] Caesarea served as a base for the Roman legions who quelled the Great Revolt that erupted in 66 BCE [sic], and it was here that their commanding general Vespasian was declared Caesar. After the destruction of Jerusalem, Caesarea became the most important city in the country: Pagans, Samaritans, Jews and Christians lived here in the third and fourth centuries CE.UNESCO tentative list:Caesarea
  5. ↑ A History of the Jewish People, H.H. Ben-Sasson editor, 1976, page 247: "When Judea was converted into a Roman province [in 6 CE, page 246], the Romans moved the governmental residence and military headquarters from Jerusalem to Caesarea.
  6. 1 2 Reed, Jonathan L. (2002). Archaeology and the Galilean Jesus: a re-examination of the evidence. A&C Black. ISBN 1-56338-394-2. p. 18. Studying the historical Jesus: evaluations of the state of current research by Bruce Chilton, Craig A. Evans 1998 ISBN 90-04-11142-5 page 465
  7. ↑ Historical Dictionary of Jesus by Daniel J. Harrington 2010 ISBN 0-8108-7667-1 page 32
  8. ↑ Herod's Lost Tomb (2008; National Geographic Society documentary), in addition to examining Netzer's purported find of Herod's tomb, Caesarea Maritima and most of Herod's other large projects are reconstructed in CGI.
  9. ↑ Jewish Antiquities XV.331ff; The Jewish War I.408ff
  10. ↑ name="George Menachery, 1987 in Kodungallur, City of St. Thomas, Azhikode, 1987 ChapterII note 19 quotes the National Geographic article: Robert L. Hohifelder, "Caesarea Maritima, Herod the Great’s City on the Sea". The National Geographic, 171/2, Feb., 1987, pp.260-279. 2000 years ago, Caesarea Maritima welcomed ships to its harbour called Sebastos. Featuring innovative design and hydraulic concrete, this building feat set a standard for harbours to come. A monumental work, city and harbour were constructed on an unstable storm-battered shore, at a site lacking a protective cape or bay. The project challenged Rome’s most skilled engineers. Hydraulic concrete blocks, some weighing 50 short tons (45 t) anchored the north breakwater of the artificial harbour...Caesarea Maritima, rival to Alexandria in the Eastern trade, a city worthy to be named for Herod’s patron, Caesar Augustus, master of the Roman world, in view of its opulence and magnificence.
  11. ↑ PACE: The Jewish War, 2.{{{chap}}}.{{{sec}}} (Whiston), Perseus Project BJ2.14.5, .
  12. ↑ Antiquities of the Jews XVII:III:1,2,3. The Jewish War II:IX:3.
  13. ↑ Kasher, Aryeh (1990) Jews and Hellenistic Cities in Eretz-Israel: Relations of the Jews in Eretz-Israel with the Hellenistic Cities During the Second Temple Period (332 BCE-70CE) Mohr Siebeck, ISBN 3-16-145241-0, p 311
  14. ↑ Shimon Applebaum (1989) Judaea in Hellenistic and Roman Times: Historical and Archaeological Essays Brill Archive, ISBN 90-04-08821-0 p 123
  15. ↑ Butcher, Kevin (2003). Roman Syria and the Near East. Getty Publications. ISBN 08-92-36715-6. p. 230
  16. ↑ name="George Menachery, 1987 in Kodungallur, City of St. Thomas, Azhikode, 1987 quotes the National Geographic article: Robert L. Hohifelder, "Caesarea Maritima, Herod the Great’s City on the Sea". The National Geographic, 171/2, Feb., 1987, pp.260-279. 2000 years ago, Caesarea Maritima welcomed ships to its harbour called Sebastos. Featuring innovative design and hydraulic concrete, this building feat set a standard for harbours to come. A monumental work, city and harbour were constructed on an unstable storm-battered shore, at a site lacking a protective cape or bay. The project challenged Rome’s most skilled engineers. Hydraulic concrete blocks, some weighing 50 tons anchored the north breakwater of the artificial harbour...Caesarea Maritima, rival to Alexandria in the Eastern trade, a city worthy to be named for Herod’s patron, Caesar Augustus, master of the Roman world, in view of its opulence and magnificence.
  17. 1 2 Hohfelder, R. 2007. “Constructing the Harbour of Caesarea Palaestina, Israel: New Evidence from ROMACONS Field Campaign of October 2005.” International Journal of Nautical Archaeology 36:409-415
  18. ↑ Votruba, G. 2007. “Imported Building Materials of Sebastos Harbour, Israel.” International Journal of Nautical Archaeology 36:325-335.
  19. 1 2 Votruba, G., 2007, Imported building materials of Sebastos Harbour, Israel, International Journal of Nautical Archaeology 36: 325-335.
  20. ↑ Raban, A., 1992. Sebastos: the royal harbour at Caesarea Maritima - a short-lived giant, International Journal of Nautical Archaeology 21: 111-124.
  21. 1 2 3 4 Hohfelder, R. 2007. “Constructing the Harbour of Caesarea Palaestina, Israel: New Evidence from ROMACONS Field Campaign of October 2005.” International Journal of Nautical Archaeology 36:409-415.
  22. 1 2 3 Brandon, C., 1996, Cements, Concrete, and Settling Barges at Sebastos: Comparisons with Other Roman Harbor Examples and the Descriptions of Vitruvius, Caesarea Maritima: A Retrospective after Two Millennia, 25-40.
  23. 1 2 Holum, K. 1988. King Herod’s Dream: Caesarea on the Sea. New York: Norton.
  24. ↑ Reinhardt, E., Goodman, B., Boyce, J., Lopez, G., Hengstum, P., Rink, W., Mart, Y., Raban, A. 2006. “The Tsunami of 13 December A.D. 115 and the Destruction of Herod the Great’s Harbor at Caesarea Maritima, Israel.” Geology 34:1061-1064.
  25. ↑ Raban, A., 1992, Sebastos: the royal harbour at Caesarea Maritima - a short-lived giant, International Journal of Nautical Archaeology 21: 111-124
  26. ↑ Acts 8:40
  27. ↑ Acts 21:8–10
  28. ↑ Acts 10:1-11:18
  29. ↑ Acts 9:30
  30. ↑ 18:22
  31. ↑ Acts 23:23, 25:1-13
  32. ↑ newadvent.org's Apostolic Constitutions Book VII, 46
  33. ↑ Church History V,22
  34. ↑ Church History VII,14
  35. ↑ Michel Lequien, Oriens christianus in quatuor Patriarchatus digestus, Paris 1740, Vol. III, coll. 529-574, 1285-1290]
  36. ↑ Annuario Pontificio 2013 (Libreria Editrice Vaticana 2013 ISBN 978-88-209-9070-1), p. 867
  37. ↑ Ignatius Samaan, Auxiliary Bishop in Venezuela of the Archdiocese of Mexico, was appointed in 2011.Biografía
  38. ↑ Since 1965, the holder of the titular see within the Melkite Catholic Church is Hilarion Capucci. Annuario Pontificio 2013 (Libreria Editrice Vaticana 2013 ISBN 978-88-209-9070-1), p. 867.
  39. ↑ Jerome, "Epistles" xxxiv
  40. ↑ Introduction to the Old Testament in Greek, pp 74-75.
  41. ↑ Meyers, Eric M. (1999). ""The Fall of Caesarea Maritima"". Galilee Through the Centuries. Eisenbrauns. ISBN 157506040X. 380ff.
  42. ↑ Meyers, 1999, p. 381. (The origins of the Islamic state trans. Philip Khuri Hitti, 1916). The archaeological stratum representing the destruction is analyzed in Cherie Joyce Lentzen, The Byzantine/Islamic Occupation of Caesarea Maritima as Evidenced Through the Pottery (Drew University 1983), noted by Meyer 1999:381 note 23. See also: Al-Baladhuri, 1916, pp. 216-219.
  43. ↑ Archaeological literature in the 1970s seemed to favour complete abandonment in the 7th century, but this view has been corrected with further excavations in the 1980s. See Inge Lyse Hansen, Chris Wickham, The Long Eighth Century (2000), p. 292 (fn 49).
  44. ↑ le Strange, 1890, p. 474. Pringle, 1993, p. 170 -72
  45. ↑ William of Tyre, Historia 10.15.
  46. ↑ Meyers (1999:381).
  47. ↑ Marica, Patrizia, Museo del Tesoro Genoa, Italy (2007), 7–12. The Sacro Catino is a hexagonal bowl made from Roma-era green glass, some 9 cm high and 33 cm across. It was seized and taken to Paris by Napoleon in 1805, and it was damaged when it was returned to Genoa in 1816. The object was not immediately identified as the Holy Grail. William of Tyre states that was still claimed to be made of emerald by the Genoese in his day, some 70 years later, the implication being that emerald was thought to have miraculous properties of their own in medieval lore (Unde et usque hodie transeuntibus per eos magnatibus, vas idem quasi pro miraculo solent ostendere, persuadentes quod vere sit, id quod color esse indicat, smaragdus.) The first explicit claim identifying the bowl with the Holy Grail (the vessel used in the Last Supper) is found in the Chronicon by Jacobus de Voragine, written in the 1290s. Juliette Wood, The Holy Grail: History and Legend (2012).
  48. ↑ Oliphant, 1887, p. 182
  49. ↑ "Caesarea". Jewish Virtual Library. Retrieved 2007-10-22.
  50. ↑ Unique glass mosaic unveiled after restoration in Caesarea
  51. ↑
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