City of Caesarea, Israel - "The Beautiful Shore of Caesarea of Palestine." Caesarea National Park Caesarea
Caesarea is not quite a city, but a museum in which there are ancient ruins from the once great city of Caesarea of Palestine.
Located on the Mediterranean coast in Israel. Now, next to the historical landmark, there is an elite residential village with the same name, but we will not talk about it.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ History ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Caesarea is a city founded by King Herod the Great. The name Caesarea comes from the word "Caesar", which means ruler, or as we called the king.
By the way, there is a saying about those same Caesars:
Caesar's to Caesar
Although initially it was not a saying at all, but words from the new testament:
Give Caesar's to Caesar, and God's to God
But the meaning of the saying conveys the same - everyone will get what they deserve
At that time there were many cities with a similar name, probably the fantasy of the rulers was boring. Not like in our time, they invent names for cities))) Therefore, in order to distinguish this Caesarea from other Caesareas, they decided to give her a “surname”, and became Caesarea Maritime.
In history, it is this Caesarea Maritime that appears as administrative center Roman Prosecution in Judea. And the most famous procurator of Judea, as we remember, was Pontius Pilate. The same Pilate who sentenced Jesus Christ to death.
And in Bulgakov's novel, his name also appears.
fifth procurator of Judea horseman Pontius Pilate
Later, the city passed into the possession of Palestine and became its province, since then it has become known as Caesarea of Palestine.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Excursion ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I can talk a lot about history, who are interested can read on the Internet. Let's move on to the tour.
The first thing we were shown upon arrival in the city was a film about the history of Caesarea in a small cinema hall.
Then we went to see the city.
Now the city has received the status of a museum under open sky, in which to this day there are archaeological excavations in search of new information, ancient buildings and objects.
In this museum, an ordinary visitor can see the Roman amphitheater, which is now used as a concert venue, a hippodrome, a square with giant statues, including a plate with an inscription, which is proof of the existence of Pontius Pilate.
The plate is a fragment of the inscription: "Pontius Pilate, prefect of Judea, presented Tiberius to the Caesarians." This slab was the first archaeological find to confirm the existence of Pilate.
There was not much time, but we managed to walk and see everything.
The city is atmospheric, statues are everywhere, fragments of columns, ruins
Saying "Caesarea" some people, mostly Israelis, mean a small town on the Mediterranean coast with excellent infrastructure and a rich industrial park, where more than 180 leading Israeli enterprises operate, including the production of medical equipment, enterprises operating in the field of high technology, biotechnology and others. Another part of the people, mostly visitors and tourists, mean a big national park, crowded with archaeological finds. This is practically a whole ancient city, open to the eyes of visitors from under multiple cultural layers, combining representatives of different times and eras. And what is remarkable - both the first and second parts are right.
Currently, there are two cities of Caesarea marked on the map very close to each other: one of them is modern city, with an area of about 35 square kilometers and located to the north ancient city Caesarea, which has now become a National Park, tirelessly attracting tourist flows to its possessions.
Modern Caesarea is in its prime, using its maximum potential, was founded in 1977, and went through all the stages of the formation of the region and development, as a new city that is being formed in the south of the country is now going through. Covering an area of 350 hectares, the Caesarea Business Park is one of the largest and most advanced in Israel. The park cares about the environment and adheres to international standards in development planning and construction, promoting advanced and environmentally friendly production. Caesarea Industrial Park is managed by the Edmond Benjamin de Rothschild Corporation, which owns the land and provides all services and assistance to the companies that develop here. The Corporation is actively involved in environmental improvement, community management and tourism development. The Business Park is a unique campus that provides a unique strategic foundation for the successful operation of approximately one hundred and eighty Israeli companies in water technology, medical device design and manufacture, Hi-Tech, traditional industries and more. Located close to the main transport hubs of Haifa and Tel Aviv, the Caesarea industrial zone provides the city with an impressive injection into the municipal treasury, as well as a significant number of jobs for citizens.
Who was in modern Caesarea, surely fell in love with its soft beaches with amazing skies in good weather and the soothing music of the waves - the beaches in Caesarea have a completely different atmosphere of calm and tranquility, different from the usual noise of resort towns. The central streets are clean and friendly; here, as in the vast majority of cities, there are many boutiques, restaurants and hotels. However, people come to Caesarea not for shopping. People come here from all sides in order to plunge into the intertime national park Caesarea, with the depth of its history, can compete with the ancient one, which is mentioned many times in the Old Testament (Tanakh). described in detail in the Book of Joshua, has long been the cause of heated debate between believers who accept the possibility of destruction of the walls from the sound of the shofar with the participation of God's providence, and representatives of sound scientific skepticism, who want to receive more substantial evidence than the Scriptures. Thanks to the believers, they received some advantage, since the nature of the cracks found on the walls of the ancient city clearly indicated that they were destroyed, they were exactly as described in the Book and archaeologists led by Zellin had to admit that the possibility of the existence of some knowledge lost in our days.
Picking up a map and heading to ancient Caesarea, you should get ready to plunge into timeless space: centuries and epochs are mixed here, royal luxury with tyranny, love of freedom with romance. The monumental hippodrome and solemn theater are a mix of phantasmagoria and reality, and the cool splashes of sea waves that bring to life remind of the present moment, and tourists grab their cameras to take incomparable photos of amazing Caesarea.
The city of Caesarea was designed and built by the order of Herod the Great (Herodus - the son of Antipater, who is a descendant of the Edomites who converted to Judaism), and was conceived as a great port city, which was supposed to surpass the port of Alexandria itself. The plot of land, on which Caesarea will later be marked on the map, was donated to the Jewish king by Caesar Augustus, whose name Herod later named the city he built, still known as Caesarea in Israel. Large, by the standards of that time and thought out to the smallest detail sea port, became the most important trade hub that connected Judea with many countries.
Meanwhile, it is worth noting that before the city of Caesarea, there was a small fortification on this site, whose lighthouse signaled passing ships about their course as far back as the middle of the third century BC, and was called Straton's fortress or Straton's Tower, which was captured and included in possession of the Kingdom of Judah by King Yanai - the high priest of the Hasmonean dynasty. Later, Straton's Tower became again a non-Jewish state - after it was conquered by Pompey (Roman general), and only in 30 BC, this piece of coastal land was donated to Herod the Great, who fully justified his second name here Herod the Builder.
Indeed, having seen the excavations of the ancient city, there is not the slightest doubt about the luxurious splendor with which Caesarea was built at that time. A visit to the park is one of the most popular excursions in the region. Majority travel agencies, offers excursion route, providing tourists with an excerpt from the most fascinating and beautiful sights of the north. It is impossible not to mention and, which has nothing to do with car hauls. This is a private museum specially built for unique collections. visual arts, which has an interesting architecture. The entire second floor is given to the works of art by Salvador Dali, where you can spend hours contemplating the extraordinary world of an exceptional artist and sculptor. In other rooms, exhibitions of contemporary art are constantly held, selected by the owners according to their taste, but always with tremendous success.
Caesarea is a small town, the only one of its kind in Israel.
This area does not belong to municipal squares and is managed by a private organization, at the same time, Israeli creative bohemians, wealthy businessmen and politicians with officials prefer to settle here - Caesarea is considered the most prestigious place to live.
Caesarea is beach town, so tourists come here who love the clear sea and white sand on the coast. All the beaches of Caesarea are paid, they work from May to October inclusive - during this period the warmest air temperature.
In Caesarea, various excursions are organized for tourists, which involve visiting local and nearby attractions.
Popular with guests historical reserve"Harbor of Caesarea", National Park, the amphitheater of King Herod, "Palace on the reef", the ruins of the ancient city.
It is in Caesarea, on the site of an ancient city on the Mediterranean coast of Israel, that the National Park of Caesarea was created.
The ruins of many structures discovered by archaeologists belong to different historical periods.
Due to natural change coastline part of the city was swallowed up by water mediterranean sea. Scientists still continue to conduct active archaeological excavations on land and under water.
Initially, from the middle of the 4th century BC, it was a settlement belonging to the Phoenicians, which was called Straton's Tower.
In 96 BC. it was conquered by the king of Judea, Alexander Jannay, and was able to keep Straton's Tower in his power for 33 years, until the capture of the settlement along with all of Judea by Pompey.
An interesting coincidence, but again, 33 years later, in 30 BC, Emperor Augustus returned the settlement to the rule of Judea. The then king Herod managed to turn him into Big City. As a token of gratitude, the king named the city in honor of Emperor Augustus Caesarea.
The name is explained very simply - it goes back to the Roman term Caesar (Caesar), associated with the generic name Caesar, or Caesar in the Old Slavonic pronunciation.
There were several cities with this name in the Roman Empire, and in order not to get confused, new town began to be called Caesarea Maritime (Caesarea maritima), and even later the name of Caesarea Palestine appeared.
The personality of King Herod and his activities were full of contradictions. He shed a lot of blood, suppressing the rebellious people, in a fierce struggle for power, he did not spare his relatives.
But at the same time he became famous as the greatest builder in the history of Judea. At the beginning of his reign, Herod enjoyed the patronage of Rome and was perceived by the Jews as a foreign protege.
Herod evoked especially strong rejection from the conservative part of Jewish society, and he was not particularly favored anywhere. Therefore, he chose the small settlement of Straton's Tower for his residence and in just a few years turned it into the largest port city.
A grandiose royal palace, Roman temples, an amphitheater, baths were built. IN luxury houses lived the king's close associates and military leaders.
The title of Great came to Herod after death.
Herod was the first to be called so by historians who evaluated his accomplishments as a builder. In addition, his heirs bore the same name, so it became necessary to highlight the founder of the Herodias dynasty.
Judea after the death of Herod became a Roman province, and Caesarea its capital. Herod's palace was used as a residence for the Roman governors. The city continued to be an important seaport.
At the beginning of the new millennium, mainly Greeks and Romans lived here, although there were also many Jews.
Many events related to church life took place in Caesarea. Here the apostle Paul was imprisoned for two years. In 135, the Romans brutally executed Rabbi Akiva along with other Jewish sages who studied the Talmud in the city amphitheater.
Gradually, the Christian church began to gain more and more influence, which asserted itself in the fight against the Roman gods. In the 5th century, the temple of the goddess Roma and Augustus was destroyed in Caesarea, and already at the beginning of the 6th century, the first large Byzantine church appeared.
Several famous theologians, philosophers, historians, and writers lived in the city.
The Jews were in the minority in the city, but this did not prevent them from founding synagogues in the city, opening several schools and even an academy for the study of the Talmud.
In the Byzantine period, despite the fires and epidemics that happened, Caesarea grew and developed. New public buildings appeared, walls were strengthened, new churches were erected.
The arrival of the Arabs in 640 was the end of the Byzantine period in the history of the city. For the crusaders, Caesarea was an important stronghold in their expansion into the Holy Land. In the 13th century, Caesarea was on the list of many other cities that were destroyed by the Mamluk Sultan Baibars.
Today, the name of Caesarea bears a settlement located near the ancient city. About five thousand people live here, and they are quite wealthy - modern Caesarea is built up with private villas and cottages.
During the construction of ancient Caesarea, the most advanced technologies for their time were used. An artificial bay for the port was created from a kind of concrete. It was a mixture of lime and volcanic ash.
The royal palace, built on reefs, made a grandiose impression on those who saw it. Josephus wrote: "He (Herod) rebuilt this city of limestone and adorned it with a palace of incomparable luxury, and in no other place did the greatness of his spirit express itself with such fullness."
The palace was essentially artificial island millennia ahead of its time. It even had a swimming pool, which is considered the first structure of its kind.
Today, little remains of the palace. However, there is an exhibit here that you should definitely look at. This is the so-called stone of Pontius Pilate, or the Plate from Caesarea. A fragment of a Latin inscription with the dedication of Pontius Pilate to Emperor Tiberius was found on it.
This is the first archaeological find that points to the reality of the historical figure of Pontius Pilate. Found in 1961, the stone is stored in the Israel History Museum, and a copy of it is presented to the public in Caesarea.
The basis of the Greco-Roman city, laid by Herod, developed further. In the territory archaeological park Caesarea you can see the buildings built by the Romans, Byzantines, Arabs and Crusaders.
The Roman hippodrome was built with a length of 460 meters and seats for spectators capable of accommodating 30,000 people. The hippodrome in Caesarea is considered one of the best preserved in the whole world.
The ancient theater, which was very disliked by the Jewish sages, is the oldest in Israel.
The large bath complex attracts with its well-preserved decoration of the Byzantine period. The floor mosaic has survived to this day the best.
The so-called site of temples has an interesting historical fate. It was a foundation (podium) somewhat raised above the surface of the earth, on which religious buildings successively stood.
At first it was the temple of the goddess Roma and the emperor Augustus, then the Byzantine octagonal church, an Arab mosque and Cathedral crusaders.
From the crusaders there were massive walls, a moat and a gate built under Louis IX.
The park contains large fragments of preserved aqueducts. According to one of them, water came to the city from a spring in Ein Shomi. The height of this structure reached eight meters.
Another aqueduct brought water from an artificial reservoir. The construction of the third aqueduct belongs to the Byzantine period.
There are not only ancient ruins in the park. There is a diving center offering training, equipment rental and underwater excursions.
But even here the past merges with the present. Divers can see the part of Caesarea that is underwater today. These are docks, lighthouses, warehouses and sunken ships.
For the French, caesar meat occupies about 5% of all meat consumed. A similar situation is in Italy. In post-perestroika Russia, guinea fowl appeared on store shelves only in mid-2013.
The manufacturer and supplier of this unusual product is Samson-Ferma LLC, a farm complex for the production of bio-organic (natural) products from guinea fowl meat and eggs. The production is located in the Kaluga region.
At one time, for the competent organization of work, the specialists involved in the project visited France, where they visited the largest French cooperatives Lowe And Duc de Mayenne, specializing in the cultivation of guinea fowl for many years. There they studied the technology and organization of the production of this bird, and at one of the largest processing enterprises in France Remi Ramon got acquainted with the technology of its slaughter and processing. During the trip, they also got acquainted with the specialists of the company. Grelier, which has been breeding and breeding guinea fowl for industrial use for many years and today is one of the few suppliers of breeding material on the world market. With this baggage, Russian farmers started their own production of guinea fowl.
The poultry on the farm is grown up to 73-77 days.
An ideal location has been found for the farm. There are untouched forests around the enterprise, there is not a single large industrial enterprise within a radius of 70 km; the farm is separated from other farms and residential settlements by a sanitary protection zone that exceeds Russian standards and regulations by 15 times. At the same time, close by federal highway, which will allow daily delivery of fresh products to the shelves of Moscow stores in a short time.
At the same time, the enterprise was created according to all the canons of livestock farms. On-farm roads are divided into clean ones, along which feed, hatching eggs, day-old young, clean bedding material are transported, and “dirty” ones, for the removal of litter, poultry for slaughter, production waste, and culled poultry. All premises, including the slaughterhouse, are isolated from each other.
All products are branded La Ferme.
He stood on the terrace of his new palace, enjoying the freshness of the morning and the faint scent of the sea. It will take quite a bit of time and all this will disappear, replaced by the usual debilitating heat for these places. But it's still too early...
Today I will tell you about the city that bore the name of the rulers of Rome - Caesarea of Palestine. Fate has prepared for this place a short, by the standards of history, but bright existence.
The first small settlement in these places appeared in the 4th century BC, during the reign of the Persians. In the III century BC. this area was conquered by the Phoenicians, who built on the cape small fortress with a lighthouse, called Straton's Tower. Later, this area passed into the hands of the Jews, then for some time a Roman province, until it was transferred by the Roman emperor Augustus to the Jewish king Herod in 31 BC.
In 22 B.C. Herod decides to rebuild the city and turn it into the largest port of Palestine. Companions of Herod in every possible way dissuade him from this idea - the shallow bay chosen for the port was completely unsuitable for the role assigned to it.
But Herod's decision was adamant. In his dreams, the new city should not be inferior in grandeur and luxury to Rome itself. 12 years have passed and Herod's dream has become a reality. By 10 B.C. Caesarea, named by Herod in honor of Caesar Augustus, becomes a major port. To do this, the bottom of the bay deepens, a system of breakwaters and channels is created around it, through which silt and sand were carried away from the bay with powerful currents.
Caesarea becomes the capital of Judea.
Near the port, on a small hill, a temple of Augustus is being built, in which a statue is installed, according to historians, it was not inferior to the statue of Olympian Zeus in Athens. To this day, only a small fragment of one of the legs has survived from this statue, allowing us to appreciate its greatness.
Nearby is a small park of unearthed Roman statues. All without exception are missing heads - a memory of the Arab presence in the city.
The status of the capital obligated Caesarea to provide its inhabitants with spectacles. For this, a large Roman theater was built, with its size corresponding to the status of the city.
Its two-tier stands could accommodate up to 4,000 spectators.
Behind the stage, there used to be a high wall that acted as an acoustic barrier. Thanks to her, the voices of the actors were clearly audible even in the very top rows.
A small rocky promontory protruding into the sea - it was located magnificent palace king Herod.
The architectural center of the palace was a pool carved right into the rocky rock, washed from three sides by the foam of sea waves. The pool was surrounded by a marble colonnade.
Next to the pool was a dining room decorated with magnificent mosaics.
Shortly after the death of Herod the Great Palestinian territories returned to Rome.
Judea became a Roman province headed by a governor with the rank of procurator or prefect. Herod's Palace played the role of the residence of the prefects - in the beautiful halls, to the sound of the waves of the warm Mediterranean Sea, they created the history of Judea, meeting the sunrises and seeing off the sunsets.
Met here the dawn of the month of Nisan and the fifth procurator of Judea, Pontius Pilate.
True, according to archaeological finds, he had the rank not of a procurator, but of a prefect. Here, in Caesarea, in the 60s of the XX century, a fragment of a clay slab was found with the inscription "Pontius Pilate, prefect of Judea, presented Tiberius to the Caesareans."
Next to the palace along the seashore was a hippodrome.
Not inferior in size to the hippodromes of Rome itself, it allowed arranging races on four chariots at the same time.
The stands of the hippodrome were designed for 10 thousand people.
At northern border Hippodrome is a monument to the ancient chariot. Previously, there were gates through which chariots drove into the territory of the hippodrome.
Caesarea was built in the image of Roman cities, so the layout of the city is primordially Roman. The city is divided into rectangular quarters, outlined by straight arrows of mutually perpendicular streets: the streets located from north to south were called Cardo, they were crossed by Decumanuses located from west to east.
The main streets of the city were called Decumanus Maximus and Cardo Maximus. The entire layout of the city was built from the intersection of these streets.
Among the ruins of city houses, ancient mosaics are clearly visible next to the Roman baths, perfectly preserved even after 2000 years.
King Herod was very partial to the architectural delights of Greece and Rome - the streets of the city he erected were decorated with marble colonnades and sculptures. Fountains were arranged among the sprawling gardens. To provide the city with fresh water, a ten-kilometer aqueduct was built from Mount Carmel, located north of Caesarea.
The mansion of a noble family - the floors are decorated with mosaics, in front of the mansion there is a vast terrace surrounded by a colonnade.
Wide streets paved with smooth stone, public toilets, a complex system of underground utilities, cleaned sea water- During its heyday, Caesarea was one of the most advanced cities that existed in those days.
A new huge lighthouse was built on the foundations of Straton's Tower, located on a spit that goes into the sea. There was a port in the harbor behind the scythe.
History inexorably drove time forward. The Roman Empire split into Western and Eastern. Under the onslaught of barbarians from Germany, the Western Roman Empire ceased to exist. He went down in history with her. ancient world. The Eastern Roman Empire, called the Byzantine Empire, gradually strengthened its position in the changing world. political map Middle Ages.
Caesarea becomes the capital of the Byzantine province of Palestine Prima. The city is flourishing. Its territory increases several times, the streets are paved with marble slabs and mosaics. A powerful defensive wall appears around the city.
Here is one of the largest libraries in the world, containing more than 30 thousand books, including the original Gospel of Matthew. Jerome Stridonsky, the creator of the canonical Latin text of the Bible, works in this library.
Meanwhile, the year 640 comes. Arab conquerors triumphantly enter Caesarea.
During the assault, the city is subjected to severe destruction. Not a trace remains of its former greatness - now Caesarea is just a small Arab settlement. A Muslim mosque is being built on the site of the former majestic temple of Augustus.
In architecture, trends from different eras are intertwined - Byzantine pointed arches coexist with Arab minarets. In the foreground - it is not clear how the surviving marble slab of the Byzantine sarcophagus.
Square in front of the Temple of Augustus. Its ruins are in the background.
The passing years did not spare the soft limestone from which the buildings of Caesarea were built. Salty sea moisture has done its job over the centuries: on the left is a restored section of masonry, on the right is the original, Byzantine one.
Yes, and the Arab conquerors also did not really like the architectural delights of the Romans. Marble columns from ruined palaces were used to reinforce the embankments along with limestone.
Port harbour. Many years ago, one of the most technologically advanced ports of that time was located here.
The Arabs destroyed the unique engineering systems built back in the time of King Herod and ensuring the port's performance. The harbor again became shallow and inaccessible to ships.
In 1101, the Crusaders come to these lands. They build a high fortress wall around a small part of the city, surrounded by a deep moat. A citadel is being built on the cape where Straton's Tower once stood. The residence of the archbishop is located in Caesarea.
The dominion of the crusaders lasts a little over 150 years - in 1265, Caesarea is conquered for the last time, this time by the Mamluks led by Baybars I. This event was the last in the history of the city - Caesarea is destroyed to the ground. The few surviving residents leave the city. Great Caesarea Palestinian goes down in history ...