Caesarea-palestine

Caesarea-Palestine We extract a further description of the ruins of this once noted place from Porter's Hand-book for Palestine, p. 354 sq.

"The ruins of Cesarea lie close along the winding shore, projecting here and there into the sea, and presenting huge masses of masonry, and piles of granite columns, to the restless waves. A strong mediaeval wall encompasses it on the land side, enclosing an oblong area about one half mile long by one fourth broad. The wall is strengthened by small buttress-like towers, and a moat. The upper part is ruinous — the masonry being tumbled over in huge masses like the walls of Ascalon. In the interior all is ruin; not a building remains entire; confused heaps of stones and rubbish are seen, with here and there a solitary column, or a disjointed arch, or a fragment of a wall, all overgrown with thistles and brambles. In the southern wall is a gateway still nearly entire; and on a rising ground a little within it stand four massive buttresses, the only remains of the cathedral of Coesarea. But the most interesting part of the ruins is the old port. It is unfortunately not only destroyed, but a large portion of its walls has been carried off for the rebuilding of Akka. The famous mole was a continuation of the southern wall of the city. The ruins of nearly one hundred yards of it remain above the water. There has evidently been a strong tower here, intended to guard the harbor. One wonders how those thick walls have been shattered, and how those huge blocks of masonry have been moved from their places, and how they cling together now, like fragments of rock, worn by the elements and beaten by the surf. Then the immense numbers of granite columns attract attention-here projecting in long rows from the side of the broken wall, and there lying in heaps, half buried in the sand. There are the remiains of another mole about one hundred yards north. The foundations of both are composed of very large stortie, reminding one of those in the substructious of the Temple at Jerusalem; but the superstructure is much more recent, probably not older than the time of the crusades, and is wholly composed of ancient materials. The city of Herod evidently extended considerably beyond the present walls, though little of it now remains. A few heaps of hewn stones and debris, half covered with sand, and overgrown with brambles, serve to mark its site. Many columns lie about, and doubtless many more have been covered up. A little to the east of the wall, among the bushes, may be seen three shafts, somewhat conical in form, and measuring nearly nine feet in diameter at the base. There is also a block of red granite thirty-four feet long, five broad, and four deep."

Additional details are given in Badeker's Hand-book for Syria, p. 351. (Compare Conder, Tent-work in Palestine, i, 205 sq.)

"The mediaeval town was built in the form of a rectangle, measuring five hundred and forty paces from north to south, and three hundred and fifty paces from east to west. The walls, which were strengthened with buttresses, are six feet thick and still twenty to thirty feet high, and are enclosed by a moat, lined with masonry, about thirteen yards wide. On the east wall there are still tel towers; on the north, three on the west, three and south, four. At the north- west corner there is a kind of bastion. Towers stand at distances varying from sixteen to twenty-nine yards. The ruins are all of sandstone, with the exception of the fragments of columns of gray and reddish granite, some of which are of vast size. Of the three gates on the land side, that on the south only is preserved. In the midst of the ruins are the remains of a large church of the crusaders' period. The three apses are still distinguishable, and .a few of the flying buttresses arc also standing. The substructions are older, belonging to an ancient heathen temple. The church was afterwards a mosque. A little to the north of it are the remains of a smaller church. On the south-west side a ridge of rock, bounding a small harbor, runs out into the sea for about two hundred and fifty yards. This natural pier was enlarged by Herod, and on it stood his Tower of Drusus. Large blocks of granite are still seen under water. The foundations only of the Temple of Caesar are now extant, and their white stones confirm the statement of Josephus that the materials for it were brought from a great distance. The extremity of the ridge of rock, where the Tower of Strato probably once stood, is now occupied by the remains of a mediaeval castle, about nineteen yards square, with fragments of columns built into the walls. The top of this ruin commands a very extensive view. In the interior are several vaulted chambers.

"The Roman city probably extended far beyond the precincts of the mediaeval, particularly eastwards. To the south of the town is traceable the vast amphitheatre of Herod, turned towards the sea, and exactly corresponding with the description of Josephus. It was formed of earth and surrounded by a moat. In the middle of it are remains of a semicircular building, probably a theatre."