Caesarea felt like time traveling. This coastal ruin had been inhabited for more than 3000 years.
We started in the ruins where Herod built the city and the port in 25 B.C.E.
As we moved north along the Mediterranean coast, we saw the Roman amphitheatre and the hippodrome from when the Roman Empire took over in the 1st Century C.E. This place has seen a lot of changes. From Jewish to Roman to Christian to Byzantine, to Frankish, to Crusaders, to Mamluk,to Catholic to the ruin it is today. It was abandoned around 1300 C.E.
There is still excavation going on and they’ve found everything from a stone documenting Pontius Pilate’s presence to Roman statues and mosaics to a Crusader built church nave.
It feels strange to walk down a street that people have walked on for thousands of years. Another cool thing about Caesarea is the aqueduct. It was constructed 2000 years ago to bring fresh water from 6 miles away to the city.
