CAESAREA

YouTube

(my videos from this travel)

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Details

Duration- 4~5HR

Google Maps-Entrance

Google Maps-Ancient Shul

Google Maps-Ancient Aquaduct

-Caesarea is one of the top 3 places in Eretz Yisrael for archaeological remains! It's also next to the water, so there is always a beautiful background.

History

-Despite its beauty, Caesarea's history is tragic. King Herod built this city to be the capital of Eretz Yisrael to remove the political importance of Yerushalayim. For hundreds of years, Caesarea was where the Roman rulers of E'Y lived and ruled. The Great Revolt of 66, which resulted in Churban Beis Sheini, was started because local Greeks sacrificed birds in front of the Shul in Caesarea, which led to a fight, which snowballed into a revolt. There is a Shul here dated to then, which may have been that Shul.

-Rabbi Akiva was tried, tortured, and brutally murdered in Caesarea. In my opinion, there are 2 possible locations for the execution of Rabbi Akiva. The Romans would publicly execute people and there are 2 likely sites for that. 1) Herod's Palace, because there is a public space there, and it's connected with the Governor 2) The amphitheater, this is the most likely place because the Romans would execute 'enemies of the state' in front of as many people as possible, and what better place than a stadium packed with thousands of people.

-Caesarea became synonymous with Rome. As such, it says in Gemarah Megillah (6,2) that "if you hear that Caesarea and Jerusalem are both in ruins or that both are successful, don’t believe it, however, if you hear that Jerusalem is in ruins and Caesarea is successful or vice versa, believe it"

Archeological	6/5!
Historical	3/5
Nature	3/5
Viewpoint	1/5

Crusader fortification by the entrance.

Southern part of the park.

There are a lot of nice mosaics here.

Modern gates Vs ancient gates.

Part of the bathhouse complex.

This was underneath the pool floor. They would light a fire here, to warm the water.

After the destruction of Beis Hamikdash and the Bar Kachba revolt, many Jews were forced to fight to their deaths in such amphitheaters. Likely many Jews were killed right here.

Rabbi Akiva was likely murdered here.

If you sit here, you will be sitting in the exact place were Roman emperors sat.

Herod's palace. Rabbi Akiva was possibly murdered here.

Part of the palace has been washed away.

This palace housed the Roman governors who ruled Eretz Israel.

The ancient Shul. This may be the location that started The Great Revolt resulting in the destruction of the 2nd Beis Hamikdash.

A few minutes walk north of the Shul is an ancient aqueduct. This is the less excavated part of it.

The more famous part of the ancient aqueduct.