Towering over Caesarea's harbor, Herod built a temple dedicated to Roma (the goddess of the city of Rome) and Augustus — another demonstration of Herod's loyalty to his new patron. The temple stood on an elevated artificial platform (now called the Temple Platform) overlooking the inner harbor. Similar to the southern end of Jerusalem's Temple Mount, the Temple Platform at Caesarea was supported on a series of underground vaults (arches). At Caesarea, the vaults served as horrea (warehouses) that opened toward the inner harbor. The horrea continued to the south of the harbor, where one was converted into a Mithraeum in the second century C. E. (a Mithraeum is a shrine dedicated to Mithras, a Near Eastern deity whose cult was especially popular among Roman soldiers; see Chapter 13).
Herod's temple to Roma and Augustus was constructed in an Italic rather than a Hellenistic style. The Italic features include the placement of the temple on a tall, raised podium that was accessed by steps only on the west (with the porch facing the harbor), creating an axiality and a frontality that differed from Greek temples. The few surviving fragments of the superstructure indicate
8.3 Vault in the Temple Platform at Caesarea.
That the temple was built of kurkar (local sandstone) covered with stucco. The column capitals were Corinthian.
Herod's reconstruction of the Jerusalem temple presumably was motivated by genuine piety as well as by political considerations (an attempt to win the loyalty of the Jewish population). Similarly, Herod's dedication of the temple at Caesarea was intended to demonstrate his loyalty to Augustus and Rome. Although we tend to think of Herod as a Jewish (or, at least, half-Jewish) king, he apparently had no qualms about establishing a pagan temple. In fact, Herod dedicated another temple to Roma and Augustus at Samaria (discussed later), and, according to Josephus, he built or restored pagan temples in Tyre, Berytus (Beirut), and Rhodes (the temple of Pythian Apollo). In other words, Herod dedicated numerous temples within his kingdom and abroad, to the Jewish God as well as to pagan deities and the Roman emperor. All these projects likely were motivated as much by piety as by political concerns; they hint at Roman influence on Herod's worldview, as the Romans believed that all gods should be treated with respect.
Statues discovered around Caesarea indicate that there were other temples, the locations of which are still unknown. For example, excavations by an Israeli archaeologist in 1951 brought to light a Byzantine (fifth-sixth century C. E.) street flanked by two colossal but headless statues. Both statues depict seated, robed males and date to the second or third centuries C. E., which means that they were already ancient by the time they were set up by the street. One of the statues is of porphyry, a hard red stone from Egypt. Many scholars believe that
8.4 Byzantine street at Caesarea flanked by Roman statues.
It represented the Roman emperor Hadrian (117—138 C. E.), who reconstructed Caesarea's aqueduct system (discussed later). An inscription found elsewhere at Caesarea mentions a Hadrianeum (a temple dedicated to Hadrian), perhaps the source of the porphyry statue.
In 1961, an Italian expedition made a chance discovery in the ancient theater (discussed later). During the course of excavations, they dislodged a stone that was in secondary use (reused). The stone's underside bears a dedicatory inscription referring to an otherwise unknown temple to the emperor Tiberius, which was dedicated by Pontius Pilate, prefect of Judea. As the Roman governor of Judea from 26 to 36 C. E., Pontius Pilate's main palace and administrative base were at Caesarea. According to the Gospel accounts, Pilate sentenced Jesus to death by crucifixion. The Caesarea inscription is the only archaeological artifact discovered so far that is associated directly with Pontius Pilate, aside from small bronze coins that he minted (but do not bear his name).
By the fifth and sixth centuries, most of Caesarea's population was Christian. At this time, Herod's temple to Roma and Augustus was replaced by an octagonal church, perhaps dedicated to St. Procopius, the city's first martyr. At some time during the early Islamic period, this church was destroyed or abandoned. Later, when the Crusaders occupied Caesarea, they established the Cathedral of St. Peter on the Temple Platform, the apses of which still stand today. Jerusalem's Temple Mount and the Temple Platform at Caesarea illustrate a well-known archaeological phenomenon: the continuity of cult. Continuity of cult means that once a spot becomes holy or sacred, it tends to retain its sanctity over
8.5 The Pontius Pilate inscription from Caesarea. Courtesy of Zev Radovan/BibleLand Pictures. com.
Time even if the religions change. Scattered remains associated with one or more Jewish buildings dating to the fifth and sixth centuries — perhaps a synagogue — have been discovered on the northern side of the city.
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