Large-scale excavations undertaken in the 1990s by the Israel Antiquities Authority to the south of the Crusader city brought to light a hippodrome from the time of Herod the Great. The hippodrome was located alongside the sea, north of and adjacent to the promontory palace. It was bordered on the east by the palatial villa quarter, which overlooked it — an arrangement reminiscent of Rome, where the imperial palaces on the Palatine Hill overlooked the Circus Maximus. The hippodrome was a long, narrow arena with starting gates (carceres) at the northern end and a curved southern end, surrounded by banks of seats. It was used for chariot races and perhaps footraces as well.
In the second century C. E., apparently during Hadrian's reign, a new hippodrome was built at some distance to the east (the Herodian hippodrome continued to function but was used for various purposes, including as an amphitheater for animal and gladiator fights). Although it is now covered by agricultural fields of the local kibbutz, the outline of the Hadrianic hippodrome is clearly visible in aerial photographs. Parts of the spina (spine) — the wall that ran down the middle of the racecourse and around which the horses and chariots raced — still survive in the kibbutz fields, together with stone monoliths and obelisks (the Romans typically erected monuments and lap counters on top of the spina). Limited excavations have revealed some of the seating and floor of this hippodrome.
To the south of the promontory palace, Herod built a Roman-style theater overlooking the sea. The theater seated about 5,000 people on banks of seats supported by stone arches and vaults (in contrast to Greek theaters, which typically had seating on natural slopes or hillsides). The theater and hippodrome were an integral part of Caesarea's elite quarter, which included the palaces of the Roman and Byzantine governors. Although most of the Herodian city is still unexcavated, there are indications that it had an orthogonal layout, with a grid of north-south and east-west streets. The fortification wall of the Herodian city
World History
