Caesaria (Getting Israel Together)
Caesaria (Getting Israel Together)
As you walk through the ruins of ancient Caesaria by the seashore, you can
catch glimpses of ancient glory: fallen pillars, slabs of marble, and rubble.
But it is only when you stand in the middle of the ancient amphitheater,
recently fully restored, that you can begin to form an idea of what Caesaria
was like in its proudest days. In this amphitheater, the latest theatrical
productions of the Roman world were performed. Two thousand years ago,
actors playing in the dramas of Euripides, Sophocles and other great
classic playwrights, performed before thousands of spectators in packed
terraces. In addition, sometimes crowds gathered to watch games,
processions, or contests that had become by-words for Roman culture.
Caesaria was built as a monument to Roman culture and might. Herod had
built this town in order to bring honor to himself and glory to his Roman
masters, and spared no effort and no cost. For twelve years his engineers
and their thousands of workmen toiled to make the city a marvel of modern
architecture and engineering .
Caesaria was built on the site of Strato's Tower, an older town. But the new
town, completed in 12 B.C.E., bore no resemblance to the small town
which it replaced. It was filled with the latest trappings of Roman culture:
temples, a theater, a governor's palace, and a racecourse. It also had huge
aqueducts to bring in fresh water, and a harbor which was built with such
great technical ingenuity that it even elicits admiration from modern
engineers. The new town was indeed a wonder.
At its height, Caesaria had some 200,000 inhabitants. It stood for over a
thousand years until it was finally destroyed in the 13th century. An
eyewitness account of the greatness of the city:
There were many buildings of white stone. Herod adorned the
town with most sumptuous palaces and large buildings for the
people. And what was the greatest and most laborious work of
all? He adorned it with a harbor that was always free from the
waves of the sea. It was no smaller than the harbor of Athens.
It was of excellent workmanship, all the more remarkable for
being built in an unsuitable place for such a structure.... This
[Herod] achieved by letting down vast stones of above 50 feet
in length, not less than eighteen in breadth, and nine in depth,
into the sea, some twenty fathoms deep. This wall that he built
by the sea-side was 200 feet wide: half of the wall was
positioned opposite the waves and was called the
Wavebreaker, and the other half had several towers built on
it....
Now there were buildings all along the circular harbor, of
the most polished stone, with a certain elevation on which
was erected a temple that was seen a great way off by those
sailing for that harbor. And the temple had in it two statues,
one of Rome and one of Caesar....
There were underground channels and cellars that had no
less architecture bestowed on them than had the building
above the ground. Some of these channels were placed at
even distances running towards the harbor, and one ran paral-
lel to the harbor and bound the rest together, so that both the
rain and the filth of the citizens were together carried off with
ease, and the sea itself came into the city (along these
channels) and washed it clean. Herod also built a theater of
stone and an amphitheater capable of holding a vast number
of men and conveniently situated for a view of the sea.
Walking by the sea among the scattered pillars of Caesaria, it is all too easy
to miss their significance and to walk past the stones and marble without
realizing that this was not just another Roman or Greek center. This was a
Jewish center - a monument to an alien culture built by a Jewish king
whose throne was sustained by Roman arms.
And Some Refuse to Bow; Other Responses to Rome
Caesaria was but one example of a Jewish response to the culture of
Rome. When faced with the question of which culture to embrace, Jewish
tradition or Hellenism, Herod had no conflict: he simply embraced both,
building a Temple in Jerusalem and Caesaria on the coast. But most Jews
chose one or the other. Some were assimilationists who would do anything
to erase any sign of Jewishness - including subjecting themselves to painful
operations to reverse circumcision! But these Jews were in the minority.
Most Jews rejected Rome and Hellenism, and opposed Rome's authority
over Israel.
But although most Jews disliked Roman rule, they were divided on how to
oppose it. Some Jews called for an active revolt, while others saw such a
policy as suicidal and advocated forms of passive resistance. However, they
were all united in their resentment. It only needed a spark to cause an
explosion.
The spark which triggered the Jewish revolt against Rome was, ironically,
ignited in Caesaria, the city which was built as a monument to Rome! In
Caesaria, there was considerable tension between the large Roman-Greek
community and the smaller community of Jewish residents. Non-Jewish
Caesarians frequently humiliated the Jews. But the straw which broke the
camel's back was the insulting sacrifice of a bird outside the door of a
synagogue in 66 C.E. This led to a light which escalated into an anti-
Jewish riot. Several thousands are said to have been killed in only a few
days. News of the event spread and sparked a revolt against Rome
throughout the country. The headquarters of this revolt were in .Jerusalem.
The Roman army which was chosen to put down the revolt was based in
Syria. In order to reach Jerusalem, the Roman army would have to march
through the Galil. The Sanhedrin in Jerusalem sent a brilliant soldier named
Joseph hen Mattityahu - Josephus - to take charge of the preparations for
the defense of the Galil. For all his brilliance, Josephus surrendered himself
and the Galilean stronghold Yodfat to the Romans, and earned himself a
reputation as traitor among the Jews (see box on the opposite page).
The small town of Gamla was the last stronghold of the Jews in the North.
Its fall marked the utter subjugation of the North by the Romans.
Josephus
Joseph ben Mattityahu (or Josephus, as he is usually known) is one of the
most controversial characters in all of Jewish history. Born into an
aristocratic Jewish family in Jerusalem (he was related on his mother's side
to the Maccabean line) in the year 38, Josephus had an excellent and
scholarly upbringing. At the age of 26 he was sent to Rome by the
Sanhedrin, in order to secure the release of some priests who had been
taken there by the Romans. He stayed a while in Rome, very impressed by
its culture and power.
Shortly after Josephus returned, he was sent by the Sanhedrin on another
mission; this time to fortify the Galil towns against the Romans in the first
days of the revolt. Hindered by local jealousies, he did whatever possible.
Nonetheless, the major stronghold of the Galil, Yodfat, fell after a six week
siege and Josephus fled to a cave with 40 others. The group agreed to
collective suicide rather than fall to the Romans. Josephus, by clever
manipulation, managed to remain one of the last two alive. He persuaded
his companion that they should surrender.
Taken as a prisoner-of-war, and condemned to death, Josephus succeeded
in ingratiating himself to Vespasian and Titus, the Roman commanders.
This saved his life. Shortly after the fall of Jerusalem, he moved to Rome,
where he lived out his life as a Jew. While there, he wrote a number of
classic historical works, including the eye-witness account of the war, The
Jewish War, and a Jewish history, Antiquities of the Jews. Nevertheless,
until the end of his life, he was hated by his fellow Jews, who regarded him
as a traitor.