Port of Caesarea Maritima & Acre

On our third day in Israel, we started off our touring at Caesarea Maritima. According to first century Roman-Jewish historian Josephus, Herod the Great built a beautiful palace as part of this historic manmade harbor in 22-10 BC. Herod named it in honor of his Roman patron Caesar. We entered the archaeological ruins by crossing over this now dry moat.

Caesarea is mentioned in the Bible's New Testament, relating to events in the life of the apostle Paul (Acts 23-26). You don't have to be a biblical scholar to recognize the infamous Herod's name. An impressive aqueduct ran from Mt Carmel to provide fresh water to the residents of Caesarea. You might recall Mt Carmel from 1 Kings 18, where the prophet Elijah was led by the Lord to his great showdown with the prophets of Baal. I so enjoyed the fact that biblical history was evident virtually everywhere we visited.

Many of the mosaic floors were still intact, in addition to some columns. And several of the ancient storerooms were easily seen.

This spot below is where Herod's palace was located, out on the promontory. That large rectangle was an almost Olympic-sized freshwater pool he had built for his personal use.

This palace later became the praetorium of the Roman governors. Until the summer of 1961, there was no archaeological evidence that infamous Pontius Pilate, the Roman governor who sentenced Jesus to death though He was innocent, ever lived. Other than the facts in the Bible, of course. A dig led by Italian archaeologists found a sizable piece of limestone that bears the name Pontius Pilatus in Latin and reads as follows: 

To the Divine Augusti (this) Tiberieum

... Pontius Pilate

... prefect of Judea

... has dedicated (this)

Pontius Pilate probably made his headquarters at Caesarea Maritima, traveling up to Jerusalem only when he had to do so. The inscription says that Pilate had built a "Tiberieum", which was probably a temple in or near Caesarea dedicated to the then-reigning Roman emperor Tiberius, who ruled from 14 to 37 AD. These local politicians were always trying to curry favor with the leaders in Rome. This fact would explain the power over Pilate of the implicit threat from Jesus' Jewish accusers as recorded in John 19:12. The verse reads, "... Pilate tried to set Jesus free, but the Jewish leaders kept shouting, 'If you let this man go, you are no friend of Caesar. Anyone who claims to be a king (of the Jews) opposes Caesar.'" With the Jews clamoring for Jesus' crucifixion, Pilate handed Jesus over to them to be crucified. And just like that, God's plan for our salvation took its next inevitable step that led our Saviour to Calvary.

Above is a replica at the spot where the stone was found. The original is located in the Israel Museum in Jerusalem.

Our next stop for the day was in Acre. We visited a crusader fortress and excavations of the Hospitaller compound. Acre, aka Akko, was the capital of the Kingdom of Jerusalem, a once mighty Crusader state. It was a major trading hub and nerve center for the Crusader presence in the region as they tried to keep Israel out of the hands of the Islamic Mamluks. Built in the 10th and 11th centuries, these buildings and their inhabitants represented a last stand of Christianity in the Holy Lands.

 

 

The centuries old latrines, below, were pretty impressive.

We ended our day at Tiberias on the western shore of the Sea of Galilee. It was founded by Herod the Great's son, Herod Antipas, around 20 AD. Our accommodations at the Scot's Hotel (owned and managed by the Church of Scotland) were lovely and we enjoyed some amazing views over the water as the sun set and the moon rose. Our room was in a building that originally served as a hospital for women and children in the 1920s. This was just one of numerous times that I wished the walls could talk on this trip.