1 · POSITION
Caesarea Maritima was built by Herod the Great between about 22 and 10 BC, a city made to receive Rome on a coast without a natural harbour. Its deep-sea harbour, Sebastos, was built of hydraulic concrete and set a standard for harbours after it. From AD 6 the city was the administrative, economic and cultural capital of the Roman province of Judaea. [1]
2 · A HARBOUR MADE FROM NOTHING
Herod began Sebastos in 22 BC. Its breakwaters were cast of pozzolana and lime — weaker than the Italian equivalents, and damaged by earthquakes — but the design was new. The High Aqueduct brought water across two valleys from the Carmel foothills and stayed in use for some six centuries. [1]
3 · A CITY FOR VISITORS
The city had a Roman theatre for games and plays, and a hippodrome rebuilt in the second century. It was taken by Baldwin I in 1101 during the First Crusade, fortified by the Crusaders, and destroyed by the Mamluks in 1265. [1]
4 · TODAY
The site is part of Caesarea National Park, on the western edge of the Sharon plain, managed by the Israel Nature and Parks Authority. Under Arab rule its trade passed to Jaffa, which the register holds under its own code. [1, 2]
5 · ⚑ CANDOUR
⚑ The reading of the hippodrome’s later rebuilding is disputed in the source. Herod’s dates are given as 22 to 10 or 9 BC. [1–2]
Sources & Further Reading
Sources checked 22 October 2026.