| To read "The Road to Emmaus," click here. |
| To read "A Reflection of Jerusalem and the New Jerusalem from the Ground," click here. |
| To read "Confession of a Gentile in Jerusalem: The Paradox of the Five Sheklim Blessing," click here. |
| To view "Into the Heat of the Hebron Cauldon," click here. |
| To view "The Garden of Gethsemane and Church of All Nations," click here. |
| To view "Pilgrimage to Bethlehem, Birthplace of Jesus, click here. |
| To view "Herodion: A Fortress During the Gospels," click here. |
| To read "The Wilderness of Abraham, Jesus & Israel- Palestine," click here. |
| To view "In Search of the Messianic Secret - Caesarea Phillipi," click here. |
| To read "Descending to the Dead Sea and Ascending to Qumran," click here. |
| To read "Jury for Jericho," click here. |
| To view "The Empty Tombs," click here. |
| To view "Two Very Different Houses" click here. |
| To view "Caesarea Maritima as Known to Saint Paul," click here. |
| To view "The Call for Simon Peter, Fisherman," click here. |
To read "In Search of Lazarus," click here. |
| To view "In The Upper Room" click \here. |
| To view "The Church of St. Peter in Gallicantu" click here. |
| To view "Visitng the Dome of the Rock" click here. |
| To view Group photos of Cincinnati Pilgrims in Jerusalem click here. |
| Photography on this page by Charleston C. K. Wang, Shirley Wang, or Arthur Wang Copyright 2010-2012 All Rights Reserved Charleston C. K. Wang, Esq., Publisher |
| WANGNEWS SERVICE |
| CLICK ON EACH PHOTGRAPH FOR LARGER VIEW |
CAESAREA MARITIMA - THE CITY OF CAESAR BY THE SEA AS KNOWN TO SAINT PAUL
An Independent Source of News & Views
SAINT PAUL AT CAESAREA
Then he [a Roman Tribune in Jerusalem]
summoned two of the centurions and
said, ‘Get ready to leave by nine o’clock
tonight for Caesarea with two hundred
soldiers, seventy horsemen, and two
hundred spearmen. ... When they came to
Caesarea and delivered the letter to the
governor, they presented Paul also
before him. ... Festus replied that Paul
was being kept at Caesarea, and that he
himself intended to go there shortly. ‘So’,
he said, ‘let those of you who have the
authority come down with me, and if there
is anything wrong about the man, let them
accuse him.’ After he had stayed among
them for not more than eight or ten days,
he went down to Caesarea; the next day
he took his seat on the tribunal and
ordered Paul to be brought. ... After
several days had passed, King Agrippa
and Bernice arrived at Caesarea to
welcome Festus. Since they were staying
there for several days, Festus laid Paul’s
case before the king, saying, ‘There is a
man here who was left in prison by Felix.
Excerpted from Acts of the Apostles,
Chap. 23-25 .
Additional References: Josephus,
Antiquities 15.293, 339; 16.13; 19:343-365;
The Jewish War 1.80; 2.16-17, 282-296,
457-459. Acts 8:40, 10:1-11:18, 21:8-16;
23:23-35; 25:1-32.
Caesarea by the Mediterranean Sea is
the most beautiful of ancient cities
beyond Jerusalem in the syllabus of the
Saint George's College Course, "The
Bible and its Setting." Visiting its beach-
front ruins during springtime is sheer
joy - fresh is thescent of the ocean salt
and bright are the new flowers.
This city once was the grandest in
Roman Palestine. Its foundation was
laid (ca 20 BCE) over an old Greek fort
known as Strato's Tower by Herod the
Great in honor of his patron, Augustus
(aka Gaius Julius Caesar). Its harbor
was larger than that of Athens and
merchants within competed with
Alexandria and Antioch for commercial
primacy.
The city was planned and built
in the Roman style, complete with fresh
water aqueducts, sewers, mosaic
pavements lined with marble colonnades,
a forum, a hippodrome (sports track), an
amphitheater said to be bigger than the
Coliseum in Rome, and not but not
least, an impressive temple dedicated
to the imperial cult.
Caesarea Maritima was pagan in the
sense that the Emperor along with the
pantheon of Greco-Roman gods and
goddesses were worshipped therein.
Upon the death of Herod Antipas soon
after the birth of Jesus, the Romans
quickly deposed his heir Archelaus and
imposed direct rule. Judea was
governed from Caesarea Maritima by
Prefects, lower rank equestrian officers.
Pontius Pilate was one such Prefect - in
1961, a damaged limestone Tiberieum
marker was found in the amphitheatre
confirming that Pilate was [...]ECTVS
IUDA[...] (usually read as praefectus
iudaeae), that is, prefect-governor of
Judea. To see a photo of the Pilatus
Stone, click here.
After 44 CE, Procurators were sent by
the Emperor in lieu of Prefects.
Regarding Paul, formerly known as Saul,
he was imprisoned at Caesarea Maritima
for over 2 years, where the case against
him was first heard by Marcus Antonius
Felix, Procurator of Judea (52-58 CE),
and then by Porcius Festus (Procurator
58-62) who not only inherited Paul's case
but all other problems left over by Felix,
including charges of favoritism. Festus
is also famous as having presided over
the dispute between King Agrippa II and
the Temple authorities in Jerusalem
over the obstruction of the view from a
new wing of the royal palace by Temple
walls.
In the fall of 58 CE, Paul appealed to
Caesar and set out for Rome. In the
3rd and 4th centuries, the city ascended
as a center of Christian scholarship,
boasting of a large library containing the
writing of Church fathers as Origen,
Eusebius, and Pamphilus and was visited
by luminaries as Gregory Nazianzus,
Basil the Great, Jerome (translator of
the Latin Vulgate Bible), and others who
studied at Caesarea Maritima.
Notes on the photos:
The WAMGNEWS masthead shows the
Roman aqueduct running along the
beachfront of the city.
The photo 45 degrees up on the left
shows the Greco-Roman love for
sculptures of the human body, a taste not
shared by, indeed abhorred by the
Judeans.
The photo 45 degrees up on the right
shows the remains of theancient Roman
columns and walkways. In the misty
backdrop are 3 modern smoke-stacks
of a fossil fuel electric power gemeration
station.
The next photo on the right shows more
ancient columns and in the center
background is a modern oil tanker
sailing past like a ghost on the
Mediterranean Sea.
These 2 previous photos are apt
reminders of the dependence of our
modern civilization on fossil fuel for the
generation of energy.
The next photo on the right shows a
sarcophagus - a funeral container,
usually made of limestone. This word is
derived from the Greek σαρξ sarx
meaning "flesh", and φαγειν phagein
meaning "to eat", hence the composite
"flesh-eating." Limestone was thought
to quickly decompose the corpse placed
inside a sarcophagus. This photo shows
the impermanence of all things temporal.
The last photo on the left column shows
a "Sushi Restaurant" (click on photo for
larger view), but on closer look from the
ground, the place was closed. No sushi
lunch could be had for that day (I found
only 1 Chinese restaurant during my
travels in the Holy Land - a photo later).
Charleston C. K. Wang, 05/28/2010.
Then he [a Roman Tribune in Jerusalem]
summoned two of the centurions and
said, ‘Get ready to leave by nine o’clock
tonight for Caesarea with two hundred
soldiers, seventy horsemen, and two
hundred spearmen. ... When they came to
Caesarea and delivered the letter to the
governor, they presented Paul also
before him. ... Festus replied that Paul
was being kept at Caesarea, and that he
himself intended to go there shortly. ‘So’,
he said, ‘let those of you who have the
authority come down with me, and if there
is anything wrong about the man, let them
accuse him.’ After he had stayed among
them for not more than eight or ten days,
he went down to Caesarea; the next day
he took his seat on the tribunal and
ordered Paul to be brought. ... After
several days had passed, King Agrippa
and Bernice arrived at Caesarea to
welcome Festus. Since they were staying
there for several days, Festus laid Paul’s
case before the king, saying, ‘There is a
man here who was left in prison by Felix.
Excerpted from Acts of the Apostles,
Chap. 23-25 .
Additional References: Josephus,
Antiquities 15.293, 339; 16.13; 19:343-365;
The Jewish War 1.80; 2.16-17, 282-296,
457-459. Acts 8:40, 10:1-11:18, 21:8-16;
23:23-35; 25:1-32.
Caesarea by the Mediterranean Sea is
the most beautiful of ancient cities
beyond Jerusalem in the syllabus of the
Saint George's College Course, "The
Bible and its Setting." Visiting its beach-
front ruins during springtime is sheer
joy - fresh is thescent of the ocean salt
and bright are the new flowers.
This city once was the grandest in
Roman Palestine. Its foundation was
laid (ca 20 BCE) over an old Greek fort
known as Strato's Tower by Herod the
Great in honor of his patron, Augustus
(aka Gaius Julius Caesar). Its harbor
was larger than that of Athens and
merchants within competed with
Alexandria and Antioch for commercial
primacy.
The city was planned and built
in the Roman style, complete with fresh
water aqueducts, sewers, mosaic
pavements lined with marble colonnades,
a forum, a hippodrome (sports track), an
amphitheater said to be bigger than the
Coliseum in Rome, and not but not
least, an impressive temple dedicated
to the imperial cult.
Caesarea Maritima was pagan in the
sense that the Emperor along with the
pantheon of Greco-Roman gods and
goddesses were worshipped therein.
Upon the death of Herod Antipas soon
after the birth of Jesus, the Romans
quickly deposed his heir Archelaus and
imposed direct rule. Judea was
governed from Caesarea Maritima by
Prefects, lower rank equestrian officers.
Pontius Pilate was one such Prefect - in
1961, a damaged limestone Tiberieum
marker was found in the amphitheatre
confirming that Pilate was [...]ECTVS
IUDA[...] (usually read as praefectus
iudaeae), that is, prefect-governor of
Judea. To see a photo of the Pilatus
Stone, click here.
After 44 CE, Procurators were sent by
the Emperor in lieu of Prefects.
Regarding Paul, formerly known as Saul,
he was imprisoned at Caesarea Maritima
for over 2 years, where the case against
him was first heard by Marcus Antonius
Felix, Procurator of Judea (52-58 CE),
and then by Porcius Festus (Procurator
58-62) who not only inherited Paul's case
but all other problems left over by Felix,
including charges of favoritism. Festus
is also famous as having presided over
the dispute between King Agrippa II and
the Temple authorities in Jerusalem
over the obstruction of the view from a
new wing of the royal palace by Temple
walls.
In the fall of 58 CE, Paul appealed to
Caesar and set out for Rome. In the
3rd and 4th centuries, the city ascended
as a center of Christian scholarship,
boasting of a large library containing the
writing of Church fathers as Origen,
Eusebius, and Pamphilus and was visited
by luminaries as Gregory Nazianzus,
Basil the Great, Jerome (translator of
the Latin Vulgate Bible), and others who
studied at Caesarea Maritima.
Notes on the photos:
The WAMGNEWS masthead shows the
Roman aqueduct running along the
beachfront of the city.
The photo 45 degrees up on the left
shows the Greco-Roman love for
sculptures of the human body, a taste not
shared by, indeed abhorred by the
Judeans.
The photo 45 degrees up on the right
shows the remains of theancient Roman
columns and walkways. In the misty
backdrop are 3 modern smoke-stacks
of a fossil fuel electric power gemeration
station.
The next photo on the right shows more
ancient columns and in the center
background is a modern oil tanker
sailing past like a ghost on the
Mediterranean Sea.
These 2 previous photos are apt
reminders of the dependence of our
modern civilization on fossil fuel for the
generation of energy.
The next photo on the right shows a
sarcophagus - a funeral container,
usually made of limestone. This word is
derived from the Greek σαρξ sarx
meaning "flesh", and φαγειν phagein
meaning "to eat", hence the composite
"flesh-eating." Limestone was thought
to quickly decompose the corpse placed
inside a sarcophagus. This photo shows
the impermanence of all things temporal.
The last photo on the left column shows
a "Sushi Restaurant" (click on photo for
larger view), but on closer look from the
ground, the place was closed. No sushi
lunch could be had for that day (I found
only 1 Chinese restaurant during my
travels in the Holy Land - a photo later).
Charleston C. K. Wang, 05/28/2010.
| CLICK ON EACH THUMBNAIL PHOTOGRAPH FOR LARGER VIEW |
 |  |  |
| CAESAREA MARITIMA THE CITY OF CAESAR BY THE SEA AS KNOWN TO SAINT PAUL |
