Caesarea

Caesarea is the name of several towns, and part of the identification of certain writers and saints. The two most commonly mentioned in British academic life were to be found in Palestine, around the time of Jesus. They are:

• The one most often referred to simply as Caesarea has also got the longer names of Caesarea Maritima and Caesarea Palaestinae. It was on the coast north of Jaffa: it is now ruined. It was originally a Phoenician city called Straton's Tower. It was rebuilt by Herod the Great and renamed in honour of the Emperor Augustus. It was redeveloped by Herod the Great (73-4 BC) and renamed after his patron, the Emperor Caesar Augustus. By about 13 BCE, it had become the capital of Palestine. It was additionally nicknamed Maritima (Latin for 'maritime'), or Palaestinae ('of Palestine') to distinguish it from other Caesareas, especially that founded by Herod's son Philip the Tetrarch. Saint Philip the Apostle preached here; Saint Paul was tried and held here for some years (Acts, 23-26), and it was here that he "appealed unto Caesar", leading to his journey to Rome and martyrdom.
• Caesarea Philippi, on the River Jordan at the foot of Mount Hermon. Jesus went there, and it was there that he asked his disciples "Whom do men say that I am?" (Mark 8: 27). It is now the village of Banias in the Golan Heights.