The port-city of Caesarea Maritima and the harbor were...

The port-city of Caesarea Maritima and the harbor were built by Herod the Great between 25 and 13 BCE. This new city was built upon an already existing city named Strato’s Tower. Caesarea was the largest of King Herod’s building ventures and was named in honor of his patron, Caesar Augustus. The harbor itself was named Sebastos. Herod had hoped the city would became a center for trade in the Judea province. The new city had many public structures including a vast harbor. Some of these structures included temples to Caesar and Roma, an aqueduct, an amphitheater and forum. Herod paid homage to not only Rome but to his Jewish heritage by being able to merge both cultures in this one city. The ancient city sits between the current cities†¦show more content†¦There was also a shortage of drinking water for the people of the city. Despite these issues, the builders were able to swiftly complete this massive project and the harbor was created. Josephus gives us a detailed description of Caesarea calling the harbor the most impressive architectural feature of Caesarea. He tells us of the lack of topographical features available to the builders such as a cape or bay. The builders were able to carve the new facility out of the coast line without these features that had been a prerequisite up until this point. Several other problems occurred during the building including heavy storms and the constant erosion of the coastline. The outer harbor area had a circular shape created by two breakwaters extending out from the shore that ran north and south. These breakwaters are structures built into the water to help protect the harbor from the force of waves. The south breakwater ran west but curved north at the seaward end. The north breakwater was smaller and extended straight out west and stopped around 30 meters before the end of the south breakwater, causing the entrance of the harbor to be on the north side. The large arms were built by large st ones. At the entrance to the harbor stood on both sides three colossi. There were three large statues on the east that stood on a tower. The ones on the west side were supported by two upright stones.