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Today we arrived in Tel Aviv and drove by bus directly to Caesarea Maritime. This is the official description of Caesarea:
An important biblical seaport located south of modern Haifa. Built at enormous expense by HEROD the Great between 25 and 13 B.C., and named in honor of Caesar Augustus, the city was sometimes called Caesarea of Palestine to distinguish it from Caesarea Philippi.
Herod spent 12 years building his seaport jewel on the site of an ancient Phoenician city named Strato’s Tower. He constructed a huge breakwater. The enormous stones he used in this project were 15.25 meters (50 feet) long, 5.5 meters (18 feet) wide and 2.75 meters (nine feet) deep. Some of them still can be seen extending 45.75 meters (150 feet) from the shore.
Caesarea frequently was the scene of disturbances as cities of mixed Jewish–Gentile population tended to be. When Pilate was prefect (governor) of Judea, he lived in the governor’s residence at Caesarea. In 1961, a stone inscribed with his name was found in the ruins of an ancient amphitheater there. Philip the evangelist preached there (Acts 8:40), and Peter was sent there to minister to the Roman centurion CORNELIUS (Acts 10:1, 24; 11:11). Herod Agrippa I died at Caesarea, being “eaten of worms” (Acts 12:19–23).
Caesarea was prominent in the ministry of the apostle Paul as well. After Paul’s conversion, some brethren brought him to the port at Caesarea to escape the Hellenists and sail to his hometown of Tarsus (Acts 9:30). Paul made Caesarea his port of call after both his second and third missionary journeys (Acts 18:22; 21:8). Felix sent Paul to Caesarea for trial (Acts 23:23, 33) and the apostle spent two years in prison before making his celebrated defense before Festus and Agrippa (Acts 26). Paul sailed from the harbor in chains to appeal his case before the emperor in Rome (Acts 25:11; 26:1–13).
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