Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition/Cæsarea (1.)

​CÆSAREA, the name of two towns in Palestine:—

I. Cæsarea Palestina, now Kaisaryah, the Roman metropolis of Palestine, 30 miles north of Joppa, and about the same distance north-west of Jerusalem. It was built about 22 B.C. by Herod, on the site of an earlier town called Turris Stratonis. Vast sums of money were spent in the erection of its more important buildings, among which were a temple dedicated to Cæsar, a theatre, and an amphitheatre. The most stupendous work, however, was the semicircular mole, constructed of immense blocks of stone brought from a great distance, and sunk to the depth of twenty fathoms in the sea. It protected the port on the south and west, leaving only a sufficient opening for vessels to enter from the north, so that within the enclosed space (which, according to Lieutenant Condor, measures 300 yards across) a fleet might ride in all weathers in perfect security. The site of the city is now marked by an extensive mass of ruins, among which may still be traced the substructions of all the above-mentioned buildings, as well as those of ​the cathedral built by the Crusaders, an old fortress on the site, it is supposed, of Herod's "Drusus tower," two aqueducts, and a variety of minor structures. The line of the walls of the mediæval town can still be made out, and in some parts that of the more extensive Roman works. The southern part of the mole is also intact. Cæsarea was made the seat of a colony by Vespasian, and took for a time the title of Flavia, but its earlier name was maintained to the time of its complete decay. In the 4th century it was the see of Eusebius, the church historian, and during the crusading period was one of the chief posts of the invaders.

II. Cæsarea Philippi, 95 miles north of Jerusalem, and about 35 south-west of Damascus, situated at the southern base of Mount Hermon, near one of the sources of tho Jordan. It has been identified with Baalgad or Beth-Rehob, and was certainly known for a long time as Panium or Panias, the cave at the foot of the mountain being dedicated to Pan. Herod erected a temple to Augustas in the neighbourhood; and the town was much enlarged and beautified by Philip the Tetrarch, who named it Cæsarea in honour of Tiberius the emperor, adding the cognomen of Philippi to distinguish it from the town last noticed. It continued to be a place of some importance till after the time of the Crusades, and was successively the seat of a Greek and a Latin bishopric. Its site is occupied by the modern Bâniâs or Panias, a paltry and insignificant village, with numerous ruins in the vicinity. On the top of a conical hill above the village stands the castle of Subeibeh, which possibly dates from the time of the Phœnicians, and has been one of the most remarkable fortresses in Palestine from that day to this.