Palace and hippodrome from the south

No tour through Caesarea is complete without a visit Herod’s palace. Although completely in ruins enough remains for us to see the enormous size of the largest of all the palaces built by Herod the Great. The partial reconstruction is an invaluable addition to understand what Herod’s palace must have looked like.

Caesarea was an impressive construction. As was Herod’s way he always chose the most impressive and often most difficult place for his own palace. In Caesarea he outdid himself.

The palace is situated on a promontory into the Mediterranean Sea on the south side of Caesarea, lodged between the theater and the hippodrome. In its final form it consisted of two levels, the lower, western level being earlier that the higher eastern level.

Reconstruction*

Entrance to the palace was from east, through a massive entry way that leads to the large courtyard (42 x 65 m). This courtyard was surrounded on all sides by a roof covered colonnade. The center of the courtyard had most likely been planted with trees, palms and shrubs that may even have created small secluded areas.

The courtyard was surrounded by rooms, the most impressive to be seen on the north side. This room has been named the Audience Hall. If so, this may have been the place where the rulers and governors received visitors and reviewed cases, such as Felix meeting Paul (Acts 24:26).

In the center of the courtyard stands a stone with an inscription. This stone has nothing to do with Herod. The stone is known as the Pontius Pilate stone, as the inscription mentions this important governor by name. It is most likely that Pontius Pilate, like all the other Roman governors, lived in this palace after Judea comes under direct Roman rule in the year 70 BE and made Caesarea the capital of the new Roman province.

On the northwest corner of the upper palace is a staircase leading down to the lower level. Unfortunately most of us can only look at the lower level from the upper level as the staircase is almost completely eroded away by the waves of the Mediterranean.

Pool, Lower Palace

What first strikes the visitor looking on the Lower Level is the large (35x18m) pool. The pool was surrounded by columns and rooms with a tall column in the center. Just below the viewpoint from the Upper Palace is the triclinium (93 m square). It’s difficult to see it and the two rooms adjoining, as they have been covered over to protect the mosaics found there.

Every time I come to this palace I am impressed. The sheer size of it, the scope, the location on the premonotory, the view over the Mediterranean. This is probably one of the most difficult sites for me to explain on paper !

* Student’s reconstruction of palace seen from the north. Courtesy Caesarea Maritima, a project of the University of Pennsylvania Museum