From Paganism to Christianity to Islam: The Transformation of Ancient Caesarea, ASOR via Zoom, December 15, 2022, 3:00–4:30 pm

Friends of ASOR presents a webinar on December 15, 2022 from 3:00pm to 4:30pm EDT, “From Paganism to Christianity to Islam: The Transformation of Ancient Caesarea,” featuring Prof. Marsha Rozenblit, Prof. Yael Aron, Anna Iamim, and Dr. Jennifer Stabler. 

This webinar will trace the archaeological evidence for the history of Caesarea Maritima, built by King Herod the Great of Judaea in the late first century BCE on the coast of what is today Israel. At Caesarea, Herod built a splendid city, replete with a theater, hippodrome, palace, aqueduct, city streets, sewers, and especially a magnificent temple dedicated to the pagan gods Roma and Augustus. This temple was located on a specially constructed “hill,” the so-called Temple Platform, and it served as a “harbor temple,” visible to ships entering the artificial harbor constructed by Herod and his engineers. Caesarea flourished as the capital of Roman Palestine and especially in the so-called “Byzantine” period after the Christianization of the Roman Empire in the fourth century CE, reaching its largest extent in size and population in the sixth century CE. The city continued to thrive in a somewhat smaller form after the Muslim conquest in 640 CE and also during the Crusader occupation in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, but finally ceased to function with the defeat of the Crusaders in 1265.

Archaeologist Kenneth Holum, a professor of Ancient History at the University of Maryland, who passed away in 2017, led the excavations between 1989 and 2003 on the Temple Platform at Caesarea as part of the Combined Caesarea Expeditions with the late Avner Raban of Haifa University leading the excavations of the harbor. This webinar will focus on the archaeological findings on the Temple Platform from the Roman and Byzantine periods, including discoveries about the pagan temple, its willful destruction by the Christian authorities of Caesarea around the year 400 CE, and the construction on the same spot around 500 CE of a large, beautiful, octagonal Christian church, which served as a “harbor church,” visible to all boats that entered the still active harbor in the sixth and seventh centuries. These findings have been meticulously described in Caesarea Maritima: Excavations in the Old City 1989-2003 Conducted by the University of Maryland and the University of Haifa, Final Reports, Volume 1, edited by Kenneth G. Holum (ASOR, Archaeological Reports 27, 2020). Holum finished all the work on the volume before his death, and his wife, Marsha Rozenblit, the moderator of this webinar, oversaw the publication of the volume.

The webinar will consist of short presentations by Rozenblit (University of Maryland) as moderator, by Yael Arnon, the chief ceramicist at the site; Jennifer Stabler, a long-time trench supervisor, and Anna Iamim, who completed all the architectural plans. Rozenblit will then moderate a discussion of the most important findings at the site. The final 20 minutes will be devoted to a live Q&A session with the audience and panelists. The event will be recorded.

Advance registration required. ASOR Members: $6 | Public: $12