Old and new in Caesarea

The extended excavations of Colonia Prima Flavia Augusta Felix Caesarea Metropolis Provinciae Syriae Palestinae, to be precise, are both impressive and mediocre. Impressive, because of the scale of the area; mediocre because it needs a lot of imagination to get an idea of the grandeur of this once so important Roman harbour. Despite the 'Time Track' -het klank & licht spel -, its hard to get a real touch of the eminent importance of the city. In which my celebrated Origenes founded the Caesarea library with 30.000 scriptures and in which he drafted the Hexapla. But that's only one minor detail in the rich history of the city.


As you can see, the theater can host about 4,000 spectators. But alike most of the remains, it has been substantially restored. The picture of 1966 below, shows the theater without the upperrows. They have been added during the restorations. I measured the orchestra; it has a width of approximately 24 and a depth of 15 meters.