Caesarea Maritima

This deluxe volume contains 40 papers from an international symposium - held on January 3-11, 1995 - on Caesarea Maritima, a celebrated Jewish, Roman, and Early Christian city. Climaxing a major excavation campaign in 1992-95, the book treats the city's archaeology, history, and culture comprehensively, from urban development and economy to epigraphy, sculpture, and ceramics. Papers on Caesarea and religious thought discuss Origen, Eusebius, rabbinic literature, Jewish and Christian academies, and the famous library. Spectacular discoveries, some published here for the first time, include Herod's amphitheater and royal palace, later headquarters of Pontius Pilate and other governors; Roman and Byzantine baths; the Temple to Roma and Augustus; and notably the artificial harbor Sebastos, explored under water, a monument of ancient technology and engineering. Included are fold-out site maps and color aerial photographs showing the latest excavations and the entire site.

The vivid glimpses that this collection of studies furnish of this urban meltingpot make it a landmark publication and a 'must have' for any academic library covering the history and archaeology of the Levant. David M. Jacobson, Palestine Exploration Quarterly, 1998.

Avner Raban, Ph.D. (1981) in Archaeology, The Hebrew University, Jerusalem, is Professor of Archaeology at the University of Haifa. A specialist in underwater archaeology, he directs excavations at Caesarea and has published numerous articles and a book on Caesarea's harbors.Kenneth G. Holum, Ph.D. (1973) in History, University of Chicago, is Associate Professor at the University of Maryland. An excavation director at Caesarea, he has authored on it many archaeological reports, specialized studies, and the book King Herod's Dream (Norton, 1988).