A seaport on the coast of Palestine, south of Mount Carmel; home of Philip the evangelist.
About Caesarea
City named in honor of Augustus Caesar, built by Herod the Great from 22 to 10 BC. The 8,000-acre (3,240-hectare) site lies 25 miles (40 kilometers) south of modern Haifa, in the beautiful plain of Sharon on Israel’s Mediterranean coast. Known as Caesarea Maritima, it became the administrative center of the country throughout the period of Roman occupation. Three Roman governors of Palestine lived there: Felix (Acts 24), Festus (25:1, 4–6, 13), and Pontius Pilate, who visited Jerusalem on special occasions (as in Jn 19). Archaeologists found Pilate’s name carved in stone in the theater at Caesarea.
Caesarea served as the major seaport of Judea in NT times. Since the southern Palestinian coastline lacked a good harbor, Herod created one by building two huge breakwaters that could shelter ships from Mediterranean storms.
Key References
All Scripture References (18)
Acts (18)
But Philip appeared at Azotus and traveled through that region, preaching the gospel in all the towns until he came to Caesarea.
When the brothers learned of this, they took him down to Caesarea and sent him off to Tarsus.
At Caesarea there was a man named Cornelius, a centurion in what was called the Italian Regiment.
The following day he arrived in Caesarea, where Cornelius was expecting them and had called together his relatives and close friends.
Just then three men sent to me from Caesarea stopped at the house where I was staying.
After Herod had searched for him unsuccessfully, he examined the guards and ordered that they be executed. Then he went down from Judea to Caesarea and spent some time there.
When Paul had landed at Caesarea, he went up and greeted the church at Jerusalem. Then he went down to Antioch.
Leaving the next day, we went on to Caesarea and stayed at the home of Philip the evangelist, who was one of the Seven.
Some of the disciples from Caesarea accompanied us, and they took us to stay at the home of Mnason the Cypriot, an early disciple.
Then he called two of his centurions and said, “Prepare two hundred soldiers, seventy horsemen, and two hundred spearmen to go to Caesarea in the third hour of the night.
The next day they returned to the barracks and let the horsemen go on with him.
When the horsemen arrived in Caesarea, they delivered the letter to the governor and presented Paul to him.
Five days later the high priest Ananias came down with some elders and a lawyer named Tertullus, who presented to the governor their case against Paul.
Three days after his arrival in the province, Festus went up from Caesarea to Jerusalem,
But Festus replied, “Paul is being held in Caesarea, and I myself am going there soon.
After spending no more than eight or ten days with them, Festus went down to Caesarea. The next day he sat on the judgment seat and ordered that Paul be brought in.
After several days had passed, King Agrippa and Bernice came down to Caesarea to pay their respects to Festus.
Then Festus said, “King Agrippa and all who are present with us, you see this man. The whole Jewish community has petitioned me about him, both here and in Jerusalem, crying out that he ought not to live any longer.