Caesarea

Caesarea is an ancient Crusader site halfway almost between Jaffa and Haifa on the Mediterranean coast. Long forgotten after the 13th century, it was uncovered by archeologists in the 1950's. Caesarea was built on the site of a Phoenician port whose tower was kept by the Greeks. It was named after Caesar Augustus and in 30 BC, Octavious (Julius Caesar's grandson) gave the site to Herod, on which the port town would be built.

The Archbishop of Caesarea, Eusebius wrote the Onomastikon in Greek there. It is the first geography of Palestine. In 612 AD Caesarea fell under Persian rule , followed by Arab rule in 640 AD. In 1101 AD, the city fell to the Crusades who proceeded to massacre its population. The crusaders were forced to abandon the city to Salah al-Din in 1187 , but recaptured it in 1228. After the Mamelukes recaptured the city in 1265, Caesarea fell into oblivion. In 1878, the Ottomans settled a Muslim community from Bosnia in Caesarea. This community of fishermen was destroyed in 1948. Excavations followed and discoveries were numerous.