3 glorious appeals

Appeal no. 1

At Caesarea there was a man named Cornelius, a centurion in what was known as the Italian Regiment. He and all his family were devout and God-fearing. Acts 10:1

The Apostle Peter was sent to tell Cornelius about Jesus and he became the first Gentile Christian.

How did there come to be a town at Caesarea and a Roman regiment there? King Herod (again) had a dream to build a glorious Roman town to appeal to his Roman backers, complete with an impressive temple to the Roman gods and Emperor. And what a town it was. Unfortunately the site didn’t have a harbour – no problem, Herod built one. Large wooden frames were floated out into the water out to the right spot, then volcanic ash was poured into them which hardened as it reacted with the water, and thus was formed a base for a solid breakwater to be built in the first century!

Unfortunately the site didn’t have any fresh water. No problem, he built a 7.5 km above ground aqueduct to bring water from a spring – the gradient for the water to flow – 20cm for every 1Km! And here some of it is still on the beach.

But not content with practicalities, he imported beautiful stone from around the Mediterranean. 

With it he built a beautiful palace for himself and his guests right on the water, with a swimming pool. And this wasn’t just an Aussie ocean pool that the water splashed into. There were covered colonnades and rooms around the pool. 

Of course, he wanted more entertainment than that, so he built a hippodrome or circus for chariot races, with seating for 10 000 spectators (with a great ocean backdrop!)

For those who thought there was more to life than sport, he build a Roman amphitheatre for concerts and shows – with seating for 4000 spectators (with a great ocean backdrop!) 

If you're thinking that the seats look in good nick and the stage equipment looks a little modern, you're right. Its been restored to cater for modern performances here. In fact the Hillsong tour of Israel was here in concert just a few days ago (I guess they haven't packed up yet)

Caesarea was so successful it soon became the capital of the Roman province, and having been accused by some Jews, a certain man named Paul was tried here before the Roman governor. His response?  

"If I am guilty of doing anything deserving death, I do not refuse to die. But if the charges brought against me by these Jews are not true, no one has the right to hand me over to them. I appeal to Caesar!” After Festus had conferred with his council, he declared: “You have appealed to Caesar. To Caesar you will go!” Acts 25

These words were recorded on a plaque, pointing out that this was most likely where he was tried. Having appealed to Caesar, he traveled from Caesarea Harbour to Rome, where he was eventually executed.

Later the empire itself ‘became Christian’ and they weren’t keen on chariot races or gladiator fights. So they built over some of the stadium with a splendid gym and bath house.   

And to fund it all, they made sure people paid their taxes. Check out this mosaic in the floor of the tax collecting room:

(If your Latin is a little rusty, here's the English translation:

For rulers hold no terror for those who do right, but for those who do wrong. Do you want to be free from fear of the one in authority? Then do what is right and he will commend you. Romans 13:3)

Although Caesareea lay in ruins and unloved for about 8 centuries after the Mamluks destroyed it, one of the Rothschild’s bought the site 100 years ago and it has now been restored beautifully. Some people may prefer an isolated fortress on top of a foreboding mountain miles from anywhere, but personally I think you can’t beat a sea breeze and an ocean view. Perhaps that’s why there are about 8 different restaurants and several gallery shops here and none up the top at Masada.

The whole place certainly appealed to Isaac and I - we spent nearly 4 hours here!

Appeal no. 2

Next stop Haifa, a large modern city with a busy modern harbor. Led by google maps we wound our way up the hill to the top of the beautiful Baha’i gardens. The Baha’i religion was founded by two successive prophets, and basically teaches the oneness of God, the oneness of all religions and the oneness of all mankind. In particular, they say that God has revealed himself in whatever way was most appropriate for different civilizations at different times, and that he has now revealed this through his latest two prophets. (Appealing ideas but you have to wonder why the one God has told so many different groups of people such very different things about himself and how he wants them to relate to him). Why is there a garden in Haifa? Because their prophets ministered near here, and their bodies are entombed in the shrine here. Unfortunately we were too late to go anywhere near the shrine, as we would have liked to have understood this religion more, especially as one of my good friends at school and university was a Baha’i. Nonetheless, the garden was absolutely glorious with wonderful structured arrangements of spring flowers and succulents, and it sure appealed to Isaac and I.

Appeal no.3

Finally onto our town for the night – Akko/Acco/Acre - depending on who you ask. Finding our hostel right in the middle of the old town certainly appealed to us, and it is a very nice and modern Israeli Youth Hostel – but still let me in. 

Its been built to fit in with a Crusader era arch, and running through the dining room is an ancient aqua duct! Even better than all of this – the bathroom has a proper shower recess – first time since we left Australia!

Straight down to the harbour to walk along the Crusader/Mamluk/independent-19^th century-Egyptian-warlord town wall right along a beautiful Mediterranean Sea front.

I had primed Isaac for the excitement of seeing the sunset over the water, but for once there was too much cloud at the horizon. Nonetheless a beautiful way to end the day.

Looking forward to exploring the history of this town together tomorrow morning; I think there may even be a tunnel!