Guest post by Linda Dindzans
As a reader, I have never met a period of history that didn’t fascinate me. As an author, the stories that find me seem always to rise from the perilous, vibrant world of the Bible.
In 2019, my husband and I traveled to Israel, where we visited Caesarea Maritima along the Mediterranean shore. This ancient city—famed for its deep-water harbor and sweeping hippodrome—remains the largest Roman ruin in Israel today.
Herod’s Grand Vision: A Harbor in the Sea
Herod the Great took a modest Phoenician anchorage known as Strato’s Tower and transformed it into one of the marvels of the ancient world. Using volcanic ash called pozzolana, which hardens underwater into Roman cement, his engineers constructed a massive artificial harbor between 22 and 10 BCE. He named this harbor Sebastos—the Greek equivalent of “Augustus”—and it quickly became a major Roman port.
At the time, Sebastos was the largest man-made harbor ever built in open sea. Surrounding it, Herod constructed a magnificent city complete with a palace, theater, aqueducts, and a gleaming temple to Augustus.
The Hippodrome: Sport, Spectacle, and Survival
Caesarea’s hippodrome—stretching along the shoreline—held a prominent place in the city’s history. Here, crowds gathered for chariot races, athletic games, gladiatorial contests, and public executions.
As in Rome’s Circus Maximus, chariot racing in Caesarea was a war on wheels. Highly trained slave-drivers—aurigas—raced two-horse chariots (bigae) or four-horse chariots (quadrigae). They were assisted by an outrider on horseback and a man on foot who helped the charioteer manage treacherous tight turns and maneuver so rival teams would falter or crash. The dangers were many, often fatal. The rewards, if a driver survived long enough, included wealth, adoration, and—rarely—freedom.
As a biblical fiction author, I could not resist this setting of the hippodrome at Caesarea. Book Two of A Certain Future Series, A Certain Mercy, Scrivenings Press features several scenes in Caesarea including a life and death chariot race.
Rome Takes Control
By A.D. 6, Rome had annexed the region, placing it under the rule of governors or prefects. During the ministry of Jesus, the prefect was Pontius Pilate (26–36 CE), who resided in Caesarea—the Roman administrative and military headquarters. This relatively new capital bustled with Greeks, Jews, Romans, and travelers from across the Mediterranean.
In contrast, Jerusalem was ancient, holy, and volatile. Pilate traveled there only when politically necessary—during feast days or times of unrest.
The Pilate Stone: A Name Set in Stone
Before 1961, there was no physical evidence outside ancient texts that Pontius Pilate ever existed. That changed when archaeologists unearthed the now-famous “Pilate Stone.” Carved into this reused building block was a fragment of a dedication to Emperor Tiberius by Pontius Pilate, Prefect of Judea.
Found embedded in a staircase near the Herodian theater, the inscription remains the only contemporary physical artifact bearing Pilate’s name. Until its discovery, he was known solely from literary sources: the New Testament, apocryphal writings, Josephus, Philo, and Tacitus.
Caesarea in the Book of Acts
Linda's book features this beautiful setting.
Click on the cover to check it out.
The city appears repeatedly in the early Christian writings:
• Cornelius and the Gospel to the Gentiles (Acts 10): Here Peter preached to the Roman centurion Cornelius and witnessed the Holy Spirit fall on Gentiles for the first time.
• The Death of Agrippa I (Acts 12:19–23): Herod the Great’s grandson died in Caesarea after accepting worship during games held—likely—in the hippodrome.
• Paul’s Travels: Paul sailed to and from Caesarea many times (Acts 9, 18, 27).
• Paul’s Imprisonment: Paul spent two years under house arrest in Caesarea, facing Felix, Festus, and Agrippa II before appealing to Caesar (Acts 23–27). Luke, traveling with Paul, would have had freedom to gather eyewitness accounts that shaped his Gospel and the early chapters of Acts.
• The First Jewish Revolt: The revolt ignited in Caesarea in 66 A.D. After Jerusalem fell in 70 A.D., Titus forced 2,500 Jewish prisoners to fight to the death in Caesarea’s stadium as part of his victory celebrations. The spoils of this war likely funded construction of the Colosseum in Rome.
A Launching Point for the Gospel
Caesarea’s strategic position as a major port city—and the place where Peter first preached to Gentiles—made it one of the most effective launching points for spreading the gospel to the wider Roman world.
About Linda
Linda Dindzans, M.D. is a writer with the heart of a healer who offers readers stories of redemption and restoration. Though her compelling characters inhabit the treacherous times of the Bible, Linda believes the struggles of her characters still speak to hearts today. Her debut novel A Certain Man was released in August 2024. Her next novel A Certain Mercy (December 2025) features several scenes set in Caesarea.
References:
- Israel's Most Impressive Roman Ruin- Street Gems
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7PUBzVup4nc&t=53s - https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/historical-notes-pontius-pilate-a-name-set-in-stone-1084786.html
- https://cbnisrael.org/2020/12/01/caesarea/ Biblical Israel: Caesarea by Marc Turnage
- https://cbnisrael.org/2025/07/01/caesarea-where-the-gospel-penetrated-the-gentile-world5.
- https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Israel_9-08_134_(2909864855).jpg photo of Pilate stone
- https://jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/3887-caesarea#0
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caesarea_Maritima: Bibliography see below
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caesarea_Maritima#cite_note-Menachery87-25
- 24.Votruba, G. 2007. "Imported Building Materials of Sebastos Harbour, Israel." International Journal of Nautical Archaeology 36:325-335.
- 23.George Menachery, 1987 in Kodungallur, City of St. Thomas, Azhikode, 1987, Chapter II note 19 quotes the National Geographic article: Robert L. Hohlfelder, "Caesarea Maritima, Herod the Great's City on the Sea". The National Geographic, 171/2, February 1987, pp. 260-79.
- 21. Hohlfelder, R. 2007. "Constructing the Harbour of Caesarea Palaestina, Israel: New Evidence from ROMACONS Field Campaign of October 2005". International Journal of Nautical Archaeology 36:409-415.
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