Caesarea

Herod invested in Roman friendship: he founded Caesarea and other cities in Augustus's honor and met him on several occasions. In return for the peace he secured, with troops that mixed Romans, Gauls and Germans, he gained land and prestige. He also kept the priesthood on a short leash, installing a friend as high priest, and likewise the Sanhedrin of Jerusalem.1

The spark was a clash between Jews and Greeks at Caesarea, made worse by the procurator Florus's heavy-handed response. The fuel, however, was religious, economic and social resentment built up since Pompey invaded Judea in 63 BCE.2

For Philo, Augustus was the model sovereign: he brought peace, united the world, civilized the barbarians and put an end to piracy; Caligula, by contrast, was dreadful, but in his view most successors acted with benevolence toward the Jews. Archaeology shows what prompted this judgment: aqueducts in Jerusalem and Caesarea, better roads, streets and ports.3

Christianity inherited from Judaism a veneration for the Holy Land but gave it another meaning. Early Christians thought of it metaphorically or of the heavenly Jerusalem; over time, however, physical geography gained importance. In the third century, Caesarea, on the Palestinian coast, was already a hub of Christian activity, and even before the fourth century many Christians went on pilgrimage to Jerusalem, where they placed the crucifixion and resurrection.4