Herod's Palace - Caesarea Maritima
Herod’s Place is located at the Caesarea Maritima which is a popular destination for a day trip from Tel Aviv and Jerusalem for tourists. Now, it is a national park but in the ancient past it was an administrative capital and a port city. After the destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70, Caesarea became the provincial capital of the Judaea Province, before the change of name to Syria Palaestina in 135. The Caesarea National Park is located on the Mediterranean coastline.
Herod chose to build his lavish palace in Caesarea on a natural promontory that juts out into the Mediterranean Sea. After the death of Herod the Great in 4 BC, Caesarea became the Roman seat of power in Israel for 500 years.
Roman governors, or procurators, resided in Herod’s opulent palace in Caesarea. This is also where Roman governor Pontius Pilate lived. A stone tablet with the inscription of the name Pontius Pilate, a Roman governor, it reads To the Divine Augusti [this] Tiberieum.
A hall in the Upper Palace was the destination of the apostle Paul for a hearing before Antoninus Felix (Acts 23:35.). Later, Herod Agrippa II and his sister Berenike visited a new governor, Porcius Festus, and heard Paul’s self-defense there (Acts 25:23).
The king had a freshwater swimming pool carved out of the natural bedrock at the end of his palace; the sprawling pool was almost Olympic in size. It is believed that some ruins are still buried under the sand and sea.
