Cesarea #4: Public Restroom

I can't resist throwing another pic taken at the entrance to the hippodrome. This is the public latrine, in the main entrance where you'd expect to find one today. Only, this is it! From Herod to "the least of these" sat there in full view (protected some by their robes) and did their stuff.

At the other end of Cesarea, formerly the magnificent city and deep water port, were the accumulated ruins and record of centuries of changed hands, from Romans to the Byzantine era to Moslem rule to the Crusaders to the Turks to now.

On the way out we passed the great aquaduct to the city, some of which the Crusaders removed to build their fortress and moat, much of which is still intact.

Published with Blogger-droid v1.6.5

Cesarea Maritime #2 (Hippodrome)

Wow, a panorama. Or perhaps just a photo where most of it was redundant and needed to be cropped severely. The white strip of sand in the distance is the hippodrome, which seated 10,000. Part of Ben Hur was filmed here. The name "hippodrome" is a clue to the informed traveller that they either raced hippos here (though I didn't see any in Ben Hur), or horses and chariots. I suspect the latter because hippos is Greek for horse. It's also really hard to put a bit in a hippopotamus' mouth.

The tracks in the photo are original and indicative of the hippodrome's use in recent times for...tractor races?