John Hale on "Treasures of Caesarea Maritima"

Saturday, March 3, 2018 at 11am in the John B. Davis Lecture Hall in the Ruth Stricker Dayton Campus Center, Macalester College (an interactive map is here, and the Campus Center is #29 on this map)

This event is free and open to the public; co-sponsored by the Macalester College Anthropology Department and the Archaeological Institute of America

Figurine of the moon goddess Luna
(Photo: Ran Feinstein)

The head of a bronze statue of the sun god Sol
(Photo: Ran Feinstein)

TREASURES OF CAESAREA MARITIMA

Dr. John R. Hale, University of Louisville

Two thousand years ago, Caesar Augustus sent Roman engineers to construct a gigantic artificial harbor for his ally, King Herod the Great of Judea.  That great harbor, called Caesarea Maritima, became an important center for both government and commerce in the eastern Mediterranean.  At Caesarea, St Paul embarked on his historic voyage to Rome, and Charlemagne established a hostel for Frankish pilgrims.  In the immense Roman breakwaters constructed of hydraulic “pozzolana” concrete, divers have revealed 2000-year-old remains of the wooden caissons used during construction.  Two important shipwrecks have recently been discovered near the harbor.  One carried a cargo of Fatimid gold coins from Egypt, and the other a shipment of Roman bronze statues.  Dr. John R. Hale, an underwater archaeologist at the University of Louisville, will present an overview of these extraordinary finds, and describe his own participation in the scientific work of recovering and documenting the artifacts. 

Dr. John R. Hale is the director of the Liberal Studies Project at the University of Louisville. An underwater archaeologist and expert on maritime history, he is the author of Lords of the Sea, on the ancient Athenian navy, among numerous other works. He has carried out archaeological fieldwork at sites around the world, and has for the past several years been involved in the underwater excavation of King Herod's harbor at Caesarea Maritima in Israel. 

++ The talk will be followed by a small reception for AIA members and students.++

An event pdf is available here