Herod the Great
The builder
With the death of Mariamme, Herod had reached a turning point. Henceforth he abandoned all efforts to impress the Jewish élite with his Hasmonaean connections. He could never change what he was, but he could glorify his name with monuments that would last for ever. And the more difficult the location or outrageous the engineering required, the happier it made him.
For instance, there had long been a mountain-top stronghold overlooking the Dead Sea at Massada, some 450 metres (1,476 feet) above those salty waters. Herod transformed it into a luxurious palace complex that appeared to taunt gravity.
Herod was a creative man with an eye for form and function and the resources to realise his most outrageous visions. He required his architects to think the unthinkable.
Caesarea
The greatest example of creativity from this most destructive of kings was a feat of engineering so audacious that it places him among the greatest builders of the ancient world – on a coastline without any natural foothold, he created a vast artificial deep seaport. In fact, some experts believe that Herod’s port of Caesarea should be counted as one of the seven wonders of the world.
Herod knew that, to become a great trading nation, Judaea had to use the Mediterranean; it could then steal business from Alexandria. But first he needed to change the way the Jews – whose tradition was totally non-maritime – thought about the sea.
The secret of his extraordinary design lay in a Roman innovation – volcanic ash cement that hardened in sea water. Herod’s engineers filled hundreds of wooden pontoons with the powder and sank them to form the foundations for the new harbour – about 40 hectares (100 acres) of confined ocean. The harbour walls were protected by unique wave-breaking structures.
Until Herod’s bold move, a late harvest in Egypt meant grain-carrying ships bound for Rome had to brave winter seas. Now they had a safe haven in which to sit out the storms. It was an instant success. The harbour became a giant cash machine for Judaea and a source of pride to Herod.
God and Caesar
Caesarea started as a harbour and became a city, dedicated in 9 BC. It was Herod’s ideal world, a secular metropolis, built on a Greek grid plan, where it didn’t matter where you came from.
Caesarea wasn’t just built by Herod – it represented everything he stood for. It looked westwards across the Mediterranean, while at the same time drawing in trade from the east and acting as a great warehouse. There was a small Jewish community, but the city was built essentially for a gentile population, a boom town for the middle class commuting to destinations all around the Mediterranean and beyond. Herod built Caesarea, Caesar’s city, as a counterpoint to Jerusalem, God’s city.
Twenty-eight years into his reign, Herod was entitled to feel pleased with himself. He’d rebuilt the city of God and created a city of commerce. The Romans were pleased and his subjects were rich. But the remaining years of his reign would be characterised by murder and madness.
