As Caesarea Maritima was a center of sporting events in the Mediterranean world, Herod the Great assigned this building to host games every five years, which likely included wrestling, boxing matches, gymnastic events, and possibly gladiatorial spectacles. As was common practice among the Romans, using the Capua amphitheater in Italy as a plausible parallel, this stadium was likely located outside the main gate of the Cardo Maximus at its southern end, where the greatest amount of commercial traffic from the East arrived at the city. To give an idea of the possible scale of the amphitheater by way of a parallel, the amphitheater at Capua had an axis of 170 meters (560 ft) and a total façade height of 46 meters (151 ft).
Using archaeological reports by Ehud Netzer, Barbara Burrell, Kenneth Holum, Robert Bull, and others, along with Flavius Josephus' eyewitness descriptions, the image you see is part of the collaborative work of Lithodomos and Patrick Scott Smith.
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Cite This Work
APA Style
A., P. S. S. M. (2026, April 18). The Amphitheater of Caesarea Maritima. World History Encyclopedia. https://www.worldhistory.org/image/21688/the-amphitheater-of-caesarea-maritima/
Chicago Style
A., Patrick Scott Smith, M.. "The Amphitheater of Caesarea Maritima." World History Encyclopedia, April 18, 2026. https://www.worldhistory.org/image/21688/the-amphitheater-of-caesarea-maritima/.
MLA Style
A., Patrick Scott Smith, M.. "The Amphitheater of Caesarea Maritima." World History Encyclopedia, 18 Apr 2026, https://www.worldhistory.org/image/21688/the-amphitheater-of-caesarea-maritima/.
