Photos

...amidst the ruins of the roman Caesarea.

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Caesarea Maritima,
called Caesarea Palaestina from 133 AD onwards, was a
city and harbor built by Herod the Great about 25–13
BC. Today, its ruins lie on the Mediterranean coast of
Israel about halfway between the cities of Tel Aviv
and Haifa, on the site of Pyrgos Stratonos.

Caesarea Maritima as with Caesarea Philippi in the
Golan Heights and Caesarea Mazaca in Anatolian
Cappadocia was named to flatter the Caesar. The city
was described in detail by the 1st century Roman
Jewish historian Josephus. The city became the seat of
the Roman praefecti soon after its foundation. The
emperor Vespasian raised its status to that of a
colonia. After the destruction of Jerusalem, in 70 AD,
Caesarea was established as the provincial capital of
Iudaea Province before the change of name to Syria
Palaestina in 134 AD. shortly before the suppression
of the Bar Kokhba revolt. According to historian H.H.
Ben-Sasson, Caesarea was the "administrative capital"
beginning in 6 AD. Caesarea remained the capital until
the early 8th century, when the Umayyad caliph
Suleiman transferred the seat of the government of the
Jund Filastin to the newly built city of Ramla.

[from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caesarea_Maritima]