Our first full day in Israel we traveled from Tel Aviv to
the Sea of Galilee. My first impression of Israel is that it’s hot and dusty which is what you'd expect. However, as we drove through the country, I got an appreciation for the diverse topography (spoiler alert: it's not all desert) especially for such a small country (roughly the size of New Jersey).
Israel has ruins of 20 levels of civilization. Different rulers brought different religions into power and they persecuted and destroyed the previous civilization’s religious places of worship. Go here to read more about each time period.
The first stop on our pilgrimage to the Holy Land was
the ruins of Caesarea Maritima. From a biblical perspective, this is where Cornelius lived and was baptized (Acts 10); where Paul embarked to Tarsus (Acts 9:30) and where Philip preached (Acts 8:40)
The city of Caesarea Maritima existed between 22 – 10 BC during the Roman period. The Roman senate appointed Herod as King of Judea, where Roman governor, Pontius Pilate, based his seat of government. King Herod had aspirations to bring Rome to the Middle East and built a city with a European look and feel. To complete the illusion, the city’s namesake was a nod to the Roman emperor Augustus Caesar.
Did you ever notice that Roman statues all have the same "perfect" bodies? Apparently, sculptors also took notice and started "mass producing" the marble bodies in the same idealistic form with no heads. Therefore, when a new statue was commissioned to commemorate someone, they would simply carve the head in the likeness of the individual and place it on one of the standard surplus bodies that were already carved.
Another theory of the
headless statues discovered was that the statues were decapitated during the Islamic period because they were considered idols.
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| Likeness of Jesus carrying a lamb |
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| The contrast here is between the original marble that was imported from Italy and adorned the original structure and the local sandstone that was used for the restoration of the Theater. The lighter colored stone in the middle is the original marble. |
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| The Theater was destroyed during the Arab (Islamic) period and rebuilt a 1000 years later using sandstone instead of the original marble. |
We learned a Latin word as a bonus on the trip. The latin word is vomitorium which means entrance to the theater. The English word vomit originated from this word. For example, people vomit from the Theater entrance. Not the greatest visual, but it paints the picture of a large volume of people quickly emerging from a small opening.
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| Amphitheater orchestra paving stones are original marble. |
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| Unearthed marble pillars present on the excavation site. |
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| Above ground tomb. It was empty...I think. |
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| King Herod's palatial estate once graced this overlook. He obviously had the best view in the city. |
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| The view from Herod's balcony. He had the best view in the city not to mention strategically positioned to catch the breeze flowing in from the Mediterranean. We were able to see the footprint of his massive, palatial estate. It was impressive. |
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| Herod's well |
Herod was obsessed with Roman culture (gentiles), but he still abided by the Jewish law as a non-gentile by only using geometric shapes in this tile mosaic by his pool. By Jewish law, no images or faces could be used by a non-gentile in constructing. One God. No idols.
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| The footprint of Herod's indoor swimming pool. |
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| Selfie by the "pool" |
Herod's palace was so large that it included an arena for Olympic style competition and gladiator matches between slaves and imported animals. Again, he loved him some Roman culture.
What do we have here? Our fearless leader, Anot, enlightening our tour group on all things Caesarea? Well, yes, but there's also more to this picture. Anot and her companions are actually sitting on Roman toilets. The gender mix is also pretty typical of the scene that you could've encountered thousands of years ago since the bathrooms were communal. Men and women would use the bathrooms together since the toga’s provided some privacy. They would simply pull up their togas and sit on the “throne” to use the bathroom. Water would run through the channel underneath to wash the waste into the sea.
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Roman style aqueduct used to bring fresh water 13 miles into Caesarea |
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| Surrounding Caesarea is land that was once a swamp and very undesirable. The Jewish purchased the land very cheaply from Muslims and figured out how to drain the land. Today, the land is used for farming and power plants that produce most of the country's electricity. |
Mt. Carmel (Carmelite monastery)
Prophet Elijah statue depicts him as an active proponent of Christianity. Shown wielding a sword and slaying non-believers of the one true God.
· “Place of Sacrifice” where the Prophet Elijah had an encounter with the Priests of Baal (1 Kings 18:17-40)
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| View of Mount Carmel |
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| View of Nazareth |
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| View of Jerusalem |
Mount Precipice
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| This is a group photo of our tour group. The group wasn't the most ethnically or demographically diverse, but we were bonded by our beliefs and got along well as a group |
The Town of Nazareth
Church of the Annunciation
The towering cupola of the Church of the Annunciation in Nazareth stands over the cave that tradition holds to be the home of the Virgin Mary.
The Church of the Annunciation has a massive two-storey basilica. It contains two churches, the upper one being the parish church for Nazareth’s Catholic community. The cupola, which dominates modern-day Nazareth, is surmounted by a lantern symbolising the Light of the World.
The Church of the Annunciation is a dedication and celebration of the virgin Mary. Countries from around the world have submitted depictions of Mary based on their countries’ culture and ethnicity. Predictably, this has made for some interesting depictions of Mary and baby Jesus! There are frescos of an Asian, Hispanic, European, and African Mary.
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| U.S. interpretation. |
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| The outcome of Mary’s consent is carved in Latin across the façade over the triple-doorway entrance: “The Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us” (John 1:14). |
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| The door to the church is a very ornate carving in mahogany wood. It has Old Testament biblical accounts depicted on the left side and New Testament biblical scenes carved on the right side. |
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The lower level of the Church of the Annunciation enshrines a sunken grotto that contains the traditional cave-home of the Virgin Mary. The cave is flanked by remnants of earlier churches on the site. Inside the cave stands an altar with the Latin inscription “Here the Word was made flesh”.
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| In front of the cave is another simple altar, with tiers of seats around it on three sides. Above it, a large octagonal opening is situated exactly under the cupola of the church. |
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| View from the back of the church |
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| Large fresco at the front of the church depicts Mary on the throne and Jesus ascending to heaven alongside Peter who holds the key to heaven. The holy spirit is depicted by the “eye in the sky” and Franciscan order of priests are looking to heaven. |
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| The soaring cupola represents an inverted lily opening its petals to the shrine below. The symbolism combines the lily, as an image of Mary’s purity, with one of the Semitic meanings of the name Nazareth, a flower. |
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| A continuing excavation of Mary’s village is occurring beneath the church. |
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| I guess the shape and color of a Stop sign are universal, but the signage itself usually varies in different countries and we find it pretty interesting. |
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| The hustle and bustle of street life in Nazareth |
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| Israeli manhole covers are rather decorative in a manhole cover sort of way. |
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| Motzie showing some restraint as she casually walks past a mountain of cherries at a sidewalk vendor. |
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