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Caesarea

Historical Location
Pronunciation

Understanding ARPABET Pronunciation

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The pronunciation guide uses the ARPABET phonetic system—the same system used in speech recognition and text-to-speech applications.

Vowel Examples:
AE1 = cat, bat
EH1 = bed, head
IY1 = see, me
OW1 = go, boat
UW1 = boot, do
Stress Numbers:
0 = no stress (unstressed)
1 = primary stress (loud)
2 = secondary stress (medium)
Example:
AH0 TH IY1 N AH0
= a-THEE-na (Athena)

The stressed syllable (marked with 1) is pronounced louder and clearer than others.

Quick Definition

Roman city on the coast of Judea, built by Herod the Great and named for Augustus

Detailed Definition
Caesarea was a major administrative and military center in Roman Palestine. It features in the New Testament as the place of Paul’s imprisonment. Poets use it to symbolize Roman power in the Holy Land, the tension between empire and faith, and the urbanization of sacred geography. Its harbor and theater reflect Hellenistic-Roman synthesis.
Example
Example in poetry:
A Christian lyric names Caesarea Maritima as where Peter baptized Cornelius, breaking ethnic barriers; In a Crusader poem, Caesarea’s harbor falls to holy war; A modern Israeli-Palestinian verse uses Caesarea to explore contested coastal heritage; A postcolonial elegy laments Caesarea’s Roman theater as monument to imposed culture; A minimalist lyric reduces Caesarea to aqueduct shadows and sea spray.
Additional Notes
Caesarea Maritima, built by Herod with a magnificent harbor, became a Roman administrative center and early Christian hub (Acts 10); its artificial grandeur versus natural landscape offers poets a contrast between human ambition and divine providence.
Also Known As
Caesarea Maritima Kayseri
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