The carceres of the Herodian hippodrome/stadium at Caesarea Maritima and connections with the Circus Maximus

Abstract

The Herodian hippodrome/stadium at Caesarea was exposed between 1992 and 1998. It runs parallel to the shore between the Herodian harbour and the theatre, at the location specified by Josephus. Josephus refers to the structure as an amphitheatre but it is clear from him and from the archaeological evidence to be described below that equestrian events were an integral part of the games held in it. In the very late Republic and early Empire, the term amphitheatre was used indifferently to designate a stadium or a hippodrome rather than the traditional Roman oval amphitheatrum. Josephus also calls this building ‘the great stadium’ in conjunction with events at the time of the procurator Pontius Pilate in A.D. 26, and it was still known by that name in the 4th c. It was inaugurated in 10/9 B.C. The games held included athletics (gymnika), horse- and chariot-races (hippika), and Roman spectacles (munera gladiatorum and venationes), so the structure had to serve the needs of the contestants and spectators of all these events. The present article is a preliminary report that focuses on the carceres excavated by the team from the University of Haifa, but it will first be helpful to summarize the history of the building as a whole as known from the adjacent work by the Israel Antiquities Authority.