How Herod Built a Harbor

Herod’s harbor at Caesarea was the first artificial harbor in the ancient world. It is shown here (1), partially reconstructed (but not drawn to exact scale) as it probably appeared in 10 B.C. when Herod completed it. The reconstruction is based on descriptions of harbor construction by Vitruvius (On Architecture), and on the descriptions of Caesarea’s harbor by Josephus in The Jewish War and Jewish Antiquities and on archaeological remains discovered in recent years.