Beyond coincidence? Marcus agrippa and king herod's harbor

Journal of Near Eastern Studies

Volumn 59, Issue 4, 2000, Pages 241-252

  Hohlfelder, Robert L ^a  

^a UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO   (United States)

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[No Author keywords available]

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EID: 34548287113     PISSN: 00222968     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1086/468859     Document Type: Article

References (50)

1. K. G. Holum and R. L. Hohlfelder, eds. , King Herod's Dream: Caesarea on the Sea (New York and London, 1988). For the important distinction between a harbor and the port city it served
2. see G. Rickman, "Towards a Study of Roman Ports," A. Raban, ed. , Harbour Archaeology (Oxford, 1985), pp. 105-14.
3. Antony was once an enthusiastic supporter of Herod and was responsible for making him King of Judaea. Josephus tells us he was "zealous" in supporting him before Octavian (BJ 14. 385-86). The king, of course, could not compete with the "special" relationship that developed between Antony and Cleopatra. See also Holum and Hohlfelder, King Herod's Dream,pp. 56-57.
4. D. Roller, The Building Program of Herod the Great (Berkeley, 1998), p. 89, n. 14.
5. Here I take some liberty with the title of Paul Zanker's landmark book, The Power of Images in the Age of Augustus (Ann Arbor, 1988). For Herod, I believe Caesarea and Sebastos were images of power, although in constructing both, he seemed well aware of lessons learned from both Augustus and Agrippa on the power of images.
6. A. Raban, " Two Harbours for Two Entities?," p. 68, in R. L. Vann, ed. , Caesarea Papers: Straton's Tower, Herod's Harbour, and Roman and Byzantine Caesarea (Ann Arbor, 1992), p. 68.
7. R. L. Hohlfelder et al. , "Sebastos, Herod's Harbor at Caesarea Maritima," Biblical Archaeologist 46 (1983): 149.
8. K. H. Beebe, "Caesarea Maritima: Its Strategic and Political Significance to Rome," JNES 42 (1983): 195-207.
9. The best way to start working through the prodigious number of Caesarea publications is to consult the bibliographies and articles in the following: J. P. Oleson et al. , The Harbours of Caesarea Marilima. vol. 2 (Oxford, 1994)
10. A. Raban and K. Holum, Caesarea Perspectives: A Retrospective after Two Millennia (Leiden, New York, and Cologne, 1996)
11. I cite just two to make my point: "Octavian Caesar was honored as permanent consul by the Roman Senate in 27 BC," p. 197 and
12. "Herod accompanied Octavian from Alexandria to Syrian Antioch in 21-20 BC," p. 197. Neither event happened. Further, by 21 B. C. , the date of the alleged trip, the ruthless triumvir Octavian, whose entire career had been an affront to Roman political traditions, had disappeared from the scene to be replaced by Augustus (from January 27 B. C. on), constitutional partner with the Senate in governing the newly "restored" Republic. The man was the same, but he had consciously attempted to alter his public image by changing his name and political persona.
13. According to C. Starr, The Roman Imperial Navy(London, 1960), pp. 114-15, Seleucia was the base for the Classis Syríaca from the time of Augustus on. Augustus also is credited with repairs to the harbor of Antioch. He does not mention Caesarea as a base for any Roman squadrons during any imperial reign. I believe, however, that units of either the Classis Syriaca or the Classis Alexandrina must have occasionally used Sebastos while on routine patrols or on more pressing missions. M. Redde reminds us that while an Augustan date for the establishment of this fleet and Seleucia Pieria as its base is possible, there is no firm evidence for this hypothesis.
14. See Mare Nostrum: Les infrastructures, le disposilif et I'histoire de 1a marine mil?taire sous I'empire Romain (Paris, 1986), p. 237.
15. See also, D. van Berchem, "Le port de Seleucie de Piere et Ginfrastructure logistique des guerres parthiques," Bonner Jahrbücher 185 (1985): 47-87. Redde does not think Caesarea had any role to play in the naval strategy of the Roman Empire. He mentions this port city only once in regard to Herod's fleet sailing to help Agrippa in his Black Sea operations; see Mare Nostrum, p. 240.
16. L. Casson, Ships and Seamanship in the Ancient World (Princeton, 1971), pp. 297-98. Casson gives two routes for the grain ships. One headed north passing Cyprus, then along the Anatolian coast to the west via Rhodes or Cnidos, south of Crete, Malta, and Messina. The other one was along the African coast to Cyrene. No mention is made of an itinerary along the eastern Mediterranean coast. In an earlier work, he mentions only the northerly route for the grain ships
17. See idem, The Ancient Mariners (New York, 1959), p. 234. One can infer from the two texts that have survived that speak directly to the routes of the grain ships, Acts 27 and Lucian, Navig. 7-10, that the sail past Cyprus and then along the Asia Minor coast was the preferred one
18. See also C. Bakirtzis, "The Role of Cyprus in the Grain Supply of Constantinople in the Early Christian Period," V. Karageorghis and D. Michaelides, eds. , Cyprus and the Sea (Nicosia, 1995), pp. 247-53.
19. For another view, see Radan, "The Strategic and Commercial Importance of Jaffa, 66-69 CE," in I. Malkin and R. L. Hohlfelder, eds. , Mediterranean Cities: Historical Perspectives (London, 1989), pp. 76-77.
20. Casson, Ships and Seamanship, pp. 270-78. Casson's dates of 10 March to 10 November for the absolute limits of the sailing season are based on Vegetius, De re m?litari 4. 39. Most captains preferred a later start in the spring and an earlier one in the fall. The captain of Paul's ship out of Andriake (Myra) was uncertain about undertaking the run to Rome in late September or early October. He almost wintered on Crete rather than risk the uncertainties of a late fall voyage (Acts 27:12). In light of events (his ship was wrecked), he would have been wise to do so. On ancient wind patterns
21. see W. Murray, "Do Modern Winds Equal Ancient Winds?," Mediterranean Historical Review 2 (1987): 139-67 and
22. "Ancient Sailing Winds in the Mediterranean: The Case for Cyprus," in Cyprus and the Sea, pp. 33-44.
23. Casson, "The 'sis' and Her Voyage," Transactions of the American Philological Association 81 (1950): 43-56
24. and G. W. Houston, "Lucian's Navigium and the Dimensions of the Isis," American Journal of Philology 108 (1987): 444-50.
25. N. Hirschfeld, "The Ship of Saint Paul: The Historical Background," Biblical Archaeologist 53 (1990): 25-30
26. and M. Fitzgerald, "The Ship of Saint Paul: Comparative Archaeology," Biblical Archaeologist 53 (1990): 31-39.
27. Beebe may be correct in one respect. It is not clear exactly when these monster vessels began to carry grain to Rome from Alexandria. Perhaps at the time of the building of Sebastos, the system was not yet fully operational. Some smaller vessels, if used until the larger dedicated ships were available, may have plied the safer, but slower, route up the eastern Mediterranean shore; see Casson, Ancient Mariners, p. 235. On the still controversial issues surrounding the size of ancient merchant ships
28. see G. Rickmap, "Problems of Transport and Development of Ports,"
29. Sclnveizerische Beiträge zur Altertumswissenschaft 22 (1991): 103-15 and the literature there cited
30. See my article, "The Changing Fortunes of Caesarea's Harbours in the Roman Period," in Vann, Caesarea Papers, p. 76.
31. M. Reinhold, Marcus Agrippa: A Biography(Geneva and New York, 1933), pp. 78-79. Agrippa's position solidified in 23 B. C. when his only real rival, Augustus's nephew Marcellus, died. In 21 B. C. , Agrippa married Julia, the emperor's only daughter. With this union, Agrippa entered into what Reinhold called a "co-regency" (p. 87).
32. In his chapter on Herod and Marcus Agrippa, Roller presents an excellent coverage of the sources but does not stress sufficiently what might have been behind their relationship. Friendships at such a level are often based on perceived mutual advantage. I am presenting this article as an example of the political benefits that both men may have derived from their association. Josephus's failure to analyze the nature of their bond is not surprising. See Roller, Building Program of Herod, pp. 41-53.
33. Augustus appears to have assigned responsibilities in the East to Agrippa. Reinhold goes so far as to call him the "Regent of the East" (Marcus Agrippa, p. 106).
34. Josephus does not actually speak of a squadron or a fleet but only of ships when he mentions how Herod responded to Agrippa's call and sailed with haste to join him, presumably from Sebastos. Roller has taken this to mean a fleet of warships (Building Program of Herod, p. 49). R. R. Stieglitz draws the same implication from this text. See "Maritime History on Jewish Coins," in A. L. Ben-Eli, ed. , Ships and Paris of Ships on Ancienl Coins (Haifa, 1975), p. 18
35. so too Redde, Mare Nostrum, pp. 240 and 498. I also assume that Herod was sailing to meet Agrippa with more than just merchantmen in convoy.
36. Reinhold, Marcus Agrippa, pp. 167-75.
37. Roller thinks that this rebuilding came only after Agrippa's death. Josephus provides no help on this chronological question (Herod's Building Program,p. 129). It might have been a bit audacious on the king's part to honor Agrippa that way while Augustus was still alive. His status as coregent, however, may have mitigated any possible untoward imperial response. If he did wait until after Agrippa's death, he would certainly have been on more solid and safer ground. We can be sure the city had not been renamed by 15 B. C. when Agrippa visited Herod. Josephus does not mention such a stop on his itinerary. It surely would have been, if such a city had then existed.
38. Reinhold, Marcus Agrippa, p. 84, n. 47, expresses some of these sentiments.
39. Josephus states that Herod visited in the winter of 23/22 B. C. (AJ 15. 10. 2), but a late-fall arrival was more likely, considering the dangers of winter sailing. A departure before late March of 22 B. C. would have been unnecessarily risky. It seems probable then that the two men had at least three or four months to get to know one another and to discuss matters of mutual interest, long enough for a personal and political friendship to develop. Herod, of course, might have stayed in Lesbos even longer.
40. Zanker, Power of Images, pp. 139-43.
41. After seventeen seasons of fieldwork in underwater excavations at Sebastos during months when sea conditions were supposedly calm, I can say that Josephus did not overstate the harshness of the natural conditions at this site. At King Herod's harbor the Mediterranean is almost always an adversary of the marine archaeologist and rarely a friend.
42. Oleson, "The Technology of Roman Harbours," International Journal of Nautical Archaeology 17 (1988): 153: "What can be seen at Caesarea is the transfer of technology on a grand scale. "
43. See all works cited above in no. 12.
44. Oleson, "Technology of Roman Harbours," p. 149. On the earliest known use of hydraulic concrete in a maritime structure
45. see A. M. McCann, The Roman Port and Fishery of Casa (Princeton, 1987).
46. See Oleson et al. , "The Caesarea Ancient Harbour Excavation Project (C. A. H. E. P. ): Preliminary Report on the 1980-1983 Seasons," Journal of Field Archaeology 11 (1984): 281-305
47. and Raban et al. , The Harbours of Caesarea Marìlima, vol. 50 (Oxford, 1989), pp. 127-30.
48. J. P. Oleson and G. Branton, "The Technology of King Herod's Harbour," in Vann, Caesarea Papers,p. 60.
49. One such cargo ship may have been found at Caesarea. Excavations of the remains of a large freighter (ca. 10 × 40-45 m) were undertaken slightly north of Sebastos. No evidence of its cargo was found, but the hull was resting in shallow water where any items of value could easily have been recovered or washed away by wave action. If the ship had contained pulvis puteolanus, none of it would likely have survived. See M. Fitzgerald, "The Ship," in Oleson, Harbours of Caesarea Marilima, vol. 2, pp. 217 and 219.
50. Here I reduce somewhat the estimate of Oleson and Branton, "Technology of Herod's Harbour," p. 60, where they suggest that the importation probably totaled "hundreds of thousands of tons, most likely representing several hundred large shiploads of material imported over several years. " But they may be correct.