The Palace and the Prisoner: Unearthing Paul’s Two-Year Home in Caesarea
For nearly two thousand years, the waves of the Mediterranean have crashed against the ruins of Caesarea Maritima. Once the administrative capital of Roman Judea, this city was a marvel of engineering, boasting a man-made harbor, a hippodrome, and a theater that still stands today. But for students of the New Testament, Caesarea holds a more intimate significance. It was here, in this seaside metropolis, that the Apostle Paul spent two full years of his life—not as a tourist, but as a prisoner. The book of Acts records that after being rescued from a mob in Jerusalem, Paul was escorted by 470 Roman soldiers to Caesarea to stand trial before the governor, Felix. Acts 23:35 concludes the journey with a specific logistical detail: the governor "commanded him to be guarded in Herod's Praetorium." For centuries, readers had to imagine what this setting looked like. Was it a dungeon? A fortress? A barracks? Thanks to relatively recent archaeological excavations, we no longe...