Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts (MA)

Department

Religion & Culture / Religious Studies

Faculty/School

Faculty of Arts

First Advisor

Lawrence Toombs

Advisor Role

Thesis Supervisor

Abstract

This thesis presents the historical and stratigraphical evidence for the Persian and Arabic destructions of Caesarea Maritima. Its main purpose is to discover whether the stratigraphical data coincides with the historical information concerning the city in the sixth and seventh centuries A.D.

The archaeological data are the results of four seasons of excavation (1971, 1972, 1973, 1974) carried out by the Joint Expedition to Caesarea Maritima under the direction of Dr. R.J. Bull, Drew University, Madison, N.J. It is supported by a consortium of twenty-one Colleges, Seminaries, and Universities, including Wilfrid Laurier University, and is sponsored by the Albright Institute for Archaeological Research.

An analysis of the stratigraphy of the site produced considerable evidence for two destructions of the main Byzantine city. The first destruction was minimal in extent for only traces of its presence are still visible in excavation. The final or second destruction was complete in its devastation for the Later Ararbic city and has no relation to the Byzantine layout of the city. These two destructions are very close chronologically for the ceramic evidence remains the same before and after each destruction.

The historical sources provided adequate accounts to date the first destruction of the city to the Persian takeover in A.D. 614 and the second destruction to the later Arabic conquest in A.D. 640.

Convocation Year

1975

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