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    View Categories Home > Catalog > |Antiquities| > |Antiquities by Type| > |Weights & Scales| > AS96251
Caesarea Maritima, Judaea / Syria Palaestina, 1st - 3rd Century A.D., Lead Half Italian Litra Weight
|Weights| |&| |Scales|, |Caesarea| |Maritima,| |Judaea| |/| |Syria| |Palaestina,| |1st| |-| |3rd| |Century| |A.D.,| |Lead| |Half| |Italian| |Litra| |Weight|, A nearly identical specimen, from the same mold, was found near Caesarea Maritima in 1949 and is listed in the Corpus Inscriptionum Iudaeae/Palaestinae, Vol. II, Ameling, Cotton, Eck, et.al. on page 621. According to the authors, in Judaea, the term "litra" derived from the Roman word "libra" came to indicate local weight standards between the 1st and 2nd centuries CE. Therefore the word ITAΛIKΗ (Italica) was added whenever the Roman standard was intended. This weight is inscribed to indicate it is half an Italian litra. It is about 8 grams short of the standard but it probably originally had an handle attached that would have made it close to the appropriate weight. Around the end of the 3rd century CE, local standards were replaced entirely by the Roman system and the descriptive word ITAΛIKΗ was no longer necessary.
AS96251. Corpus Inscriptionum Iudaeae/Palaestinae, Vol. II, p. 621 (nearly identical specimen from the same mold), VF, roughly oval shape, probably missing handle at the top, weight 153.5g, maximum diameter 87x43mm, obverse ITA/ΛIK/H H/MI Λ/ITPA (half an Italian litra) in six lines; reverse blank; from The Jimi Berlin Caesarea Collection; surface find 1974 Caesarea Maritima; very rare; SOLD












Caesarea began as Straton's Tower, a small naval station founded by the king of Sidon, c. 360 B.C. Alexander Jannaeus captured it in 90 B.C. The Romans declared it an autonomous city in 63 B.C.

Herod renamed the the pagan city Caesarea in honor of Caesar Augustus. He built there one of the most impressive harbors of its time, storerooms, markets, roads, baths, temples, public buildings and a palace. When Judea became a Roman province in 6 A.D., Caesarea Maritima replaced Jerusalem as its capital and was the residence of governors, including the Roman prefect Pontius Pilate.

It was at Caesarea that Peter baptized Cornelius the Centurion, the first Christian baptism of Gentiles. Paul visited Caesarea several times and was a prisoner there for two years before being sent to Rome. In 70 A.D., after the Jewish Revolt was suppressed, about 2,500 Jewish captives lost their lives in gladiatorial games at Caesarea.

Caesarea became the capital of Byzantine Palaestina Prima in 390. It fell to Sassanid Persia in in 614, was re-conquered by Byzantium in 625, then lost for good by the Byzantines to the Muslim conquest in 640. The population fell and the harbor silted up and was unusable by the 9th century.

By 1047 the town was redeveloped, when Nasir-i-Khusraw described it as, "a fine city, with running waters, and palm-gardens, and orange and citron trees. Its walls are strong, and it has an iron gate."Caesarea was taken by Baldwin I in the First Crusade, in 1101. Saladin retook the city in 1187, but it was recaptured by the Europeans during the Third Crusade in 1191. In 1265, the Mamluks destroyed it completely to prevent its re-emergence as a Crusader stronghold.

In 1952, a Jewish town of Caesarea was established near the ruins. The ruins of the ancient city, on the coast about 2 km south of modern Caesarea, were excavated in the 1950s and 1960s and the site was incorporated into the new Caesarea National Park in 2011.
Catalog current as of Friday, April 19, 2024.
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