Caesarea - Octagonal Church

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Church Name, type, function

Site Name:

Caesarea

Church name:

Octagonal Church

Dedication:

The name of the saint martyr St. Procopius was suggested by some scholars (Shalev-Hurwitz, for example), but this is far from being certain. Another possibility is St. Cornelius (AP, 46).

Functional Type:

Martyr's shrine

Church type:

Concentric - Octagonal

Location

Coordinates, ITM system:

190.14

711.93

Coordinates, ICS system:

140.14

1,211.93

Location:

Urban

Geographical region:

Coastal plain

Topographical location:

On a raised platform above the harbor, on top of the lapidated Herodian temple, in the city center.

Distance from nearest bishop-seat:

In the city center of Caesarea.

Distance from nearest settlement:

In the city center of Caesarea.

Provincial affiliation:

Palaestina I

Source of knowledge

Archaeological remains

Excavated site

Excavators:

Name	Date
Combined Caesarea Expedition	1989-1992, 1995-2000,2002

Bibliograpy:

Vann, R. L., 1992
Holum, K. G., Raban, A. and Patrich, J., 1999
Shalev, V., 1999
Holum, K.G., 2003
Holum, K. G., 2004
Holum, K, G., Stabler, J. A. and Reinhardt, E. G., 2008
Patrich, J. , 2015
Shalev-Hurwitz, V., 2015
Holum, K.G., 2021	197-248, 249-300

Abbreviation for Journals and Series

General description

State of preservation/which parts were uncovered:

An octagonal church set in a square construction with rooms on three sides and a narthex on the west. Located on a podium overlooking the harbor, built on top of the ancient Herodian temple.

Description

Illustrative material:

Illustrative_material

Photos

Remains of the ambo base; Holum et al, 2008, p.30, F.31.

Figures

Plan of phase 2: Martyrium converted to a communal church by the addition of an apse. Holum et al, 2008, p.24, Fig. 23.

Plan of phase 2: Martyrium converted to a communal church by the addition of an apse. Shalev-Hurwitz, 2015, F.16.

External Walls (for a concentric church):

The walls were built of local kurkar stones, were mostly preserved in the foundations, below floors level (except on the east). Holes for attaching marble plates can be seen in some places on both sides of some walls. Secondary use of stones and elements from the temple can be seen in the foundations.

Central space:

Octagonal with an inner diameter of 20 m. andexternal diameter of about 22 m. Remains of a 2X2 masonry built pit marks the location of the proposed reliquary of the martyr, that was reveted by green chipollino marble plates, only bits of which were uncovered. The wall supported piers and columns that separated the inner space from the ambulatory.

Ambulatory:

Inner diameter of 37.5 m; 39 m. including the walls thickness.

Bema, chancel screen and apse:

At the beginning (ca. 500 CE), built as an octagonal martyrion with no apse. This was added shortly thereafter, perhaps a decade or two later (Holum 2021: 230-236), being built over the marble pavement of the eastern side of the ambulatory, occupying its entire breadth. The bema was raised two steps, each 15cm high, and canceled the columns that earlier separated between the center and ambulatory.

Small finds

Detailed description

Structure

Orientation:

Facing east

Materials applied (walls):

Limestone

Marble

Kurkar

Water cistern:

Yes

Narthex:

Yes

Bema type text:

Built over the marble floor of the eastern side of the ambulatory a decade or two after the inauguration of the octagonal martyrion, ca. 500 CE. A semicircular shape is conjectured.

Elevation of Bema above nave:

2 steps up

Altar remains:

no remains

Ambo:

Yes

Ambo remains:

base plate

Ambo description:

Fragments of a circular ambo-base, of gray marble, was found in a pit dug in the bema, after the destruction of the church. Four holes were cut around its circumference.

Ambo materials:

Marble

Ambo placement:

On a circular slab

Cult of relics

Cult of relics loci:

elsewhere

Reliquiaries: shapes and contents:

The excavators believe that originally the church relics were placed in a masonry pit in the geometrical center of the church. The locale of the reliquary was decorated by green marble (Cipollino) slabs, only bits of which came to light.

Architectural Evolution

Phase 1
Phase 2
Abandonment

General outline:

An octagonal structure without an apse or a bema, serving as a martyrion. A pit holding a reliquary, was uncovered in the geometric center. See General description. Few fragments of green (cipollino) marble suggest that the reliquary might have been reveted by such marble plates.

Dating material:

The excavators dated the church to about 500 CE, based on pottery and coins (Magness, in Vann, 1992; Lampinen in Vann, 1992 and Holum, 2008). Lampinen mentions that there is a lack of coins from the 6th century on the platform.

Shalev (1999) believes that the probe under the floor cannot be used to date the church only due to the occurance of late sherds, and therefore she prefers dating the church to the second half- end of the 5th century, before 491, since it is not mentioned as part of the restoration works of the harbor under Anastasius (491-518).

Phase date

Century:

5th c.

Within century:

Late

General outline:

After a short time - perhaps just 10 years, a bema was built in the eastern part of the ambulatory, over the marble floor. The bema was elevated two stairs above the inner octagon to its west. A circular base stone of an ambo was uncovered, but no remains of an altar. The two columns of the inner ring that previously separated the inner octagon from the ambulatory were removed.

Phase date

Century:

6th c.

Within century:

Early

General outline:

The finds indicate destruction by the 749 earthquake.

Dating material:

The bathhouse located to the south west has an Umayyad phase covered by a layer of destruction belonging to the earthquake of 749.

Phase date

Century:

8th c.

Within century:

Mid

Post Arab conquest history:

Unmodified

Post conquest history comments:

No clear evidence for any damage caused by the Muslim conquest.