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Sebastos, harbour of Caesarea

Herod the Great built Sebastos at Caesarea from 22 BCE on a coast with no natural harbour: two breakwaters of underwater concrete made with volcanic ash shipped from Italy, the largest artificial harbour of its time in the open sea. Its western basin collapsed and the remains lie under water; why is still debated.

Dated events and their evidence

• 22 BCE mainstream
  Herod begins building the deep-sea harbour Sebastos; the two breakwaters, of lime and pozzolana poured as underwater concrete, go up between 22 and 15 BCE source
• 10 BCE mainstream
  10/9 BCE: Herod dedicates the city and harbour to the emperor Augustus; Sebastos is the Greek for Augustus source
• 2021 CE disputed
  Galili and colleagues argue that the outer breakwaters failed mainly because winter storms washed away the sand beneath their foundations, not because of an earthquake, tsunami or subsidence; the cause is still debated source

Where

32.5000° N, 34.8917° E

The point is Wikipedia's position for Caesarea Maritima on the coast of Israel; the harbour's remains lie in the sea off the ancient city.

Sources

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caesarea_Maritima
• https://doi.org/10.3390/geosciences11080306

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