to the N. (Acts 8:5-8, 40) Shortly thereafter, Paul’s conversion took place and, due to a plot against him when he began preaching in Jerusalem, the disciples there took their new brother to the seaport of Caesarea and sent him off to his hometown, Tarsus. (Acts 9:28-30) As the main headquarters for the Roman military forces, Caesarea was a natural place for the centurion Cornelius to have his residence. The city, though having a substantial number of Jewish residents, is considered to have been mainly of Gentile population. It was thus a significant site for Peter to be divinely directed to in the year 36 C.E. for the purpose of witnessing to uncircumcised Cornelius and his relatives and intimate friends and for their baptism as the first uncircumcised Gentiles to be admitted into the Christian congregation.—Acts 10:1-48.

It was to Caesarea that Herod Agrippa I withdrew after his unsuccessful imprisonment of Peter, and here he received the delegations from Tyre and Sidon and shortly thereafter died (44 C.E.), as an expression of God’s adverse judgment. (Acts 12:18-23) Paul went through Caesarea on returning to Palestine when nearing completion of his second and third missionary tours. (Acts 18:21, 22; 21:7, 8) At the time of his second visit, Paul and his companions lodged with Philip the evangelizer, who possibly settled in Caesarea at the close of his earlier preaching tour. Some of the local disciples now accompanied the apostle from that seaport up to Jerusalem, though Paul had been warned by the prophet Agabus while in Caesarea of the danger awaiting him.—Acts 21:10-16.

Due to an assassination plot against him in Jerusalem, Paul, under arrest, was later taken to Caesarea under heavy guard and delivered to Governor Felix for trial. (Acts 23:23, 24) The notable contrast between the emotional religious prejudice and riotous conditions in Jerusalem and the relatively orderly conditions in Caesarea are considered as evidence of the strong Roman influence in the latter city as well as its position as the chief garrison of Roman troops. Governor Festus, who succeeded Felix, obliged Paul’s Jewish opposers in Jerusalem to come down to Caesarea to present their charges against him, at which time Paul appealed to Caesar rather than face trial in Jerusalem. (Acts 25:1-12) While still in Caesarea awaiting transfer to Rome, Paul was able to give a strong witness concerning Christianity before Festus and his royal visitors, King Agrippa II and his sister (and incestuous companion) Bernice. (Acts 25:13, 22-27; 26:1-32) From Caesarea Paul, as prisoner, set sail on the voyage that would eventually bring him to Rome.—Acts 27:1, 2.

During the reign of Nero, bitter rivalry broke out between the Jewish and Syrian inhabitants of Caesarea, and incidents there are considered to have served to ignite the flame of revolt that eventually led to the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 C.E. The year before Jerusalem’s fall, Vespasian was proclaimed emperor of Rome at Caesarea, where he was exercising command of the Roman forces suppressing the Jewish revolt.

In 1961 a stone was found in the theater of Caesarea bearing a Latin inscription that includes the name of Pontius Pilate, the first such inscription to be found.

CAESAREA PHILIPPI

(Caes·a·reʹa Phi·lipʹpi) [Caesarea of Philip].

A town situated at the headwaters of the Jordan River, today represented by the small village of Banyas. At an elevation of 1,150 feet (350.5 meters) above sea level, its location is one of great natural beauty. The village is enclosed on three sides by mountains with the snowcapped peak of Mount Hermon rising majestically to the NE, while to the W extends a lush green plain watered by one of the principal sources of the Jordan springing from a nearby cavern.

It was on the way to “the villages of Caesarea Philippi” that Jesus questioned his disciples: “Who are men saying the Son of man is?” giving rise to the meaningful conversation regarding the Christian congregation’s rock-mass foundation and the use of the keys of the kingdom of the heavens.—Mark 8:27; Matt. 16:13-20.

The town’s earliest appearance in history is as the site of a battle between Egypt and the victorious forces of Antiochus the Great (c. 200 B.C.E.). It was then known as Paneas, a name given the town in honor of the pagan god Pan, a fertility deity, who was worshiped there. In the year 20 B.C.E. Augustus Caesar gave Paneas to Herod the Great, who thereafter built a white marble temple in the place, dedicating it to Augustus. Herod’s son, Philip the tetrarch, later enlarged and beautified the city in honor of Tiberius Caesar. It was then given the name Caesarea and, to distinguish it from the seaport city of the same name, was called Caesarea Philippi. Still later the city was again enlarged and adorned by Agrippa II and its name changed to Neronias, though this name quickly passed into disuse following the death of Nero. Josephus relates that, after the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 C.E., General Titus staged gladiatorial events there, using captive Jews as victims.

In course of time the name of the city reverted to its ancient name of Paneas, and in Arabic (which uses no “p”) this became Banyas.

CAGE

An enclosure used for confining birds or other animals. (Jer. 5:27; compare Amos 8:2, where the same Hebrew word, K^eluvʹ, is rendered “basket.”) The prophet Ezekiel evidently alluded to King Jehoiachin of Judah under the figure of a lion that was put in a cage (Heb., su·gharʹ) and brought to the king of Babylon. (Ezek. 19:9; compare 2 Kings 24:12-15.) As illustrated on Assyrian bas-reliefs, lions were caged and then released for the hunt. The wooden cages had stout, wide horizontal bars and were topped by a smaller barred cabin, in which stood the man that raised the door to release the lion.

CAIAPHAS

(Caʹia·phas) [depression].

Joseph Caiaphas was the high priest during Jesus’ ministry. (Luke 3:2) He was the son-in-law of high priest Annas (John 18:13; see ANNAS) and was appointed to office by the predecessor of Pontius Pilate, Valerius Gratus, about the year 18 C.E., although some say as late as the year 26. He held the office until the year 36 or 37, longer than any of his immediate predecessors, this being due to his skillful diplomacy and cooperation with Roman rule. He and Pilate were reportedly good friends. Caiaphas was a Sadducee.—Acts 5:17.

A ringleader in the plot to do away with Jesus, Caiaphas prophesied, though not of his own originality, that Jesus would shortly die for the nation, and to that end he gave his whole-hearted support. (John 11:49-53; 18:12-14) At Jesus’ trial before the Sanhedrin, Caiaphas ripped his garments and said: “He has blasphemed!” (Matt. 26:65) When Jesus was before Pilate Caiaphas was undoubtedly there crying: “Impale him! Impale him!” (John 19:6, 11); he was there asking for the release of Barabbas instead of Jesus (Matt. 27:20, 21; Mark 15:11); he was there shouting: “We have no king but Caesar” (John 19:15); he was also there protesting the sign over Jesus’ head: “The King of the Jews.”—John 19:21.

The death of Jesus did not mark the end of Caiaphas’ role as a chief persecutor of infant Christianity. The apostles were next haled before this religious ruler, and they were sternly commanded to stop their preaching, were threatened and even flogged, but to no avail. “Every day in the temple and from house to house they continued without letup,” Caiaphas notwithstanding. (Acts 4:5-7; 5:17, 18, 21, 27, 28, 40, 42) The blood of righteous Stephen was soon added to Jesus’ bloodstains on the skirts of Caiaphas, who also armed Saul of Tarsus with