Herod the Great’s harbour city on the Mediterranean coast and the seat of the Roman governors of Judea, including Pontius Pilate, whose dedication stone was found in its theatre in 1961. Acts sets Peter’s baptism of Cornelius and Paul’s two-year imprisonment here.
In the third century Origen settled here and founded a famous Christian library, and Eusebius, bishop of Caesarea, wrote his Church History from its resources, quoting many sources that are otherwise lost, from Papias to Hegesippus.
Where to start
Written or found here
6-
AD 31c. AD 26–36; found 1961
The Pilate inscription (Caesarea Maritima)
Pontius Pilate (dedication)
A limestone block from Caesarea Maritima with a Latin dedication naming “Pontius Pilate, Prefect of Judea”. It is the only contemporary inscription naming the governor under whom Jesus was crucified.
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AD 320Early 4th century AD (completed c. 325)
Eusebius, Church History, Book I
Eusebius of Caesarea
The opening book of the first history of the Church. It sets Jesus in the time of Augustus, Herod, Pilate and Caiaphas, quotes Josephus on John the Baptist and Jesus, and gives the Edessa story of King Abgar’s letter to Jesus.
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AD 320Early 4th century AD (completed c. 325)
Eusebius, Church History, Book III
Eusebius of Caesarea
Eusebius on the generation after the apostles: the origins of the four Gospels, his list of accepted and disputed books, Papias on Mark and Matthew, Jesus’s relatives, the martyrdom of Symeon, and Ignatius and Polycarp.
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AD 320Early 4th century AD (completed c. 325)
Eusebius, Church History, Book IV
Eusebius of Caesarea
The second century, from Trajan to Marcus Aurelius: Quadratus’s claim that people healed by Jesus lived into his own day, Hadrian’s rescript, Justin Martyr, Hegesippus, Tatian, and the eyewitness letter on the martyrdom of Polycarp.
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AD 320Early 4th century AD (completed c. 325)
Eusebius, Church History, Book V
Eusebius of Caesarea
The late second century: the martyrs of Lyon and Vienne, Irenaeus on how the four Gospels were written, his memory of Polycarp and John, the Easter controversy, and a protest that earlier writers had always called Christ God.
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AD 248c. AD 248
Origen, Against Celsus, Book I
Origen of Alexandria
Origen replies to Celsus, a 2nd-century critic who called Jesus the son of a soldier named Panthera and a magician trained in Egypt. Along the way he cites Josephus on ‘James the Just, the brother of Jesus (called Christ).’
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Every mention
20 writings- AD 31The Pilate inscription (Caesarea Maritima)Stones and Scrolls3×
- AD 57Paul’s Letter to the PhilippiansThe New Testament1×
- AD 80The Letter of JamesThe New Testament1×
- AD 85The Acts of the ApostlesThe New Testament15×
- AD 85The First Letter of PeterThe New Testament1×
- AD 90The Letter of JudeThe New Testament1×
- AD 100The Second Letter of JohnThe New Testament1×
- AD 100The Third Letter of JohnThe New Testament1×
- AD 110The Second Letter of PeterThe New Testament1×
- AD 120Papias of Hierapolis, FragmentsThe Early Church3×
- AD 153Justin Martyr, First ApologyThe Early Church1×
- AD 248Origen, Against Celsus, Book IThe Early Church1×
- AD 320Eusebius, Church History, Book IThe Early Church1×
- AD 320Eusebius, Church History, Book IIIThe Early Church1×
- AD 320Eusebius, Church History, Book IVThe Early Church1×
- AD 320Eusebius, Church History, Book VThe Early Church1×
- AD 367Athanasius of Alexandria, Festal Letter 39The Early Church1×
- AD 550Hone’s Apocryphal New Testament: the Arabic Infancy Gospel and the Abgar LettersThe Other Gospels2×
- 2026What the evidence can and cannot establishThe Dossier1×
- 2026Sources and further readingThe Dossier1×