The ruins of Caesarea Maritima, located forty kilometers north of Tel Aviv, were once an ancient and medieval port city. Constructed by Herod the Great around 25–13 BC, they stood on the site of the former Phoenician harbor known as Stratonos Pyrgos. Caesarea Maritima was established to expand Rome's military and commercial reach into the eastern Mediterranean and to safeguard the eastern trade routes. It also served as the provincial capital of Judea.