Book 16
2.27
Next to Ace is the Tower of Strato, with a station for vessels.The Tower of Strato was an ancient city almost in ruins, which was repaired, enlarged, and embellished by Herod with magnificent buildings; for he found there excellent anchorage, the value of which was increased by the fact of its being almost the only one on that dangerous coast. He gave it the name of Caesarea, in honour of Augustus, and raised it to the rank of a city of the first order. The repairs of the ancient city, the Tower of Strato, or rather the creation of the new city Caesarea, took place about eight or nine years B. C.; so that this passage of Strabo refers to an earlier period. Between these places is Mount Carmel, and cities of which nothing but the names remain, as Sycaminopolis, Bucolopolis, Crocodeilopolis, and others of this kind; next is a large forest.Josephus (Ant. Jud. xiv. 13, § 3) calls a district near Mount Carmel Drumos, employing the word δοͅυμός, a forest, as a proper name.
