He built a city near Jerusalem, on the sea.

Magnificent in marble and gold, Caesarea stood for a monument of Herodian troubles.
Therein he sought to amuse the people, to pacify his kindred, and to flatter Caesar.

Its vast breakwater; its great arches through which the sea came gently in all weather; its mosaic pavements washed daily by the salt tide; its palaces of white marble; its great, glowing amphitheatre--these were unique in their barbaric splendor, albeit, in the view of the people, an offence to God.
Among those who dwelt in Caesarea was Elpis, eighth wife of the king, with her daughter Salome, whose praises had been sung at the banquet of Antipater.

Both were renowned for beauty and the splendor of their dress.

Salome had the colors of the far north, and that perfect and voluptuous contour found only in marble figures of Venus, above the great purple sea, and, below it, in the daughters of men.