Toward the close of this time there arose a fearful strife among the population of Caesarea. There had been frequent disputes, which had become a settled feud, between the Jews and the Greeks, concerning their respective rights and privileges in the city. All the splendor of Caesarea, its temples, its palaces, and its amphitheater, were due to the ambition of the first Herod. Even the harbor, to which Caesarea owed all its prosperity and importance, had been constructed by him at an immense outlay of money and labor. The Jewish inhabitants were numerous and wealthy, and they claimed the city as theirs, because their king had done so much for it. The Greeks, with equal persistency, maintained their right to the precedence.{LP 245.1}

Hen mod slutningen af denne tidspunkt, rejste der sig en frygtelig strid ibland Kaseræas befolkning. Der havde ofte været stridigiheder, som var blevet til et stadig fejde, mellem jøder og græker, om deres respektive rettigheder og privilegier i den by. Ak Kaseræas glas, dens templer, dens paladser, og amfiteateret, tilfaldt Herodes den førstes ærgerrighed. Endog havnen, som Kaseræa skyldte al sin velstand og betydning, blev opført af ham for et overmådeligt udlæg af penge og arbejde. Der var utallige og velhavende jødiske beboere, og de krævede byen som deres, fordi deres konge havde gjort så meget for den. Grækerne fastholdt lige så hårdnakket deres rettigheder til forrang.