Raphael and Bijovsky (2014) analyzed what they describe as “a large hoard of 3,700 copper coins” uncovered during excavations of a building originally identified by Michael Avi-Yonah as a synagogue. The latest coins in the assemblage date to 361 CE, leading Raphael and Bijovsky to argue that the building was destroyed by the 363 CE earthquake rather than during the Gallus Revolt (~352 CE). A letter attributed to Cyril of Jerusalem reports that Caesarea was partially destroyed in the 363 CE earthquake(s). Although the excavation remains only partially published — with crucial details such as locus numbers and the precise location of the hoard never recorded — Avi-Yonah’s notes indicate that the coins were found inside the structure, and a photograph shows him kneeling beside the hoard in situ. The deposit was discovered in Stratum IV, yet Avi-Yonah “gave no reason for the destruction of Stratum IV.”

When evaluating the possibility of earthquake-related destruction, Raphael and Bijovsky cite Govaars et al. (2009:132), who report that excavations uncovered no large-scale damage to the Stratum IV synagogue. Following the event that brought this phase to an end, the building was cleared and rebuilt at the end of the 5th century, with stones from the earlier structure reused in the construction of the Stratum V synagogue. As reported by Raphael and Bijovsky (2014), Govaars also argued that “the direct relationship of the coin hoard to a structure is uncertain and, therefore, the coin evidence cannot be used to date the still unknown structure” (Govaars et al. 2009:42). This interpretation contrasts with Avi-Yonah’s conclusion that the hoard was directly linked to Stratum IV, writing that “the fact that a hoard of 3,700 bronze coins was found in the ruins of the synagogue itself that were buried in 355/356 AD indicates that this synagogue was built in the end of the third or the early fourth century, and was destroyed in the mid fourth century AD” (Avi-Yonah 1964:26 n.5).

Raphael and Bijovsky (2014) note that none of the major excavations at Caesarea uncovered earthquake-related destruction from the fourth century CE. Reports on the Promontory Palace, dated between the early fourth and early sixth centuries, do not mention destruction layers (Levine and Netzer 1986:176–184). Roman and Byzantine-period horrea (warehouses) decayed gradually, and no evidence of sudden collapse was found in major civic structures such as streets, sewage systems, theaters, amphitheaters, or stadiums (Humphrey 1974:32; Porath 1996:114–120; Porath 2003; Porath pers. comm.). If Caesarea was partially destroyed by the 363 CE earthquake, as the letter attributed to Cyril of Jerusalem suggests, the coin hoard may be the only remaining evidence. However, out of approximately 3,700 coins, 11 were dated with certainty to after 361 CE, spanning 364–423 CE, which Raphael and Bijovsky sugest might be intrusive.