Caesarea in Cappadocia

CAESAREA IN CAPPADOCIA, capital of *Cappadocia. Before the country became a Roman province under Tiberius in 17 C.E. the city was known as Mazaca or Mazaga. This name continued to be used along with its other name, Caesarea. In talmudic literature it is variously referred to as Mezigah (Mazaga) of Cappadocia (Tosef., Shab. 15:8); Megizah (Magaza) of Cappadocia, which was visited by R. Akiva (TJ, Yev. 16:4, 15d; cf. Yev. 25b); and Megizah of Caesarea (Mazaca-Caesarea; MK 26a). During the war between *Shapur I and the Romans, its Jewish population suffered greatly. The Talmud relates that Shapur massacred 12,000 Jews in Mazaca-Caesarea and the walls of Laodicea were shaken by the noise of the arrows (ibid.).