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Page 4 of 5
The Palace
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| Roman bridge at Banias |
Upon entering Banias, ask if the palace is open.
To gain access to it, we need to start on the nature trail, passing under a small but complete Roman bridge whose arch is covered with travertine (the stone that forms on the bottom of teakettles). We pass a Syrian hydroelectric station (defunct) and a 19th century flour mill, sometimes active. Continuing on the trail, we come to a fork and go left (with the sign, "To Agrippas' palace"). Going straight would take us, after about 45 minutes, to a powerful waterfall, from which there is an ascent to a different parking lot from the one we arrived in. But we go left.
We know from Josephus that the Jewish king Agrippas II (who heard Paul speak at Caesarea Maritima) had his capital here at the other Caesarea during his extremely long reign (from 53 AD until 93 AD or longer). The palace must have belonged to him. This Agrippas attempted in vain to dissuade his fellow Jews from rebelling against Rome. After the revolt was over, he hosted the troops of Titus at Banias, and many Jewish captives found their deaths in the entertainments. Here Titus began his torrid love affair with Berenike, Agrippas' sister, and would have made her Empress had the Romans not refused to accept a Jewess. He may even have contributed this palace as a kind of consolation prize. (Berenike found her way, in a sense, to the Via Dolorosa in Jerusalem. See the Sixth Station there.)
The first floor of the palace is remarkably well preserved. It may seem like a basement today, because one walks down to get into it, but it stood above ground 2000 years ago. The plan is symmetrical. Walking through a hallway with remarkable masonry, cut in curves to almost mathematical perfection, one goes under the modern street. The entrances were narrow and flanked by great round towers, of which the bases remain.
For more on the palace,seeWilson and Tzaferis .
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