Caesarea Philippi (Banias) |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
Written by Stephen Langfur |
|||||||
Page 1 of 5 Many springs feed the Upper Jordan, of which three are major: the Khatzbani, which starts in Lebanon, the Dan, and the one at Banias. All have their source in rain and snow that fall on Mt. Hermon.
The water percolates through the rock until it reaches a waterproof layer. It is then stored in the mountain, building up pressure until something happens to release it.
![]() Despite the spring, and despite the good soil in the area, no major town developed here in the First Testament period. The proximity of Dan was probably a reason. The Danites, who sat on an even bigger spring, would not have brooked competition so near. For here was the junction of three major roads: (1) the northern branch of the Great Trunk Road between Egypt and Damascus; (2) the road connecting the latter with the sea at Tyre, the so-called via maris (3), the road to the Tigris. History did not set a firm foot in Banias, therefore, until the Greeks arrived. After the death of Alexander the Great (323 BC), his successors Ptolemy and Seleucus became rivals for the huge area he had conquered. At first the Egypt-based Ptolemies ruled the land, but around 200 BC, the Seleucid Antiochus III, ruling from Syria, defeated them and took over the country. ![]()
The historian Polybius (2nd century BC) tells us that the battle occurred at a place he knew as Paneon (meaning, the sanctuary of Pan). The name Banias reflects the Arabic pronunciation for Paneas, "city of Pan," sometimes called Paneon. Since no other location in the land bears such a name, the site of the crucial battle was probably here. Polybius also reports that Antiochus used elephants, which threw the enemy into a panic. Now the Greeks had a god, one of whose attributes was to cause panic in battle (Gr. panika), and his name was (not by coincidence) Pan. It may be, then, that the famous panic of the decisive battle led the Seleucids to erect a sanctuary here to Pan.
![]() Echo too was revered here. Above the spring there are niches carved in the face of the cliff, with inscriptions. They contained statues, which have disappeared. From the inscriptions, however, we know that one was dedicated to Pan, one to the emperor and one to Echo. Pan was also a god of the hunters, and his echoing shout could easily disorient them in the forests of Greek Arcadia, where he first appeared.
But above all, he was god of the goats: hence, his peculiar legs. Playing his pipe, he would entice the goats into a dance, which ensured the fertility of the herds. On the left, in a Roman copy of a Greek statue (in the public domain), he teaches the shepherd Daphnis to play.
|
Related Locations
Holy Land
Galilee: Arbel cliff | Mount of Beatitudes | Capernaum | Dan | Hammat Tiberias | Kursi | Beth Shean | Nazareth | Sepphoris | Banias (Caesarea Philippi) | Bethsaida | Chorazin | Gamla | Hazor | Tabgha | Cana | Megiddo | Mount Tabor
Coast : Caesarea Maritima
Highlands : Bethlehem | Jerusalem | Shechem (Nablus) | Muhraka on Mount Carmel | Hebron | Herodium | Mamre | Solomon's Pools
Jerusalem : Jerusalem: Introduction | Mount of Olives | Gethsemane | St. Peter in Gallicantu | Mount Zion | The Upper Room | Via Dolorosa | Church of the Holy Sepulcher | The Cemeteries of Jerusalem | St. Anne's Church and Pool of Bethesda | Pater Noster Church and Mosque of Ascension | Excavations around the Temple platform | Ein Kerem | City of David | Western Wall | Temple Mount | Al-Aqsa Mosque | Dome of the Rock | Shrine of the Book | Yad va Shem
Shephelah : The Shephelah: An Introduction | Emmaus | The Valley of Elah | Maresha | Lachish
Dead Sea : Dead Sea | Jericho | Qumran | Ein Gedi | Masada
Negev : Beersheba | Arad | Avdat | Timna
JORDAN
Northern Section : Gadara | Pella | Ajloun | Jerash | Umm el-Jimal
Central Section : Iraq al-Amir | Baptismal | Mount Nebo | Madaba | Machaerus | Um ar-Rasas
Grazing Land : Karak
Desert : Desert Retreats | Tafilah | Shobak | Little Pettra | Patra | Aqaba | Wadi Rum