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,
Sixth Station )
For more on the palace, see
Wilson and Tzaferis
. |
Banias (Introduction)
The
Pan sanctuary
The
Confession of Peter (with comment)
The
royal palace
Banias
logistics
Scripture taken from the NEW AMERICAN
STANDARD BIBLE(r),
(c) Copyright 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977,
1995 by
The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission.
(www.Lockman.org)
©
2003
Near East Tourist Agency
(NET)
Text
© 2003 Stephen
Langfur
|
