Overview

Bibliography

Banias is the Arabicized medieval name for Paneas, a Hellenistic-Roman city built around the sanctuary of Pan, the god of shepherds in their open fields and woods. The city was renamed Caesarea Philippi after Philip Herod renovated and dedicated it to his patron, Caesar Augustus. The cty is located at the junction of the southern slopes of Mount Hermon, the western slopes of the Golan Heights, and the northern Hula Valley. The site is especially well known for its spring—one of the sources of the Jordan River—as well as Pan’s shrine.

Banias’s flowing spring and visible sanctuary attracted explorers as early as the turn of the nineteenth century. After Banias fell into Israeli hands during the Six-Day War (1967), numerous formal surveys were conducted around the site, and during the 1970s and 1980s, small salvage excavations were conducted. Beginning in 1988, two systematic excavations were conducted by the Israel Antiquities Authority. Zvi Ma‘oz excavated the sanctuary of Pan, and Vassilios Tzaferis excavated the city center. The excavations of the sanctuary were completed in 1994. The remains have been preserved and restored and are visible on the Virtual World Project. Meanwhile, the excavations of the city center continued until 2000. There excavators uncovered the southern part of a large Herodian palace; a medieval synagogue that had been converted into a mosque; small sections of the Byzantine city, including the cardo and a street with shops and a bath; and parts of the Crusader and Mamluk cities, all of which are also visible on the Virtual World Project.

The archaeological strata uncovered at the site, as illustrated in the site plan, date to the following periods:

	Medieval Period
	Byzantine Period
	Roman Period