Semitic deity of the spring The pre-Hellenistic deity associated with the spring of Banias was variously called
Ba'al-gad or
Ba'al Hermon. .
Hellenism; association with Pan The spring lies close to the
'way of the sea' mentioned by the
Book of Isaiah, along which many armies of Antiquity marched. It was certainly an ancient place of great sanctity, and when
Hellenised religious influences began to overlay the region, the cult of its local
numen gave place to the worship of the
Arcadian goat-footed
god Pan, to whom the cave was therefore dedicated. Pan was revered by the ancient Greeks as the god of isolated rural areas, music, goat herds, hunting, herding, of sexual and spiritual possession, and of victory in battle, since he was said to instill panic among the enemy. Paneas (, Latin
Fanium) was first settled in the
Hellenistic period following
Alexander the Great's conquest of the east. The
Ptolemaic kings built a cult centre there in the 3rd century BCE. In extant sections of the Greek historian
Polybius's history of 'The Rise of the Roman Empire', a
Battle of Panium is mentioned. This battle was fought in ca. 200–198 BCE between the armies of
Ptolemaic Egypt and the
Seleucids of
Coele-Syria, led by
Antiochus III. Antiochus's victory cemented Seleucid control over
Phoenicia,
Galilee,
Samaria, and
Judea until the
Maccabean revolt. It was these Seleucids who built a pagan temple dedicated to Pan at Paneas. In 2020, an altar with a Greek inscription was found in the walls of a church of the 7th century A.D. The inscription records that the altar was dedicated by Atheneon, son of Sosipatros, from the city of
Antioch to the god Pan Heliopolitanos. In 2022, the Israeli Antiquities Authority discovered a trove of 44 pure gold coins from the early 7th Century CE. While some of the coins were minted by the Byzantine-Roman Emperor
Phocas (602-610 CE), most date to the reign of his successor, Emperor
Heraclius (610-641). The latest of the coins date to the period of the Arab conquest of the Levant.
Roman and Christian Byzantine periods Upon
Zenodorus's death in 20 BC, the Panion (), including Paneas, was annexed to the
Herodian Kingdom of Judea, a
client of the
Roman Republic and
Roman Empire.
Josephus mentions that
Herod the Great erected a temple of 'white marble' nearby in honor of his patron; it was found in the nearby site of
Omrit. In 3 BCE, Herod's son,
Philip (also known as Philip the
Tetrarch) founded a city which became his administrative capital, known from Josephus and the Gospels of
Matthew and
Mark as Caesarea or
Caesarea Philippi, to distinguish it from
Caesarea Maritima and other cities named Caesarea (
Matthew 16, ,
Mark 8, ). On the death of Philip in 34 CE his kingdom was briefly incorporated into the province of
Syria, with the city given the autonomy to administer its own revenues, before reverting to his nephew,
Herod Agrippa I. The ancient city is mentioned in the
Gospels of
Matthew and
Mark, under the name of
Caesarea Philippi, as the place where
Jesus confirmed
Peter's assumption that Jesus was the
Messiah; Agrippa also carried out urban improvements. In 67 CE, during the
First Jewish–Roman War,
Vespasian briefly visited Caesarea Philippi before advancing on
Tiberias in Galilee. With the death of Agrippa II around 92 CE came the end of Herodian rule, and the city returned to the
province of Syria. In the late Roman and Byzantine periods the written sources name the city again as Paneas, or more seldom as Caesarea Paneas. In 361, Emperor
Julian the Apostate instigated a religious reformation of the Roman state, in which he supported the restoration of
Hellenistic polytheism as the state religion. In Paneas this was achieved by replacing Christian symbols with pagan ones, though the change was short lived. Following the
division of the Empire in the late 4th century, the city became part of the Eastern (later
Byzantine) Empire. Archaeological excavations indicate a severe urban decline during the early Byzantine period. Although the precise causes of this decline cannot be determined with certainty and were likely multiple, excessive taxation has been proposed as the explanation that best accords with the available evidence. Within the territory of Paneas, 22 of the approximately 40 such stones known from the Levant have been identified, indicating intensive land registration and the presence of numerous privately owned, independently taxed plots. The depopulation of Paneas after the Muslim conquest was rapid, as its traditional markets disappeared. Only 14 of the 173 Byzantine sites in the area show signs of habitation from this period. The Hellenised city thus fell into a precipitous decline. At the council of al-Jabiyah, when the administration of the new territory of the
Umar Caliphate was established, Paneas remained the principal city of the district of
al-Djawlan (the Djawlan) in the
jund (military Province) of
Dimashq (
Damascus), due to its strategic military importance on the border with
Jund al-Urdunn, which comprised the Galilee and territories east and north of it. Around 780 CE the nun
Hugeburc visited Caesarea and reported that the town 'had' a church and a great many Christians, but her account does not clarify whether any of those Christians were still living in the town at the time of her visit. The transfer of the Abbasid
Caliphate capital from Damascus to
Baghdad inaugurated the flowering of the
Islamic Golden Age at the expense of the provinces. With the decline of
Abbasid power in the tenth century, Paneas found itself a provincial backwater in a slowly collapsing empire, as district governors began to exert greater autonomy and used their increasing power to make their positions hereditary. The control of Syria and Paneas passed to the
Fatimids of Egypt. At the end of the 9th century
Al-Ya'qubi reaffirms that Paneas was still the capital of al-Djawlan in the
jund of Dimshq, although by then the town was known as
Madīnat al-Askat (city of the tribes) with its inhabitants being
Qays, mostly of the
Banu Murra with some
Yamani families. Due to the Byzantine advances under
Nicephorus Phocas and
John Zimisces into the Abbasid empire, a wave of refugees fled south and augmented the population of Madīnat al-Askat. The city was taken over by an extreme
Shī‘ah sect of the
Bedouin Qarāmita in 968. In 970 the
Fatimids again briefly took control, only to lose it again to the Qarāmita. The old population of Banias along with the new refugees formed a
Sunni sufi ascetic community. In 975 the Fatimid
al-'Aziz wrested control in an attempt to subdue the anti-Fatimid agitation of
Mahammad b. Ahmad al-Nablusi and his followers and to extend Fatimid control into Syria.
Crusader/Ayyubid period , near Banias, from the 1871-77
PEF Survey of Palestine The
Crusaders' arrival in 1099 quickly split the mosaic of semi-independent cities of the
Seljuk sultanate of Damascus. The Crusaders held the town twice, between 1129–1132 and 1140–1164. It was called by the Franks
Belinas or Caesarea Philippi. From 1126–1129, the town was held by
Assassins, and was
turned over to the Franks following the purge of the sect from Damascus by
Buri. Later on,
Shams al-Mulk Isma'il attacked Banias and captured it on 11 December 1132. In 1137, Banias became under the rule of
Imad al-Din Zengi. In late spring 1140,
Mu'in ad-Din Unur handed Banias to the Crusaders during the reign of
King Fulk, due to their assistance against Zengi's aggression towards Damascus. With the arrival of fresh troops to the Holy Land, King
Baldwin III of Jerusalem broke the three-month-old truce of February 1157 by raiding the large flocks that the
Turcoman people had pastured in the area. In that year, Banias became the principal centre of
Humphrey II of Toron's fiefdom, along with his being the
constable of the
Kingdom of Jerusalem, after it had first been granted to the
Knights Hospitaller by Baldwin III. The Knights Hospitaller, having fallen into an ambush, relinquished the fiefdom. On 18 May 1157,
Nūr ad-Din began a siege on Banias using
mangonels, a type of siege engine. Humphrey was under attack in Banias and Baldwin III was able to break the siege, only to be ambushed at
Jacob's Ford in June 1157. The fresh troops arriving from
Antioch and Tripoli were able to relieved the besieged crusaders. The Lordship of Banias which was a sub-vassal within the Lordship of
Beirut, was captured by Nūr ad-Din on 18 November 1164. The Franks had built a castle at
Hunin (Château Neuf) in 1107 to protect the trade route from Damascus to
Tyre. After Nūr ad-Din's ousting of Humphrey of Toron from Banias, Hunin was at the front line securing the border defences against the Muslim garrison at Banias.
Ibn Jubayr, the geographer, traveller and poet from
al-Andalus, described Banias: :This city is a frontier fortress of the Muslims. It is small, but has a castle, round which, under the walls flows a stream. This stream flows out from the town by one of the gates, and turns a mill ... The town has broad arable lands in the adjacent plain. Commanding the town is the fortress, still belonging to the Franks, called Hunin, which lies 3 leagues distant from Banias. The lands in the plain belong half to the Franks and half to the Muslims; and there is here the boundary called
Hadd al Mukasimah-"the boundary of the dividing." The Muslims and the Franks apportion the crops equally between them, and their cattle mingle freely without fear of any being stolen.” After the death of Nūr ad-Din in May 1174, King
Amalric I of Jerusalem led the crusader forces in a siege of Banias. The Governor of Damascus allied himself with the crusaders and released all his Frankish prisoners. With the death of Amalric I in July 1174, the crusader border became unstable. In 1177, King
Baldwin IV of Jerusalem laid siege to Banias and again the crusader forces withdrew after receiving tribute from Samsan al-Din Ajuk, the Governor of Banias. In 1179,
Saladin took personal control of the forces of Banias and created a protective screen across the Hula through
Tell al-Qadi. By the end of Saladin's life, Banias was in the territory of al-Afdal, Emir of Damascus, and in the
Iqta' of Hussam al-Din Bishara. In 1200, Sultan
al-Adil I sent Fakhr al-Din Jaharkas to seize
Kŭl’at es-Subeibeh, a fortress located on a high hill above Banias, from Hussam al-Din, and reaffirmed Jaharkas as the holder of the iqta' in 1202. A strong
earthquake the same year had its epicenter close to Banias, and the city was partially destroyed. Jaharkas rebuilt the
burj (fortress tower). He took control of other properties - Tibnin, Hunin, Beaufort and Tyron. After his death, these lands were in the hands of Sarim ad-Din Khutluba. Shortly after the start of the
Fifth Crusade, Banias was raided by the Franks for three days. Later,
Al-Mu'azzam Isa, son of al-Adil, started to dismantle (
slight) fortifications across Palestine, in order to deny their protection should the Crusaders gain them, by fight or by land exchange. So, in March 1219, Khutluba was forced to relinquish Banias and destroy its fortress. During the
Mamluk period, Banias served as the provincial seat of a subdistrict ('amal) subordinate to
Damascus. It controlled all of the northern part of the Golan, in addition to the southern parts of
Mt. Hermon. According to Marom, it was "an important fortress town [...] with its military command located in Qal‘at al- Ṣubayba overlooking the town, on the border between the provinces of
Ṣafad and Damascus."
Ottoman period The traveller
J. S. Buckingham described Banias in 1825: "The present town is small, and meanly built, having no place of worship in it; and the inhabitants, who are about 500 in number, are Mohammedans and
Metouali, governed by a Moslem Sheikh." In the 1870s, Banias was described as "a village, built of stone, containing about 350 Moslems, situated on a raised table-land at the bottom of the hills of Mount Hermon. The village is surrounded by gardens crowded with fruit-trees. The source of the Jordan is close by, and the water runs in little aqueducts into and under every part of the modern village."
20th century The Syria-Lebanon-Palestine boundary was a product of the post-World War I
Anglo-French partition of Ottoman Syria. British forces had advanced to a position at
Tel Hazor against Turkish troops in 1918 and wished to incorporate all the sources of the Jordan River within the British controlled Palestine. Due to the French inability to establish administrative control, the frontier between Syria and Palestine was fluid. Following the
Paris Peace Conference of 1919, and the unratified and later annulled
Treaty of Sèvres, stemming from the
San Remo conference, the 1920 boundary extended the British controlled area to north of the
Sykes Picot line, a straight line between the mid point of the
Sea of Galilee and
Nahariya. In 1920 the French managed to assert authority over the Arab nationalist movement and after the
Battle of Maysalun,
King Faisal was deposed. Banyas (on the
Quneitra/Tyre road) was within the French Mandate of Syria. The border was set 750 metres south of the spring. In 1941, Australian forces occupied Banias in the
advance to the Litani during the
Syria-Lebanon Campaign;
Free French and Indian forces also invaded Syria in the
Battle of Kissoué. Banias's fate in this period was left in a state of limbo since Syria had come under British military control. When Syria was granted independence in April 1946, it refused to recognize the 1923 boundary agreed between Britain and France. Following the
1948 Arab Israeli War, the Banias spring remained in Syrian territory, while the Banias River flowed through the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) into Israel. In 1953, at one of a series of meetings to regularize administration of the DMZs, Syria offered to adjust the armistice lines, and cede to Israel 70% of the DMZ, in exchange for a return to the pre-1946 International border in the Jordan basin area, with Banias water resources returning to Syrian sovereignty. On 26 April, the Israeli cabinet met to consider the Syrian suggestions, with head of Israel's Water Planning Authority,
Simha Blass, in attendance. and friction with the
Eisenhower Administration; the diversion was moved to the southwest. The Banias was included in the
Jordan Valley Unified Water Plan, which allocated Syria 20 million cubic metres annually from it. The plan was rejected by the
Arab League. Instead, at the 2nd Arab summit conference in
Cairo of January 1964 the League decided that
Syria, Lebanon and Jordan would begin a water diversion project. Syria started the construction of canal to divert the flow of the Banias river away from Israel and along the slopes of the
Golan toward the
Yarmouk River. Lebanon was to construct a canal from the
Hasbani River to Banias and complete the scheme The project was to divert 20 to 30 million cubic metres of water from the river Jordan tributaries to Syria and Jordan for the development of Syria and Jordan. The diversion plan for the Banias called for a 73 kilometre long canal to be dug 350 metres above sea level, that would link the Banias with the
Yarmuk. The canal would carry the Banias's fixed flow plus the overflow from the Hasbani (including water from the Sarid and
Wazani). This led to military intervention from Israel, first with tank fire and then, as the Syrians shifted the works further eastward, with airstrikes. On June 10, 1967, the last day of the
Six Day War, the
Golani Brigade captured the village of Banias. After the local residents fled to
Majdal Shams, the village was destroyed by Israeli bulldozers, leaving only the mosque, church and shrines. Modern Israeli tourism signage at Banias differ from how it was presented under Syrian administration. In 2022, a cache of 44 gold coins, approximately 1,400 years old, was discovered in the reserve during excavations by the
Israel Antiquities Authority, which attest to the conquest of the
Byzantine Empire by the
Umayyad dynasty. ==Notables from Banias==