Banias

Banias is the Arabic name for Hellenistic city of Paneas whose name derives from Pan, the Greek god of herds and shepherds. His cult was observed in a large cave at the foot of Mt. Hermon, where a source of the River Jordan emerges. Paneas, was chosen by Philip (King Herod's son) as the capital of his territory, and named Caesarea Philippi.

A large cave in the rock scarp of the southern end of Mount Hermon, part of whose rock ceiling collapsed long ago, was consecrated in the Hellenistic period to Pan, the half-human, half-goat Greek god of shepherds and springs. The traces of his cult are evident in the niches cut in the rock cliff and in a recently discovered temple being excavated at the foot of the cliff. The name of the city that sprang up here - Paneion or Panias - was derived from Pan's name; this was later corrupted, via Arabic pronunciation, to "Banias."

In the first century CE Paneas was for a time the capital city of Herod's son Philip. As the city was given to Herod and his family as an imperial gift, it was named Caesarea Philippi (to differentiate it from Caesarea on the Mediterranean, which had also been presented to Herod). Excavations are now revealing large parts of the Roman and later Byzantine city near the cave. After the Arab conquest Paneas was generally part of the province of Damascus; it was important because of its location near the sources of the Jordan, on the road from the Mediterranean to Damascus.