Banias: The Ancient Sanctuary at the Source of the Jordan

At the foot of Mount Hermon, where icy spring water bursts from a cave in the rock, the ancient world built a temple to the god Pan. The Greeks called the place Paneas. The Arabs, who have no P in their alphabet, called it Banias. And the New Testament records that it was here, at this pagan sanctuary surrounded by shrines and niches carved into the cliff face, that Jesus asked his disciples the most important question in Christian theology.

Pan and the Gates of the Underworld

The cave at Banias was considered in antiquity to be an entrance to the underworld. The spring that flowed from its depths seemed to emerge from nowhere , cold, clear water rising from darkness, as if from the realm of the dead itself. The Greeks identified the cave as a dwelling place of Pan, the half-goat god of shepherds, wild places, and untamed nature. Pan was associated with caves, springs, and the boundary between the civilized world and the wilderness beyond it. His worship involved music (the pan flute), ecstatic dancing, and rituals at the mouth of the cave.

The cult of Pan at Paneas attracted devotees from across the Hellenistic world. Worshippers carved niches into the cliff face beside the cave for statues of Pan and his associated deities . Echo, his nymph companion, and Hermes, his father. Greek inscriptions still visible on the rock identify the donors and the gods they honored. The site became one of the most important Pan sanctuaries in the eastern Mediterranean.

Herod the Great, ever the builder and ever the diplomat, constructed a white stone temple at the site dedicated to his patron Augustus Caesar , placing the Roman emperor alongside the Greek god at the mouth of the underworld. The remains of Herod’s temple are visible at the site today.

Caesarea Philippi and the Gospel

It was Herod’s son, Philip, who renamed the city Caesarea Philippi to distinguish it from his father’s Caesarea on the coast. And it was at Caesarea Philippi, according to the Gospel of Matthew, that Jesus brought his disciples and asked them: “Who do people say the Son of Man is?” When Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God,” (Matthew 16:16) Jesus replied: “On this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it” (Matthew 16:18)

The location gives the words a physical force that is impossible to appreciate from a page. Jesus was standing in front of a cave that the ancient world literally believed was a gate to the underworld. The rock face behind him was covered with pagan shrines. And he chose this place, this backdrop of competing gods and underworld mythology, to declare the foundation of his church.

Archaeological Site

The archaeological remains at Banias are extensive and well-preserved. The cliff face still bears the carved niches where statues of Pan and his associated deities once stood. Inscriptions in Greek identify the donors and the gods they honored. The foundations of Herod’s temple are visible, along with the remains of a later Roman temple, the Agrippa palace, and a medieval Crusader wall.

The cave itself, once the source of the spring, no longer flows with water. An earthquake sometime in the medieval period shifted the underground channels, and the water now emerges from the base of the cliff rather than from inside the cave. But the cave mouth is still dramatic, a dark opening in the rock that makes it easy to understand why the ancients saw it as a doorway to another world.

Visit with Hoshen Tours

The Banias archaeological site is a highlight of any Golan Heights itinerary. Hoshen Tours combines it with the Banias Suspended Trail and Waterfall, Tel Dan, and Nimrod Fortress.