Banias, also spelled Banyas, is a site in the Golan Heights near a natural spring, once associated with the Greek god Pan. It had been inhabited for 2,000 years, until its Syrian population fled and their homes were destroyed by Israel following the 1967 Six-Day War. It is located at the foot of Mount Hermon, north of the Golan Heights, the classical Gaulanitis…
Banias, also spelled Banyas, is a site in the Golan Heights near a natural spring, once associated with the Greek god Pan. It had been inhabited for 2,000 years, until its Syrian population fled and their homes were destroyed by Israel following the 1967 Six-Day War. It is located at the foot of Mount Hermon, north of the Golan Heights, the classical Gaulanitis, in the part occupied by Israel. The spring is the source of the Banias River, one of the main tributaries of the Jordan River. Archaeologists uncovered a shrine dedicated to Pan and related deities, and the remains of an ancient city dating from the Hellenistic and Roman periods.
Location: Mount Hermon north of the Golan Heights
Cultures: Hellenistic, Roman, Byzantine, Early Islamic, Crusader
Archaeologists: Zvi Maoz (Area A, the temples area) and Vassilios Tzaferis (Area B, the central civic area)
Public access: yes (national park)
Type: the town of Caesarea Philippi with · the sanctuary of Pan
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