Caesarea Philippi

Not be confused with Caesarea Maritima, on the Mediterranean, or the town Caesarea in Israel, or with Caesarea Mazaca in Cappadocia.

Caesarea Philippi
The ruins of Caesarea Philippi
Shown within Golan
Location	Golan Heights
Coordinates	33°14′46″N 35°41′36″E / 33.246111°N 35.693333°E / 33.246111; 35.693333
Type	settlement
History
Cultures	Roman

Caesarea Philippi was an ancient Roman city located at the southwestern base of Mount Hermon (Har Hermon or Arabic Jebel esh-Sheikh). The city is mentioned in the gospels of Matthew,^[1] and Mark.^[2] The city was located within the region known as the "Panion" (the region of the Greek god Pan). Named after the deity associated with the grotto and shrines close to the spring called "Paneas". Today, the city, now no longer inhabited, is an archaeological site located within the Golan Heights.

While Baniyas does not appear in the Old Testament, Philostorgius, Theodoret, Benjamin of Tudela and Samuel ben Samson all incorrectly identified it with Laish (Tel Dan).^[3][4][5] While Eusebius of Caesarea accurately places Dan/laish in the vicinity of Paneas at the fourth mile on the route to Tyre.^[6]

Pagan associations

The major Hellenistic realms; the Ptolemaic kingdom (dark blue); the Seleucid empire (yellow); Macedon (green) and Epirus (pink). The orange areas were often in dispute after 281 BC.

Alexander the Great's conquests started a process of Hellenisation in Egypt and Syria that continued for 1,000 years. Paneas was first settled in the Hellenistic period. The Ptolemaic kings, in the 3rd century BC, built a cult centre.

View at the remnants of the Temple of Pan with Pan's grotto. The building on the slope of the cliff in the background is the shrine of Nebi Khader.

Panias is a spring, also known as Banias, named for Pan, the Greek god of desolate places. It lies close to the fabled "way of the sea" mentioned by Isaiah.^[7] Along which many armies of Antiquity have marched. In the distant past a giant spring, gushed from a cave in the limestone bedrock, tumbling down the valley to flow into the Huela marshes. Currently it is the source of the stream Nahal Senir. Whereas previously the Jordan River rose from the malaria infested Huela marshes it now rises from this spring and two others at the base of Mount Hermon. The flow of the spring has decreased greatly in modern times.^[8] The water no longer gushes from the cave, but only seeps from the bedrock below it. Paneas was certainly an ancient place of great sanctity and when Hellenised religious influences were overlaid on the region, the cult of its local numen gave place to the worship of Pan, to whom the cave was dedicated and from which the copious spring feeding the Huela mashes rose and ultimately supplied the river Jordan.^[9] The pre-Hellenic deities that have been associated with the site are Ba'al-gad or Ba'al-hermon.^[10]

In extant sections of the Greek historian Polybius's history of "The Rise of the Roman Empire", the Battle of Panium is mentioned. The battle of Panium occurred in 198 BC between the Macedonian armies of Ptolemaic Egypt and the Seleucid Greeks of Coele-Syria, led by Antiochus III.^[11][12][13] Antiochus's victory cemented Selucid control over Phoenicia, Galilee Samaria and Judea until the Maccabean revolt. The Hellenised Sellucids built a pagan temple dedicated to Pan, (a goat-footed god of victory in battle [creator of panic in the enemy], desolate places, music and goat herds), at Paneas.^[14]

Roman

The Division of Herod's Kingdom:

  Territory under Herod Archelaus, from 6 Iudaea Province

  Territory under Herod Antipas

  Territory under Herod Philip II

  Salome I (cities of Jabneh, Azotas, Phaesalis)

  Roman province of Syria

  Autonomous cities (Decapolis)

Herodian city

On the death of Zenodorus in 20 BC, the Panion, which included Paneas was annexed to the Kingdom of Herod the Great.^[15] He erected here a temple of "white marble" in honour of his patron. In the year 3 BC, Philip II (also known as Philip the Tetrarch) founded a city at Paneas. It became the administrative capital of Philip's large tetrarchy of Batanaea which encompassed the Golan and the Hauran. Flavius Josephus in Antiquities of the Jews refers to the city as Caesarea Paneas; the New Testament as Caesarea Philippi (to distinguish it from Caesarea Maritima on the Mediterranean coast).^[16][17] In 14 AD Philip II named it Caesarea (in honour of the Roman Emperor Caesar Augustus) and "made improvements" to the city. His image was placed on a coin issued in 29/30 AD (to commemorate the founding of the city), this was considered as idolatrous by Jews but was following in the Idumean tradition of Zenodorus.^[18]

On the death of Philip II in 33 AD the tetrachy was incorporated into the province of Syria with the city given the autonomy to administer its own revenues.^[19]

In 61 AD the king Agrippa II renamed the administrative capital as Neronias in honour of the Roman emperor Nero, but this name held only till 68 AD.^[20] Agrippa also carried out urban improvements^[21]

During the First Jewish–Roman War Vespasian rested his troops at Caesarea Philippi in July 67 AD holding games over a period of 20 days before advancing on Tiberias to crush the Jewish resistance in Galilee.^[22]

Gospel association

Main article: Confession of Peter

In the Synoptic Gospels, Jesus is said to have approached the area near the city, but without entering the city itself. Jesus, while in this area, asked his closest disciples what they thought of him. Accounts of their answers, including the Confession of Peter, are found in the Synoptic Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke, as well as in the Gospel of Thomas.

Here Saint Peter made his confession of Jesus as the Messiah and the "Son of the living God", and Christ in turn gave a charge to Peter.^[23][24]

A woman from Paneas, who had been bleeding for 12 years, is said to have been miraculously cured by Jesus.^[25] After she was cured she had a statue of Christ erected.^[26]

Byzantium

On attaining the position of Emperor of the Roman Empire in 361 Julian the Apostate instigated a religious reformation of the Roman state, as part of a programme intended to restore the lost grandeur and strength of the Roman State.^[27] He supported the restoration of Hellenic paganism as the state religion.^[28] In Panease this was achieved by replacing the Christian symbols. Sozomen describes the event surrounding the replacement of a statue of Christ:-

”Having heard that at Casarea Philippi, otherwise called Panease Paneades, a city of Phoenicia, there was a celebrated statue of Christ, which had been erected by a woman whom the Lord had cured of a flow of blood. Julian commanded it to be taken down, and a statue of himself erected in its place; but a violent fire from the heaven fell upon it, and broke off the parts contiguous to the breast; the head and neck were thrown prostrate, and it was transfixed to the ground with the face downwards at the point where the fracture of the bust was; and it has stood in that fashion from that day until now, full of the rust of the lightning.” ^[29]

Caliphate

In 635 Paneas gained favourable terms of surrender from the Muslim army of Khalid ibn al-Walid after the defeat of Heraclius’s army. In 636 a newly formed Byzantine army advanced on Palestine using Paneas as a staging post on the way to confront the Muslim army at Yarmuk.^[30]

The depopulation of Paneas after the Muslim conquest was rapid, as the traditional markets of Paneas disappeared (only 14 of the 173 Byzantine sites in the area show signs of habitation from this period). The Hellenised city fell into decline. At the council of al-Jabiyah the administration of the new territory of the Umar Caliphate was established, Paneas remained the principal city of the district of al-Djawlan (the Golan) in the jund (military Province) of Dimshq (Damascus), due to its strategic military importance on the border with Filistin (Palestine).^[31]

Around AD 780 the nun Hugeburc visited Caesarea and reported that the town had a church and a "great many Christians" but does not record any Christians as living in the town at the time of her visit.^[32]

See also

• List of places associated with Jesus

References

Footnotes

1. ^ Matthew 16:13
2. ^ Mark 8:27
3. ^ A Biblical History of Israel By Iain William Provan, V. Philips Long, Tremper Longman Published by Westminster John Knox Press, 2003 ISBN 0664220908 pp 181-183
4. ^ Wilson, John Francis. (2004) ibid p 150
5. ^ Louis Félicien Joseph Caignart de Saulcy, Edouard de Warren (1854) Narrative of a Journey Round the Dead Sea, and in the Bible Lands; in 1850 and 1851. Including an Account of the Discovery of the Sites of Sodom and Gomorrah Parry and M'Millan, pp 417-418
6. ^ Louis Félicien Joseph Caignart de Saulcy, Edouard de Warren (1854) ibid p 418
7. ^ Isaiah 9:1
8. ^ Wilson, John F (2004) Banias: The Story of Caesarea Philippi, Lost City of Pan I.B.Tauris, ISBN 1850434409 p 2
9. ^ Kent, Charles Foster (1912) Biblical Geography and History reprinted by Read Books, 2007 ISBN 1406754730 pp 47-48
10. ^ Bromiley, Geoffrey W. (1995) International Standard Bible Encyclopedia: A-D Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, ISBN 0802837816 p 569
11. ^ Perseus Digitital Library. TUFTS University Polybius Book 16 para 18
12. ^ Perseus Digitital Library. TUFTS University Polybius Book 16 para 19
13. ^ Perseus Digitital Library. TUFTS University Polybius Book 16 para 20
14. ^ Chambers Dictionary of Etymology: The Origins and Development of Over 25,000 English Words Edited By Robert K. Barnhart, Sol Steinmetz (1999) Chambers Harrap Publishers L, ISBN 0550142304, p 752
15. ^ Wilson, John Francis. (2004) Caesarea Philippi: Banias, the Lost City of Pan I.B.Tauris, ISBN 1850434409 p 9
16. ^ Matthew. 16:13
17. ^ Josephus Flavius Antiquities of the Jews Book 18 chapter 2 para 1
18. ^ Wilson, John Francis. (2004) ibid pp 20-22
19. ^ Wilson, John Francis. (2004) ibid p 23
20. ^ Madden, Frederic William (1864) History of Jewish Coinage, and of Money in the Old and New Testament B. Quaritch, p 114
21. ^ Josephus, Flavius war of the Jews Book 3 chapter 10 para 7 As for Panium itself, its natural beauty had been improved by the royal liberality of Agrippa, and adorned at his expenses.
22. ^ Emil Schürer, Fergus Millar, Géza Vermès (1973) The History of the Jewish People in the Age of Jesus Christ (175 BC-135 AD) Continuum International Publishing Group, ISBN 0567022420 p 494
23. ^ Mark 8: 27-33, Mathew. 16; 13-23 and Luke 9: 18-22.
24. ^ Fitzmyer, Joseph A. (1991) A Christological Catechism: New Testament Answers Paulist Press, ISBN 0809132532 p 62
25. ^ Luke; 8:43. Mark 5:23 Matthew 9:20
26. ^ Louis Félicien Joseph Caignart de Saulcy, Edouard de Warren (1854) ibid p 418
27. ^ Norwich, John Julius (1988) “Byzantium; the Early Centuries” Penguin Books. ISBN 0-14-011447-5 pp 88-92
28. ^ Brown, Peter, The World of Late Antiquity, W. W. Norton, New York, 1971, ISBN 0393958035 p. 93.
29. ^ Wilson, John Francis. (2004) ibid p 99
30. ^ Wilson, John Francis. (2004) ibid p 114
31. ^ Wilson, John Francis. (2004) ibid pp 115-116
32. ^ Wilson, John Francis. (2004) ibid pp 118-119

Bibliography

• al-Athīr, ʻIzz al-Dīn Ibn (Translated 2006) The Chronicle of Ibn Al-Athīr for the Crusading Period from Al-Kāmil Fīʼl-taʼrīkh: The Years AH 491-541/1097-1146, the Coming of the Franks And the Muslim Response Translated by Donald Sidney Richards Ashgate Publishing, Ltd. ISBN 0754640787
• Brown, Peter The World of Late Antiquity, W. W. Norton, New York, 1971, ISBN 0393958035
• Flavius, Josephus The Jewish War ISBN 0-14-044-420-3
• Fitzmyer, Joseph A. (1991) A Christological Catechism: New Testament Answers Paulist Press, ISBN 0809132532
• Gregorian, Vartan (2003) "Islam: A Mosaic, Not a Monolith", Brookings Institution Press, ISBN 081573283X
• Hindley, Geoffrey. (2004) The Crusades: Islam and Christianity in the Struggle for World Supremacy Carroll & Graf Publishers, ISBN 0786713445
• Kent, Charles Foster (1912) Biblical Geography and History reprinted by Read Books, 2007 ISBN 1406754730
• Murphy-O'Connor, Jerome (2008) The Holy Land: An Oxford Archaeological Guide from Earliest Times to 1700 Oxford University Press US, ISBN 0199236666
• Norwich, John Julius (1988) “Byzantium; the Early Centuries” Penguin Books. ISBN 0-14-011447-5
• Polybius The Rise of the Roman Empire, Translated by Ian Scott-Kilvert Contributor Frank William Walbank, Penguin Classics, 1979 ISBN 0140443622
• Richard, Jean (1999) The Crusades c.1071-c.1291 Cambridge University press ISBN 0-521-62566-1
• Salibi, Kamal Suleiman (1977) Syria Under Islam: Empire on Trial, 634-1097 Caravan Books, 1977 ISBN 0882060139
• Wilson, John Francis. (2004) Caesarea Philippi: Banias, the Lost City of Pan I.B.Tauris, ISBN 1850434409