Caesarea Philippi
1:
CAESAREA PHILIPPI (PLACE) [Gk Kaisareia hē Philippou (Καισαρεια ἡ Φιλιππου)]. A town (also called Caesarea Paneas, M.R. 215294) and district 40 km N of the Sea of Galilee along the Nahal Hermon (Wadi Banias), at the SW foot of Mt. Hermon, strategically located between Syria and Palestine. It was in this region that Jesus posed the question to his disciples, “Who do you say that I am?” and Peter answered “You are the Christ” (Matt 16:13–20; Mark 8:27–30; cf. Luke 9:18–22).
Prior to the Hellenistic period, the name of the site is unknown. At the time of Antiochus the Great (ca. 200 b.c.e.), it was called Panion (Polybius 16.18.2). Both the town and the district received this name (later Paneas, Pliny HN 5.74) from a cave and spring dedicated to the nature god Pan (widely attested by inscriptional and numismatic evidence; see HJP² 2: 40 n.66; also Josephus Ant 15.10.3 §364; JW 1.21.3 §405–6). Earlier cultic use of this site may be evident in the theophoric element of the toponyms Baal-gad (Josh 11:17; 12:7; 13:5) and Baal-hermon (Judg 3:3; 1 Chr 5:23) which are located in this area. Some have suggested that the transfiguration, which follows Peter’s confession in each gospel account (Matt 17:1–8; Mark 9:2–9; Luke 9:28–36), took place in this area of ancient cultic significance (note also the proximity of a mountain near the cave in the Josephus references above). Places identified as “holy” often enjoyed a long history of use in practice and legend. (Miracle stories associated with this spring are recorded in the 4th century c.e. by Eusebius Hist. Eccl. 7.17; on the nature of sacred space, see Brereton in EncRel 12: 526–28.)
After Zenodorus’ death in 20 b.c.e., Augustus gave the district of Paneas to Herod the Great, who subsequently built a magnificent marble temple near the cave in honor of the emperor (called both Paneas and Panium by Josephus, Ant 15.10.3 §360–61, 363–64; JW 1.21.3 §404–5). The district then passed from Herod to his son Philip, the tetrarch of Trachonitis (Ant 17.8.1 §189), who enlarged the city and named it Kaisereia to complete the honor to Caesar Augustus (Ant 18.2.1 §28; JW 2.9.1 §168). The name Caesarea Philippi came to be used in the 1st century c.e. to distinguish it from the other cities named Caesarea.
Agrippa II (ca. 53 c.e.) enlarged the city again and gave it the name Neronias (Gk Nerōnias) in honor of Nero (Ant 20.9.4 §211; JW 3.10.7 §514); however, this use is rare according to numismatic evidence (Benzinger in PW 3: 1291). During the First Jewish War, Vespasian and his troops rested at Caesarea Philippi (JW 3.9.7 §443–44). After the fall of Jerusalem (ca. 70 c.e.), Titus went to the city, where it is reported by Josephus that some of the Jewish captives were thrown to wild beasts (JW 7.2.1 §23–24).
In later Roman and Byzantine times, the name Caesarea Philippi was superseded by the old name Paneas (e.g., Eusebius Onomast. 215.82; 217.40; 275.36; see HJP² 2: 171 n.465 for its use in rabbinic literature). This ancient frontier city is survived today by the village of Banias (the Arabic form of the name).
For additional bibliography, see HJP² 2: 169 n.453; for the most extensive treatment, see Hölscher in PW 18/3: 594–600.
John Kutsko
Freedman, D. N. (1996, c1992). The Anchor Bible Dictionary (1:803). New York: Doubleday.
2:
Caesara Philippi — a city on the northeast of the marshy plain of el-Huleh, 120 miles north of Jerusalem, and 20 miles north of the Sea of Galilee, at the “upper source” of the Jordan, and near the base of Mount Hermon. It is mentioned in Matt. 16:13 and Mark 8:27 as the northern limit of our Lord’s public ministry. According to some its original name was Baal-Gad (Josh. 11:17), or Baal-Hermon (Judg. 3:3; 1 Chr. 5:23), when it was a Canaanite sanctuary of Baal. It was afterwards called Panium or Paneas, from a deep cavern full of water near the town. This name was given to the cavern by the Greeks of the Macedonian kingdom of Antioch because of its likeness to the grottos of Greece, which were always associated with the worship of their god Pan. Its modern name is Banias. Here Herod built a temple, which he dedicated to Augustus Caesar. This town was afterwards enlarged and embellished by Herod Philip, the tetrarch of Trachonitis, of whose territory it formed a part, and was called by him Caesarea Philippi, partly after his own name, and partly after that of the emperor Tiberius Caesar. It is thus distinguished from the Caesarea of Palestine. (See JORDAN.)
Easton, M. (1996, c1897). Easton's Bible dictionary. Oak Harbor, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc.
3:
CAESAREA PHILIPPI City at the northern extremity of Palestine, on the southern slopes of Mt Hermon near the ancient city of Dan. Caesarea Philippi lies in a beautiful area on one of the three sources of the Jordan River, the Wadi Banias.
In the second century bc, the place was called Panion because the Greek god Pan was worshiped in a cave there. It is mentioned by Polybius, a Greek historian, as the place where Syrian king Antiochus III defeated the Ptolemies of Egypt in an important battle about 200 bc. The Jewish historian Josephus (Antiquities 15.10.3) wrote that “Panium” was governed by Zenodorus; its cultic site was “a very fine cave in a mountain, under which there is a great cavity in the earth, and the cavern is abrupt, and prodigiously deep, and full of a still water; over it hangs a vast mountain, and under the caverns arise the springs of the river Jordan.”
After the death of Zenodorus, Augustus Caesar gave the city to Herod the Great, who, according to Josephus, “adorned this place, which was already a very remarkable one” with a “most beautiful temple of the whitest stone.” When Herod died in 4 bc, his son Philip was given the territory surrounding Panion, an area known as Paneas. Josephus (War 2.9.1) reported that “Philip built the city Caesarea, at the fountains of Jordan, and in the region of Paneas.” Philip made it his capital and named it Caesarea Philippi after the Roman emperor Tiberius Caesar and himself, thus distinguishing it from the larger Caesarea Maritima on the Mediterranean coast. Josephus (War 3.9.7) wrote that emperors Vespasian and Titus both “marched from that Caesarea which lay by the seaside, and came to that which is named Caesarea Philippi.”
It was in Caesarea Philippi that the apostle Peter confessed Jesus to be “the Christ, the Son of the living God” (Mt 16:13–16; Mk 8:27–29).
About ad 50, Agrippa II enlarged Caesarea Philippi and named it Neronias in honor of the emperor Nero. The modern name, Banias, derives from the Arabic difficulty in pronouncing Paneas.
Elwell, W. A., & Comfort, P. W. (2001). Tyndale Bible dictionary. Tyndale reference library (244). Wheaton, Ill.: Tyndale House Publishers.
4:
CAESAREA PHILIPPI. A beautiful locality at the foot of Mt Hermon, on the main source of the river Jordan, famed as the place of Peter’s confession (Mt. 16:13ff.). It may be the OT Baal-gad. Baal was the deity worshipped there in OT times; the Greeks later substituted their god Pan, and the town took the name Paneas, the shrine itself being called Panion. When the Seleucid ruler Antiochus III wrested Palestine (together with the whole of Coelesyria) from the Ptolemies, Paneas was the scene of one of the decisive battles (200 bc). Herod the Great built a marble temple to Augustus Caesar, who had given him the town; and Philip the tetrarch later in the same emperor’s reign further adorned the town, renaming it Caesarea in the emperor’s honour. The addition ‘Philippi’—i.e. of Philip—was to distinguish it from the coastal *Caesarea (cf. Acts 8:40). Agrippa II then rebuilt the town in Nero’s reign, and gave it another name, Neronias; but this name was soon forgotten. The town had a considerable history in Crusader times. Its ancient name persists as Banias today. There is a shrine there to the Muslim al-Khidr, equated with St George. d.f.p.
Wood, D. R. W., Wood, D. R. W., & Marshall, I. H. (1996, c1982, c1962). New Bible Dictionary. Includes index. (electronic ed. of 3rd ed.) (153). Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press.
5:
Caesarea Philippi (ses-uh-ree«uh fi-lip´ī), a Gentile frontier town located on the southern slope of Mt. Hermon at one of the sources of the Jordan River. The site was known in antiquity as a shrine of the Greek and Roman nature god, Pan. According to the Jewish historian Josephus, Caesar Augustus gave the city, under the name of Panion, to Herod the Great. When Herod’s son Philip became tetrarch of the region, he rebuilt the city and renamed it after the emperor and himself. In or near the city of Caesarea Philippi was the scene of Peter’s great confession (Matt. 16:13-19; Mark 8:27-29). M.K.M.
Achtemeier, P. J., Harper & Row, P., & Society of Biblical Literature. (1985). Harper's Bible dictionary. Includes index. (1st ed.) (148). San Francisco: Harper & Row.
6:
Caesarea Philippi (Gk. Kaisáreia hē Philɩ́ppou)
The capital and chief residence of the tetrarch Herod Philip. Located in northern Palestine on the lower range of Mt. Hermon, the site had several features that contributed to its development. At an elevation of 340 m. (1100 ft.) above sea level, it had a commanding view of the fertile Huleh Valley to the southwest. Situated on the east-west highway that ran from Tyre to Damascus, it was tied into the international trade route system. The site also featured a spring, which provided water for habitation, along with a cave that made it attractive for cultic activities.
The site has been suggested as that of OT Baal-gad, Baal-hermon, or Beth-rehob, but pottery fragments found thus far do not pre-date the Hellenistic period. The earliest developments took place during that period in the area of the cave and the spring. Greek settlers named the site Paneion (also spelled Paneas and Panias) after the Greek god Pan; the surrounding territory was also known as Paneas. Niches were cut in the face of the bluff and around the cave, recognized as the sanctuary or dwelling place of the deity, and dedicated to “Pan and the Nymphs.” According to Josephus, the region was given to Herod by Caesar Augustus in 20 b.c.e. Herod in turn constructed a beautiful white marble temple dedicated to Augustus, and it most likely became the focal point of the cultic precinct.
The character of the site changed following the death of Herod the Great in 4 b.c.e., when Paneion and its territory became a part of the tetrarchy of Herod’s son, Herod Philip. In 2 b.c.e. Herod Philip founded the first actual city there, naming it Caesarea in honor of Caesar Augustus, and Philippi, to distinguish it from the Caesarea on the coast. As Herod Philip’s capital, the city functioned as a center of both worship and government. This status is reflected in the account of Simon Peter’s confession (Matt. 16:13; Mark 8:27).
The city was rebuilt by Herod Agrippa II ca. 60 c.e. and renamed Neronias, in honor of the emperor Nero. It was one of the most magnificent cities of the Roman world. Following the death of Nero, the name reverted once again to Caesarea Philippi. According to Josephus, both Vespasian and Titus visited the city (BJ 3.443–444; 7.23–24) during the course of the Jewish-Roman War (66–70 c.e.), using the site to rest and refresh their troops. Subsequently the name of the site reverted to the earlier Paneas, preserved in the modern name of the site, Banias.
Recent excavations at the site have focused on the cultic area at the base of the bluff near the cave of Pan and the urban center to the south. Excavations in the cultic precinct have produced the remains of a temple, perhaps that built by Herod the Great. Excavations of the urban center have revealed evidence of a large 3rd- to 4th-century basilica, a series of arches with vaulted rooms, a section of the city’s Cardo Maximus, and a monumental Early Roman cryptoportica.
Bibliography. Z. U. Ma˓oz, “Banias,” NEAEHL 1:136–43.
LaMoine F. DeVries
Freedman, D. N., Myers, A. C., & Beck, A. B. (2000). Eerdmans dictionary of the Bible (207). Grand Rapids, Mich.: W.B. Eerdmans.
