Paneas
PANEAS, PANIAS, or PANEIAS (Πανεάς, Πανιάς, Πανειάς, Hierocl. p. 716), more usually called either CAESAREIA PANEAS(Καισάρεια Πανεάςor Πανιάς, J. AJ, B. Jud. 2.9.1; Ptol. 5.15.21; Plin. Nat. 5.15. s. 15; Sozom. 5.21; on coins, K. ὑπὸ Πανείῳand πρὸς Πανείῳ;in Steph. B. incorrectly πρὸς πῇ Πανεάδι) or CAESAREIA PHILIPPI(K. ἡ Φιλίππου, Matth. 16.13; Mark, 8.27; J. AJ, B. J. 3.8.7, 2.1; Euseb. H. E. 7.17), a city in the north of Palestine, called by Ptolemy and Hierocles (ll. cc.) a city of Phoenicia, situated upon one of the sources of the Jordan, at the foot of Mt. Panium, one of the branches of Lebanon. Mt Panium contained a cave sacred to Pan, whence it derived its name. (Philostorg. 7.7.) At this spot Herod erected a temple in honour of Augustus. (J. AJ, B. J. 1.21.3.) Paneas was supposed by many to have been the town of Laish, afterwards called Dan; but Eusebius and Jerome state that they were separate cities, distant 4 miles from each other. (Reland, Palaestina, p. 918, seq.) Paneas was rebuilt by Philip the Tetrarch, who called it Caesareia in honour of the Roman emperor, and gave it the surname of Philippi to distinguish it from the other Caesareia in Palestine. (J. AJ, B. J. 2.9.1.) It was subsequently called Neronias by Herod Agrippa in honour of the emperor Nero. (J. AJ; Coins.) According to ecclesiastical tradition it was the residence of the women diseased with an issue of blood. ( Matth. 9.20; Euseb. H. E. 7.18; Sozom. 5.21; Theoph. Chronogr. 41 ; Phot. cod. 271.) Under the Christians Paneas became a bishopric. It is still called Bâniâs, and contains now only 150 houses. On the NE. side of the village the river, supposed to be the principal source of the Jordan, issues from a spacious cavern under a wall of rock. Around this source are many hewn stones. In the face of the perpendicular rock, directly over the cavern and in other parts, several niches have been cut, apparently to receive statues. Each of these niches had once an inscription; and one of them, copied by Burckhardt, appears to have been a dedication by a priest of Pan. There can be no doubt that this cavern is the cave of Pan mentioned above; and the hewn stones around the spring may have belonged perhaps to the temple of Augustus. This spring was considered by Josephus to be the outlet of a small lake called Phiala, situated 120 stadia from Paneas towards Trachonitis or the NE. Respecting this lake see Vol. 2. 519b.
(Reland, Palaestina, p. 918, seq.; Eckhel, vol. 3. p. 339, seq.; Burckhardt, Syria, p. 37, seq.; Robinson, Bibl. Res. vol. 3. p. 347, seq.)
See Caesarea
(4).
City on the NW slope of Mt. Hermon on one of the tributaries of the Jordan. Its great god was Pan, who was identified with Zeus and associated with the Nymphs. The city was refounded under the name Caesarea by Philip the Tetrarch, son of King Herod the Great, in 2-1 B.C., and renamed Neronias under Agrippa II.
The site has not been excavated. Remains of ramparts with towers were visible some time ago, as well as numbers of column shafts scattered in the orchards or incorporated in the mediaeval fortifications, and Doric frieze fragments reused in the parapet of the bridge on the Nahr es-Saari.
The Sanctuary of Pan and the Nymphs was a grotto from which the river emerged under an arched opening; it was set among plane trees and poplars. Niches with shells, framed by fluted pilasters to form little chapels, were carved in the rock face. Dedicatory inscriptions in Greek indicate that two of the niches held statues of Hermes and the nymph Echo. Two columns in front of the grotto may have supported a canopy. Gratings or openwork metal gates protected these rustic sanctuaries, which date from the Roman period.
BIBLIOGRAPHYV. Guérin, Description de la Palestine, La Galilée II (1880); L. Lortet, La Syrie d'aujourd'hui, Voyages dans la Phénicie, le Liban et la Judée (1884); R. Dussaud, Topographie historique de la Syrie antique et médiévale (1927).
J.-P. REY-COQUAIS