Cave Of Pan Banyas, Israel Stock Photography

Banias Arabic: بانياس الحولة‎; Modern Hebrew: בניאס‎; Judeo-Aramaic, Medieval Hebrew: פמייס, etc.;[2] Ancient Greek: Πανεάς is an ancient site that developed around a spring once associated with the Greek god Pan. It had been inhabited for 2,000 years, until its destruction in 1967.[3] It is located at the foot of Mount Hermon, north of the Golan Heights, in the part of Syria occupied and annexed 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 founded sometime after the conquest by Alexander the Great and inhabited until 1967; the ancient city was mentioned in the Gospels of Matthew and Mark by the name of Caesarea Philippi.