Caesarea Philippi - Clickable Map of the Roman Empire - First Century AD

Caesarea Philippi
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Ancient Caesarea Philippi (Paneas): Caesarea Philippi was a capital city founded by Philip the tetrarch, son of Herod the Great. It was located near the foot of Mount Paneus, and the springs of the Jordan River. Today Paneas is no longer inhabited. Caesarea is mentioned in the Bible in Matthew 16:13; and Mark 8:27.

Matt. 16:13 - When Jesus came into the coasts of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, saying, Whom do men say that I the Son of man am?

Mark 8:27 -And Jesus went out, and his disciples, into the towns of Caesarea Philippi: and by the way he asked his disciples, saying unto them, Whom do men say that I am?

Caesarea Philippi Caesarea (Καισάρεια). Caesarēa Philippi, a town on the northern confines of Palestine, in the district of Trachonitis, at the foot of Mount Paneus, and near the springs of the Jordan. It was also called Leshem, Laish, Dan, and Paneas. The name Paneas is supposed to have been given it by the Ph�nicians. The appellation of Dan was given to it by the tribe of that name, because the portion assigued to them was �too little for them,� and they therefore �went up to fight against Leshem (or Laish, Judg. xviii. 29), and took it,� calling it �Dan, after the name of Dan, their father� (Josh. xix. 47). Eusebius and Jerome distinguish Dan from Paneas as if they were different places, though near each other; but most writers consider them as one place, and even Jerome himself, on Ezek. xlviii., says that Dan or Leshem was afterwards called Paneas. Philip, the tetrarch, rebuilt it, or at least embellished and enlarged it, and named it Caesarea, in honour of the emperor Tiberius; and afterwards Agrippa, in compliment to Nero, called it Neronias.  - Harpers Dictionary of Classical Antiquities. New York. Harper and Brothers.

Caesarea Philippi  PANEAS
PANEAS, PANIAS, or PANEIAS (Πανεάς, Πανιάς, Πανειάς, Hierocl. p. 716), more usually called either CAESAREIA PANEAS (Καισάρεια Πανεάς or Πανιάς, J. AJ 18.2.3, B. Jud. 2.9.1; Ptol. 5.15.21; Plin. Nat. 5.15. s. 15; Sozom. 5.21; on coins, K. ὑπὸ Πανείῳ and πρὸς Πανείῳ; in Steph. B. sub voce incorrectly πρὸς πῇ Πανεάδι) or CAESAREIA PHILIPPI (K. ἡ Φιλίππου, Matth. 16.13; Mark, 8.27; J. AJ 20.8.4, B. J. 3.8.7, 2.1; Euseb. Hist. Eccl. 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 15.10.3, 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 18.2.3, B. J. 2.9.1.) It was subsequently called Neronias by Herod Agrippa in honour of the emperor Nero. (J. AJ 20.8.4; Coins.) According to ecclesiastical tradition it was the residence of the women diseased with an issue of blood. (Matth. 9.20; Euseb. Hist. Eccl. 7.18; Sozom. 5.21; Theoph. Chronogr. 41 ; Phot. cod. 271.) Under the Christians Paneas became a bishopric. It is still called B�ni�s, 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. II. p. 519b.  - Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography, William Smith, LLD, Ed.  

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,and Mark. 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). While Eusebius of Caesarea accurately places Dan/laish in the vicinity of Paneas at the fourth mile on the route to Tyre. - Wikipedia