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The remains of the city of Banias (Arabic pronunciation of Panias) are located in northern Israel, at the foot of Mt. Hermon - the city was also called Caesarea Philippi.
The city was built near the Banyas spring, one of the sources of the River Jordan.
Banyas was first settled in the Hellenistic period. The Ptolemaic kings, in the 3rd century BCE, built a cult center to counter the Semitic one at [Dan] to the south.
Then, in 200 BCE, the Seleucid ruler Antiochus III defeated the Ptolemaic army in this region and captured Banyas.
In 20 BCE, the region which included Banyas was annexed to the Kingdom of Herod the Great. In the year 2 BCE, Herod Philip founded a pagan city and named it Caesarea Philippi (in honor of Augustus Caesar). It became the capital of his large kingdom which spread across the Golan and the Hauran. Contemporary sources refer to the city as Caesarea Panias; the New Testament as Caesarea Philippi. (Matt. 16:13)
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