Banias
بانياس الحولة ( Caesarea Philippi with the sanctuary of Pan | |
History | |
---|---|
Cultures | Hellenistic, Roman, Byzantine, Early Islamic, Crusader |
Site notes | |
Archaeologists | Zvi Maoz (Area A, the temples area) and Vassilios Tzaferis (Area B, the central civic area)[1] |
Public access | yes (national park) |
Banias or Banyas (
The first mention of the ancient city during the Hellenistic period was in the context of the Battle of Panium, fought around 200–198 BCE, when the name of the region was given as the Panion. Later, Pliny called the city Paneas (Greek: Πανειάς). Both names were derived from that of Pan, the god of the wild and companion of the nymphs.
The spring at Banias initially originated in a large cave carved out of a sheer cliff face which was gradually lined with a series of shrines. The temenos (sacred precinct) included in its final phase a temple placed at the mouth of the cave, courtyards for rituals, and niches for statues. It was constructed on an elevated, 80m long natural terrace along the cliff which towered over the north of the city. A four-line inscription at the base of one of the niches relates to Pan and Echo, the mountain nymph, and was dated to 87 BCE.
The once very large spring gushed from the limestone cave, but an earthquake moved it to the foot of the natural terrace where it now seeps quietly from the bedrock, with a greatly reduced flow. From here the stream, called Nahal Hermon in Hebrew, flows towards what once were the malaria-infested Hula marshes.[6]
History
Semitic deity of the spring
The pre-Hellenistic deity associated with the spring of Banias was variously called Ba'al-gad or Ba'al Hermon.[7]
Hellenism; association with Pan
The spring lies close to the
Paneas (
In 2020, an altar was found with a Greek inscription, in the walls of a church of the 7th century A.D. The inscription writes that the altar was dedicated by Atheneon, son of Sosipatros, from the city of Antioch to the god Pan Heliopolitanos.[16]
In 2022, the Israeli Antiquities Authority discovered a trove of 44 pure gold coins from the early 7th Century CE. While some of the coins were minted by the Byzantine-Roman Emperor Phocas (602-610 CE), most date to the reign of his successor, Emperor Heraclius (610-641). The latest of the coins date to the period of the Arab conquest of the Levant.[17]
Roman and Christian Byzantine periods
Upon
In 3 BCE, Herod's son,
The ancient city is mentioned in the Gospels of Matthew and Mark, under the name of Caesarea Philippi, as the place where Jesus confirmed Peter's assumption that Jesus was the Messiah;[4] the place is today a place of pilgrimage for Christians.[5]
In 61 CE, king
In 67 CE, during the First Jewish–Roman War, Vespasian briefly visited Caesarea Philippi before advancing on Tiberias in Galilee.[23]
With the death of Agrippa II around 92 CE came the end of Herodian rule, and the city returned to the province of Syria.
In the late Roman and Byzantine periods the written sources name the city again as Paneas, or more seldom as Caesarea Paneas.[24]
In 361, Emperor
In the 5th century, following the
Early Muslim period
In 635, Paneas gained favourable terms of surrender from the Muslim army of
The depopulation of Paneas after the Muslim conquest was rapid, as its traditional markets disappeared. Only 14 of the 173 Byzantine sites in the area show signs of habitation from this period. The Hellenised city thus fell into a precipitous decline. At the council of al-Jabiyah, when the administration of the new territory of the Umar Caliphate was established, Paneas remained the principal city of the district of al-Djawlan (the Djawlan) in the jund (military Province) of Dimashq (Damascus), due to its strategic military importance on the border with Jund al-Urdunn, which comprised the Galilee and territories east and north of it.[28][29]
Around 780 CE the nun Hugeburc visited Caesarea and reported that the town 'had' a church and a great many Christians, but her account does not clarify whether any of those Christians were still living in the town at the time of her visit.[30]
The transfer of the Abbasid Caliphate capital from Damascus to Baghdad inaugurated the flowering of the Islamic Golden Age at the expense of the provinces.[31] With the decline of Abbasid power in the tenth century, Paneas found itself a provincial backwater in a slowly collapsing empire,[32] as district governors began to exert greater autonomy and used their increasing power to make their positions hereditary.[33] The control of Syria and Paneas passed to the Fatimids of Egypt.
At the end of the 9th century
Due to the Byzantine advances under
Crusader/Ayyubid period
The
The Crusaders have held the town twice, between 1129–1132 and 1140–1164.
With the arrival of fresh troops to the Holy Land, King Baldwin III of Jerusalem broke the three-month-old truce of February 1157 by raiding the large flocks that the Turcoman people had pastured in the area. In that year, Banias became the principal centre of Humphrey II of Toron's fiefdom, along with his being the constable of the Kingdom of Jerusalem, after it had first been granted to the Knights Hospitaller by Baldwin III. The Knights Hospitaller, having fallen into an ambush, relinquished the fiefdom.[43]
On 18 May 1157,
The Lordship of Banias which was a sub-vassal within the Lordship of Beirut, was captured by Nūr ad-Din on 18 November 1164.[45][46] The Franks had built a castle at Hunin (Château Neuf) in 1107 to protect the trade route from Damascus to Tyre. After Nūr ad-Din's ousting of Humphrey of Toron from Banias, Hunin was at the front line securing the border defences against the Muslim garrison at Banias.[47]
Ibn Jubayr, the geographer, traveller and poet from al-Andalus, described Banias:
- This city is a frontier fortress of the Muslims. It is small, but has a castle, round which, under the walls flows a stream. This stream flows out from the town by one of the gates, and turns a mill ... The town has broad arable lands in the adjacent plain. Commanding the town is the fortress, still belonging to the Franks, called Hunin, which lies 3 leagues distant from Banias. The lands in the plain belong half to the Franks and half to the Muslims; and there is here the boundary called Hadd al Mukasimah-"the boundary of the dividing." The Muslims and the Franks apportion the crops equally between them, and their cattle mingle freely without fear of any being stolen.”
After the death of Nūr ad-Din in May 1174, King
In 1179,
In 1200, Sultan
Probably at the same time, the city was passed to Al-Mu'azzam's brother, al-'Aziz 'Uthman. For a while it was ruled as the hereditary principality of the dynast and his sons. The fourth prince, al-Sa'id Hasan, surrendered it to As-Salih Ayyub in 1247. He later tried to retake the land, at the time of An-Nasir Yusuf
In 1252 Banias was attacked by the forces of the Seventh Crusade and took it, but they were driven out by the garrison of Subeiba.
Al-Sa'id Hasan of Banias, released by
Ottoman period
The traveller
In the 1870s, Banias was described as "a village, built of stone, containing about 350 Moslems, situated on a raised table-land at the bottom of the hills of Mount Hermon. The village is surrounded by gardens crowded with fruit-trees. The source of the Jordan is close by, and the water runs in little aqueducts into and under every part of the modern village."[57]
Early 20th century
The Syria-Lebanon-Palestine boundary was a product of the post-World War I
Following the
The international boundary between Palestine and Syria was agreed by Great Britain and France in 1923 in conjunction with the Treaty of Lausanne, after Britain had been given a League of Nations mandate for Palestine in 1922.[62] Banyas (on the Quneitra/Tyre road) was within the French Mandate of Syria. The border was set 750 metres south of the spring.[59][63]
In 1941, Australian forces occupied Banias in the
Following the
Blass noted that while the land to be ceded to Syria was not suitable for cultivation, the Syrian map did not suit Israel's water development plan. Blass explained that the movement of the International boundary in the area of Banias would affect Israel's water rights.[Note 3] The Israeli cabinet rejected the Syrian proposals but decided to continue the negotiations by making changes to the accord and placing conditions on the Syrian proposals. The Israeli conditions took into account Blass's position over water rights and Syria rejected the Israeli counter-offer.[67]
In September 1953, Israel advanced plans for its
The Banias was included in the
The project was to divert 20 to 30 million cubic metres of water from the river Jordan tributaries to Syria and Jordan for the development of Syria and Jordan.
On June 10, 1967, the last day of the Six Day War, the Golani Brigade captured the village of Banias.[3] Israel's priority on the Syrian front was to take control of the water sources.[71] After the local residents fled to Majdal Shams, the village was destroyed by Israeli bulldozers, leaving only the mosque, church and shrines.[3]
Hermon Stream (Banias) Nature Reserve
In 1977, the Banias was declared a nature reserve by the Israel Nature and Parks Authority, named Hermon Stream (Banias) Nature Reserve. It consists of two areas – the springs and the archaeological site, and the waterfall with a hanging trail.[72]
Misidentification as biblical Laish/Dan
While Banias does not appear in the
Notables from Banias
- Al-Wadin ibn ‘Ata al-Dimashki (d. 764 or 766) - an Arab scholar of the Umayyadera
Further reading
Water issues
- Water for the Future: The West Bank and Gaza Strip, Israel, and Jordan By U.S. National Academy of Sciences, Inc NetLibrary, Jamʻīyah al-ʻIlmīyah al-Malakīyah, Committee on Sustainable Water Supplies for the Middle East, National Research Council, National Academy of Sciences (U.S.) Published by National Academies Press, 1999 ISBN 0-309-06421-X,
- ISBN 1-86064-813-4
- Amery, Hussein A. and Wolf, Aaron T. (2000) Water in the Middle East: A Geography of Peace University of Texas Press, ISBN 0-292-70495-X
See also
- Confession of Peter, New Testament event from the region of Caesarea Philippi (Banias)
- List of places associated with Jesus
- Vassals of the Kingdom of Jerusalem
- Water politics in the Middle East
Notes
- ^ 'As for Panium itself, its natural beauty had been improved by the royal liberality of Agrippa, and adorned at his expenses.'[22]
- ^ "Syria claimed that France's signature on the border agreement was invalid, but the British would not discuss the situation. A 'Demilitarised zone' was created at the three disputed points along the border, one of which was the territory around Banias, with Syria withdrawing troops, but continuing to lay claim to the territory within the zone. Thus from the beginning of the Syrian state to the Six Day War, there was no settled border."[66]
- Simha Blass, head of Israel's Water Planning Authority, was invited to the meeting. Dayan showed Blass the Syrian suggestions on the map. Blass told Dayan that although most of the lands that Israel was expected to relinquish were not suitable for cultivation, the map did not suit Israel's irrigation and water development plans... Although phrased in a positive manner, this decision appears to have killed the negotiations. It involved changes to the preliminary accord and new conditions that made it difficult to go forward. At the last two meetings, on 4 and 27 May Israel presented its new conditions. These were rejected by Syria, and the negotiations ended without agreement.[67]
References
- ^ Negev & Gibson (2001), pp. 382–383
- ^ Jastrow, M, 1903, p. 1185 and 1189, or webpage.
- ^ Aeon.
In June 1967, the penultimate day of the Six Day War saw Israeli tanks storm into Banias in breach of a UN ceasefire accepted by Syria hours earlier. The Israeli general Moshe Dayan had decided to act unilaterally and take the Golan. The Arab villagers fled to the Syrian Druze village of Majdal Shams higher up the mountain, where they waited. After seven weeks, abandoning hope of return, they dispersed east into Syria. Israeli bulldozers razed their homes to the ground a few months later, bringing to an end two millennia of life in Banias. Only the mosque, the church and the shrines were spared, along with the Ottoman house of the shaykh perched high atop its Roman foundations.
- ^ a b "Bible Gateway passage: Matthew 16:13-20 - New International Version". Bible Gateway. Retrieved 2022-11-12.
- ^ a b "Hermon Stream (Banias) Nature Reserve". Israel Nature and Parks Authority. Retrieved 2022-11-12.
- ^ Wilson (2004), p. 2
- ^ Bromiley, 1995, p 569
- ^ Isaiah 9:1
- ^ Kent, 1916, pp. 47-48
- ^ Philippe Bourgeaud, The Cult of Pan in Ancient Greece, tr. K.Atlass & J.Redfield, University of Chicago Press, Chicago and London 1988
- ^ Stephanus of Byzantium, Ethnica, §P499.23
- ^ Perseus Digital Library. TUFTS University Polybius Book 16 para 18
- ^ Perseus Digital Library. TUFTS University Polybius Book 16 para 19
- ^ Perseus Digital Library. TUFTS University Polybius Book 16 para 20
- ISBN 0-550-14230-4, p. 752
- ^ Altar Dedicated to Pan Unearthed in Golan Heights
- ^ Ruth Schuster and Ofer Aderet (October 3, 2022). "44 Gold Coins Hidden During Arab Conquest of Israel Found in Country's North". Haaretz.
- ^ Wilson (2004), p. 9
- ^ Josephus. "The Wars of the Jews 3:9:7". Retrieved 4 May 2015.
- ^ Wilson (2004), p. 23
- ^ Madden, 1864, p. 114
- ^ Josephus, Flavius, War of the Jews, Book 3, chapter 10, para. 7
- ^ Schürer, Millar, Vermès, 1973, p. 494
- ^ Negev & Gibson (2001), p. 382
- ^ Norwich, 1988, pp. 88-92
- ^ Brown, 1971, p. 93.
- ^ Wilson (2004), p. 114
- ^ Wilson (2004), pp. 115–116
- ^ Le Strange, 1890, p.39
- ^ Wilson (2004), pp. 118–119
- ^ Gregorian, 2003, pp. 26 - 38
- ^ Salibi, 1977, p. ??
- ^ Applied History Research Group, University of Calgary, "The Islamic World to 1600" Archived October 5, 2008, at the Wayback Machine, Last accessed October 30, 2008
- ^ Wilson (2004), p. 121
- ^ a b Wilson (2004), p. 122
- ^ Wilson (2004), p. 123
- ^ Richard (1999), p. 67
- ^ Pringle, 2009, p. 30
- ^ Pringle, 2011, pp. 136, 184, 254.
- ^ Maalouf 1984, p. 117.
- ^ Lock 2006, p. 41.
- ^ a b Fulton 2018, p. 112.
- ^ Richard (1999), pp. 175–176
- ^ Fulton 2018, pp. 122–123.
- ^ Wilson (2004), p. 145
- ISBN 0-7546-4078-7pp 148-149
- ^ Murphy-O'Connor, 2008, p. 326
- ^ a b Wilson (2004), pp. 146–147
- ^ Wilson (2004), p. 148
- ^ Hindley, 2004, p. 97
- ^ Humphreys, 1977, p. 75-77.
- ^ Humphreys, 1977, pp. 117, 120-122.
- ^ a b c Wilson (2004), p. 150
- ^ Humphreys, 1977, p. 157
- ^ Humphreys, 1977, p. 165
- ^ Buckingham, 1825, p. 404
- ^ Conder and Kitchener, 1881, p. 95
- ^ Fromkin, 1989, p. ??
- ^ a b MacMillan, 2001, pp 392-420
- ^ Shapira, 1999, pp. 98 - 110
- ^ Shapira, 1999, pp. 98 - 110
- ^ Exchange of Notes Archived 2008-09-09 at the Wayback Machine Constituting an Agreement respecting the boundary line between Syria and Palestine from the Mediterranean to El Hammé. Paris, March 7, 1923.
- ^ Wilson (2004), pp. 177–178
- ^ Australian Government Australian war memorials department, Official Histories – Second World War Volume II – Greece, Crete and Syria (1st edition, 1953)
- ^ Australian Government, Australian war memorials department, Official Histories – Second World War Volume II – Greece, Crete and Syria (1st edition, 1953), Chapter 16, The Syrian Plan, See Map p 334
- ^ Wilson (2004), p. 178
- ^ a b c Shlaim (2000), pp. 75–76
- ^ Holocaust and Redemption, Mati Alon, p. 321, Trafford Publishing, 2004: "When the diggiging for 'Hamovil Ha'Artzi' starred(sic), the Syrians started shelling and disrupting the work"
- ^ a b Shlaim (2000), pp. 229–230
- ^ Gammer, Kostiner, Shemesh, 2003, p. 165
- ^ Segev, 2007, p. 387
- ^ "Hermon Stream (Banias) Nature Reserve – Israel Nature and Parks Authority". en.parks.org.il. Retrieved 2021-12-24.
- ^ Provan, Long, Longman, 2003, pp. 181-183
- ^ a b Saulcy, 1854, pp. 537-538
Bibliography
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External links
- Israel Nature and Parks Authority: Hermon Stream (Banias) Nature Reserve
- Jewish Agency for Israel. The Nahal Hermon Reserve (Banias).
- Jewish Encyclopedia: Cæsarea Philippi
- Caesarea Philippi entry in historical sourcebook by Mahlon H. Smith
- Banias Travel Guide Archived 2010-09-29 at the Wayback Machine
- Banyas Archived 2014-11-27 at the Wayback Machine
- Photo of fortifications, from 1862
- Macalister, R. A. Stewart (1911). . Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.).
- New International Encyclopedia. 1905. .