Banias

Common card · No. 259552

Banias (Arabic: بانياس الحولة, romanized: Bāniyās al-Ḥūlah; Modern Hebrew: בניאס; Judeo-Aramaic, Medieval Hebrew: פמייס, etc.; Ancient Greek: Πανεάς), also spelled Banyas, is a site in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, Syria near a natural spring, once associated with the Greek god Pan. It had been inhabited for 2,000 years, until its Syrian population fled and their homes were destroyed by Israel following the 1967 Six-Day War. It is located at the foot of Mount Hermon, north of the Golan Heights, the classical Gaulanitis, in the part occupied 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 dating from the Hellenistic and Roman periods. Herod the Great, king of Judaea, constructed a temple dedicated to Augustus at the site, although nearby Omrit is a strong candidate for being the site of this temple. Subsequently, Herod...

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