Caesarea Philippi — Tyndale Open Bible Dictionary

City at the northern extremity of Palestine, on the southern slopes of Mt Hermon near the ancient city of Dan. Caesarea Philippi lies in a beautiful area on one of the three sources of the Jordan River, the Wadi Banias.

In the second century BC, the place was called Panion because the Greek god Pan was worshiped in a cave there. It is mentioned by Polybius, a Greek historian, as the place where Syrian king Antiochus III defeated the Ptolemies of Egypt in an important battle about 200 BC. The Jewish historian Josephus (Antiquities 15.10.3) wrote that “Panium” was governed by Zenodorus; its cultic site was “a very fine cave in a mountain, under which there is a great cavity in the earth, and the cavern is abrupt, and prodigiously deep, and full of a still water; over it hangs a vast mountain, and under the caverns arise the springs of the river Jordan.”

After the death of Zenodorus, Augustus Caesar gave the city to Herod the Great, who, according to Josephus, “adorned this place, which was already a very remarkable one” with a “most beautiful temple of the whitest stone.” When Herod died in 4 BC, his son Philip was given the territory surrounding Panion, an area known as Paneas. Josephus (War 2.9.1) reported that “Philip built the city Caesarea, at the fountains of Jordan, and in the region of Paneas.” Philip made it his capital and named it Caesarea Philippi after the Roman emperor Tiberius Caesar and himself, thus distinguishing it from the larger Caesarea Maritima on the Mediterranean coast. Josephus (War 3.9.7) wrote that emperors Vespasian and Titus both “marched from that Caesarea which lay by the seaside, and came to that which is named Caesarea Philippi.”

It was in Caesarea Philippi that the apostle Peter confessed Jesus to be “the Christ, the Son of the living God” (Mt 16:13-16; Mk 8:27-29).

Show passage in OET: MAT 16:13–16

OET-RV MAT 16:13

13 When Yeshua (Jesus; Grk. Yesus) arrived in the outskirts of Kaisareia -Filippi (Caesarea Philippi), he asked his apprentices, “Who are people saying the son of humanity is?”

OET-RV MAT 16:14

14 “Some say Yohan-the-immerser come back to life,” they answered, “but others say the promised prophet Eliyah (Elijah), and others, Yirmiyah (Jeremiah) or one of the other prophets.”

OET-RV MAT 16:15

15 “But you yourselves,” he asked, “Who do you say I am?”

OET-RV MAT 16:16

16 “You’re the promised messiah,” Shim’on (Simon) Kefa (Peter; Grk. Petros) answered, “the son of the living god.”

OET-LV MAT 16:13

13 And the Yaʸsous having _come into the districts of _Kaisareia which Filippou, was _asking the apprentices/followers of _him saying:
Whom are_ the people _saying the son of_ the _man to _be?

OET-LV MAT 16:14

14 And they said:
The ones on _one _hand Yōannaʸs the immerser, on _the _other _hand others Aʸlias/(ʼĒliy^yāh), on _the _other _hand others Yeremias/(Yirmə^yāh) or one of _the prophets.

OET-LV MAT 16:15

15 He _is _saying to _them:
But you _all, whom are _saying me to _be?

OET-LV MAT 16:16

16 And Simōn Petros answering said:
You are the chosen _one /messiah, the son of _the which living god.

Show passage in OET: MRK 8:27–29

OET-RV MRK 8:27

27 Then Yeshua (Jesus; Grk. Yesus) and his apprentices moved around the various villages of Kaisareia -Filippi (Caesarea Philippi). On the way, he asked them, “Who does everyone think I am?”

OET-RV MRK 8:28

28 “Some say Yohan-the-immerser,” they said, “some say Eliyah (Elijah), and some say one of the prophets.”

OET-RV MRK 8:29

29 “And what do you all think?” he asked.
¶ “You are the promised one sent by God,” Kefa (Peter; Grk. Petros) answered him.

OET-LV MRK 8:27

27 And the Yaʸsous/(Yəhōshūˊa) and the apprentices/followers of _him came _out into the villages of _Kaisareia which Filippou.
And on the way he _was _asking the apprentices/followers of _him saying to _them:
Whom are_ the people _saying me to _be?

OET-LV MRK 8:28

28 And they spoke to _him saying, that Yōannaʸs the immerser, and others Aʸlias/(ʼĒliy^yāh), but others that one of _the prophets.

OET-LV MRK 8:29

29 And he was _asking them:
But whom you _all are _saying me to _be?
And the Petros answering is _saying to _him:
You are the chosen _one /messiah.

Jump to OET MAT 16:13–16 section.

Jump to OET MRK 8:27–29 section.

About AD 50, Agrippa II enlarged Caesarea Philippi and named it Neronias in honor of the emperor Nero. The modern name, Banias, derives from the Arabic difficulty in pronouncing Paneas.