The most recent excavations at Banias (also called Paneas and Caesarea Philippi) suggest that the area in front of the famous cave associated with the cult of the god Pan was repurposed as an outdoor banqueting area by Herod Agrippa II. The results of the excavations, conducted in 2020 and 2021, were published in the November 2024 issue of the journal, Bulletin of the American Society of Overseas Research, published by the University of Chicago Press. The authors of the study report that sometime after AD 70, Agrippa constructed an open-air nymphaeum-triclinium facing the cave, which was filled with water. A stone in the middle of the pool in the cave likely had a statue on it. An aqueduct controlled the level of the water in the cave and allowed water to flow out around a central dining area. This type of outdoor dining area surrounded by water was popular in and around Rome in the first century. Jesus once took his disciples to Caesarea Philippi and asked them who people said that He was. He then asked his disciples, “But who do you say that I am?” to which Peter replied, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God” (Mt 16:13–16).
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