Caesarea

An ancient city of northern Palestine near Mount Hermon in present-day southwest Syria. It was built in the first century A.D. on the site of a center for the worship of Pan.

A city on the southern slope of the Hermon range, near one of the main sources of the Riven Jordan. The earliest mention of the city, under the name of Panion, is in Polybius, in his account of Antiochus III's victory over the Ptolemies (XVI, 18:2; XXVIII, 1:3). In the time of Zenodorus the region was called Panias. After his death Herod received the city from Augustus. His son Philip made it the capital of his tetrarchy and called it Caesarea, in honour either of Augustus or of Tiberius. To distinguish it from Caesarea Maritima and other cities, it is often called Caesarea Philippi. In Matthew (16:13) and Mark (8:27) it is mentioned as one of the cities visited by Jesus and his disciples. Here Peter confessed Jesus as the messiah (Mark 8:27-30). Recent excavations have uncovered a cultic compound next to the spring, with temples to the gods Pan and Zeus, and in another part of the city a palace complex which was apparently built by Philip.

Concordance
Matt 16:13. Mark 8:27