This page contains photos and information about the cave which was called "The Gate of Hell" by the people who lived in ancient Israel before the Israelites arrived there from Egypt.

Banyas Cave (a place of Christian pilgrimage) is located near the eastern entrance to what is now called the Banyas Reserve. Beginning in the 3rd century B.C., sacrifices were cast into the cave as offerings to the god Pan. Pan, the half-man half-goat god of fright (thus "panic"), is often depicted playing the flute. This city was called Panias by the Greeks, and later called Caesarea Philippi by the Romans. The Romans built an aqueduct from the cave to their northwestern suburb which, as mentioned, they called Caesarea Philippi. The Roman name is no longer applied to this city. The former Greek name, Panias, has instead been corrupted in the Arabic language to its modern name of Banias or Banyas. The mouth of the cave at Banias (or Banyas) is about 15 meters high and 20 meters wide. Part of the outer rim was damaged by an ancient earthquake. (Click on a thumbnail to see a larger photo.)

Cliff, Cave & Temple	Cave mouth	Temple mouth	Temple niche
The source of the Hermon River, Banyas springs, emerged from inside the large cave on the left before the earthquake. Now the springs bubble up in a pool in front of the cave.

The remaining Temple of Pan is located to the right (as seen from outside) of Banyas Cave along the face of the cliff. The above thumbnail of the Temple mouth contains an illusion. The face of a man is seen in the thumbnail at the left of the Temple mouth; but the face cannot be seen in the larger version of the same photo. This thumbnail was made by us from the larger photo and the face may therefore never have been noticed before, at least, not in modern times. The face is obviously an illusion of shadow and perspective and therefore can only be seen at a certain time of day and from a certain distance. It might also be true that the "face" could only be seen on certain days of the year, such as the solstices or equinoxes. This illusion might therefore have been an important reason for the worship of Pan at this site. However that might be, five statue niches are carved into the cliff, and three of them include Greek inscriptions. The niche on the right (in the above thumbnail) refers to Galerius, a priest of Pan. Above it is a large inscription from the third century stating, "the city council and the household of Agrippa the son of Mark the magistrate." A four-line inscription in the base of the niche by the cave relates to Pan and Echo, the mountain nymph, dated circa 87 C.E.

Eleven cultural layers have thus far been uncovered there, dating from early Hellenistic times until the 19th century. The ruins of additional Roman temples dedicated to Pan have been discovered in the area in front of the cliff. A painting of what the archeologists believe the Roman temples looked like before they became ruins is shown below.

A path leads from the Pan cave to the top of the cliff, on which stands the tomb of Elisha (not shown). A small white building harbors the grave which is covered in cloth. The gravesite is a place of worship for Moslems and Druze. The Druze call the prophet Nebi Kader ("Kader" meaning green).

Another trail leads from the bottom of the cliff to the bridge of the Banyas-Kiryat-Shmona road. After this modern bridge, there is a bridge from the Roman period over the junction of Hermon and Govta rivers, made of large chiseled stones. The roof of the bridge is covered with travertine, the chalky deposits of spring water. Beautiful small stalactites of travertine hang from the roof of the bridge.

The Hermon River (Nahal Hermon, aka Nahal Banyas) is the eastern tributary of the Jordan River. The water of its source - the Banyas Spring - is believed to originate as snow atop the Hermon mountain (see photo). Some of the water from the melted snow is believed to seep into the mountain and then follow karstic systems underground and emerge at the base of Mt. Hermon at Banyas Cave which is 400m above sea level.

The Hermon river is 8 km. long, and it drops 190 meters in its upper 3 km. This drop gives the water tremendous power which is strong enough to cut a deep canyon in the basalt rock (see photo below). Water temperature does not rise over 16C even in the summer.

The Hermon river is lined with impressive plane trees, willows, poplars and many rare plant species. It is inhabited by many types of fish (mainly rainbow trout, carp and tilapia).

The Banyas waterfall is only 10 meters high, but it is one of the most beautiful waterfalls in Israel.

From the observation point the trail goes down to the pool at the foot of the waterfall. The air here is fresh and full of brilliant water dust.

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