The pre-Hellenistic deity associated with the spring of Banias was variously called Ba'al-gad or Ba'al-hermon
The Ptolemaic kings built a cult centre there in the 3rd century BC.
In the Hellenistic Period the spring was named Panias, for the Arcadian goat-footed god Pan. Pan was revered by the ancient Greeks as the god of isolated rural areas, music, goat herds, hunting, herding, of sexual and spiritual possession, and of victory in battle, since he was said to instill panic among the enemy.
the Greek historian Polybius's in his history of 'The Rise of the Roman Empire', a Battle of Panium is mentioned. This battle was fought in ca. 200-198 BC between the armies of Ptolemaic Egypt and the Seleucids of Coele-Syria, led by Antiochus III
Antiochus's victory cemented Seleucid control over Phoenicia, Galilee, Samaria, and Judea until the Maccabean revolt. It was these Seleucids who built a pagan temple dedicated to Pan at Paneas
Upon Zenodorus's death in 20 BC, the Panion (Greek: Πανιάς), including Paneas, was annexed to the Kingdom of Herod the Great, a client of the Roman Empire.
Herod erected a temple of 'white marble' there in honour of his patron.
In 3 BCE, Philip II (also known as Philip the Tetrarch) founded a city which became his administrative capital, known from Josephus
On the death of Philip II in 34 CE his kingdom was briefly incorporated into the province of Syria, with the city given the autonomy to administer its own revenues,] before reverting to his nephew, Herod Agrippa
In 61 CE, king Agrippa II renamed the administrative capital Neronias in honour of the Roman emperor Nero, but this name was discarded several years later, in 68 CE
In 67CE, during the First Jewish–Roman War, Vespasian briefly visited Caesarea Philippi before advancing on Tiberias in Galilee
With the death of Agrippa II around the year 92 came the end of Herodian rule, and the city returned to the province of Syria.
In the late Roman and Byzantine periods the written sources name the city again as Paneas, or more seldomly as Caesarea Paneas
In 361, Emperor Julian the Apostate instigated a religious reformation of the Roman state,] in which he supported the restoration of Hellenic paganism as the state religion In Paneas this was achieved by replacing Christian symbols, though the change was short lived.In the 5th century, following the division of the Empire, the city was part of the Eastern (later Byzantine) Empire, but was lost to the Arab expansion of the 7th century.
Did you read up to here?
I'll make it shorter from now on:
Then came the Arab dynasties of the Caliphate
After that the Crusader and Ayyubid period
And then the Ottoman period... and
the French Mandate
In 1941 Australian forces occupied Banias in the advance to the Litani during the Syria-Lebanon Campaign;
Free French and Indian forces also invaded Syria in the Battle of Kissoué.] Banias's fate in this period was left in a state of limbo since Syria had come under British military control.
When Syria was granted independence in April 1946, it refused to recognize the 1923 boundary agreed between Britain and France
The Banias was included in the Jordan Valley Unified Water Plan, which allocated Syria 20 million cubic metres annually from it. The plan was rejected by the Arab League.. -
On June 10, 1967, the last day of the Six Day War, the Golani Brigade occupied the village of Banias.
And that´s that.
