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Footnotes
The term “basilica” is related to the word for king, basileus; basilical halls were so named because they were often used as courtrooms, public hearing rooms and even throne rooms, long before the basilica was adopted as the typical plan for Christian churches. These large public halls were rectangular in shape, with an entrance in one of the shorter walls and a semicircular apse in the opposite wall. Two rows of columns often separated the hall into a wide central aisle flanked by two narrower side aisles.
Endnotes
Institutions participating in the Banias Project include the Israel Antiquities Authority; the Israel Nature Reserves Authority; a consortium of American Universities, including Pepperdine University (California), Southwest Missouri State University, Hardin-Simmons University (Texas), Howard Payne University (Texas), Abilene Christian University (Texas) and Averett College (Virginia); and the National University of Greece.
The Sanctuary of Pan, with its accompanying pagan shrines, has been excavated by Zvi Maoz. See Zvi Maoz, “Banias,” in The New Encyclopedia of Archaeological Excavations in the Holy Land, ed. Ephraim Stern, 4 vols. (Jerusalem: Israel Exploration Society, 1993), vol. 1, pp. 136–143.
All that seemingly remains intact of this level is a series of impressive vaulted rooms that ran along the eastern edge of the complex. These rooms had high ceilings and were once decorated with mosaics and stucco. They survived because they were reused, apparently as army barracks, when the entire center of ancient Banias was transformed into a fort in the early Middle Ages. The arches of these ceilings were still visible above ground in the 19th century and are mentioned by several early European travelers.
He did, however, send a copy of his book about the war to Agrippa, asking him to check it for accuracy.
See Jean Lauffray, “Forums et Monuments de Bértye,” Bulletin de Musée de Beyrouth 7 (1944–1945), pp. 55–57.