Endnote 20 – Discovering Herod’s Shrine to Augustus

The most celebrated and oft-quoted reference in Josephus concerning Herod’s northern temple to Augustus is Antiquities 15.363, where he says that the temple was built “near,” or “in the region,” (the Greek term is plaµsion) of Banias. Josephus uses a similar construction in Antiquities 15.360 when he talks about Paneas and “the country around it” (peri choran). A similar linguistic distinction can be seen in Josephus when speaking about Paneas in The Jewish War 2.168 and Antiquities 18.28.