Endnote 5 – Banias Dig Reveals King’s Palace

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.