'Jesus' Statue at Paneas, c.290-335 AD

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billd89
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'Jesus' Statue at Paneas, c.290-335 AD

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This Link, on religious history of Paneas/Banias, provides excellent overview.

The pagan sanctuary of Pan had an altar to Pan Helipolitanos, as confirmed by an archaeological discovery made last year. The association of Zeus/Jupiter Heliopolitanos and Pan was established by another inscription found previously.

The pairing of Zeus-Heliopolitanos (Father; Senior) and Pan-Heliopolitanos (Son; Junior) from a resident of Antioch might suggest Zeus-Kasios and Horus-Kasios of Pelusium. Pan-Heliopolitanos is an Eshmun-Adon figure, and supposedly/sometimes Baal-Gad, a Semitic 'Young God' of Good Fortune.

There was definitely a Pan-Zeus cult at this site, c.100-200 AD, but how much earlier? Apollodorus records two distinct divinities named Pan; one had Zeus and a nymph named Hybris for his parents, though most myths record Hermes as the father. Of course, Pan as the Young God suggests some variant of Bacchus/Dionysus also.

Zeus-Amon/Baal Hammon was a god to whom child-sacrifices were made; Zeus-Heliopolitanos was Baal-Shammin, however.

When Eusebius wrote Historia Ecclesiastica in 305 AD, he had visited Paneas c.290 AD. Xians were starting to claim the statue by resemblance, but even E. was suspect. However, the outdoor statue seems no longer to be in existence when the H.E. was finally published, c. 315 AD (or revised-completed 326 AD, or redacted at a later time?). The menstrual signifier strongly evokes the religious myth complex as at Afqa, 125 mi. north: Sky God & Nymph, river source, red waters/red bluff, healing, etc.

Note on The Herb:
I suspect it's Melissa officinalis (aka The Dropsy Plant) which reduces menstrual cramps; many medinical uses. Associated w/ Artemis/Astarte and the Infant Zeus.

Eusebius of Caesarea, Book 7.18:
But since I have come to mention this city {Paneas}, I do not think it right to omit a story that is worthy to be recorded also from those that come after us. For they say that the woman who had a haemorrhage, and who, as we learn from the sacred Gospels, found at the hands of our Saviour relief from her affliction, came to this place, and that her house was pointed out in the city, and that marvelous memorials of the good deed, which the Savior wrought upon her, still remained. For that there stood on a lofty stone at the gates of her house a bronze figure of a woman, bending on her knee and stretching forth her hands like a suppliant, while opposite to this there was another of the same material, an upright figure of a man, clothed in comely fashion in a double cloak and stretching out his hand to the woman; at his feet on the monument itself a strange species of herb was growing, which climbed up to the double cloak of bronze, and acted as an antidote to all kinds of diseases. This statue, they said, bore the likeness of the Lord Jesus. And it was in existence even to our day, so that we saw it with our own eyes when we stayed in the city.

Philostorgius (c.430 AD) has a detailed version from another source which probably dates earlier, c.375 AD? The statue was buried naturally (?? I think visitors brought 'nightsoil') which obscured the base - with medical information - and so the Xians 'rescued' it. These events around the statue's destruction presumably happened c.335 AD.
There is also the statue of the Saviour in the city of Paneas, a work of magnificent execution put up by the woman with the hemorrhage whom Christ healed, and erected on a notable site in the city... Now an herb grew up by the feet of our Saviour's image and the reason for this was sought, for in the passage of time both the person portrayed and the reason for the monument had been forgotten; it stood in the open with nothing to cover it, and much of the body was buried in the dirt that kept falling upon it from higher ground especially in times of rain, the dirt covering the writing that explained each of the matters. An inquiry was therefore instituted, the buried part was dug out, and the writing was found that told the whole story... The Christians removed it and put it in the sacristy of the church. The pagans pulled it down, fastened ropes to the feet, and dragged it through the public square until it was broken up bit by bit and so destroyed. Only the head was left; that was seized by someone while the pagans were raising their clamor and speaking blasphemies and utterly disgraceful words against our Lord Jesus Christ...
Sozomenus uses yet a different source or otherwise embroiders the tale. Around the time of Julian (c.325-40 AD), lightning struck the Male Statue and it was destroyed, but salvaged and taken to the Church (!!) for display. Sozomenus was in Beirut, so his information is hearsay, 100 years later.

Sozomenus (c.445 AD) Book 3.21, probably using an older source (c.375 AD); see Link:
Among so many remarkable events which occurred during the reign of Julian, I must not omit to mention one which affords a sign of the power of Christ, and proof of the Divine wrath against the emperor.

Having heard that at Caesarea Philippi, otherwise called Paneas, a city of Phoenicia, there was a celebrated statue of Christ which had been erected by a woman whom the Lord had cured of a flow of blood, Julian commanded it to be taken down and a statue of himself erected in its place; but a violent fire from heaven fell upon it and broke off the parts contiguous to the breast; the head and neck were thrown prostrate, and it was transfixed to the ground with the face downwards at the point where the fracture of the bust was; and it has stood in that fashion from that day until now, full of the rust of the lightning. The statue of Christ was dragged around the city and mutilated by the pagans; but the Christians recovered the fragments, and deposited the statue in the church in which it is still preserved. Eusebius relates, that at the base of this statue grew an herb which was unknown to the physicians and empirics, but was efficacious in the cure of all disorders.

John of Damascus (c.745 AD) appears to draw upon a local record which may refer to a different statue (c.400 AD?) which was not destroyed? This account sounds like an 8th C. Xian historical fiction, tho.

St. John of Damascus, c.745 AD
In his grief King Herod, the son of Philip, came from Judea, and a certain wealthy woman, living in the city of Paneas, called Bernice {Veronica}, approached him, wishing to set up a statue to Jesus, for she had been healed by him. As she did not dare to do this without imperial permission, she addressed a petition to King Herod, asking to set up a golden statue to the Saviour Christ in that city.

The petition ran as follows: To the august toparch Herod, lawgiver o Jews and Hellenes, king of Trachonitis, a petition and request from Bernice, a dignitary of the city of Paneas. Justice and benevolence and all other virtues crown your highness's sacred head. Thus, since I know this, I have come with every good hope that I shall obtain my requests. My words as they progress will reveal to you what foundation there is for this present preamble. From my childhood I have been smitten with the affliction of an internal haemorrhage; I spent all my livelihood and wealth on doctors but found no cure. When I heard of the cures that Christ performs with His miracles, He who raises the dead, restores the blind to sight, drives demons out of mortals, and heals with a word all those wasting away from disease, I too ran to Him as to God. I noticed the crowd surrounding him and I was afraid to tell Him of my incurable disease in case he should recoil from the pollution of my affliction and be angry with me and the violence of the disease should strike me even more. I reasoned to myself that, if I were able to touch the fringe of His garment, I would certainly be healed. I touched Him, and the flow of blood was stopped and immediately I was healed. He, however, as though He knew in advance my heart's purpose, cried out, Who touched Me? For power has gone out of Me. I went white with terror and lamented, thinking that the disease would return to me with greater force, and I fell before Him covering the ground with tears. I told Him of my boldness. Out of His goodness He took pity on me and confirmed my cure, saying, Be of good courage, My daughter, your faith has saved you. Go your way in peace. So, your august highness, grant your suppliant this worthy petition.

When King Herod heard the contents of this petition, he was amazed by the miracle and, fearing the mystery of the cure, said, This cure, woman, which was worked on you, is worthy of a greater statue. Go then and set up whatever kind of statue you wish to Him, honouring by the offering Him who healed you. Immediately, Bernice, who had formerly suffered from a haemorrhage, set up in the middle of her city of Paneas a statue of beaten bronze, mixing it with gold and silver, to the Lord God. This statue remains in the city of Paneas to the present day, having been moved not many years ago from the place where it stood in the middle of the city to a holy place, a house of prayer. This document was found in the city of Paneas in the house of a man called Bassus, a Jew who had become a Christian.

From the link at the top, a different reading, which mentions a later earthquake 363 AD as the culprit of Julian's statue toppling. His Zeus-Aphrodite pairing may recall ‘Zeus-Adodos’ (formerly Ba‘al Hadad; Hebrew: בעל הדד; Ugaritic Haddu; Roman Jupiter), known to Romans as Jupiter Heliopolitanus, as we recently discussed on another thread, and Aphrodite Aphakitis. Again, Aphaka was 125 mi./ 200 km north and highly similar; Byblos had a well-known Adon cult in the Temple of Ba'alat Gebal. In the older (local Phoenician) formulation, these characters would be Melqart and Astarte, but history comes down to us from Greek and Latin writers. However, Eshmun (Young God, Savior God) had replaced Melqart c.300 BC; a Temple of Zeus would contain the Young God.

We have two accounts of the story, one from Sozomen and a second, somewhat earlier one by the Arian church historian Philostorgius.9 While differing in detail, they present a generally similar picture of what happened: Having heard of the famous statue, Julian ordered that it should be removed and a statue of himself put in its place. The local pagan community, called by Philostorgius “the Hellenes,” saw this as an opportunity to reassert itself. The Hellenes pulled down the statue, tied a rope around its feet, and dragged it through the city, breaking it into pieces in the process. The Christians somehow managed to reclaim some fragments of the statue, particularly the head, which they took into the local church for safekeeping. Shortly thereafter the statue of Julian, erected in place of the statue of Jesus, was also beheaded, not by human hands, but by a “violent fire from heaven.” It fell to the ground, face downward, where, Sozomen, says, it could still be seen in his day, “full of the rust of lightning.” Another interesting detail is found in the account of this story in the Parastaseis Syntomoi Chronikou, an 8th Century document based on much earlier sources: This document asserts that in addition to his own statue, Julian also erected statues of Zeus and Aphrodite and built a temple on the site with this inscription: “To the Divine Zeus who sees all. Julian makes this gift to Paneas.”10

As fanciful and tendentious as these accounts may be, they are at certain points nevertheless historically plausible. Julian certainly embarked on a strategy of rebuilding and restoring pagan temples.11 Statues of him were often placed in these temples.12 That he may have ordered the erection or repair of the temples associated with the sanctuary of Pan at Caesarea Paneas, one of which we know was certainly dedicated to Zeus, accords well with this strategy. This very incident is probably reflected in an inscription discovered only 8 km from Banias, a column which almost certainly once stood in the city center, describing Julian as templorum restauratori (“temple restorer”).13 The column had been erected by the Koinon (assembly) of Phoenicia, the district where Paneas was located, and is itself further evidence that paganism still dominated the region, politically as well as theologically.

All of this is of interest for several Gospel references to Caesarea Paneas: Mark 8:27-30; 9:2; Matthew 16:13-19. The farthest north Jesus traveled is Tyre & Sidon, see pp.21-2. If sufferers in Antiquity migrated to Paneas for healing, and (as the story goes) Jesus went there with his Disciples, this circumstance seems richly suggestive: HJ worked the faith-healers' circuit.

Was this god of Baal Gad/Paneas (a place where Baal was worshipped as Gad) the god of fortune? About the statue resembling Jesus, one may agree w/ Harnack: it was probably a recent (c.100 AD) depiction of Asclepius-Eshmun* (or Baal-gad syncretized w/ A-E) the Phoenician god of healing found at springs, or rather a 'secular' sculptor's representation of a particular Therapeut healer?

* Asklepios ; Tammuz-Eshmun-Adon in Phoenicia.

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