Caesarea Philippi

 This is a long shot looking towards the Temples dedicated to the Roman Emperor Augustus and to the Roman God Pan.  Mt Hermon would be on the left side of the photo.  We are perhaps 2 miles from the head waters of the Jordan River.   The Jordan River gets it's waters from snow melt from Mt. Hermon.  Snow melt dribbles down through numerous channels and bubbles up near Tel Dan.  By Caesarea Philipe it is a very large river. Caesarea Philippi was a very pagan city and also the home of Herod Agrippa.  It was the northern most city, recorded in scripture, visited by Jesus Christ.

 a short explanation about the temple of Augustus with a rendition of how the temple originally looked.

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 a view opposite the temple to the remains of some of the city buildings.  The remains of Herod Agrippa's home is perhaps 2-3 blocks further west.

 The big hole was once the apse of the Temple of Augustus.  The small hole was a smaller temple to Pan.

In perspective.  You can see that they were quite large. multiple engravings are chiseled into the rock.  If you do not remember, Pan was half goat, half man and played a flute.

 Matthew 16:

 13 ¶When Jesus came into the coasts of Cæsarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, saying, Whom do men say that I the Son of man am?
14 And they said, Some say that thou art John the Baptist: some,^aElias; and others, Jeremias, or one of the prophets.
15 He saith unto them, But whom say ^aye that I am?
16 And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the ^aChrist, the^bSon of the ^cliving God.17 And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon ^aBar-jona: for flesh and blood hath not ^brevealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven.
 18 And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this^arock I will build my ^bchurch; and the gates of ^chell shall not^dprevail against it.
19 And I will ^agive unto thee the ^bkeys of the ^ckingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt ^dbind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.

      I find it amazing that in one of the most pagan places in the Holy Land that Christ would challenge and question his disciples concerning who he is and that His Church is built upon the principle of revelation and the promise that He will always guide his Church.