Banias - Druze Arabs enjoying the natural reserve of Banias. (Israel

In an arid land like Israel, in which the long hot summers are dry, human settlement has always occurred next to water sources. The first evidence of human remains is from the Canaanite period, 4,000 years ago. But it wasn’t until the Hellenistic era, 2,200 years ago, that the site became an important settlement area where the people worshipped Pan, god of shepherds and flocks. The word panic derives from the name of this god, as mythology relates him scaring people and flocks and making weird noises in the wild.