CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: Balanaea Encyclopedia Summa Fathers Bible Library Catholic Encyclopedia > Balanaea Balanaea Please help support the mission of New Advent and get the full contents of this website as an instant download. Includes the Catholic Encyclopedia, Church Fathers, Summa, Bible and more — all for only $19.99... titular see of Syria . The city of this name, a colony of Aradus (Strabo, XVI, 753), is placed by Stephanus Byzantius in Phoenicia , though it belongs rather to Syria . Its first known bishop was present at the Council of Nicaea in 325 ( Lequien , Oriens Christ., II, 923). From that time to the sixth century the names of three others are known . At the latter date it was a suffragan of Apamea , the metropolis of Syria Secunda. When Justinian established a new civil province, Theodorias, with Laodicea as metropolis , Balanaea was incorporated with it, but continued to depend ecclesiastically on Apamea, till it obtained the status of an exempt bishopric . This was its condition in the tenth century, when it was directly subject to the Patriarch of Antioch . The Crusaders created there a Latin see , of which a bishop is known about 1200 ( Lequien , III, 1189); the river near by it served as a boundary between the Kingdom of Jerusalem and the principality of Antioch. The Franks called if Valania according to the Greek pronunciation, the Musselmans Bulunvoas . Owing to the unsafe conditions of the country the Latin bishop lived at Margat, a neighbouring castle of the Hospitallers . Balanaea, today called Banias, is a little village at the foot of the hill of Qalcat el-Marquab, between Tartous (Tortosa) and Latakia (Laodicea); it is the residence of the kaïmakam of the district. It numbers about 1,550 inhabitants, 1,200 Maronites , and 230 non-Catholic Christians ; they cultivate chiefly onion, olive-trees, and a very good tobacco. The roadstead is excellent, but is visited only by small boats. About this page APA citation. Vailhé, S. (1907). Balanaea. In The Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company. MLA citation. Vailhé, Siméon. "Balanaea." The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 2. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1907. <https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/02215a.htm>. Transcription. This article was transcribed for New Advent by Susan Birkenseer. Ecclesiastical approbation. Nihil Obstat. 1907. Remy Lafort, S.T.D., Censor. Imprimatur. +John M. Farley, Archbishop of New York. Contact information. The editor of New Advent is Kevin Knight. My email address is webmaster at newadvent.org. Regrettably, I can't reply to every letter, but I greatly appreciate your feedback — especially notifications about typographical errors and inappropriate ads. Copyright © 2026 by New Advent LLC . Dedicated to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. ADVERTISE WITH NEW ADVENT