Caesarea Philippi

Caesarea Philippi is a town in the north of Palestine, named in the Gospels only as the setting for one episode in Jesus' Galilean ministry. The town gives its name to the road on which Jesus, traveling with his disciples, raises the question of his own identity.

The Question on the Road

Mark places the scene in the region itself. "And Jesus went forth, and his disciples, into the villages of Caesarea Philippi: and on the way he asked his disciples, saying to them, Who do men say that I am?" (Mark 8:27). The question opens the exchange that runs through the rest of the chapter: the disciples report what others are saying about Jesus, Peter answers for the group, and Jesus turns from the question of public opinion to the disciples' own confession.

Luke records the same conversation without naming the place. "And it came to pass, as he was praying apart, the disciples were with him: and he asked them, saying, Who do the multitudes say that I am?" (Luke 9:18). The setting in Luke is prayer rather than the road, but the question is the same one Mark anchors at Caesarea Philippi.

The town appears in the Gospels only here. It functions as the geographic marker for the scene in which the disciples are asked, and for the first time answer, who Jesus is.