Listed 3 sub titles with search on: Information about the place for wider area of: "ANTIPATRIS Ancient city ISRAEL" .
ANTIPATRIS (Ancient city) ISRAEL
Antipatris (Antipatris: Eth. Antipatrites), a city built by Herod
the Great, and named after his father Antipater. It was situated in a well-watered
and richly-wooded plain named Capharsaba (Kapharsaba, al. Chabarsaba, Joseph.
Ant. xvi. 5. §2), so called from a more ancient town, whose site the new city
occupied. (Ib. xiii. 15. § 1.) A stream ran round the city. Alexander Jannaeus,
when threatened with an invasion by Antiochus (Dionysus), drew a deep trench between
this place, which was situated near the mountains, and the sea at Joppa, a distance
of 120 stadia. The ditch was fortified with a wall and towers of wood, which were
taken and burnt by Antiochus, and the trench was filled up. (B. J. i. 4. § 7;
comp. Ant. xiii. 15. § 1.) It lay on the road between Caesareia and Jerusalem.
(B. J. ii. 19. § 1.) Here it was that the escort of Hoplites, who had accompanied
St. Paul on his nocturnal journey from Jerusalem, left him to proceed with the
horsemen to Caesareia. (Acts, xxiii. 31.) Its ancient name and site is still preserved
by a Muslim village of considerable size, built entirely of mud, on a slight circular
eminence near the western hills of the coast of Palestine, about three hours north
of Jaffa. No ruins, nor indeed the least vestige of antiquity, is to be discovered.
The water, too, has entirely disappeared. (Mr. Eli Smith, in Bibliotheca Sacra,
1843, p. 493.)
This text is from: Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854) (ed. William Smith, LLD). Cited July 2004 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
One of the most important stations on the Via Maris. Its ancient name,
Aphek, appears on Egyptian name lists and in Biblical literature. It is situated
in the borderland between the plain of Sharon and the hills of Samaria, in the
midst of a fertile plain, rich in springs, about 18 km to the NE of Tel-Aviv.
In Early Hellenistic times a fort was built on the site as a blockhouse
on the border between the districts of Samaria and the Sharon. At this period
it was named Pegai, on account of its abundant springs. About 132 B.C. the fort
was conquered by John Hyrcanus (Joseph. AJ 16.142). At this time it was known
also as Arethuse. After the conquest of Judea by the Romans, it was among the
towns rebuilt in 63 B.C. by Pompey (Joseph. BJ 1.155-57). After his ascent to
the throne, Herod the Great built on the site a new town, naming it Antipatris
in honor of his father Antipater (Joseph. BJ 1.417). Antipatris became the center
of a populous district and was still in existence in the Late Roman period. The
Pilgrim of Bordeaux (25:21) refers to it as a road station 16 km from Lydda. It
declined in the Byzantine period.
Antipatris is identified with the large mound named Ras el-'Ain (Tel
Aphek), on top of which are now extensive remains of a Turkish citadel built on
the remains of a Crusader castle. To the Roman period belongs a mausoleum. It
consists of an open court, a vestibulum, and a single burial chamber in which
one ornamented sarcophagus was, discovered.
A. Negev, ed.
This text is from: The Princeton encyclopedia of classical sites,
Princeton University Press 1976. Cited Nov 2002 from
Perseus Project URL below, which contains bibliography & interesting hyperlinks.
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