To view this page please enter Password
Aerial View of Emmaus areaClick on Image for high resolution magnifiable map
from www.govmap.gov.il
| Transliterated Name | Source | Name |
|---|---|---|
| Emmaus | English | |
| Emmaous | Greek | Ἐμμαούς |
| Ammaus, Ammaum, Emmaus, Emmaum, Maus, Amus | Greek variations | Άμμαούμ, Άμμαούς, Έμμαούμ, Έμμαούς, |
| Nicopolis | Greek | |
| Emmaus | Latin | |
| ʻImwas | Arabic | عمواس |
| Emmaom | Hebrew | אֶמָּאוֹם |
| Hammat | Hebrew | |
| Ammaus, Ammaum, Emmaus, Emmaum, Maus, Amus | Hebrew variations | אמאוס, אמאום, עמאוס, עמאום, עמוס, מאום, אמהום |
Emmaus is situated at the eastern end of the Ayalon Valley. The name of the city has persisted in the name of the modern Arab village 'Imwas (map reference 149.138), near Latrun, on the old Jerusalem-Tel Aviv road. Emmaus (Ἐμμαούς, Aμμαούς) occupied an important strategic position on the road that ascends from the Coastal Plain to Jerusalem.
Emmaus is first mentioned in I Maccabees (3:40, 3:57, 4:3) as the place where the armies of the Seleucid kingdom encamped in their third campaign against Judas Maccabaeus, and where they were defeated and their camp captured. In the middle of the first century BCE, Emmaus was the capital of one of the toparchies of Judea. The Roman commander Cassius sold its inhabitants into slavery and in 4 BCE, following the death of King Herod, it became the center of an insurrection led by the shepherd Athronges. In retaliation, Varus, the proconsul of Syria, set fire to the city. Several tombstones found here, bearing the names of Roman soldiers, indicate that the Fifth Legion was encamped in the city during the First Jewish Revolt. Emmaus was still in existence in the days of Rabbi Akiba and later. During the Bar-Kokhba Revolt, the troops from Petra were stationed here. In the Talmud, the town is referred to as a major site in the Shephelah (J.T., Shevi'it 8, 9, 38d) and as a seat of the Samaritans (J.T., A.Z. 85, 44d). In the third century CE, Emmaus was granted the status of a city by the emperor Elagabalus (218-222 CE) and named Nicopolis. In the Byzantine period, its vicinity was made unsafe by the brigand Cyriacus, the head of a Jewish and Samaritan band. Samaritan inscriptions were discovered on the site, among them a bilingual inscription in Greek and Samaritan. Following the Arab conquest in 639 CE, Emmaus was struck by a plague that claimed thousands of lives. During the Crusades, a garrison of Knights Templar was stationed there.
Although it is certain that the city of Emmaus-Nicopolis was situated close to 'Imwas, near Latrun, scholars differ over whether it is the Emmaus mentioned in the New Testament (Lk. 24:13), which was 60 (according to some versions 160) stadia from Jerusalem. According to the Gospels, Jesus appeared to two of his disciples there, after his resurrection. Some scholars take this latter Emmaus to be Abu Ghosh, situated between Jerusalem and Emmaus, or el-Qubeibeh, northwest of it.
- Annotated Satellite Image (google) of
the Emmaus area from biblewalks.com
Articles and Books
Open Access (Google Drive) Library for Emmaus from emmaus-nicopolis.org
Excavation Reports
Emmaus-Qubeibeh: The Results of Excavations at Emmaus-Qubeibeh and Nearby
Sites (1873, 1887–1890, 1900–1902, 1940–1944) (SBF Collectio Maior 4), Jerusalem 1993
Websites
Emmaus-Nicopolis at emmaus-nicopolis.org
Emmaus/Nicopolis at BibleWalks.com
The Churches of Emmaus at BibleWalks.com
The Roman Bath of Emmaus at BibleWalks.com
The Valley of Springs at BibleWalks.com
The Hasmonean Fortress at BibleWalks.com
Emmaus winepresses at BibleWalks.com
Website for the Catholic Community of the Beatitudes which takes care of Emmaus
Emmaus-Qubeibeh: The Results of Excavations at Emmaus-Qubeibeh and Nearby
Sites (1873, 1887–1890, 1900–1902, 1940–1944) (SBF Collectio Maior 4), Jerusalem 1993
A. Chouraqui,
Abu Gosh: de l’Emmaus des croises au monastère de la resurrection, Ile-d’Yeu 1995
B. Chenu, Disciples
d’Emmaüs, Paris 2003; ibid. (Review) MdB 156 (2004), 60
K. -H. Fleckenstein et al., Emmaus in Judäa:
Geschichte, Exegese, Archäologie (Biblische Archäologie und Zeitgeschichte), Giessen 2005
H. Eshel, INJ 11 (1990–1991), 7–8
E. Dvorjetski, Aram 4 (1992), 425–449;
13–14 (2001–2002), 485–512; id., Medicinal Hot Springs in Eretz-Israel during the Period of the Second
Temple, the Mishna and the Talmud (Ph.D. diss.), Jerusalem 1993 (Eng. abstract); id., Latomus 56 (1997),
567–581; id., Roman Baths and Bathing: Proceedings of the 1st International Conference on Roman Baths,
Bath, 30. 3–4.4.1992 (JRA Suppl. Series 37; eds. J. Delaine & D. E. Johnston), Portsmouth, RI 1999, 117–
129; id. (et al.), Stories from a Heated Earth: Our Geothermal Heritage (eds. R. Cataldi et al.), San Diego,
CA 1999, 34–49; id., BAR 30/4 (2004), 16–27, 60
O. Goldwasser, IEJ 42 (1992), 47–51
J. F. Strange, ABD,
2, New York 1992, 497–498
R. Shallev, The Emmaus Region during the Roman-Byzantine Period, RamatGan 1994 (Eng. abstract)
R. M. Mackowski, Cities of Jesus: A Study of the “Three Degrees of Importance”
of Holy Land Places, Roma 1995
M. Ehrlich, ZDPV 112 (1996), 165–169; I. Roll, EI 25 (1996), 107*–109*
K. -H. Fleckenstein, Jahrbuch des Deutschen Evangelischen Instituts für Altertumswissenschaft des Heiligen Landes 5 (1997), 71–97; 10 (2004), 196–197
M. Gichon, OEANE, 2, New York 1997, 240–241
R.
Ellenblum, Frankish Rural Settlements in the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem, Cambridge 1998
S. Wimmer,
Jerusalem Studies in Egyptology, Wiesbaden 1998, 87–123
In Terrasanta dalla croiciata alla Custodia
dei Luoghi Santi (ed. M. Piccirillo), Fireze 2000, 132
Z. Vseteckova, The Old Testament as Inspiration
in Culture: International Academic Symposium, Prague, Sept. 1995 (eds. J. Heller et al.), Trebenice 2001,
96–110
E. Friedheim, RB 109 (2002), 101–108
Y. Hirschfeld, The Aqueducts of Israel, Portsmouth, RI
2002, 187–198; id., PEQ 136 (2004), 133–149
J. Read-Heimerdinger & J. Rius-Camps, Revista Catalana de
Teologia 27 (2002), 23–42
E. Villeneuve, MdB 142 (2002), 56–57
N. Tzameret, JSRS 12 (2003), xix; C. P.
Thiede, Zeitschrift für Antikes Christentum 8 (2004), 593–599
P. Gruson, MdB Hors Série 2005, 50–51
M. Shiffers, RB 2 (1893). 26-40
E. Michon, ibid. 7 (1898), 269-271
I. Benzinger, ZDPV25
(1902). 195-203
M. Riemer, PJB 14 (1918), 32-43
G. Beyer, ZDPV 56 (1933), 218-246
The
Rosenberger Israel Collection 3 (City Coins of Palestine), Jerusalem 1977
P. Figueras, CNI 26
(1978), 132-134
Y. Hirschfeld, IEJ 28 (1978), 86-92
J. Schwartz, ibid. 40 (1990), 45-57.
C. Schick, ZDPV7 (1884), 15-16; RB 35 (1926), 117-121
L. H. Vincent and F. M. Abel,
'ENAN 389
Emmaus: SaBasilique et son histoire, Paris 1932; id., ibid. (Review), PEQ 67 (1935), 40-47
L. H. Vincent,
RB 45 (1936), 403-415; 55 (1948), 348-375
R. de Vaux, ibid. 47 (1938), 244-245
Crowfoot, Early
Churches, 71, 125, 145
B. Bagatti, I Monumenti di Emmaus et Qubeibeh e dei Dintorni 1-2, Jerusalem
1947; id., Rivista di Archeologia Christiana 35 (1959), 71-80
M. Avi-Yonah, The Madaba Mosaic Map,
Jerusalem 1954, 64
D. Buzy, BTS 36 (1961), 4-13
J. Finegan, The Archaeology of the New Testament,
Princeton, N.J. 1969, 177-180
Y. Blomme, RB 87 (1980), 404-407
D. Chen, ZDPV97 (1981), 171-177
S. de Sandoli, Emmaus-el Qubeibeh (Studium Biblicum Franciscanum Guide-Books), Jerusalem 1959:
id., Emmaus-el Qubeibe: The Sanctuary and Nearby Biblical Sites 2 (The Holy Places of Palestine),
Jerusalem 1980.
M. Gichon, IEJ 29 (1979), 101-110; (with R. Linden) 34 (1984), 156-169; id., RB 86
G. Kiihnel, Wall Painting in the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem (Frankfurter Forschungen zur Kunst 14),
Berlin 1988, 149-180. (1979), 125-126; id., Archivfur Orientforschung 27 (1980), 228-233; id., BAlAS 6
(1986-1987), 54-57