Emmaus
Emmaus (
Although its geographical identification is not certain, several locations have been suggested throughout history, chiefly Imwas and Al-Qubeiba, both in the West Bank. It is known only that it was connected by a road to Jerusalem; the distance given by Luke varies in different manuscripts and the figure given has been made even more ambiguous by interpretations.[2]
Names and location
The place-name Emmaus is relatively common in classical sources about the Levant and is usually derived through Greek and Latin from the Semitic word for "warm spring", the Hebrew form of which is hamma or hammat (חמת). In the ancient and present-day Middle East, many sites are named Hama Hamath and variations thereof.[3]
The name for Emmaus was hellenized during the 2nd century BC and appears in Jewish and Greek texts in many variations: Ammaus, Ammaum, Emmaus, Emmaum, Maus, Amus, etc.: Greek: Άμμαούμ, Άμμαούς, Έμμαούμ, Έμμαούς, Hebrew: אמאוס, אמאום, עמאוס, עמאום, עמוס, מאום, אמהום[4]
Emmaus may derive from the Hebrew ḥammat (
Emmaus in the New Testament
Emmaus is mentioned in the Gospel of Luke as the village where Jesus appeared to his disciples after his crucifixion and resurrection. Luke 24:13–35 indicates that Jesus appears after his resurrection to two disciples who are walking from Jerusalem to Emmaus, which is described as being 60 stadia (10.4 to 12 km depending on what definition of stadion is used) from Jerusalem. One of the disciples is named Cleopas (verse 18), while his companion remains unnamed:
That very day two of them were going to a village (one hundred and) sixty stadia away from Jerusalem called Emmaus, and they were speaking about all the things that had occurred. And it happened that while they were speaking and debating, Jesus himself drew near and walked with them, but their eyes were prevented from recognizing him … As they approached the village to which they were going, he gave the impression that he was going on further. But they urged him, "Stay with us, for it is nearly evening and the day is declining." So he went in to stay with them. And it happened that, while he was with them at table, he took bread, said the blessing, broke it, and gave it to them. With that their eyes were opened and they recognized him.
According to the gospel, the story takes place in the evening of the day of Jesus's resurrection. The two disciples hear that the tomb of Jesus was found empty earlier that day. They are discussing the events of the past few days when a stranger asks them what they are discussing. "Their eyes were kept from recognizing him." He rebukes them for their unbelief and explains prophecies about the Messiah to them. On reaching Emmaus, they ask the stranger to join them for the evening meal.
When he breaks the bread, "their eyes [are] opened" and they recognize him as the resurrected Christ. Jesus immediately vanishes. Cleopas and his friend then hasten back to Jerusalem to carry the news to the other disciples.
A similar event is mentioned in the Gospel of Mark (Mark 16:12–16:13), although the disciples' destination is not stated. This passage is believed by some to be a late addition, derived from the Gospel of Luke.[10][page needed]
The incident is not mentioned in the Gospels of Matthew or John.
Possible locations
Emmaus is the Greek variant of the Hebrew word and place-name for hot springs, hammat, and is therefore not unique to one location, which makes the identification of the New Testament site more difficult.
Several places in
Historical identification
Many sites have been suggested for the biblical Emmaus, among them Emmaus Nicopolis (c. 160 stadia from Jerusalem),
Emmaus Nicopolis/Imwas
The first modern site identification of Emmaus was by the explorer
Eusebius was probably the first to mention Nicopolis as biblical Emmaus in his Onomasticon. Jerome, who translated Eusebius' book, implied in his letter 108 that there was a church in Nicopolis built in the house of Cleopas where Jesus broke bread on that late journey. From the 4th century on, the site was commonly identified as the biblical Emmaus.
Emmaus Nicopolis appears on Roman geographical maps. The
From Bet Horon to the Sea is one domain. Yet is it one domain without regions? Rabbi Johanan said, "Still there is Mountain, Lowland, and Valley. From Bet Horon to Emmaus (Hebrew: אמאום, lit. 'Emmaum') it is Mountain, from Emmaus to Lydda Lowland, from Lydda to the Sea Valley. Then there should be four stated? They are adjacent."
Archaeologically, many remains have been excavated at the site of the former Palestinian village, now located inside
There are several sources giving information about this town's ancient history, among them the First Book of Maccabees, the works of Josephus, and chronicles from the Late Roman, Byzantine and Early Muslim periods. According to
Nicopolis (
Hellenistic, Hasmonean period
Due to its strategic position, Emmaus played an important administrative, military and economic role in history. The first mention of Emmaus occurs in the
Roman period
The city of Nicopolis was founded on the ruins of Emmaus in early 3rd century, after
Byzantine period
During the Byzantine period Nicopolis became a large city and a
Early Muslim period
At the time of the
Crusader period
During the
Ottoman period
The Arab village of Imwas was identified once again as the
British Mandate
In 1930, the Carmelite Order built a monastery, the House of Peace, on the tract of land purchased in 1878. In November 1947, the United Nations Partition Plan for Palestine attributed the area to the Arab State. Prior to the outbreak of hostilities in the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, ʻImwâs had a population of 1,100 Arabs.[32]
Jordan
Israelis and Jordanians fought during the
Israel
In 1967, after the Six-Day War the residents of Imwas Israeli forces expelled the population and the village was razed by bulldozers,[33] leaving the Byzantine-crusader church, called in Arabic, al-Kenisah,[34] intact in their cemetery. The Catholic congregation, the Community of the Beatitudes, renovated the site in 1967–1970 and opened the French Center for the Study of the Prehistory of the Land of Israel next to it where they were allowed to settle in 1993.[35]
Subsequently, Canada Park was created in 1973, financed by the Jewish National Fund (JNF) of Canada, and included the plantation of a forest on the rubble of Imwas.[36][unreliable source?] The site became a favourite picnic ground for Israelis[37] and the Latrun salient an area of Israeli commemoration of its War of Independence.[38][39]
Archaeology
Archaeological excavations in
Identification with the Gospel site
Most manuscripts of the Gospel of Luke which came down to us indicate the distance of 60 stadia (c. 11 km) between Jerusalem and Emmaus. However, there are several manuscripts which state the distance as 160 stadia (31 km). These include the
The ancient Jewish sources (1 Maccabees, Josephus Flavius, Talmud and Midrash) mention only one village called Emmaus in the area of Jerusalem: Emmaus of Ajalon Valley.[49] For example, in the "Jewish War" (4, 8, 1) Josephus Flavius mentions that Vespasian placed the 5th Macedonian Legion in Emmaus. This has been confirmed by archaeologists who have discovered inscribed tombstones of the Legion's soldiers in the area of Emmaus.[50] (The village of Motza, located 30 stadia (c. 4 mi or 6 km) away from Jerusalem, is mentioned in medieval Greek manuscripts of the "Jewish war" of Josephus Flavius (7,6,6) under the name of Ammaus, apparently as a result of copyists' mistake).[51][52]
The ancient Christian tradition of the
Al-Qubeiba/Castellum Emmaus/Chubebe/Qubaibat
Another possibility is the village of al-Qubeiba, west of Nabi Samwil on the Beit Horon road northwest of Jerusalem. The town, meaning "little domes" in Arabic, is located at about 65 stadia from Jerusalem. A Roman fort subsequently named Castellum Emmaus (from the Latin root castra, meaning encampment) was discovered at the site in 1099 by the Crusaders. However, there is no source from the Roman, Byzantine or Early Muslim periods naming it as "Emmaus" for the time of Jesus. Whether Josephus (who puts Emmaus at a distance of thirty stadia from Jerusalem)[59] was referring to this place is now uncertain.[60] However, the Gospel of Luke speaks of 60 stadia[61] (Luke 24:13), a distance very close to the actual 65 stadia to Qubeibeh.
In the 12th century, the Crusaders of the
During the Second World War, British authorities held Franciscans of Italian and German nationality at Emmaus-Qubeibeh. While there, Bellarmino Bagatti conducted excavations from 1940 to 1944 which revealed artifacts from the Hellenistic, Roman, Byzantine, and Crusader periods. Inspired by Bagatti's work, Virgilio Canio Corbo also undertook some experimental explorations.
Abu Ghosh is located in the middle of the Kiryat Yearim Ridge Route between Nicopolis and Jerusalem, nine miles (83 stadia) from the capital. A former Minorite convent with a Gothic church was turned into a stable. Robinson dated it to the Crusader period and declared it "more perfectly preserved than any other ancient church in Palestine." Excavations carried out in 1944 supported the identification with Fontenoid, a site the Crusaders held for a while to be Emmaus before accepting Nicopolis as the "real" Emmaus.
Emmaus/Colonia/Motza/Ammassa/Ammaous/Khirbet Mizza
Excavations in 2001-2003 headed by Professor Carsten Peter Thiede were cut short by his sudden death in 2004. Thiede was a strong proponent of Motza as the real Emmaus. He offered that the Latin Amassa and the Greek Ammaous are derived from the biblical Hebrew name Motza: Motza – ha-Motza ("ha" is the Hebrew equivalent of the definite article "the") – ha-Mosa – Amosa – Amaous – Emmaus. His excavation summaries were removed from the website of the Basel college he was teaching at, but a book and at least one article he published on the topic are available.[64][61][65] He contended that neither Nicopolis, Abu Ghosh, or Al-Qubeiba can be considered because the first was located too far from Jerusalem, while the two others were not called Emmaus at the time of Jesus.[66]
Josephus Flavius writes in
Possible symbolic identification
One of the oldest extant versions of the Gospel of Luke, preserved in the Codex Bezae, reads "Oulammaus" instead of Emmaus. In Septuagint, the Greek translation of the Old Testament scriptures, Oulammaus was the place where Jacob was visited by God in his dream, while sleeping on a rock.[68] However, Oulammaus was not a real place name but a translation mistake. The original name in Hebrew was "Luz". This mistake was later corrected, but was still there at the time when the Gospel was written around AD 100. Thus, a theory has been put forward,[69][70] that the story in the Gospel was merely symbolic, drawing a parallel between Jacob being visited by God and the disciples being visited by Jesus.
Richard Carrier (a prominent Jesus "Mythicist"), in his book On the Historicity of Jesus, cites this story as one of two examples of the "Vanishing Hitchhiker" urban legend from antiquity,[71][page needed] the other being a legend concerning Romulus, the mythical founder of Rome. The story, found in Livy and Plutarch, tells of Proculus (meaning "Proclaimer" in archaic Latin) journeying by road from Alba Longa to Rome and meeting a stranger who is the resurrected Romulus. Rome is in turmoil because Romulus was recently killed and his body vanished. On their journey, Romulus explains the secrets of the kingdom, in other words how to conquer and rule the world, before ascending into heaven. Proculus then recognises the stranger and goes on to proclaim what he was told. The story recounted in Luke's gospel (Luke 24) parallels the earlier Roman myth: Cleopas (meaning "glory of her father" in Greek), while traveling by road from Jerusalem to Emmaus after learning of the death of Jesus, meets Jesus in disguise. As they walk and eat together, Jesus explains the secrets of the kingdom of heaven. Jesus later vanishes and Cleopas, now realizing who the stranger was, goes on to proclaim what he was told.
Contemporary use
Emmaus, Pennsylvania, a township in the Lehigh Valley region of the United States, draws its name from the Biblical references to Emmaus.
Notable residents
See also
- Aelia Capitolina
- Battle of Emmaus
- Caesarea Maritima
- Emmaus (charity)
- Gezer
- Imwas
- Post-resurrection appearances of Jesus
References
- ^ Holy Bible: St. Luke 24: 13-35; Encyclopedia Judaica, Keter Publishing House, Jerusalem, 1972, "Emmaus," Vol. 6, pp. 726-727
- ^ a b Siméon Vailhé (1909). "Emmaus". The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 5. New York: Robert Appleton Company. Retrieved 11 April 2015.
- ^ "Bible Search: hamath". biblehub.net. Retrieved June 14, 2023.
- ^ a b c "Emmaus-Nicopolis". Community of the Beatitudes. 2016. Retrieved April 11, 2016.
- ^ 'Emmaus,' in Geoffrey W. Bromiley (ed.), International Standard Bible Encyclopedia: E-J, Wm.B. Eerdmanns Publishers 1995 p.77
- ^ a b c d Sharon, 1997, p. 80
- ^ Esti Dvorjetski, Leisure, Pleasure and Healing: Spa Culture and Medicine in Ancient Eastern Mediterranean, BRILL, 2007 p.221.
- ^ a b "Ayalon Canada Park – Biblical & Modern Israel". Forests, Parks and Sites. Jewish National Fund. 2016. Retrieved April 11, 2016.
- OCLC 476570833.
- ^ "Avondmaal in Emmaüs". lib.ugent.be. Retrieved 2020-10-02.
- ^ Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). . Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 9 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 342.
- S2CID 170756284. Retrieved June 14, 2023 – via www.academia.edu.
- OCLC 7090106.
- ^ Steve Mason, (ed.), Flavius Josephus : translation and Commentary, Flavius Josephus: Translation and Commentary. Judean war. Vol. 1B, BRILL, 2008 p.44 n.388.
- ^ H. Guggenheimer, trans., Berlin-N.Y. 2001, p.609
- ^ "Emmaus-Nicopolis". www.emmaus-nicopolis.org. Retrieved June 14, 2023.
- ^ Thiede p. 55.
- Josephus Flavius, "The Jewish War" 3,3,5
- ^ "The Jewish War" 2, 4, 3; 2, 20, 4; 3, 3, 5; 4, 8, 1; 5, 1, 6; "The Antiquities of the Jews" 14, 11, 2; 14, 15, 7 ; 17, 10, 7–9
- ^ "Antiquities of the Jews" 17, 10, 7–9
- ^ Sharon, 1997, p.79
- ^ Josephus, De Bello Iudaico Bk 7,6:6.
- ^ Günter Stemberger,'Jews and Graeco-Roman Culture:from Alexander to Theodosius 11,' in James K. Aitken, James Carleton Paget (eds.), The Jewish-Greek Tradition in Antiquity and the Byzantine Empire, Cambridge University Press, 2014 pp.15–36 p.29.
- ISBN 0-88728-224-5.
- ^ "Emmaus - Nikopolis - Hasmonean period fortress". www.biblewalks.com. Retrieved June 14, 2023.
- ^ William Adler, 'The Kingdom of Edessa and the Creation of a Christian Aristocracy,' in Natalie B. Dohrmann, Annette Yoshiko Reed (eds.),Jews, Christians, and the Roman Empire: The Poetics of Power in Late Antiquity, University of Pennsylvania Press, 2013 pp. 43–61 p.58.
- ^ "Onomasticon," 90:15–17, a text written in 290–325 A.D., G. S. P. Freeman-Grenville, trans., Jerusalem, 2003
- ^ Robinson and Smith, 1841, vol 2, p. 363
- ^ Robinson and Smith, 1856, pp. 146-148
- ^ Brunot, S.J.C., Amedee. Mariam, The Little Arab (Third ed.). The Carmel of Maria Regina. p. 89.
- OCLC 610327173.
- ^ Rich Wiles, Behind the Wall: Life, Love, and Struggle in Palestine, Potomac Books, Inc., 2010, pp. 17–24.
- ^ Dvorjetski p.221.
- ^ Rami Degani, Ruth Kark,'Christian and Messianic Jews' Communes in Israel:Past, Present and Future,' in Eliezer Ben-Rafael, Yaacov Oved, Menachem Topel (eds.) The Communal Idea in the 21st Century, BRILL, 2012, pp.221–239 p.236.
- Nation Books, 2014 p.185
- ^ Adam LeBor, City of Oranges: Arabs and Jews in Jaffa, A&C Black, 2007 p.326.
- ^ Ben-Yehuda, Nachman (1996). The Masada Myth: Collective Memory and Mythmaking in Israel. University of Wisconsin Press. pp. 159–160.
- ^ "Yad La'Shyrion (Armored Corps) Museum". Archived from the original on 5 May 2009. Retrieved 2009-05-08.
- ^ Vincent, Abel "Emmaüs", Paris, 1932
- ^ Y. Hirschfeld, "A Hidraulic Installation in the Water-Supply System of Emmaus-Nicopolis", IEJ, 1978
- ^ M. Gichon, "Roman Bath-houses in Eretz Israel", Qadmoniot 11, 1978
- ISBN 3-7655-9811-9
- ^ L844, L2211
- ^ e.g. Codex Sangermanensis
- ^ including the oldest of them, Codex Fuldensis
- ^ Palestinian Evangeliary
- ^ Lagrange, Wieland Willker (1921). A Textual Commentary on the Greek Gospels (PDF). Vol. 3. pp. 617–618. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2014-09-03. Retrieved 2014-08-28.
- ISBN 3-406-02725-3
- ^ See : P. M. Séjourné, "Nouvelles de Jérusalem", RB 1897, p. 131; E. Michon, "Inscription d'Amwas", RB 1898, p. 269-271; J. H. Landau, "Two Inscribed Tombstones", "Atiqot", vol. XI, Jerusalem, 1976.
- ^ Robinson and Smith, 1856, p. 149
- ^ Schlatter, 1896, p. 222; Vincent & Abel, 1932, pp. 284–285
- ^ "Onomasticon"
- ^ Letter 108, PL XXII, 833 and other texts
- ^ Quaestiones », PG XCIII, 1444
- ^ "Chronografia", PG CVIII, 160
- ^ "Ecclesiastical History", PG LXVII, 180
- ^ "De situ Terrae sanctae", 139
- ^ Josephus, The Jewish War 7.6.6. (Greek text)
- ^ William Whiston, the translator of Josephus' works into English, thought that Josephus' figure for Emmaus was in error, where the original Greek text writes: "He (Caesar Vespasian) assigned a place for eight hundred men only, whom he had dismissed from his army, which he gave them for their habitation; it is called Emmaus, and is distant from Jerusalem thirty stadia." (See Greek text: ... ὃ καλεῖται μὲν Ἀμμαοῦς, ἀπέχει δὲ τῶν Ἱεροσολύμων σταδίους τριάκοντα). In most English editions of Josephus' The Jewish War 7.216, the text has been amended to read "...Emmaus, and is distant from Jerusalem threescore (sixty) stadia." See The Jewish War (William Whiston (ed.), 7.216 (note 2).
- ^ S2CID 170175267. Archived from the originalon 31 October 2014. Retrieved 11 April 2015.
- ^ W. F. Birch, "Emmaus", Palestine Exploration Fund, Quarterly Statement 13 (1881), pp. 237-38; Paulo Savi, "Emmaus", Revue Biblique 2 (1893), pp. 223-27.
- ^ Finkelstein, Israel; Gadot, Yuval (2015). "Mozah, Nephtoah and royal estates in the Jerusalem highlands". Semitica et Classica. International Journal of Oriental and Mediterranean Studies. VIII. Brepols: 227–234 [227–8]. Retrieved 24 May 2018 – via academia.edu.
- ^ Thiede, Carsten Peter. "Ausgrabung einer jüdisch-römischen Siedlung aus biblischen Zeiten in Israel: Emmaus (Moza / Colonia)" (PDF). Staatsunabhängige Theologische Hochschule Basel (STH). Archived from the original (PDF) on May 21, 2005. Retrieved 27 August 2005.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-8264-8067-5– via Google Books.
… the biblical history of Moza, the Christian history of Emmaus, and the Jewish history of the Mishnaic period met at this site.
- ^ "Lokalisierung des neutestamentlichen Emmaus" [Identification of New Testment-era Emmaus]. Geistige Nahrung Dein Forum (in German). Archived from the original on 2015-09-24. Retrieved 2015-04-12.
- ^ Josephus. The Jewish War. Vol. 7. Translated by William Whiston. Paragraph 6 – via Wikisource. .
- ^ See Genesis 28:10–19.
- OCLC 464435795– via Google Books.
- ^ Read-Heimerdinger, Jenny; Rius-Camps, Josep (2002). "Emmaous or Oulammaous? Luke's Use of the Jewish Scriptures in the Text of Luke 24 in Codex Bezae". Revista Catalana de Teologia. 27 (1): 23–42 – via Revistes Catalanes amb Accés Obert (RACO).
- OCLC 861768627.
Bibliography
- Duvignau, P. 1937. Emmaüs, le site – le mystère, Paris,
- Fleckenstein, K.-H., M. Louhivuori, R. Riesner, "Emmaus in Judäa", Giessen-Basel, 2003.ISBN 3-7655-9811-9.
- Lagrange, Marie-Joseph (1921). Evangile selon Saint Luc. Paris: Libraire Victor Lecoffre.
- Michel, V., "Le complexe ecclésiastique d'Emmaüs-Nicopolis", Paris, Sorbonne,1996–1997, pro manuscripto.
- Robinson, Edward; Smith, Eli (1841). Biblical Researches in Palestine, Mount Sinai and Arabia Petraea: A Journal of Travels in the year 1838. Vol. 2. Boston: Crocker & Brewster.
- Robinson, Edward; Smith, Eli (1856). Later Biblical Researches in Palestine and adjacent regions: A Journal of Travels in the year 1852. London: John Murray.
- Schlatter, A. (1896). "Einige Ergebnisse aus Niese's Ausgabe des Josephus". Zeitschrift des Deutschen Palästina-Vereins. 19: 221–231.
- ISBN 978-0-8050-7057-6.
- ISBN 90-04-10833-5.
- Vincent, Louis-Hugues; Abel, Félix-Marie (1932). Emmaüs, Sa Basilique Et Son Histoire (in French). Vol. 1. Paris.
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External links
Media related to Emmaus at Wikimedia Commons