the Fourth Week of Advent
Click here to learn more!
Bible Encyclopedias
Emmaus
1911 Encyclopedia Britannica
or the name of two places in Palestine.
i. A village mentioned by Luke (xxiv. 13), without any indication of direction, as being 60 stadia (almost 7 m.), or according to some MSS.' 160 stadia, from Jerusalem. Its identification is a matter of mere guesswork: it has been sought at (a) EmmausNicopolis (see 2 below), distant 176 stadia from Jerusalem; (b) Kuryet el-' Enab, distant 66 stadia, on the carriage road to Jaffa; (c) Kulonieh, distant 36 stadia, on the same road; (d) el-Kubeibeh, distant 63 stadia, on the Roman road to Lydda; (e) `Urtas, distant 60 stadia; and (f) Khurbet el-Khamasa, distant 86 stadia, on the Roman road to Eleutheropolis. Of these, el-Kubeibeh or `Urtas seems the most probable, though many favour Kulonieh because of its nearness to Bet Mizza, in which name there is similarity with Emmaus, and because of a reading (30 stadia) in Josephus.
2. Emmaus-Nicopolis, now `Amwas, a town on the maritime plain, and a place of importance during the Maccabaean and Jewish wars. Near it Judas Maccabaeus defeated Gorgias in 164 B.e., and Vespasian established a fortified camp in A.D. 69. It was afterwards rebuilt and named Nicopolis, and became an episcopal see. It was also noted for a healing spring.
These files are public domain.
Chisholm, Hugh, General Editor. Entry for 'Emmaus'. 1911 Encyclopedia Britanica. https://www.studylight.org/encyclopedias/eng/bri/e/emmaus.html. 1910.
