Emmaus

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.{{Cite web|url=http://biblehub.net/search.php?q=hamath|title=Bible Search: hamath|website=biblehub.net|accessdate=June 14, 2023}}

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.: {{langx|el|Άμμαούμ, Άμμαούς, Έμμαούμ, Έμμαούς}}, {{langx|he|אמאוס, אמאום, עמאוס, עמאום, עמוס, מאום, אמהום}}{{cite web |url =http://www.emmaus-nicopolis.org/ |title= Emmaus-Nicopolis |date=2016 |publisher=Community of the Beatitudes |access-date=April 11, 2016}}

Emmaus may derive from the Hebrew ḥammat ({{langx|he|חמת}}) meaning "hot spring",'Emmaus,' in Geoffrey W. Bromiley (ed.), [https://books.google.com/books?id=yklDk6Vv0l4C&pg=PA77 International Standard Bible Encyclopedia: E-J,] Wm.B. Eerdmanns Publishers 1995 p.77 although this remains uncertain. It is generally referred to in Hebrew sources as Ḥamtah or Ḥamtān.Sharon, 1997, p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=j1rSzWgHMjoC&pg=PA80 80] A spring of Emmaus ({{langx|el|Ἐμμαοῦς πηγή}}), or alternatively a 'spring of salvation' ({{langx|el|πηγή σωτήριος}}) is attested in Greek sources.Esti Dvorjetski, [https://books.google.com/books?id=6RCbdK8JxjsC&pg=PA220 Leisure, Pleasure and Healing: Spa Culture and Medicine in Ancient Eastern Mediterranean,] BRILL, 2007 p.221. Unlike other Biblical or Mishnaic sites with the name "Ḥamah" and where the traditional Hebrew spelling {{Script/Hebrew|חמה}} has been preserved in classical texts throughout the ages, Emmaus differs insofar that the traditional Hebrew spelling for this place in most classical sources is {{Script/Hebrew|אמאוס}} or {{Script/Hebrew|עמאוס}}. During the late Second Temple period,{{dubious|see talk page (2.6.2023: nothing there, maybw due to merget, but: if inspired by 70 CE Roman victory, then POST-2nd Temple!)|date=May 2022}} Emmaus was renamed Nicopolis ("City of Victory"), a name remained in use as late as the 6th-century Madaba Map. Emmaus is mentioned by this name in Midrash Zutta for Song of Songs 6,8 and Midrash Rabba for Lamentations 1,45, and in the Midrash Rabba on Ecclesiastes (7:15). According to Sozomen (fl.{{nbsp}}400{{ndash}}450), it was renamed by the Romans "in consequence of the conquest of Jerusalem and the victory over the Jews."{{cite book |author=Sozomen |author-link=Sozomen |title=The Ecclesiastical History of Sozomen: Comprising a History of the Church from A.D. 324 to A.D. 440 |url=https://archive.org/details/ecclesiasticalh00walfgoog|publisher=Henry G. Bohn |year=1855 |isbn=9780790565682 |oclc=78734887 }}, p. [https://archive.org/details/ecclesiasticalh00walfgoog/page/n259/mode/1up 241 (239)]

File:Le Repas d'Emmaüs.jpg with candlelight by Matthias Stom]]

{{Main|Road to Emmaus appearance}}

Emmaus is mentioned in the Gospel of Luke as the village where Jesus appeared to his disciples after his crucifixion and resurrection. {{bibleverse|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 ({{Bibleverse|Mark|16:12–16:13|NIV}}), although the disciples' destination is not stated. This passage is believed by some to be a late addition, derived from the Gospel of Luke.{{cite book |author-link=Morna Hooker |last=Hooker |first=Morna D. |date=1991 |title=A Commentary on the Gospel according to St. Mark |location=London |publisher=A & C Black |series=Black's New Testament commentaries |oclc=476570833 |isbn=978-0-7136-3284-2 }}{{page needed|date=April 2017}}

The incident is not mentioned in the Gospels of Matthew or John.

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 Judea and Galilee are called Emmaus in the Bible, the works of Josephus Flavius, and other sources from the relevant period. The one most often mentioned is a town of some importance situated in the Valley of Ajalon (today, Ayyalon), later called Emmaus Nicopolis.{{citation needed|date=October 2019}}

File:Avondmaal in Emmaüs.jpg.{{Cite web|title=Avondmaal in Emmaüs|url=https://lib.ugent.be/viewer/archive.ugent.be:811D586A-D143-11E7-9D8C-0D306EE4309A#?c=&m=&s=&cv=&xywh=-4540,-217,12813,5375|access-date=2020-10-02|website=lib.ugent.be}}]]

Many sites have been suggested for the biblical Emmaus, among them Emmaus Nicopolis (c. 160 stadia from Jerusalem), Kiryat Anavim (66 stadia from Jerusalem on the carriage road to Jaffa), Coloniya (c. 36 stadia on the carriage road to Jaffa), el-Kubeibeh (63 stadia, on the Roman road to Lydda), Artas (60 stadia from Jerusalem) and Khurbet al-Khamasa (86 stadia on the Roman road to Eleutheropolis).{{Cite EB1911|wstitle=Emmaus|volume=9|page=342}} The oldest identification that is currently known is Emmaus Nicopolis. The identification is complicated by the fact that New Testament manuscripts list at least three different distances between Jerusalem and Emmaus in Luke 24:13-14.{{Cite journal|url=https://www.academia.edu/30821102|title=Seven Stades to Emmaus|first=S.|last=Reece|date=June 14, 2002|journal=New Testament Studies|volume=48|issue=2 |pages=262–266 |doi=10.1017/S0028688502000188 |s2cid=170756284 |accessdate=June 14, 2023|via=www.academia.edu}}

{{main|Imwas}}

The first modern site identification of Emmaus was by the explorer Edward Robinson, who equated it with the Palestinian Arab village of Imwas ({{langx|ar|عِمواس}}), near the Latrun Abbey.{{cite book|last1=Robinson|first1=E.|author-link=Edward Robinson (scholar)|last2=Smith |first2=E. |author-link2=Eli Smith |year=1856|url=https://archive.org/details/laterbiblicalre01smitgoog/page/n7/mode/1up?view=theater |title=Later Biblical Researches in Palestine, and in the Adjacent Regions: A Journal of Travels in the year 1852|location=Boston; London|publisher=Crocker & Brewster|pages=[https://archive.org/details/laterbiblicalre01smitgoog/page/146/mode/1up?view=theater 146]–150 |oclc=7090106 }} Before its destruction during the Six-Day War in 1967, the village of Imwas was located at the end of the Ayalon Valley, on the border of the hill country of Judah, at 153 stadia (18.6 miles) from Jerusalem via the Kiryat Yearim Ridge Route, 161 stadia (19.6 miles) via the Beth-Horon Ridge Route and {{convert|1600|ft|m}} lower by elevation.

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 Peutinger Table situates it about {{convert|19|mi|km|order=flip|abbr=on}} west of Jerusalem, while the Ptolemy map shows it at a distance of {{convert|20|mi|km|order=flip|abbr=on}} from the city. The Emmaus in the Gospel of Luke seems to lie some {{convert|7.5|mi|km|order=flip|abbr=on}} from Jerusalem, though a textual minor variant, conserved in Codex Sinaiticus, gives the distance between the New Testament Emmaus and Jerusalem as 160 stadia.Steve Mason, (ed.), [https://books.google.com/books?id=NHRbu6ee_p0C&pg=PA44 Flavius Josephus : translation and Commentary,] Flavius Josephus: Translation and Commentary. Judean war. Vol. 1B, BRILL, 2008 p.44 n.388. The geographical position of Emmaus is described in the Jerusalem Talmud, Tractate Sheviit 9.2:H. Guggenheimer, trans., Berlin-N.Y. 2001, p.609

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 ({{langx|he|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 Canada Park, which support historical and traditional claims. Five structures were found and dated, including a Christian basilica from the 6th century and a 12th-century Crusader church.{{Cite web|url=https://www.emmaus-nicopolis.org/|title=Emmaus-Nicopolis|website=www.emmaus-nicopolis.org|accessdate=June 14, 2023}} Emmaus Nicopolis is a titular see of the Roman Catholic Church.{{Cite encyclopedia |author=Siméon Vailhé |encyclopedia=The Catholic Encyclopedia |title=Emmaus |year=1909 |publisher=Robert Appleton Company |volume=5 |location=New York |url=http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/05405a.htm |access-date=11 April 2015 }}

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 1 Maccabees 3:55-4:22, around 166 BC Judas Maccabeus fought against the Seleucids in the region of this particular Emmaus, and was victorious at the Battle of Emmaus; later, this town was fortified by Bacchides, a Seleucid general (1 Macc 9:50). When Rome took over the land it became the capital of a district or toparchy, and was burnt by order of Varus after the death of Herod in 4 BC. During the First Jewish Revolt, before the siege of Jerusalem, Vespasian's 5th legion was deployed there while the 10th Legion was in Jericho. The town was renamed Emmaus Nicopolis in AD 221 by Emperor Elagabalus, who conferred it the title of polis ("city") following the request of a delegation from Emmaus. The Plague of Emmaus in AD 639, mentioned in Muslim sources, is claimed to have caused up to 25,000 deaths in the town.

File:Emmaus Nicopolis basilica.JPG

File:20100924 madaba58a.jpg]]

Nicopolis ({{langx|grc|Νικόπολις}}, Nikópolis) was the name of Emmaus ({{langx|he|אמאוס}}; {{langx|grc|Ἀμμαοῦς}}, Ammaoûs; {{langx|ar|عِمواس}}, Imwas) under the Roman Empire until the conquest of Palestine by the Rashidun Caliphate in 639. The Church Fathers unanimously considered this city to be the Emmaus of the New Testament where Jesus was said to have appeared after his death and resurrection; it is sometimes distinguished from other Emmauses of Palestine and other Nicopolises of the Roman Empire by the combined name {{nowrap|Emmaus Nicopolis}} or {{nowrap|Emmaus-Nicopolis}}. The site of the ancient city, now lies between Tel Aviv and Jerusalem in Israel. The archaeological site has been cared for by a resident French Catholic community since 1993 but are formally organized as a part of Canada Park under the general supervision of the Israel Nature and Parks Authority.Thiede [https://books.google.com/books?id=b0edm6i-8QwC&pg=PA55 p. 55].

Due to its strategic position, Emmaus played an important administrative, military and economic role in history. The first mention of Emmaus occurs in the First Book of Maccabees, chapters 3–4, in the context of Judas Maccabeus and his revolt against the Greek Seleucid Empire in the 2nd century{{nbsp}}{{sc|bc}}. The first major battle of the revolt, the Battle of Emmaus, is traditionally believed to have occurred in this area, with the Seleucids establishing a fortified camp here from which to control the countryside.{{cite web |url= http://www.kkl.org.il/eng/tourism-and-recreation/forests-and-parks/ayalon-canada-park.aspx |title= Ayalon Canada Park – Biblical & Modern Israel |date= 2016 |website= Forests, Parks and Sites |publisher=Jewish National Fund |access-date= April 11, 2016}} During the Hasmonean period, Emmaus became a regional administrative centre (toparchy) in the Ayalon Valley.see Josephus Flavius, "The Jewish War" 3,3,5

According to one theory, Emmaus of the Hasmonean and early Roman periods was located at Horvat 'Eqed.{{Cite journal |last=Hizmi |first=Hananya |last2=Haber |first2=Michal |last3=Aharonvich |first3=Evgeny |date=2013 |title=From the Maccabees to Bar Kokhba: Evidence of Fortification and Revolt at Khirbet el-’Aqd: The Results of the Renewed 2012 Excavations |journal=New Studies in the Archaeology of Jerusalem |volume=7 |pages=6–24}}

File:Emmaus Nicopolis Byzantine baptistery.JPG at Emmaus Nicopolis]]

Josephus Flavius mentions Emmaus in his writings several times."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 He speaks about the destruction of Emmaus by the Romans in the year 4{{nbsp}}{{sc|bc}}."Antiquities of the Jews" 17, 10, 7–9 The importance of the city was recognized by the Emperor Vespasian, who established a fortified camp there in {{sc|ad}}{{nbsp}}68 to house the fifth ("Macedonian") legion,Sharon, 1997, [https://books.google.com/books?id=j1rSzWgHMjoC&pg=PA79 p.79] populating it with 800 veterans,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.), [https://books.google.com/books?id=vWGbBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA29 The Jewish-Greek Tradition in Antiquity and the Byzantine Empire,] Cambridge University Press, 2014 pp.15–36 p.29. though this may refer to Qalunya rather than Emmaus Nicopolis.{{Cite book|last=Khalidi|first=W|title=All That Remains: The Palestinian Villages Occupied and Depopulated by Israel in 1948|publisher=Institute for Palestine Studies|year=1992|isbn=0-88728-224-5|location=Washington D.C.|pages=309}} Archaeological works indicate that the town was cosmopolitan, with a mixed Jewish, pagan and Samaritan population, the presence of the last group being attested by the remains of a Samaritan synagogue. In {{sc|ad}}{{nbsp}}130 or 131, the city was destroyed by an earthquake. In 132, the ruins of Emmaus fortress were briefly reconstructed by Judean rebels under Simon Bar Kokhba and used as a hideout during the revolt.{{Cite web|url=https://www.biblewalks.com/emmausfortress|title=Emmaus - Nikopolis - Hasmonean period fortress|website=www.biblewalks.com|accessdate=June 14, 2023}}

The city of Nicopolis was founded on the ruins of Emmaus in early 3rd century, after Julius Africanus, who said he had interviewed descendants of Jesus' relatives, headed an embassy to Rome and had an interview with the Roman emperor Elagabalus on behalf of Emmaus, then a small Palestinian village ({{lang|grc|κώμη}}).William Adler, 'The Kingdom of Edessa and the Creation of a Christian Aristocracy,' in Natalie B. Dohrmann, Annette Yoshiko Reed (eds.),[https://books.google.com/books?id=_dVAAQAAQBAJ&pg=PA58 Jews, Christians, and the Roman Empire: The Poetics of Power in Late Antiquity,] University of Pennsylvania Press, 2013 pp. 43–61 p.58. St. Eusebius writes "Emmaus, whence was Cleopas who is mentioned by the Evangelist Luke. Today it is Nicopolis, a famous city of Palestine.""Onomasticon," 90:15–17, a text written in 290–325 A.D., G. S. P. Freeman-Grenville, trans., Jerusalem, 2003 In 222, a basilica was erected there, which was rebuilt first by the Byzantines and later modified by the Crusaders.

During the Byzantine period Nicopolis became a large city and a bishopric. A substantial church complex was erected on the spot where tradition maintained the apparition of the risen Christ had occurred, a site which then became a place of pilgrimage, and whose ruins are still extant.

At the time of the Islamic conquest of Palestine, the main encampment of the Arab army was established in Emmaus, when a plague (ța'ūn) struck, carrying off many of Companions of the Prophet. This first encounter of the Arab armies with the chronic plagues of Syria was later referred to as the 'plague of 'Amawās', a and the event marked the decline of Emmaus Nicopolis. A well on the site still bears an inscription reading "the well of the plague" (bi'r aț-ța'ūn).

During the Crusader period, the Christian presence resumed at Emmaus, and the Byzantine church was restored. However, the memory of the apparition of the risen Jesus at Emmaus also started to be celebrated in three other places in the Holy Land: Motza (c. {{convert|4|mi|km|0|disp=or|abbr=on}} west of Jerusalem), Qubeibe (c. {{convert|7|mi|km|0|disp=or|abbr=on}} northwest of Jerusalem), and Abu Ghosh (c. {{convert|7|mi|km|0|disp=or|abbr=on}} west of Jerusalem).

The Arab village of Imwas was identified once again as the biblical Emmaus and the Roman-Byzantine Nicopolis by scholars in the 19th century, including Edward Robinson(1838–1852),Robinson and Smith, 1841, vol 2, p. [https://archive.org/stream/biblicalresearc00smitgoog#page/n385/mode/1up 363]Robinson and Smith, 1856, pp. [https://archive.org/stream/laterbiblicalre01smitgoog#page/n195/mode/1up 146]-148 M.-V. Guérin (1868), Charles Simon Clermont-Ganneau (1874), and J.-B. Guillemot (1880–1887). Significantly, a local mystic named Saint Mariam of Jesus Crucified, a nun of the Carmelite monastery of Bethlehem, had a revelation while in ecstatic prayer in 1878 in which Jesus appeared to indicate Amwas was the Gospel Emmaus. "She came to the top of a knoll where, amid grass and thorns, there were some freestones leveled. Transported and moved, she turned toward her sisters [in religion], and said to them in a loud voice: 'This is truly the place where our Lord ate with His disciples.'"{{cite book |last1=Brunot, S.J.C. |first1=Amedee |title=Mariam, The Little Arab |publisher=The Carmel of Maria Regina |pages=89 |edition=Third}} On the basis of this revelation, the holy place of Emmaus was acquired by the Carmelite order from the Muslims in 1878, excavations were carried out, and the flow of pilgrims to Emmaus resumed.

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.{{cite book|title=A Gazetteer of the Place Names which appear in the small-scale Maps of Palestine and Trans-Jordan|first1=R.F. |last1=Jardine|first2=B.A. |last2=McArthur Davies |publisher=Government of Palestine|place=Jerusalem|year=1948|page=39 |oclc=610327173}}

Israelis and Jordanians fought during the battle of Latrun for the control of this strategic zone which blockaded the road to Jerusalem. As part of the outcome of the war the Palestinian village of Imwas, which lay on the site of Emmaus Nicopolis, fell within the West Bank territory under Jordanian rule.

File:CanadaParkCropped.jpg

In 1967, after the Six-Day War the residents of Imwas Israeli forces expelled the population and the village was razed by bulldozers,Rich Wiles, [https://books.google.com/books?id=z4ZWqebEnHsC Behind the Wall: Life, Love, and Struggle in Palestine], Potomac Books, Inc., 2010, pp. [https://books.google.com/books?id=z4ZWqebEnHsC&pg=PA17 17–24]. leaving the Byzantine-crusader church, called in Arabic, al-Kenisah,Dvorjetski p.221. 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.Rami Degani, Ruth Kark,'Christian and Messianic Jews' Communes in Israel:Past, Present and Future,' in Eliezer Ben-Rafael, Yaacov Oved, Menachem Topel (eds.) [https://books.google.com/books?id=WQozAQAAQBAJ&pg=PA236 The Communal Idea in the 21st Century], BRILL, 2012, pp.221–239 p.236.

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.Max Blumenthal, Goliath: Life and Loathing in Greater Israel, Nation Books, 2014 p.[https://books.google.com/books?id=lVIeBQAAQBAJ&pg=PA185 185]{{Unreliable source?|date=April 2016}} The site became a favourite picnic ground for IsraelisAdam LeBor, [https://books.google.com/books?id=XEWQXRLQsqAC&pg=PA326 City of Oranges: Arabs and Jews in Jaffa], A&C Black, 2007 p.326. and the Latrun salient an area of Israeli commemoration of its War of Independence.{{cite book |first=Nachman |last=Ben-Yehuda |title=The Masada Myth: Collective Memory and Mythmaking in Israel |publisher=University of Wisconsin Press |year=1996 |pages=159–160 |url=http://uwpress.wisc.edu/books/0117.htm}}{{cite web|url=http://www.ilmuseums.com/museum_eng.asp?id=133|title=Yad La'Shyrion (Armored Corps) Museum |access-date=2009-05-08|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090505181748/http://www.ilmuseums.com/museum_eng.asp?id=133|archive-date=5 May 2009|url-status=dead}}

File:Emmaus nicopolis mosaic.JPG

Archaeological excavations in Imwas started in the late 19th century and continue nowadays: Clermont-Ganneau (1874), J.-B. Guillemot (1883–1887), Dominican Fathers L.-H. Vincent & F.-M. Abel (1924–1930),Vincent, Abel "Emmaüs", Paris, 1932 Y. Hirschfeld (1975),Y. Hirschfeld, "A Hidraulic Installation in the Water-Supply System of Emmaus-Nicopolis", IEJ, 1978 M. Gichon (1978),M. Gichon, "Roman Bath-houses in Eretz Israel", Qadmoniot 11, 1978 Mikko Louhivuori, M. Piccirillo, V. Michel, K.-H. Fleckenstein (since 1994).K.-H. Fleckenstein, M. Louhivuori, R. Riesner, "Emmaus in Judäa", Giessen-Basel, 2003.{{ISBN|3-7655-9811-9}} During excavations in Canada Park (Ayalon forest) ruins of Emmaus fortifications from the Hasmonean era were discovered, along with a Roman bathhouse from the 3rd century CE, Jewish burial caves from the 1st century CE, Roman-Byzantine hydraulic installations, oil presses and tombs. Other findings were coins, oil lamps, vessels, jewellery. The eastern (rear) three-apsidal wall of the Byzantine church was cleared, with an external baptistery and polychrome mosaics, as well as walls of the Crusader church which were built against the central Byzantine apse (12th century). In the area of Emmaus, several Hebrew, Samaritan, Greek and Latin inscriptions carved on stones have been found.{{Citation needed|date=September 2015}}

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 uncial manuscripts א (Codex Sinaiticus), Θ, Ν, Κ, Π, 079 and cursive (minuscule) manuscripts 158, 175, 223, 237, 420, as well as ancient lectionariesL844, L2211 and translations into Latin (some manuscripts of the Vetus Latina,e.g. Codex Sangermanensis high-quality manuscripts of the Vulgateincluding the oldest of them, Codex Fuldensis), in Aramaic,Palestinian Evangeliary Georgian and Armenian languages.Lagrange, {{cite book |url=http://www-user.uni-bremen.de/wie/TCG/TC-Luke.pdf |author=Wieland Willker |date=1921 |title=A Textual Commentary on the Greek Gospels |volume=3 |pages=[https://archive.org/stream/MN41472ucmf_1#page/n793/mode/2up 617–618] |access-date=2014-08-28 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140903094324/http://www-user.uni-bremen.de/wie/TCG/TC-Luke.pdf |archive-date=2014-09-03 }} The version of 60 stadia has been adopted for the printed editions of the Gospel of Luke since the 16th century. The main argument against the version of 160 stadia claims that it is impossible to walk such a distance in one day. In keeping with the principle of Lectio difficilior, lectio verior, the most difficult version is presumed to be genuine, since ancient copyists of the Bible were inclined to change the text in order to facilitate understanding, but not vice versa. It is possible to walk from Jerusalem to Emmaus and back in one day.{{Citation needed|date=September 2015}}

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.Strack, Billerbeck, "Kommentar zum Neuen Testament aus Talmud & Midrasch", vol II, München, 1924,1989, p.p. 269-271. {{ISBN|3-406-02725-3}} 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.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. (The village of Motza, located 30 stadia (c. {{convert|4|mi|km|0|disp=or|abbr=on}}) 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).Robinson and Smith, 1856, p. [https://archive.org/stream/laterbiblicalre01smitgoog#page/n198/mode/1up 149]Schlatter, 1896, p. [https://archive.org/stream/zeitschriftdesde19deut#page/n329/mode/1up 222]; Vincent & Abel, 1932, pp. [https://archive.org/stream/VincentEtAbelEmmausSaBasiliqueEtSonHistoire/Vincent%20et%20Abel%2C%20Emmaus%2C%20sa%20Basilique%20et%20son%20histoire%20#page/n293/mode/1up 284]–285

The ancient Christian tradition of the Church fathers, as well as pilgrims to the Holy Land during the Roman-Byzantine period, unanimously recognized Nicopolis as the Emmaus in the Gospel of Luke (Origen (presumably), Eusebius of Caesarea,"Onomasticon" St. Jerome,Letter 108, PL XXII, 833 and other texts Hesychius of Jerusalem,Quaestiones », PG XCIII, 1444 Theophanes the Confessor,"Chronografia", PG CVIII, 160 Sozomen,"Ecclesiastical History", PG LXVII, 180 Theodosius,"De situ Terrae sanctae", 139 etc.).

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)Josephus, The Jewish War [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0147%3Abook%3D7%3Awhiston+chapter%3D6%3Awhiston+section%3D6 7.6.6.] (Greek text) was referring to this place is now uncertain.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: [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0147%3Abook%3D7%3Awhiston+chapter%3D6%3Awhiston+section%3D6 ... 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 ([https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0148%3Abook%3D7%3Awhiston+chapter%3D6%3Awhiston+section%3D6 note 2]). However, the Gospel of Luke speaks of 60 stadia{{cite journal |last= Thiede |first= Carsten Peter |title= Die Wiederentdeckung von Emmaus bei Jerusalem |language= de |trans-title= Rediscovering Emmaus near Jerusalem |author-link= Carsten Peter Thiede |journal= Zeitschrift für antikes Christentum |series= Offprint |date= 2005 |volume= 8 |issue= 3 |publisher= Walter de Gruyter |pages= 593–599 [593] |doi= 10.1515/zach.2005.8.3.593 |s2cid= 170175267 |url= http://jandricsrobert.hu/Thiede/Emmausindex.html |access-date= 11 April 2015 |archive-date= 31 October 2014 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20141031204305/http://jandricsrobert.hu/Thiede/Emmausindex.html |url-status= dead }} ([https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Luke+24%3A13&version=ISV Luke 24:13]), a distance very close to the actual 65 stadia to Qubeibeh.

In the 12th century, the Crusaders of the Kingdom of Jerusalem called the site "Small Mahomeria", in order to distinguish it from the "Large Mahomeria" near Ramallah. Sounding similar to "Mahommed", the term was used in medieval times to describe a place inhabited or used for prayer by Muslims. It was referred to as Qubaibat for the first time at the end of that same century by the writer Abu Shama, who writes in his Book of the Two Gardens about a Muslim prince falling into the hands of the Crusaders at this spot. The Franciscans built a church here in 1902, on the ruins of a Crusader basilica.

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.

{{Main|Benedictine monastery in Abu Ghosh}}

{{further|Abu Gosh {{!}}Abu Gosh}}

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.

Colonia, between Abu Ghosh and Jerusalem on the Kiryat Yearim Ridge Route, is another possibility. At a distance of c. 8 km from Jerusalem, it was referred to as Mozah in the Old Testament ({{bibleverse|Joshua|18:26}}). Listed among the Benjamite cities of {{bibleverse|Joshua|18:26}}, it was referred to in the Talmud as a place where people would come to cut young willow branches as a part of the celebration of Sukkot (Mishnah, Sukkah 4.5: 178). Motza was identified as the Emmaus of Luke in 1881 by William F. Birch (1840–1916) of the Palestine Exploration Fund, and again in 1893 by Paulo Savi.W. F. Birch, "Emmaus", Palestine Exploration Fund, Quarterly Statement 13 (1881), pp. 237-38; Paulo Savi, "Emmaus", Revue Biblique 2 (1893), pp. 223-27. One mile to the north of modern Motza is a ruin called Khirbet Beit Mizza, which was identified by some scholars as the biblical Mozah, until recent excavations placed Mozah at Khirbet Mizza (without "Beit"), as the ruins of Qalunya/Colonia are called in Arabic.{{cite journal |author=Finkelstein, Israel |last2= Gadot |first2= Yuval |title= Mozah, Nephtoah and royal estates in the Jerusalem highlands |year= 2015 |pages= 227–234 [227–8] |journal= Semitica et Classica. International Journal of Oriental and Mediterranean Studies |publisher=Brepols |volume= VIII |via= academia.edu |url= https://www.academia.edu/29974640 |access-date= 24 May 2018}}

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.{{cite web |url= http://www.sthbasel.ch/downloads/Prospekt_Ausgrabung_2005.pdf |title= Ausgrabung einer jüdisch-römischen Siedlung aus biblischen Zeiten in Israel: Emmaus (Moza / Colonia) |first= Carsten Peter |last= Thiede |author-link=Carsten Peter Thiede |publisher= Staatsunabhängige Theologische Hochschule Basel (STH) |access-date= 27 August 2005 |url-status= dead |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20050521164551/http://www.sthbasel.ch/downloads/Prospekt_Ausgrabung_2005.pdf |archive-date=May 21, 2005 }}{{cite book |first= Carsten Peter |last= Thiede |author-link= Carsten Peter Thiede |title= The Emmaus Mystery: Discovering Evidence for the Risen Christ |year= 2006 |publisher= Bloomsbury Academic |isbn=978-0-8264-8067-5 |url={{google books|b0edm6i-8QwC|plainurl=yes}} |quote=… the biblical history of Moza, the Christian history of Emmaus, and the Jewish history of the Mishnaic period met at this site. |page=[{{google books|b0edm6i-8QwC|page=184|plainurl=yes}} 184] |via= Google Books }} 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.{{cite web |title= Lokalisierung des neutestamentlichen Emmaus |website= Geistige Nahrung Dein Forum |url= http://www.geistigenahrung.org/ftopic10290.html |trans-title= Identification of New Testament-era Emmaus |language= de |access-date= 2015-04-12 |archive-date= 2015-09-24 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20150924021243/http://www.geistigenahrung.org/ftopic10290.html |url-status= dead }}

Josephus Flavius writes in Antiquities of the Jews about a city called Emmaus in the context of the Maccabean Revolt, which corresponds well with the large city later called Emmaus Nicopolis, located at over 170 Roman stadia from Jerusalem, while in The Jewish War he brings up another Emmaus, just 30 Roman stadia from Jerusalem, where Vespasian settled 800 Roman legionnaires after the First Jewish Revolt.{{cite wikisource |plaintitle=The Jewish War |volume=7 |wslink=The War of the Jews/Book VII |chapter=Chapter 6 |author=Josephus |translator=William Whiston |at=Paragraph 6}} The ancient Latin manuscripts use "Amassa", while the medieval Greek manuscripts use "Ammaous".{{citation needed|date=April 2015}} The newly created Roman "colonia" soon made the old name disappear: even the Jewish works of the 3rd-5th centuries, the Mishnah, the Babylonian and the Jerusalem Talmud, talk about "Qeloniya", an Aramaic distortion of "colonia". This name survived into modern times in Arabic as "Qalunya". This was indeed always a village, not a city like Emmaus Nicopolis, and thus fits the description by Luke (κωμη "village") much better than the latter. The difference in distance to Jerusalem between Luke's and Josephus' Emmaus, 60 vs. 30 stadia, is still much smaller than the one to Nicopolis, which lays fully 176 stadia down the Roman road from Jerusalem. Thiede recalculated the actual distance between Jerusalem's western city gate at the time, and his excavation site at Motza which unearthed the Jewish village that predated the Roman veterans colony, and came up with a figure of 46 stadia. That would put it squarely in the middle between Luke's and Josephus' stated distances, which Thiede considers a good approximation for the time. Thiede's excavation produced Jewish artifacts of the time preceding the fall of Jerusalem in 70 CE, giving substance to his claim to have found Luke's Emmaus, which had necessarily to be settled by Jews. With no other Emmaus in the vicinity of Jerusalem, Motza was thus the only credible candidate.

{{Main|Horvat 'Eqed}}

Horvat 'Eqed, situated on a hilltop 2 km east of Emmaus Nicopolis, is a recent candidate for the site of ancient Emmaus. This archaeological site features significant fortifications dating back to the second century BC, potentially attributed to the Seleucid general Bacchides and reinforced during the Bar Kokhba revolt, in the early 2nd century AD.{{Cite journal |last=Gichon |first=M. |year=1981 |title=Kh. 'Aqd |journal=Hadashot Arkheologiyot |volume=76 |pages=28}} Discoveries at the site include ritual baths, a hiding system used during the revolt, as well as various artifacts like Bar Kokhba coinage and weaponry.{{Cite journal |last=Gichon |first=Mordechai |last2=Vitale |first2=Michaela |date=1991 |title=Arrow-Heads from Ḥorvat 'Eqed |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/27926234 |journal=Israel Exploration Journal |volume=41 |issue=4 |pages=242–257 |issn=0021-2059}}

According to one theory, Emmaus was originally located at Horvat 'Eqed during the Hellenistic and early Roman periods, and was later abandoned in the aftermath of the Bar Kokhba revolt. The name Emmaus later transferred to the site of Emmaus Nicopolis, where the city was located in the Roman and Byzantine periods.

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.See {{Bibleverse|Genesis|28:10-19}}. 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,{{cite book |first=Jenny |last=Read-Heimerdinger |date=1999 |chapter=Where is Emmaus? Clues in the Text of Luke 24 in Codex Bezae |title=Studies in the Early Text of the Gospels and Acts |editor-first=D.G.K. |editor-last=Taylor |publisher=Birmingham University Press |oclc=464435795 |isbn=978-1-902459-03-5 |url={{google books|XxJJGf1eBhgC|plainurl=yes}} |pages=229–44 |chapter-url={{google books|XxJJGf1eBhgC|page=229|plainurl=yes}} |via=Google Books }}{{cite journal |first1=Jenny |last1=Read-Heimerdinger |first2=Josep |last2=Rius-Camps |date=2002 |title=Emmaous or Oulammaous? Luke's Use of the Jewish Scriptures in the Text of Luke 24 in Codex Bezae |journal=Revista Catalana de Teologia |volume=27 |issue=1 |pages=23–42 |url=http://www.raco.cat/index.php/RevistaTeologia/article/view/71224 |via=Revistes Catalanes amb Accés Obert (RACO) }} 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.

Emmaus, Pennsylvania, a township in the Lehigh Valley region of the United States, draws its name from the Biblical references to Emmaus.

• Rabbi Akiva{{rp|[{{google books|b0edm6i-8QwC|page=58|plainurl=yes}} 58]}}

• Aelia Capitolina
• Battle of Emmaus
• Caesarea Maritima
• Emmaus (charity)
• Gezer
• Horvat 'Eqed
• Imwas
• Post-resurrection appearances of Jesus

{{reflist}}

• Duvignau, P. 1937. [https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=explorer&chrome=true&srcid=0B1usmE8wNlGaOWU5NWE0MzUtM2MzYS00NTQ1LWI2ODItNDU0OTJjMDU5MGI4&hl=en_US Emmaüs, le site – le mystère], Paris,
• Fleckenstein, K.-H., M. Louhivuori, R. Riesner, "Emmaus in Judäa", Giessen-Basel, 2003.{{ISBN|3-7655-9811-9}}.
• {{cite book|title= Evangile selon Saint Luc|url=https://archive.org/details/evangileselonsai00lagruoft|first1=Marie-Joseph|last1=Lagrange|author-link1=Marie-Joseph Lagrange |year=1921|location=Paris|publisher=Libraire Victor Lecoffre}}
• Michel, V., "Le complexe ecclésiastique d'Emmaüs-Nicopolis", Paris, Sorbonne,1996–1997, pro manuscripto.
• {{cite book|last1=Robinson|first1=Edward|author-link1=Edward Robinson (scholar)|last2=Smith|first2=Eli|author-link2=Eli Smith|year=1841|url=https://archive.org/details/biblicalresearc00smitgoog |title=Biblical Researches in Palestine, Mount Sinai and Arabia Petraea: A Journal of Travels in the year 1838| location=Boston|publisher=Crocker & Brewster|volume=2}}
• {{cite book|last1=Robinson|first1=Edward|author-link1=Edward Robinson (scholar)|last2=Smith|first2=Eli|author-link2=Eli Smith|year=1856|url=https://archive.org/details/laterbiblicalre01smitgoog |title=Later Biblical Researches in Palestine and adjacent regions: A Journal of Travels in the year 1852| location=London|publisher=John Murray}}
• {{cite journal | last = Schlatter | first =A.| author-link = Adolf Schlatter| title = Einige Ergebnisse aus Niese's Ausgabe des Josephus| journal = Zeitschrift des Deutschen Palästina-Vereins | volume = 19 | pages = [https://archive.org/stream/zeitschriftdesde19deut#page/n328/mode/1up 221]–231 | url =https://archive.org/details/zeitschriftdesde19deut | year = 1896}}
• {{cite book|title= 1967: Israel, the War, and the Year that Transformed the Middle East|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ggLatcD7gW4C|first1=Tom|last1=Segev|author-link1=Tom Segev |translator= Jessica Cohen |year=2007|isbn=978-0-8050-7057-6|publisher=Macmillan}}
• {{cite book |title= Corpus Inscriptionum Arabicarum Palaestinae, A |volume=1 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=j1rSzWgHMjoC |first1= Moshe |last1=Sharon |author-link1= Moshe Sharon |year=1997 |publisher= BRILL |isbn= 90-04-10833-5}}
• {{cite book|title=Emmaüs, Sa Basilique Et Son Histoire|volume= 1|url=https://archive.org/details/VincentEtAbelEmmausSaBasiliqueEtSonHistoire |first1=Louis-Hugues|last1=Vincent|author-link1=Louis-Hugues Vincent|first2=Félix-Marie|last2=Abel|author-link2=Félix-Marie Abel |year=1932|location=Paris|language=fr}}

{{Commons category-inline}}

• [http://www.emmaus-nicopolis.org Emmaus Nicopolis, official site]
• [http://www.omnesviae.org/#!iter_Jerusalem_Emmaus Omnes Viae: From Jerusalem to Emmaus on the Peutinger Map]

{{Roman colonies in ancient Levant}}

{{Villages destroyed during the Bar Kokhba revolt}}

{{New Testament places associated with Jesus}}

{{Authority control}}

{{coord|31.8393|N|34.9895|E|source:wikidata|display=title}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Emmaus}}

Category:New Testament cities

Category:Ancient Jewish settlements of Judaea

Category:Archaeological sites in the West Bank

Category:Hellenistic Jewish history

Category:Former populated places in West Asia

Category:Palestine in the Roman era

Category:Hellenistic fortifications