EMMA´US
EMMA´US (
Ἐμμαούς).
1.
A village of Judaea mentioned by St. Luke (24.13), distant sixty furlongs from Jerusalem.
This is doubtless identical with the
Χώριον Ἀμμαούς of Josephus, which he says
Ἀπέχει τῶν Ἰεροσολύμων σταδίους ἑξήκοντα, in which Vespasian established a colony of 800 veterans. (
B. J. 7.6.6.)
A tradition, originating apparently in the 14th century, which has fixed its site at the village of
El-Khubeibeh, has no value whatever, and the distance does not coincide (Robinsoh,
B. R. vol. iii. pp. 65, 66).
A more ancient and consistent tradition, which still prevails among the Greeks, identifies it. with the village of
Kuriyat-el-Anûb, popularly called
Abn-Goosh, on the road between Jerusalem and Jaffa, about 1 1/2 hour from the former city.
The authenticity of this tradition is confirmed by the existence at the present day of a native village, on the road between Jerusalem and
Kuriyat-el-Anûb, named
Colonies or Kulonia, obviously deriving its name from the military colony established in the district of Ammaus by Vespasian.
It is still celebrated for its waters, as it was in the time of Julian, who attempted to stop the fountain on account of the miraculous virtues imputed to it. (Theophanes, cited by Reland,
Palaest. p. 759.)
It is often coinfounded with the following, as it is, indeed, by Theophanes.
2.
A city of Palaestine, about eight or ten miles from the former (with which it has been often confounded), still retaining its ancient name almost unchanged, being now called
Ammwus. In classic times it was designated Nicopolis, in commemoration, as is suggested, of the destruction of Jerusalem. (Willibald. ap. Reland, p. 760.)
It is frequently mentioned in the book of Maccabees, and by Josephus (cited in Reland, pp. 428, 429, 758, 759), and is joined with Lydda and Thamna. The Itinerarium Hierosolymitanum places it 22 Roman miles from Jerusalem; and St. Jerome accurately states its position, “ubi incipiunt montana Judaeae consurgere” (
Comment. in Daniel. xii.); but both he and colony and a Eusebius erroneously identify this city with the village mentioned by St. Luke. (
Epitaph. Paulae, and
de Locis Hebraicis, ad voc. Ἐμμαούς..) Pliny (
5.14) seems to make the same mistake, when he writes of it as a toparchy--“Fontibus irriguam Emmaum, Lyddam, Joppicam,” --a characteristic certainly more descriptive of the village of St. Luke than of the city Nicopolis, whose site is still marked by a village bearing the same name, and traces of ancient ruins, on the right hand, or north, of the road from Jerusalem to
Jaffa, in the immediate a vicinity of
Latrûn, the “Castellum boni Latronis” of the Crusades.
3.
（
Ἀμμαοῦς.) The name given by Josephus (
J. AJ 18.2.3,
B. J. 4.1.2) to the medicinal hot-springs of Tiberias, and which he interprets to mean “warm baths,” probably identifying the name with the Hebrew Hammath; which inclines Dr. Robinson to regard the ancient town of
[p. 1.825]Hammath of the tribe of Naphthali (
Josh. 19.35) as represented in these hot springs. (
B. Res. vol. iii. p. 260.) [
TIBERIAS] [
G.W]
