Antipatris

Antipatris (an-tip-at-rece', Greek: Ἀντιπατρίς, also known as Tel Aphek, Tell Ras el-'Ain, Abu Butrus)^[1] was an ancient city built in the first century BC by Herod the Great, named in honor of his father, Antipater. It is located in Israel, about seven to eight miles from the coast, located on the Roman road between Caesarea Maritima and Jerusalem and on the headwaters of the Yarkon River. This site was visited by the early apostolic Christian Paul and mentioned in the biblical book Acts^[2] and is now occupied by an Arab village, called Kefr Saba.^[3] In 363 AD, Antipatris was destroyed by an earthquake.

History[edit]

Little overall history is known about this ancient site. It was constructed by Herod the Great in the first century BC, and named in honor of his father. Herod accordingly chose the location of Antipatris as near the Yarkon River because it had plentiful water encompassing it, it was located nearby a forest, and had very good soil for farming. According to the Jewish historian Josephus, the city was built on top of an older site that was known as Capharsaba/Chabarzaba.^[4] Another event known from ancient times regards that of Paul; accordingly, Paul was being persecuted by various Jews for the beliefs of Christianity he had held in the city of Caesarea Maritima. A Roman commander named Claudius Lysias, upon learning Paul was a Roman citizen, ordered that Paul be taken away from Caesarea Maritima to Antipatris before the governor Felix in order to give an account before his accusers of the events and problems that were going on. In the fourth century AD, an earthquake caused significant damage to the city.

See also[edit]

• Herod the Great
• Paul

References[edit]