Arimathea ( grc-gre, ‘Αριμαθέα) or Harimathaea (, ''Harimathaía'') was a city of Judea. It was the reported home of

Joseph of Arimathea Joseph of Arimathea was, according to all four canonical gospels, the man who assumed responsibility for the burial of Jesus after his crucifixion. The historical location of Arimathea is uncertain, although it has been identified with several ...

, who appears in all four Gospel accounts of the Passion for having donated his new tomb outside Jerusalem to receive the body of Jesus.

Identification

Roman era

The historian Eusebius of

Caesarea Caesarea () ( he, קֵיסָרְיָה, ), ''Keysariya'' or ''Qesarya'', often simplified to Keisarya, and Qaysaria, is an affluent town in north-central Israel, which inherits its name and much of its territory from the ancient city of Caesare ...

, in his ''

Onomasticon Onomasticon may refer to: *Onomasticon (Eusebius) * Onomasticon of Amenope *Onomasticon of Joan Coromines *Onomasticon of Julius Pollux Julius Pollux ( el, Ἰούλιος Πολυδεύκης, ''Ioulios Polydeukes''; fl. 2nd century) was a Greek ...

'' (144:28-29), identified it with Ramathaim-Zophim and wrote that it was near Diospolis (now Lod). Ramathaim-Zophim was a town in Ephraim, the birthplace of Samuel, where David came to him (

First Book of Samuel The Book of Samuel (, ''Sefer Shmuel'') is a book in the Hebrew Bible, found as two books (1–2 Samuel) in the Old Testament. The book is part of the narrative history of Ancient Israel called the Deuteronomistic history, a series of books (Joshu ...

, ). He briefly describes it as follows:

Armthem Seipha (Sofim). City of Elcana and Samuel. It is situated (in the region of Thamna) near Diospolis. The home of Joseph who was from Arimathea in the Gospels.

Scholars of the

have identified the Greek Arimathea as deriving from the ancient

Hebrew Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...

place name transliterated into Greek, as the older Hebrew place name "Ramathaim Sophim" attested in the Hebrew Bible (in addition to 1 Maccabees 11:34) was rendered into Greek in the ancient Septuagint as ''Armathaim Sipha'' ().

Byzantine era

The town of Arimathea or Armathema (, ''Harmathemē'') appears on the 6th-century Madaba Map. Casanowicz argues for its identification with Beit Rima, now

Bani Zeid Bani Zeid ( ar, بني زيد) is a Palestinian town in the Ramallah and al-Bireh Governorate in the north-central West Bank, located northwest of Ramallah, about 45 kilometers northwest of Jerusalem and about southwest of Salfit. A town of ov ...

in the West Bank.

Crusader period

The Crusaders seem to have identified Ramla, a medieval town founded around 705–715 by the Umayyads on land in what had once been the allotment of

Dan Dan or DAN may refer to: People * Dan (name), including a list of people with the name ** Dan (king), several kings of Denmark * Dan people, an ethnic group located in West Africa **Dan language, a Mande language spoken primarily in Côte d'Ivoir ...

, with both Ramathaim and Arimathea.''Encyclopedia of Islam'', article "al-Ramla".

References

New Testament places Lost ancient cities and towns {{MEast-hist-stub