antipatris Summary and Overview

a city built by Herod the Great, and called by this name in honour of his father, Antipater. It lay between Caesarea and Lydda, two miles inland, on the great Roman road from Caesarea to Jerusalem. To this place Paul was brought by night (Acts 23:31) on his way to Caesarea, from which it was distant 28 miles. It is identified with the modern, Ras-el-Ain, where rise the springs of Aujeh, the largest springs in Israel.

(for his father), a town to which the soldiers conveyed St. Paul by night on their march. #Ac 23:31| Its ancient name was Capharsaba; and Herod, when he rebuilt the city, changed it to Antipatris, in honor of his father, Antipater. The village Kefr-Sabba still retains the ancient name of Antipatris.

ANTIP'ATRIS (for his father), a city built by Herod the Great in honor of his father, Antipater. It was on the road from Jerusalem to Caesarea, Acts 23:31, about 26 miles south-east of the latter and 10 miles north-east of Joppa, according to ancient authority. Some have located it at Kefr Saba, on the plain, 40 miles north-west of Jerusalem; Wilson and Conder place it at Kala'at Ras el 'Ain, ruins between Lydda and Caesarea, 30 miles south-east of the latter and 11 miles north-east of Joppa. The old Roman road from Jerusalem runs to this place, and thence to Caesarea. "One of the finest springs in the country is near." It did not seem probable to Wilson and Conder that any large town like Antipatris had been at Kefr Saba.

Acts 23:31. The station between Jerusalem and Caesarea where the soldiers left Paul, after their night march, in charge of the horsemen who were to take hint forward to Caesarea on the morrow. The old name was Capharsaba. The modern Arabic Kerr Saba does not exactly correspond to Antipatris; for Antipatris was 16 miles from Jaffa, Kefr Saba is only 14; Antipatris was well watered, Kefr Saba has no spring. Herod rebuilt it, and called it Antipatris from his father. It lay in a well watered and wooded plain, near a hilly ridge. The remains of the old Roman road by Gophna to Antipatris were discovered by Dr. Eli Smith. It reaches Ras-el-Ain by Jifneh and Tibueh, thence along the foot of the hills to Jiljulieh, Kalkilia, and Caesarea (Kaisariyeh). Ras el Ain is probably the true site. The crusaders' castle of Mirabel was built on the foundations of an older edifice; at its foot are the largest springs in Israel. The Roman road between Jerusalem and Caesarea strikes the plain immediately E. of Antipatris it is, as Josephus describes, in the plain, yet near the mountains. It lies near the nahr Aujeh (Aujeh river), at a point where by a ditch to the mountains the course of a hostile army might be stopped. Not so Kefr Saba. (See Josephus, Ant. 13:15, 1; 16:5, 2. B.J. 1:4, sec. 7.)