Antipatris
Antip'atris (Α᾿ντιπατρίς, from Ant.pater; in the Talmud אנטיפטרס, see Lightfoot, Hor. Ileb. p. 109 sq.), a city built by Herod the Great, in honor of his father (Josephus, Ant. 16, 5, 2; War, 1, 21, 9), on the site of a former place called
Caphar-saba (Xαβαρζαβᾶ or Καφαρσαβᾶ, Josephus, Ant. 13, 15, 1; 16:5, 2). The spot (according to Ptolemy, lat. 32°, long. 66° 20') was well watered and fertile; a stream flowed round the city, and in its neighborhood were groves of large trees (Josephus, Ant. 16, 5, 2; War, 1, 21, 9). Caphar- saba was 120 stadia from Joppa; and between the two places Alexander Balas drew a trench, with a wall and wooden towers, as a defense against the approach of Antiochus (Josephus, Ant. 13, 15, 1; War, 1, 4, 7). Antipatris also lay between Caesarea and Lydda (Itin. Hieros. p. 600). It was not exactly on the sea (Schleusner, Lex. s.v.), but full two miles inland (Josephus, War, 4, 8, 1) on the road leading to Galilee (Mishna, Gattin, 7, 7; comp. Reland, Palest. p. 409, 417, 444). These eircumstances indicate that Antipatris was in the midst of a plain, and not at A rsuf, where the Crusaders supposed they had found it (Will. Tyr. 9:19; 14:16; Vitracus, c. 23; Brocard, c. 10; comp. Reland, Palast. p. 569, 570). On the road from Ramlah to Nazareth, north of Ras el-Ain, Prokesch (Reise ins Heilige Land, Wien, 1831) came to a place called Kaffir Saba; and the position which Berghaus assigns to this town in his map is almost in exact agreement with the position assigned to Antipatris in the Itin. Hieros. Perceiving this, Raumer (Palistina, p. 144, 462) happily conjectured that this Kefr Saba was no other than the reproduced name of Caphar-saba, which, as in many other instances, has again supplanted the foreign, arbitrary, and later name of Antipatris (comp. the Hall. Lit. — Zeit. 1845, No. 230). This conjecture has been confirmed by Dr. Robinson, who gives Kefr Saba as the name of the village in question (Researches, 3, 46-48; see also later ed. of Researches, 3, 138, 139; and Biblioth. Sac. 1853, p. 528 sq.). Paul was brought from Jerusalem to Antipatris by night, on his route to Caesarea (Ac 23:31; comp. Thomson's Land and Book, 1, 258). Dr. Robinson was of opinion, when he published his first edition, that the road which the soldiers took on this occasion led from Jerusalem to Caesarea by the pass of Beth-Horon, and by Lydda or Diospolis. This is the route which was followed by Cestius Gallus, as mentioned by Josephus (War, 2, 19, 1), and it appears to be identical with that given in the Jerusalem Itinerary, accordinr to which Antipatris is 42 miles from Jerusalem, and 26 from Caesarea. Even on this supposition it would have been quite possible for troops leaving Jerusalem on the evening of one day to reach Caesarea on the next, and to start thence, after a rest, to return to (it is not said that they arrived at) their quarters at Jerusalem before nightfall. But the difficulty is entirely removed by Dr. Smith's discovery of a much shorter road, leading by Gophna direct to Antipatris. On this route he met the Roman pavement again and again, and indeed says "he does not remember observing anywhere before so extensive remains of a Roman road" (Biblioth. Sac. 1843, p. 478-498). Van de Velde, however (Memoir, p. 285 sq.), contends that the position of Mejdel Yaba corresponds better to that of Antipatris. In the time of Jerome (Epitaph. Paulce, 108) it was a halfruined town. Antipatris, during the Roman era, appears to have been a place of considerable military importance (Josephus, War, 4, 8, 1). Vespasian, while engaged in prosecuting the Jewish war, halted at Antipatris two days before he resumed his career of desolation by burning, destroying, and laying waste the cities and villages in his way (see Conybeare and Howson, Life and Epistles of St. Paul, 2, 269). This city is supposed (by Calmet, s.v.) to have been the same with Capharsaloma (or Capharsaroma, perhaps also Caparsemelia; see Reland, Palest. p. 690, 691), where a battle was fought in the reign of Demeῥtrius between Nicanor, a man who was an implacable enemy of the Jews, and Judas Maccabaeus, when five thousand of Nicanor's army were slain, and the rest saved themselves by flight (1 Maccabees 7:26-32).
