ARBELA ("Αρβηλα [τὰ]) of GALILEE. - A locality in northern Palestine stormed by the Syrian Bacchides (v.), who captured there many Jews who had taken refuge in it, at the beginning of the campaign in which Judas Maccabeus perished (1 Macc. 9:2). According to the indications of Flavius Josephus (Antiq. Iud., XII, 11, 1), it corresponds to present-day Hirbet Irbid, where the remains of the synagogue of A. are found, on a plateau overlooking the Wādi el-Hamām, west of Tiberias. The fertility of the "plain of 'Arbēl" (Pēšiqtā dē-R. Kahānā, 1148) was well known, a fertile countryside between Haṭṭīn and Irbid.

Opposite are the steep caves of Qal'at Ibn Ma'an, which seem to be identifiable with Masaloth (Heb. mēšilāth "steps") mentioned together with A. (1 Macc. 9:2). Herod had difficulty in subduing the brigands entrenched there (Flavius Josephus, Bell. Iud., I, 6, 2).

Bibliography5 works

BIBL.: V. Guérin, Description de la Palestine, III: Galilée, Paris 1880, p. 198 ff.; A. Legendre, s.v. in DB, I, coll. 884-86; H. Kohl and C. Watzinger, Antike Synagoges in Galilée, Leipzig 1916, pp. 59-70; F.-M. Abel, Géogr. de la Palestine, I, Paris 1933, pp. 410, 439 and pl. VI; II 1938, pp. 160, 176.

Antonino Romeo

@incollection{ec1_arbela_arbela_ta_di_galilea, author = {Romeo, Antonino}, title = {Arbela ("ΑΡΒΗΛΑ [ΤᾺ]) di Galilea}, booktitle = {Enciclopedia Cattolica}, volume = {I}, pages = {1773}, note = {Cited by column}, publisher = {Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico}, address = {Città del Vaticano}, year = {1948}, url = {https://azioneromana.com/article/arbela-arbela-ta-di-galilea} }

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Arbela (Ἀρβήλα [τὰ]) of Galilee

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