ARIMATHEA. — A city of Judea, the native place of Joseph (q.v.) of A. (Mt 27:57; Mk 15:43; Lk 23:51; Jn 19:38). On the basis of data from Eusebius and St Jerome (Onomasticon, 144, 28; ed. Klostermann, p. 32), it is today identified with Rentijeh (Rentis), 12 km northeast of Lydda, which is the Ramah (q.v.) of Samuel (1 Sam 1:1, 19; 2:11; 25:1) or Ramoth and Ramathaim. The Septuagint, transcribing even the Hebrew article, render it as Armathaim, hence the Arimathaea (see Gospels).
In the Middle Ages there was at Rentis an abbey of St Joseph of A., the remains of which have recently been discovered.
The identification of A. with Ramleh (4 km southwest of Lydda), once in vogue (cf. V. Guérin, B. Meistermann), is now being abandoned.
BIBL.: G. Dalman, in Palästina-Jahrbuch, 9 (1913), p. 37; F.-M. Abel, Géographie de la Palestine, II, Paris 1938, pp. 428 ff.; L. Heidet, s.V. in DB, I, cols. 958–61, and V, cols. 941–51; id., s.V. in DB, I, cols. 613–19 (abandons the identification of A. with Ramleh, previously upheld, and argues with solid proofs for identification with Rentis).