ARIMATHEA. - A city of Judea, the homeland of the Sanhedrist Joseph (v.) of A. (Mt. 27:57; Mk. 15:43; Lk. 23:51; Jn. 19:38). On the basis of the data of Eusebius and St. Jerome (Onomasticon, 144, 28; ed. Klostermann, p. 32) it is today identified with Rentijah (Rentis), 12 km northeast of Lydda, which is the Ramah (v.) of Samuel (1 Sam. 1:1, 19; 2:11; 25:1) or Râmôth and Râmâthajim. The Septuagint, transcribing also the Hebrew article, renders Ἀρμαθαίμ, hence the Ἀρμαθαία of the Gospels. In the Middle Ages there was at Rentis an abbey of St. Joseph of A., remains of which have recently been discovered.

The identification of A. with Ramleh (4 km southwest of Lydda), formerly in vogue (V. Guérin, B. Meistermann), is being abandoned.

Bibliography4 works

BIBL.: G. Dalman, in Palästina-Jahrbuch, 9 (1913), p. 37; F.-M. Abel, Géographie de la Palestine, II, Paris 1938, p. 428 ff.; L. Heidet, s. v. in DB, I, coll. 958-61, and V, coll. 944-51; id., s. v. in DBs, I, coll. 613-19 (he abandons the identification of A. with Ramleh, which he had previously supported, and argues with solid proofs for the identification with Rentis).

Gaetano M. Perrella

@incollection{ec1_arimatea, author = {Perrella, Gaetano Maria}, title = {Arimatea}, booktitle = {Enciclopedia Cattolica}, volume = {I}, pages = {1899}, 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/arimatea} }

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Arimathea

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