ANTIPATRIS

(An·tipʹa·tris) [belonging to Antipater].

A city rebuilt by Herod the Great in 9 B.C.E. and named after his father Antipater. It is identified with Ras el-ʽAin in a well-watered and fertile section of the Plain of Sharon. It was here that the main body of the Roman army escort conducted Paul, traveling some forty miles (64 kilometers) down the mountains from Jerusalem by night. (Acts 23:31) The place lay at the junction of the Roman military roads leading from Jerusalem and Lydda respectively to the Roman capital of Caesarea. From Antipatris the seventy cavalrymen took Paul the remaining distance of some twenty-five miles (40 kilometers) across the plain to Caesarea.

Antipatris is believed to be the location of the earlier city of Aphek, mentioned at 1 Samuel 4:1. Excavations conducted there in 1946 appear to confirm this.—See APHEK No. 3.

ANTONIA, CASTLE OF

A fortified structure in Jerusalem serving both as an official residence of Roman procurators and as a soldiers’ quarters. According to Josephus it had apartments, baths, barracks and courtyards.

The Castle of Antonia was situated at the NW corner of the temple court and evidently occupied the site where Nehemiah earlier had constructed the Castle or fortress mentioned at Nehemiah 2:8. Herod the Great did extensive and costly repair work on it and increased its fortifications. Previously known as the Baris, Herod named it Antonia in honor of Mark Antony. As the Jewish high priest and ruler John Hyrcanus had done before him, Herod had the priestly garments kept there, apparently as a means of maintaining a certain check or control on the high priest.

The fortress was built on a rocky eminence about seventy-three feet (22.3 meters) high. It had stone walls more than fifty-eight feet (17.8 meters) high and four corner towers, three of them about seventy-three feet (22.3 meters) high and the other, at the SE corner overlooking the whole temple area, over a hundred feet (31.2 meters) high. Prior to Herod’s time the fortress served primarily against incursions from the N, but thereafter it mainly served as a point of control over the Jews and a means of policing the activities in the temple area, to which there was direct access from the fortress.

The square layout of the fortress would indicate that it had a central court. Some believe that it was in such a central court within this castle that Jesus appeared before Pilate for judgment. (John 19:13) A stone pavement found in this area is suggested, therefore, to be that referred to as “Gabbatha.” Others, however, believe that Jesus’ judgment by Pilate took place before Herod’s palace.

A more certain reference to the Castle of Antonia is that recorded in the account at Acts 21:30-40 and 22:24. Paul appears to have delivered his defense and witness to a religious mob from the steps of the fortress and thereafter was taken into the soldiers’ quarters for examining. Probably Paul was returned to this place after his stormy session with the Sanhedrin and was here when his nephew came to warn him of the conspiracy against his life.—Acts 23:10, 16.

The Castle of Antonia came to final ruin when it was destroyed along with the temple and city by Roman General Titus in 70 C.E.

ANUB

(Aʹnub) [perhaps, joined together].

A descendant of Judah and son of Koz.—1 Chron. 4:1, 8.

APE

[Heb., qohph, linked with the Sanskrit kapi and the Egyptian gif].

Apes and peacocks were imported by King Solomon. (1 Ki. 10:22; 2 Chron. 9:21) One suggestion is that the apes were a species of longtailed monkey referred to by ancient writers as being native to Ethiopia. The fact that the Hebrew word qohph may derive from the Sanskrit word kapi and that peacocks are considered to be native to SE Asia has given rise to the conclusion that the apes were brought by Solomon’s fleet from India or Ceylon. However, the imported items need not necessarily have come directly from the country of origin nor from the same land, in view of the indications that commercial intercourse existed between India and Africa even before Solomon’s time.—See PEACOCK; TARSHISH No. 1; OPHIR.

APELLES

(A·pelʹles) [from the Lat., appello, I call].

A Christian in the congregation at Rome to whom Paul sent greetings as “the approved one in Christ.”—Rom. 16:10; compare 2 Corinthians 10:18; 2 Timothy 2:15.

APHEK

(Aʹphek) [fortress].

1. A town evidently N of Sidon mentioned to Joshua by Jehovah as among the places yet to be conquered. (Josh. 13:4) It is presently identified with Aphaca (modern Afqa) about twenty-three miles (37 kilometers) NE of Beirut. It lies at the source of the Nahr Ibrahim, anciently known as the river Adonis, which flows down to Byblos on the Mediterranean coast.

2. A town within the territory of Asher but which the tribe was unsuccessful in possessing. (Josh. 19:24, 30) It is called “Aphik” at Judges 1:31. A suggested identification is Tell Kurdaneh, about six miles (9.7 kilometers) S-SE of Acco.

3. A city that, on the basis of the cities mentioned with it, was evidently in the Plain Of Sharon. Its king was among those slain by Joshua. (Josh. 12:18) Centuries later, but prior to Saul’s kingship, the Philistines encamped here before their victory over Israel, drawn up at nearby Ebenezer. (1 Sam. 4:1) Its location is considered to be at Ras el-ʽAin at the source of the Yarkon River.· At this site the town of Antipatris, mentioned at Acts 23:31, was later built. Josephus (Wars of the Jews, Book II, chap. XIX, par. 1) mentions an “Aphek” in connection with Antipatris. Shiloh, from which the Israelites brought the ark of the covenant, is about twenty miles (32 kilometers) distant.

4. A town apparently located in the Plain of Jezreel between the towns of Shunem and Jezreel. In the battle between the Philistines and the Israelites that resulted in King Saul’s death, the original position of the Philistines was at Shunem, while the Israelites took a position on Mount Gilboa. (1 Sam. 28:4) The account thereafter indicates that the Philistines advanced to Aphek while Israel descended to the spring at Jezreel. At Aphek the axis lords of the Philistines now reviewed their marshaled forces and discovered David and his men accompanying Achish in the rear. David’s forces were ordered to leave on the following morning and then the Philistines advanced to the battle site at Jezreel. (1 Sam. 29:1-11) From there they pushed the defeated Israelites back up into Mount Gilboa, where the slaughter was completed and Saul and his three sons died.—1 Sam. 31:1-8.

This Aphek may be the same location mentioned at 1 Kings 20:26 as the site of the defeat of the Syrian Ben-hadad. The retreating Syrians pulled back to the city, only to have its wall fall upon twenty-seven thousand of them. (1 Ki. 20:29, 30) It likewise seems to be the place prophetically indicated to King Jehoash by the dying prophet Elisha as the point where the Syrians would suffer future defeats at the hands of Israelites. (2 Ki. 13:17-19) Some authorities, however, would place the Aphek mentioned in these texts as lying in Transjordan about three miles (5 kilometers) E of the Sea of Galilee, where the modern village of Afik or Fik is found.

APHEKAH

(A·pheʹkah) [strong place, fortress].

A city in the mountainous region of southern Judah, mentioned as in the neighborhood of Hebron. (Josh. 15:48, 53)