ANTIPATRIS

(An·tipʹa·tris) [Of (Belonging to) Antipater].

A city rebuilt by Herod the Great in 9 B.C.E. and named after his father Antipater (II). It is identified with Ras el-ʽAin (Tel Afeq) in a well-watered and fertile section of the Plain of Sharon. Antipatris is believed to have been the location of the earlier city of Aphek, mentioned at 1 Samuel 4:1. Excavations conducted there in 1946, 1961, and 1974 appear to confirm this.​—See APHEK No. 3.

It was to here that the main body of the Roman army escort conducted Paul, traveling some 50 km (30 mi) down the mountains from Jerusalem by night. (Ac 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 70 cavalrymen took Paul the remaining distance of some 40 km (25 mi) across the plain to Caesarea.