Arimathea

Arimathea or Arimathaea (Ancient Greek: Ἀριμαθέα) or Harimathaea or Harimathea (Ἁριμαθαία, Harimathaía) was a purported city of Judea. It was the reported home of Joseph of Arimathea, who appears in all four Gospel accounts of the Passion for having donated his new tomb outside Jerusalem to receive the body of Jesus (see Matt. 27:57–59; Mark 15:42–45; Luke 23:50–53; John 19:38–40). There is no external evidence for the existence of Arimathea, and some scholars suggest that it may have been a literary device used in the Gospel narrative.

Identification

Roman era

The Christian apologist and historian Eusebius of Caesarea, in his Onomasticon (144:28–29), identified it with Ramathaim-Zophim and wrote that it was near Diospolis (now Lod). Ramathaim-Zophim was a town in Ephraim, the birthplace of Samuel, where David came to him (First Book of Samuel, 1 Sam. 1:1, 19). He briefly describes it as follows:

Armthem Seipha (Sofim). City of Elcana and Samuel. It is situated (in the region of Thamna) near Diospolis. The home of Joseph who was from Arimathea in the Gospels.

Scholars of the Onomasticon have identified the Greek Arimathea as deriving from the ancient Hebrew place name transliterated into Greek, as the old Hebrew place name Ramathaim-Zophim (Hebrew: רמתיים-צופים) attested in the Hebrew Bible (in addition to 1 Maccabees 11:34) was rendered into Greek in the ancient Septuagint as Armathaim Sipha (Αρμαθαιμ Σιφα).

Byzantine era

The town of Arimathea or Armathema (‘Αρμαθεμη, Harmathemē) appears on the 6th-century Madaba Map. Casanowicz argues for its identification with Beit Rima, now Bani Zeid in the West Bank.

Crusader period

The Crusaders seem to have identified Ramla with both Ramathaim and Arimathea. Ramla was a medieval town founded around 705–715 by the Umayyads, and located on land in what had once been the allotment of Dan.