The name of a city of Palestine, situated seven or eight miles from the coast, in a fertile and well watered plain between Caesarea and Jerusalem, on the site of the former city Caphar-Saba. It was founded by Herod the Great, and called Antipatris, in honor of his father Antipater. This place was visited by Paul, Ac 23:31. An Arab village, called Kefr Saba, now occupies its site.

a city built by Herod the Great, and called by this name in honour of his father, Antipater. It lay between Caesarea and Lydda, two miles inland, on the great Roman road from Caesarea to Jerusalem. To this place Paul was brought by night (Ac 23:31) on his way to Caesarea, from which it was distant 28 miles. It is identified with the modern, Ras-el-Ain, where rise the springs of Aujeh, the largest springs in Palestine.

Ac 23:31. The station between Jerusalem and Caesarea where the soldiers left Paul, after their night march, in charge of the horsemen who were to take hint forward to Caesarea on the morrow. The old name was Capharsaba. The modern Arabic Kerr Saba does not exactly correspond to Antipatris; for Antipatris was 16 miles from Jaffa, Kefr Saba is only 14; Antipatris was well watered, Kefr Saba has no spring. Herod rebuilt it, and called it Antipatris from his father. It lay in a well watered and wooded plain, near a hilly ridge. The remains of the old Roman road by Gophna to Antipatris were discovered by Dr. Eli Smith. It reaches Ras-el-Ain by Jifneh and Tibueh, thence along the foot of the hills to Jiljulieh, Kalkilia, and Caesarea (Kaisariyeh).

Ras el Ain is probably the true site. The crusaders' castle of Mirabel was built on the foundations of an older edifice; at its foot are the largest springs in Palestine. The Roman road between Jerusalem and Caesarea strikes the plain immediately E. of Antipatris it is, as Josephus describes, in the plain, yet near the mountains. It lies near the nahr Aujeh (Aujeh river), at a point where by a ditch to the mountains the course of a hostile army might be stopped. Not so Kefr Saba. (See Josephus, Ant. 13:15, 1; 16:5, 2. B.J. 1:4, sec. 7.)

Hither St. Paul was conducted by night on the way from Jerusalem to C

Antipat'ris.

The town to which Paul was taken in the night from Jerusalem on his way to Caesarea. Ac 23:31. It was built by Herod the Great in a well-watered spot surrounded by a wood, and named after his father. At Ras el-Ain, 32 6' N, 34 56' E, are ruins which are held to mark the spot. This is 5 or 6 miles nearer Jerusalem than Kefr Saba, which some associate with Antipatris, because Josephus says it was called Kapharsaba before its name was altered by Herod. The former place being nearer to Jerusalem removes the difficulty that some have felt as to the distance of Antipatris being too far to reach in a night ; this reduces it to about 36 miles, and it would be even less by cross roads.

ANTIPATRIS, Ac 23:31, a town in Palestine, anciently called Caphar-Saba, according to Josephus; but named Antipatris by Herod the Great, in honour of his father Antipater. It was situated in a pleasant valley, near the mountains, in the way from Jerusalem to Caesarea. Josephus places it at about the distance of seventeen miles from Joppa. To this place St. Paul was brought in his way to the governor of Judea at Caesarea, Ac 23:31.