Amathus
Amathus
Name of two titular sees, one in Syria, suffragan of Apameia, with an episcopal list known from 449 to 536; the other on the southern coast of Cyprus, whose episcopal list reaches from the fourth century to 787. The latter place was one of the most ancient Phœnician settlements on the island, and long maintained the customs and character of an Oriental town. It was famous for the worship of Aphrodite and Adonis, also of the Tyrian god Melkart. The great wheat-fields and rich mines of the Cypriot city were celebrated in antiquity (Ovid, Met.. X, 220).
———————————–
SMITH, Dict. of Greek and Roman Geogr., I, 118; MAS LATRIE, Trésor de chronol, (Paris, 1895), 1894.
Transcribed by W.S. French, Jr.
The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume ICopyright © 1907 by Robert Appleton CompanyOnline Edition Copyright © 2003 by K. KnightNihil Obstat, March 1, 1907. Remy Lafort, S.T.D., CensorImprimatur. +John Cardinal Farley, Archbishop of New York
Fuente: Catholic Encyclopedia
Amathus
(, – , also ), a strongly-fortified town beyond the Jordan, which Eusebius and Jerome (Onomast. s.v. AEtham) place twenty-one Roman miles south of Pella. It was taken by Alexander Jannaeus (Josephus, War, 1, 4, 3; Ant. 13, 13, 3), and its importance is shown by the fact that Gabinius made it the seat of one of the five jurisdictions () into which he divided the country (Ant. 14, 5, 4; War, 1, 8, 5). Josephus elsewhere (Ant. 17, 10, 6) mentions that a palace was burnt at Amatha (q.v.) on the Jordan, which was probably the same place. It is mentioned as the seat of a Christian bishopric at the Council of Chalcedon (Concil. 4, 118). Reland (Paloest. p. 559 sq.) thinks it is mentioned in the Talmud by the name of Amathu (), and that it may be the same with Ramoth-Gilead. Burckhardt passed the ruins of an ancient city standing on the declivity of the mountain, called Amata, near the Jordan, and a little to the north of the Zerka or Jabbok; and was told that several columns remain standing, and also some large buildings (Travels, p. 346). This is doubtless the site (Van de Velde, Memoir, p. 284), although not quite so far south as the Onomasticon would make it (Raumer, Palast. p. 213).