אמאוס ניקופוליס

Emmaus existed as a village in Palestine until 1967, located approximately 30 km west of Jerusalem, on the border between the mountains of Judea and the valley of Ayalon, not far from where the road from Jaffa to Jerusalem splits into two branches: northward through Beth-Horon and southwards, through Kiryat Yearim. Due to its strategic position, Emmaus played an important administrative, military and economic role in the region at certain points of its history. The first textual reference of Emmaus is found in the 1st Book of Maccabees, chapters 3-4, in the context of the war of Judas Maccabee against the Greeks (the 2nd c. BC)., see Hasmonean period.