For centuries scholars have tried to work out where Emmaus was: where, in other words, the risen Christ walked, ate and revealed himself. It is a crucial location in the map of Christian belief, and one of the great missing links of Christian archaeology, which has foxed excavators and biblical detectives for more than a millennium-and-a-half. Where is the true site of the astonishing event recorded by St. Luke?
Three suggested sites have been put forward: Emmaus-Nicopolis, which is too far from Jerusalem to fit the story and was a regional capital rather than a village, Emmaus-Aby Gosh which the Crusaders believed to be the true site but was not called Emmaus in the first century AD and must be ruled out, and finally, Emmaus El Qubeibe which was favored by the Franciscans as the true site after the 15th century but again was not called Emmaus in the first century.
The trail went cold long ago, or so it seemed. Now Thiede has produced his most dramatic find to date. His work remains highly confidential and will cause a storm in the archaeological world when it is disclosed. The lost site of Emmaus is rising once again from the soil. Readers will be astonished by this extraordinary book.
