Three Taverns

THREE TAVERNS (Lat. Tres Tabernae). This village, which may be translated “Three Shops,” was a stopping place on the Via Appia, some thirty-three miles (fifty-five km.) from Rome, at the junction of the road from Antium, near modern Cisterna. It was a place of some importance (Acts.28.15; Cic. Ad Att. 2:12).

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TAVERNS, THREE. See Three Taverns.

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THREE TAVERNS (Τρέι̂ς Ταβέρναι, Three Shops). The name is a mistranslation of the Lat. designation of a staging post on the Via Appia, thirty-three m. from Rome. It should be rendered “Three Shops.” It stands at the junction of the Appian Way and the sideroad to Antium, near the modern town of Cisterna. It owed its importance to the fact that it was one day’s journey from Rome for fast travelers proceeding S from the city to Brundisium, the port for Greece and intermediate places (Acts 28:15; Cicero, Ad Att. 2:12). Representatives of the Rom. Christian community met Paul’s party here.

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (1915)

tav’-ernz: Three Taverns (Latin Tres Tabernae, Greek transliterates treis tabernai; Cicero Ad Att. i.13; ii.12, 13) was a station on the Appian Road at the 33rd milestone (301/3 English miles from Rome), according to the Itineraries of the Roman Empire (Itin. Ant. vii; Tab. Peut.; Geogr. Rav. iv.34), a converging point of traffic at the crossing of a road from Antium to Norba. Tripontium, 6 miles down the Appian Road in the direction of Appii Forum, was reckoned as the point where the highway entered the region of the Pontiac marshes, the most notable natural feature of this part of Italy.

Parties of the Christian brethren in Rome went out to greet the apostle Paul when news was brought that he had arrived at Puteoli, one group proceeding as far as Appii Forum, while another awaited his coming at Three Taverns (Ac 28:15).

George H. Allen