Bible Dictionary
Taverns, The three
The Three Taverns was a stopping place on the Appian Way near Rome. Christians from Rome met Paul there as he traveled toward the city.
Definition
The Three Taverns was a stopping place on the Appian Way near Rome. Its name more precisely means “three shops” and referred to a halting place for travelers and relays.
Biblical Usage
A group of Roman Christians met Paul at the Three Taverns as he traveled toward Rome. Their meeting encouraged him before he reached the city.
Historical Background
The site lay about eleven miles from Rome, where roads from Tusculum, Alba Longa, and Antium joined the Appian Way. The three establishments were described as a general store, a blacksmith’s shop, and a refreshment house.
Scripture References
Related Figures
Historical Bible Dictionaries
Easton's Bible Dictionary
A place on the great “Appian Way,” about 11 miles from Rome, designed for the reception of travellers, as the name indicates. Here Paul, on his way to Rome, was met by a band of Roman Christians (Acts 28:15). The “Tres Tabernae was the first mansio or mutatio, that is, halting-place for relays, from Rome, or the last on the way to the city. At this point three roads run into the Via Appia, that from Tusculum, that from Alba Longa, and that from Antium; so necessarily here would be a halting-place, which took its name from the three shops there, the general store, the blacksmith’s, and the refreshment-house...Tres Tabernae is translated as Three Taverns, but it more correctly means three shops” (Forbes’s Footsteps of St. Paul, p. 20).
Smith's Bible Dictionary
[Three Taverns TAVERNS]