Category:Aceldama

A*cel"da*ma, n. Etym: [Gr. okel damo the field of blood.]

Defn: The potter's field, said to have lain south of Jerusalem, purchased with the bribe which Judas took for betraying his Master, and therefore called the field of blood. Fig.: A field of bloodshed. The system of warfare. . . which had already converted immense tracts into one universal aceldama. De Quincey.

---excerpt from the Illustrated Bible Dictionary.

Aceldama - The name which the Jews gave in their proper tongue, i.e., in Aramaic, to the field which was purchased with the money which had been given to the betrayer of our Lord. The word means "field of blood." It was previously called "the potter's field" (Matthew 27:7, Matthew 27:8; Acts 1:19), and was appropriated as the burial-place for strangers. It lies on a narrow level terrace on the south face of the valley of Hinnom. Its modern name is Hak ed-damm.