Three Taverns

Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament

(τρεῖς ταβέρναι, representing the Lat. Tres Tabernae )

Three Taverns was a station on the Via Appia, and probably a village of some importance on account of the stream of traffic constantly flowing through it. Cicero ( ad Att . ii. 11) mentions it as the point where a branch road from Antium joined the Appian Way. Here St. Paul, who had landed at Puteoli and was proceeding to Rome, was met by a company of Christian brethren who had come from the capital to welcome him ( Acts 28:15). According to the Antonine Itinerary, the station was 10 Roman miles nearer Rome than Appii Forum (where the Apostle had already been met by Roman brethren), and 17 Roman miles from Aricia, which is known to have been 16 Roman miles south of Rome. Tres Tabernae probably stood about 3 miles from the modern Cisterna, on the road to Terracina, and very near the northern end of the Pontine Marshes.

Literature.-C. Baedeker, Southern Italy and Sicily 15, London, 1908, p. 12.

James Strahan.

Smith's Bible Dictionary

Three Taverns. A station on the Appian Road, along which St. Paul travelled, from Puteoli to Rome.  Acts 28:15. The distances, reckoning southward from Rome are given as follows in the Antonine Itinerary: "to Aricia, 16 miles; to Three Taverns, 17 miles; to Appii Forum, 10 miles;" and, comparing this with what is still observed along the line of road, we have no difficulty in coming to the conclusion that "Three Taverns" was near the modern Cisterna . Just at this point, a road came in from Antium, on the coast. There is no doubt that "Three Taverns" was a frequent meeting-place of travellers.

Fausset's Bible Dictionary

A village or Station where the brethren met Paul on his way to Rome ( Acts 28:15); so-called from there having been originally there three taverns; 33 miles from Rome according to the Antonine Itinerary. Near the present Cisterna . It must have cheered Paul to greet Christians who had come so far to meet him.

Holman Bible Dictionary

 Acts 28:15

Morrish Bible Dictionary

See TAVERNS.

Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature

Appii Forum appears to have been such another place. Horace mentions the latter, in describing his journey from Rome to Brundusium, as "differtum nautis, cauponibus atque malignis" stuffed with rank boatmen, and with vintners base ( Sat. 1, 5, 3). That the Three Taverns was nearer Rome than Appii Forum appears from the conclusion of one of Cicero's letters to Atticus (2, 10), which, when he is traveling south- eastwards from Antium to his seat near Formiae, he dates "Ab Appii Foro, hora quarta" from Appii Forum, at the fourth hour; and adds, "Dederam aliam paulo ante, Tribus Tabernis" (I wrote you another, a little while ago, from the Three Taverns). Just at this point a road came in from Antium on the coast, as we learn from the same letter of Cicero (Att. 2, 12). The Itinerary of Antoninus places Appii Forum at forty-three Roman miles from Rome, and the Three Taverns at thirty-three; and, comparing this with what is observed still along the line of road, we have no difficulty in coming to'the conclusion that the Three Taverns was near the modern Cisterna (see Smith, Dict. of Greek and Romans Geog. 2, 1226 b, 1291 b). In the 4th century there was a bishop of Three Taverns, named Felix (Optatus, lib. 1). It has been stated by some that the place still remains, and is called Tre Taverne. Thus, in Evelyn's time (1645), the remains were "yet very faite" (Diarie, 1, 134). -But recent travelers have been unable to find more. than a few unnamed remains on the spot indicated (Chaupy, Maison d'Horace, 3, 383; D'Anville, Analyse de D'Italie, p. 195; Westphal, Ronm. Kampagne, p. 69; Fleck, Wissenschaft. Reise, I, 1, 375). (See Appii Forum).