Library / Calmet's Dictionary of the Holy Bible, Complete and Unabridged

Volume I · E

Elymais

ELYMAIS, the capital city of the land of Elam, or of the ancient country of the Persians. The Scripture informs us, that Antiochus Epiphanes, having understood that there were very great treasures lodged in a Temple at Elymaïs, determined to go and plunder it; but the citizens of Elymaïs having intelligence of his resolution, made an insurrection, forced him out of the city, and obliged him to fly. The Author of the second book of Maccabees2 Macc. ix. 2. calls this city Persepolis, probably because formerly it was the capital of Persia; for we know from other accounts, that Persepolis and Elymaïs were two very different cities; the latter situated upon the Euleus, the former upon the Araxes. The Temple which Antiochus designed to pillage, was that of the Goddess Nannæa, according to the Author of the second book of Maccabees; or as Appian says, Venus; or as Polybius, Diodorus, Josephus, and St. Jerom say, Diana.

Read this article in its place on the printed pages

Preview of the quotation image

Drag across the words below to colour them in the picture.

To cite this page

Augustin Calmet, O.S.B., “Elymais,” in Calmet's Dictionary of the Holy Bible, Complete and Unabridged, English translation, Mind of the Church, https://mindofthechurch.com/works/calmet-dictionary/e/elymais/.

Receive the new translations

One email when a new work or note is published — nothing else, ever.