Akeldama is the Aramaic name for a place in Jerusalem associated with Judas Iscariot, one of the original twelve apostles of Jesus.
Akeldama
Aceldama: St. Onuphrius Monastery.
The monastery at Akeldama.
St. Onuphrius Monastery: close-up of the entrance. Above the doorway is a stone carving of St. Onuphrius bowing to an angel. Noticeable are his long beard, the fact that he is naked except for leaves around his loins and his legs.
Judas Iscariot was—according to Christianity's four canonical gospels—a first-century Jewish man who became a disciple and one of the original Twelve Apostles of Jesus Christ. Judas betrayed Jesus to the Sanhedrin in the Garden of Gethsemane by kissing him on the cheek and addressing him as "master" to reveal his identity in the darkness to the crowd who had come to arrest him. Like Brutus, his name is often used synonymously with betrayal or treason.
Judas Iscariot (right), retiring from the Last Supper, painting by Carl Bloch, late 19th century
The Kiss of Judas by Giotto di Bondone (between 1304 and 1306) depicts Judas's identifying kiss in the Garden of Gethsemane
Judas Iscariot (between 1886 and 1894) by James Tissot
Calling of the Apostles (1481) by Domenico Ghirlandaio
