Field of Blood - First Century Jerusalem

Hakeldama, the Field of Blood where Judas hung himself.

Called at present "Hak ed-damm," it signifies "Field of Blood" (Matt 27:8; Acts 1:18-19), now at the E end and on the southern slope of the valley of Hinnom. The tradition that fixes this spot reaches back to the age of Jerome. Once the tradition was that the soil of this spot, a deep pit or cellar, was believed to have the power of consuming dead bodies in the space of twenty-four hours, so that whole shiploads of it are said to have been carried away in A.D. 1218 AD, in order to cover the famous Campo Santo in Pisa.

Acts 1:18-19 "Now this man purchased a field with the wages of iniquity; and falling headlong, he burst open in the middle and all his entrails gushed out. And it became known to all those dwelling in Jerusalem; so that field is called in their own language, Akel Dama, that is, Field of Blood."