The Life of Jesus in Harmony | Index

inn

INN (Heb. malon, a "lodging place"; the Gk. kataluma is used for an "inn," (Lk 2:7); or "guest room" as in (Mk 14:14; Lk 22:11). The word translated as inn means "loosing or untying," suggesting the releasing of animals upon arrival so they could rest.

Inns were usually primitive shelters or enclosures for travelers and their animals.

In the East hospitality was religiously observed, and therefore, in our sense of the term, inns were not known. Khans, or caravansaries, are the representatives of European inns and were only gradually established.

The origin of inns is unknown. Perhaps they were established at first by traders who regularly passed the same road. Now they are spread over the whole of the East, being found in cities, villages, and even the openhighway. They consist of large buildings of stone arranged in a square, which enclose a spacious court. They are frequently of two stories, the lower containing stores and vaults for goods and stalls for cattle, the upper being used for travelers. They also contain a well or a large reservoir.

It appears that houses of entertainment were sometimes, as in Egypt (Herodotus History 2:35), kept by prostitutes.