The New Testament refers to Arimathea simply as “a city of Judea” (or in some modern English translation, “city of the Jews”). The Bible actually speaks little of the town, but it is significant as the birthplace of a wealthy man named Joseph, who owned the tomb where Jesus was laid to rest (Matthew 27:57-60).
Many archaeologists place ancient Arimathea as the same area as Ramathaim in Ephraim, where the prophet Samuel was born:
“They rose early in the morning and worshiped before the Lord; then they went back to their house at Ramah. And Elkanah knew Hannah his wife, and the Lord remembered her. And in due time Hannah conceived and bore a son, and she called his name Samuel, for she said, “I have asked for him from the Lord” (I. Samuel 1:19-20).
This would make it more or less equivalent to the present day Rentis, although others prefer to associate it with Rama in Benjamin or with Ramleh. Because of the preponderance of tombs of wealthy Arimathea families, it’s been speculated that this village was something of a “wealthy suburb” of the time. Still, no person who lived there was ever destined to give the city the historical prominence that Joseph did, when he humbly invited the disciples of Jesus to have their Teacher’s body placed in his own family crypt.