ACELDAMA (AKELDAMA, R. V.), land (originally a potter's field) said in Matthew to have been bought by the priests for a burial ground for strangers with the money which was returned by Judas, and could not be put into the treasury "because it was the price of blood," Aramaic w' "the field of blood," Acts i. 19 ; cf. Matt. xxvii. 8. Acts ascribes its purchase to Judas himself, perhaps by mere compression. Manuscript authority gives AKEL DAMACH ('AKfXba/26.x, Westcott and Hort) "the field of thy blood," which is unsuitable. Klostermann's suggestion Probleme im Aposteltexte (1883, pp. r-8), "the field of sleep" (dmak, "he slept," used especially of sleep in death, e.g., Targum of Job. iii. 12, Syr.: dmaka, "sleep") is very attractive, suggesting "ceme tery," and although there is no other example of such a Jewish title the figure is old (Dan. xii. 2). If so, Akeldama will be only the popular, perhaps Christian, nickname. In any case Acts i. 19 can hardly be as early as St. Peter's speech in which it is incorporated. No plausible explanation is given for "ch" being added to Akel dama, and there is only one exactly parallel case, the mysterious Sirach for Sira (Ecclus. L. 27 [29] ). Tradition from the fourth century places the plot on the Hill of Evil Counsel—"a little level plot overhanging the valley of Hinnom." . . . The potters prob ably "had here a cave in which their work was carried on." (See Schick, P E F Q. 1892, pp. 283-289.) (A. L. W.)