Gabbatha
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''Gabbatha'' () is the name of a place in
Jerusalem Jerusalem is a city in the Southern Levant, on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. It is one of the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest cities in the world, and ...
that is also referred to by the Greek name of (
Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...
). It is recorded in the gospels to be the place of the trial of
Jesus Jesus (AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ, Jesus of Nazareth, and many Names and titles of Jesus in the New Testament, other names and titles, was a 1st-century Jewish preacher and religious leader. He is the Jesus in Chris ...
before his
crucifixion Crucifixion is a method of capital punishment in which the condemned is tied or nailed to a large wooden cross, beam or stake and left to hang until eventual death. It was used as a punishment by the Achaemenid Empire, Persians, Ancient Carthag ...
 30/33 AD. The site of the Church of Ecce Homo is traditionally thought to be its location, but archaeological investigation has proven this unlikely.
Herod's Palace Herod’s Palace may refer to any of several palace-fortresses built (or rebuilt from previous fortresses) during the reign of Herod the Great, King of Judea from 37 BC to 4 BC. Mostly in ruins today, several have been excavated. * Herod's Palace ...
is a more likely location.


Etymology

(, from ‘stone’ and ‘covered’) occurs in the
Bible The Bible is a collection of religious texts that are central to Christianity and Judaism, and esteemed in other Abrahamic religions such as Islam. The Bible is an anthology (a compilation of texts of a variety of forms) originally writt ...
only once, in John 19:13. It states that
Pontius Pilate Pontius Pilate (; ) was the Roman administration of Judaea (AD 6–135), fifth governor of the Judaea (Roman province), Roman province of Judaea, serving under Emperor Tiberius from 26/27 to 36/37 AD. He is best known for being the official wh ...
"brought
Jesus Jesus (AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ, Jesus of Nazareth, and many Names and titles of Jesus in the New Testament, other names and titles, was a 1st-century Jewish preacher and religious leader. He is the Jesus in Chris ...
forth, and sat down in the judgment seat, in the place that is called Lithostrotos, and in Hebrew Gabbatha." The name "Gabbatha" is an Aramaic word (not Hebrew, despite John), Aramaic being the language commonly spoken at the time in
Judea Judea or Judaea (; ; , ; ) is a mountainous region of the Levant. Traditionally dominated by the city of Jerusalem, it is now part of Palestine and Israel. The name's usage is historic, having been used in antiquity and still into the pres ...
. It is not a mere translation of ''Lithostrotos'', which properly means the tessellated or mosaic pavement where the judgment seat stood, but which was extended to the place itself in front of Pilate's ''
praetorium The Latin term ''praetorium'' (also and ) originally identified the tent of a general within a Roman '' castrum'' (encampment), and derived from the title praetor, which identified a Roman magistrate.Smith, William. Dictionary of Greek and Roma ...
'', where that pavement was laid. This was proved by the practice of St. John, who elsewhere gives Aramaic names as distinctly belonging to places, not as mere translations of the Greek. This is proved also because ''Gabbatha'' is derived from a root meaning 'back' or 'elevation' – which refers not to the kind of pavement but to the elevation of the place in question. It thus appears that the two names "Lithostrotos" and "Gabbatha" were due to different characteristics of the spot where Pilate condemned Jesus to death. The Aramaic name was derived from the configuration of that spot, with the Greek name derived from the nature of its pavement.


Identification


Temple (outer court or nearby)

Commentators have made efforts to identify Gabbatha either with the outer court of the Temple, which is known to have been paved, or with the meeting-place of the Great
Sanhedrin The Sanhedrin (Hebrew and Middle Aramaic , a loanword from , 'assembly,' 'sitting together,' hence ' assembly' or 'council') was a Jewish legislative and judicial assembly of either 23 or 70 elders, existing at both a local and central level i ...
, which was half within, half without that Temple's outer court, or again with the ridge at the back of the House of the Lord; but these efforts cannot be considered as successful.


Antonia

Archaeological studies have confirmed that the Roman pavement at these two traditional stations was built by
Hadrian Hadrian ( ; ; 24 January 76 – 10 July 138) was Roman emperor from 117 to 138. Hadrian was born in Italica, close to modern Seville in Spain, an Italic peoples, Italic settlement in Hispania Baetica; his branch of the Aelia gens, Aelia '' ...
in the 2nd century AD as the flooring of the eastern
forum Forum or The Forum may refer to: Common uses *Forum (legal), designated space for public expression in the United States *Forum (Roman), open public space within a Roman city **Roman Forum, most famous example * Internet forum, discussion board ...
of
Aelia Capitolina Aelia Capitolina (Latin: ''Colonia Aelia Capitolina'' ɔˈloːni.a ˈae̯li.a kapɪtoːˈliːna was a Roman colony founded during the Roman emperor Hadrian's visit to Judaea in 129/130 CE. It was founded on the ruins of Jerusalem, which had b ...
. Benoit, Pierre, "The Archaeological Reconstruction of the Antonia Fortress", in ''Jerusalem Revealed'' (edited by
Yigael Yadin Yigael Yadin ( ; 20 March 1917 – 28 June 1984) was an Israeli archeologist, soldier and politician. He was the second Chief of Staff of the Israel Defense Forces and Deputy Prime Minister from 1977 to 1981. Biography Yigael Sukenik (later Y ...
), (1976).
Before Hadrian's changes, the area had been a large open-air pool of water, the
Struthion Pool The Struthion Pool, effectually translated from the Greek as 'Sparrow Pool' (Aramaic: אשווח צפרא) is a large cuboid cistern beneath the Convent of the Sisters of Zion in the Old City of Jerusalem, built by Herod the Great in the first c ...
mentioned by
Josephus Flavius Josephus (; , ; ), born Yosef ben Mattityahu (), was a Roman–Jewish historian and military leader. Best known for writing '' The Jewish War'', he was born in Jerusalem—then part of the Roman province of Judea—to a father of pr ...
. The pool still survives under
vaulting In architecture, a vault (French ''voûte'', from Italian ''volta'') is a self-supporting arched form, usually of stone or brick, serving to cover a space with a ceiling or roof. As in building an arch, a temporary support is needed while ring ...
added by Hadrian so that the forum could be built over it, and can be accessed from the portion of Roman paving under the
Convent of the Sisters of Zion The Convent of the Sisters of Zion is a Roman Catholic convent of the Congregation of Notre-Dame de Sion, located near the eastern end of the '' Via Dolorosa'' in the Old City of Jerusalem. The convent was built in 1857 by Marie-Alphonse Ratis ...
, and from the
Western Wall Tunnel The Western Wall Tunnel (, translit.: ''Minharat Hakotel'') is a tunnel exposing the Western Wall slightly north from where the traditional, open-air prayer site ends and up to the Wall's northern end. Most of the tunnel is in continuation of th ...
. A triple-arched gate built by Hadrian as an entrance to the eastern forum of Aelia Capitolina was traditionally, but as
archaeological Archaeology or archeology is the study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of Artifact (archaeology), artifacts, architecture, biofact (archaeology), biofacts or ecofacts, ...
investigation shows, mistakenly,Benoit, Pierre, ''The Antonia of Herod the Great, and the East Forum of Aelia Capitolina'' (1971) said to have been part of the gate of Herod's
Antonia Fortress The Antonia Fortress (Aramaic: קצטרא דאנטוניה) was a citadel built by Herod the Great and named for Herod's patron Mark Antony, as a fortress whose chief function was to protect the Second Temple. It was built in Jerusalem at the easte ...
. This was alleged to be the location of Jesus' trial and Pilate's ''
ecce homo ''Ecce homo'' (, , ; "behold the man") are the Latin words used by Pontius Pilate in the Vulgate translation of the Gospel of John, when he presents a scourged Jesus, bound and crowned with thorns, to a hostile crowd shortly before his crucif ...
'' speech.


Herod's royal palace

According to Pierre Benoit, Pilate carried out his judgements at
Herod's Palace Herod’s Palace may refer to any of several palace-fortresses built (or rebuilt from previous fortresses) during the reign of Herod the Great, King of Judea from 37 BC to 4 BC. Mostly in ruins today, several have been excavated. * Herod's Palace ...
at the west side of the city, rather than at Antonia in the city's eastern area and the Temple's northwest corner.
Shimon Gibson Shimon Gibson is a British-born archaeologist living in North Carolina, where he is a Professor of Practice in the Department of History at University of North Carolina at Charlotte. Life Gibson was the lead archaeologist excavating a wildernes ...
supports this view.


References

''This article incorporates text from the
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Catholic Encyclopedia ''The'' ''Catholic Encyclopedia: An International Work of Reference on the Constitution, Doctrine, Discipline, and History of the Catholic Church'', also referred to as the ''Old Catholic Encyclopedia'' and the ''Original Catholic Encyclopedi ...
''.'' {{New Testament places associated with Jesus New Testament places