Gabbatha

(, from 'stone' and 'covered') occurs in the Bible only once, in John 19:13. It states that Pontius Pilate "brought Jesus forth, and sat down in the judgment seat, in the place that is called Lithostrotos, and in Hebrew Gabbatha." ' trial with Pontius Pilate. Convent of the Sisters of Zion. The name Gabbatha is an Aramaic word (not Hebrew, despite some translations of John, though the Greek could also indicate Aramaic), Aramaic being the language commonly spoken at the time in Judea. 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, 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, 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 of Aelia Capitolina and original Roman pavement. The vertical lines show where the wall of the Convent of the Sisters of Zion currently extends. The horizontal line shows the modern street level. The stairs led to the Antonia Fortress. Archaeological studies have confirmed that the Roman pavement at these two traditional stations was built by Hadrian in the 2nd century AD as the flooring of the eastern forum of Aelia Capitolina. Before Hadrian's changes, the area had been a large open-air pool of water, the Struthion Pool mentioned by Josephus. said to have been part of the gate of Herod's Antonia Fortress. This was alleged to be the location of Jesus' trial and Pilate's ecce homo speech. Herod's royal palace According to Pierre Benoit, Pilate carried out his judgements at 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 supports this view. ==References==