Praetorium

Praeto´rium. This word denotes the general’s tent in the field, and also the house or palace of the governor of a province, whether a praetor or not. In the Gospels it is applied to the palace built by Herod the Great, at Jerusalem, and which eventually became the residence of the Roman governors in that city (Mat 27:27; Mar 15:16; Joh 18:28; Joh 18:38; Joh 19:9). In the two first of these texts it may, however, denote the court in front of the palace, where the procurator’s guards were stationed [JERUSALEM]. Herod built another palace at Cesarea, and this also is called the Prætorium in Act 23:35, probably because it had, in like manner, become the residence of the Roman governor, whose headquarters were at Caesarea. In Php 1:13, the word denotes the Praetorian camp at Rome, i.e. the camp or quarters of the Praetorian cohort at Rome.

Praeto’rium. (Praetorium, in the Revised Version translated, palace). Mat 27:27; Joh 18:28; Joh 18:33; Joh 19:3. The headquarters of the Roman military governor, wherever he happened to be. In time of peace, some one of the best buildings of the city which, was the residence of the proconsul or praetor, was selected for this purpose. Thus, at Caesarea, that of Herod the Great was occupied by Felix, Act 23:35, and at Jerusalem, the new palace erected, by the same prince, was the residence of Pilate.

After the Roman power was established in Judea, a Roman guard was always maintained in the Antonia. The praetorian camp at Rome, to which St. Paul refers, Phm 1:13, was erected by the emperor, Tiberius, acting under the advice of Sejanus. It stood outside the walls, at some distance short of the fourth milestone. St. Paul appears to have been permitted, for the space of two years, to lodge, so to speak, "within the rules," of the praetorium, Act 28:30, although still under the custody of a soldier.

(See PALACE; JUDGMENT HALL.)

See PALACE.

PRAETORIUM.—The word occurs in the text of Mar 15:16 only, but in the margin of Mat 27:27, Joh 18:28; Joh 18:33; Joh 19:9, with Act 23:35 and Php 1:13. In the Gr. it is a transliteration of the Lat. prœtorium, which originally meant the tent of the commander of an army, and then the official residence of a provincial governor; other senses, such as that of the Imperial bodyguard or even of a spacious country house, were gradually acquired. In most of the passages in the Gospels it is used in reference to a part or the whole of Pilate’s official residence in Jerusalem, which was probably the palace of Herod the Great (see Pavement).

Two other identifications are supported by comparatively early tradition, but are not on the whole to be approved. That Pilate’s house was in the lower city, a little to the north of the Temple, is altogether unlikely. The theory has failed to be confirmed by any discovery of the site; and it is not easy to see why Pilate should prefer such a locality, when the palace built by Herod was available as the official residence of the procurator. More can be said in favour of Pilate’s occupation of the castle of Antonia, which stood to the north-west of the Temple area. It was a fortress and prison, and served as the headquarters of the garrison at Jerusalem. Josephus (Ant. xv. xi. 4; BJ i. v. 4) describes it as a citadel, with abundant accommodation, and connected with the precincts of the Temple by a private way. But, again, Pilate was not likely, especially when accompanied by his wife and household (Mat 27:19), to stay there, when the sumptuous palace of Herod, with its gardens and banqueting halls, was at his disposal. It is true that the proximity of Antonia to the Temple would be a convenience to the priests and Sanhedrists, and save them from the toil of attendance at the more remote palace: but Pilate was not the man to study the wishes or comfort of the Jewish leaders at the cost of any discomfort to himself. The arguments in favour of his adoption of the castle as his residence have been accepted, amongst recent commentators, by Westcott (on John 18) and Swete (on Mar 15:16); but, on the other hand, Herod’s palace has been preferred by Schürer, Edersheim, Sir C. Wilson, and commentators such as Alford and Meyer. The practice at Jerusalem would thus correspond with that at Caesarea (Act 23:33-35).

Such a hypothesis leaves the passages in which the praetorium is referred to without any serious difficulty; and it becomes possible to follow the probable order of events. According to St. John, the trial of Jesus took place in one of the porticoes of Herod’s palace. When sentence was pronounced, Jesus was led away by the soldiers to Antonia, where they were themselves quartered, and where prisoners were ordinarily detained. He was taken into a court, to which also the name of prœtorium is given (Mat 27:27, Mar 15:16), and mocked by such of the soldiers as were off duty. In this connexion prœtorium denotes probably the place of meeting of the council of chief officers for the transaction of the business of the cohort and for the trial of offences in the absence of the procurator. Such a usage of the term is anticipated, if not illustrated, in Livy (Hist. xxx. 5, xxxvii. 5); and the existence of such a court would be necessary for the maintaining of order in Jerusalem and the vicinity. When the soldiers were weary of the mocking, they led Jesus away again to be crucified.

R. W. Moss.

PRÆTORIUM (Gr. praitôrion) occurs only once in AV [Note: Authorized Version.] (Mar 15:18). Elsewhere it is represented by ‘common hall’ (Mat 27:27, RV [Note: Revised Version.] ‘palace’), ‘judgment hall’ (Joh 18:28; Joh 18:33; Joh 19:9, Act 23:25; RV [Note: Revised Version.] in all ‘palace’) and ‘palace’ (Php 1:18, RV [Note: Revised Version.] ‘prætorian guard’). The word at first denoted the headquarters in the Roman camp, a space within which stood the general’s tent, the camp altar, the augurâle, and the tribûnâl; then the military council meeting there. Each prætor, on completing his year of office, went as governor to a province, and his official residence was called ‘prætorium’; then any house distinguished by size and magnificence, esp. the Emperor’s residence outside Rome. In the Gospels, prætorium perhaps (but see Pilate, p. 729^a) stands for the palace of Herod the Great, occupied by Pontius Pilate—a splendid building, probably in the western part of the city. In Php 1:13 it is probably the barracks of the prætorians, the Imperial bodyguard. Originally the Cohors Prætoria was a company attached to the commander-in-chief in the field. Augustus retained the name, but raised the number to ten cohorts of 1000 each, quartering only 3 cohorts in the city at a time. Tiberius brought them all to Rome, and placed them in a fortified camp, at the northern extremity of the Viminal. Under Vitellius their number was raised to 16,000.

W. Ewing.

prḗ-to´ri-um πραιτώριον, praitṓrion, Mat 27:27 (the King James Version “common hall”); Mar 15:16; Joh 18:28, Joh 18:33; Joh 19:9 (in all margins “palace,” and in the last three the King James Version “judgment hall”); Act 23:35, (Herod’s) “palace,” margin “Praetorium,” the King James Version “judgment hall”; Php 1:13, “praetorian guard” (margin “Greek ’in the whole Pretorium,’ “ the King James Version “palace,” margin “Caesar’s court”):

1. Governor’s Official Residence:

The Pretorium was originally the headquarters of a Roman camp, but in the provinces the name became attached to the governor’s official residence. In order to provide residences for their provincial governors, the Romans were accustomed to seize and appropriate the palaces which were formerly the homes of the princes or kings in conquered countries. Such a residence might sometimes be in a royal palace, as was probably the case in Caesarea, where the procurator used Herod’s palace (Act 23:35).

2. In Gospels Herod’s Palace:

The Pretorium where Jesus was brought to trial has been traditionally located in the neighborhood of the present Turkish barracks where once stood the Antonia and where was stationed a large garrison (compare Act 21:32-35), but the statements of Josephus make it almost certain that the headquarters of the procurator were at Herod’s palace. This was a building whose magnificence Josephus can hardly sufficiently appraise (Wars, I, xxi, 1; V, iv, 4). It was in this palace that “Florus, the procurator took up his quarters, and having placed his tribunal in front of it, held his sessions and the chief priests, influential persons and notables of the city appeared before the tribunal” (Wars II, xiv, 8). Later on, “Florus ... brought such as were with him out of the king’s palace, and would have compelled them to get as far as the citadel (Antonia); but his attempt failed” (II, xv, 5). The word translated “palace” here is aulḗ, the same word as is translated “court” in Mar 15:16, “the soldiers led him away within the court (aulē), which is the Pretorium.” There is no need to suppose that Herod Antipas was in the same palace (Luk 23:4 ff); it is more probable he went to the palace of the Hasmoneans which lay lower down on the eastern slope of this southwest hill, where at a later time Josephus expressly states that Herod Agrippa II and his sister Bernice were living (Wars, II, xvi, 3).

The palace of Herod occupied the highest part of the southwest hill near the northwest angle of the ancient city, now traditionally called Zion, and the actual site of the Pretorium cannot have been far removed from the Turkish barracks near the so-called “Tower of David.” It is interesting to note that the two stations of the Turkish garrison of Jerusalem today occupy the same spots as did the Roman garrison of Christ’s time. It is needless to point out how greatly this view of the situation of the Pretorium must modify the traditional claims of the “Via Dolorosa,” the whole course of which depends on theory that the “Way of Sorrow” began at the Antonia, the Pretorium of late ecclesiastical tradition. See also GABBATHA.

3. Php 1:13:

With regard to the expression ἐν ὅλῳ τῷ πραιτωρίῳ, en hólō tṓ praitōrı́ō in Php 1:13, there is now a general consensus of opinion that “Praetorium” here means, not a place, but the imperial praetorian guard, ten thousand in number, which was instituted by Augustus. Paul was allowed to reside in his private house in the custody of a praetorian soldier. As these were doubtless constantly changed, it must have become “manifest” to the whole guard that his bonds were for the sake of Christ. See also preceding article.

(ðñáéôþñéïí)

Originally denoting the general’s (i.e. the praetor’s) tent in the camp (Livy, x. 33), this word came to signify the official residence of the governor of a province (Cic. in Verr. II. iv. 28, v. 35), and in post-Augustan times a palace (Juv. x. 161) or any splendid country-seat (Suet. Aug. 72, Juv. Sat. i. 75). See, further, art._ Palace.

James Strahan.

Originally the praetorium was the headquarters of a Roman army commander, whether the supreme commander in Rome or a lesser commander in one of the provinces. Later it became also the official residence and administration centre of the provincial governor (Mat 27:27; Mar 15:16; Act 23:10; Act 23:35; Act 25:6; Act 25:13-14). On one occasion when Paul was held prisoner, he mentioned that he was guarded by soldiers from the praetorium (Php 1:13).