Pilate's Court

In the canonical gospels, Pilate's court refers to the trial of Jesus in praetorium before Pontius Pilate, preceded by the Sanhedrin preliminary hearing. In the Gospel of Luke, Pilate finds that Jesus, being from Galilee, belonged to Herod Antipas' jurisdiction, and so he decides to send Jesus to Herod. After questioning Jesus and receiving very few replies, Herod sees Jesus as no threat and returns him to Pilate. Fearing defilement, the Jews did not enter the court, and Pilate's discussion with them occurred outside the praetorium.

It was noted that Pilate appears as an advocate pleading Jesus' case rather than as a judge in an official hearing.

Two possible praetorium sites in Jerusalem have been proposed: the Antonia Fortress and Herod's Palace. Early pilgrims to Jerusalem generally identified the praetorium with the Antonia Fortress, where the traditional Way of the Cross begins. The archaeological evidence, which dates the fortress remnants to the 2nd century AD, as well as the tense situation requiring Pilate to be near the Second Temple as the center of Passover activity, support the Herod's Palace location.

The Gospel of Mark uses the word aulē ("hall", "palace") to identify the praetorium. Outside the praetorium proper, there was an area called the Pavement. Pilate's judgement seat (Greek: bēma), in which he conversed with the Jews, was located there.

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