Bible Dictionary
Gabbatha
Gabbatha was the paved judgment platform where Pilate sat when he pronounced judgment on Jesus. John also calls it the Pavement; its precise historical location is uncertain.
Definition
Gabbatha was a paved or elevated platform where the judgment-seat was placed. John also calls it the Pavement, using the Greek term lithostroton, meaning a stone-paved place.
Biblical Usage
Pilate sat at Gabbatha when he pronounced judgment on Jesus. The place was outside or near the praetorium and served as the setting for the formal judgment.
Historical Background
The name probably reflects an Aramaic word meaning height or ridge. It was traditionally associated with the Antonia, but the supplied material states that the exact site is lost and that the pavement may have been mosaic rather than the surviving Roman pavement traditionally identified with it.
Scripture References
Related Figures
Historical Bible Dictionaries
Easton's Bible Dictionary
Gab Baitha, i.e., “the ridge of the house” = “the temple-mound,” on a part of which the fortress of Antonia was built. This “temple-mound” was covered with a tesselated “pavement” (Gr. lithostroton, i.e., “stone-paved”). A judgement-seat (bema) was placed on this “pavement” outside the hall of the “praetorium” (q.v.), the judgment-hall (John 18:28; 19:13).
Smith's Bible Dictionary
(elevated; a platform) the Hebrew or Chaldee appellation of a place, also called “Pavement,” where the judgment-seat or bema was planted, from his place on which Pilate delivered our Lord to death. (John 19:13) It was a tessellated platform outside the praetorium, on the western hill of Jerusalem, for Pilate brought Jesus forth from thence to it.
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (ISBE)
<p>gab'-a-tha: Given (Joh 19:13) as the name of a special pavement (to lithostroton), and is probably a transcription in Greek of the Aramaic gabhetha', meaning "height" or "ridge."</p><p>Tradition which now locates the Pretorium at the Antonia and associates the triple Roman arch near there with the "Ecce Homo" scene, naturally identifies an extensive area of massive Roman pavement, with blocks 4 ft. x 3 1/2 ft. and 2 ft. thick, near the "Ecce Homo Arch," as the Gabbatha.</p><p>This paved area is in places roughened for a roadway, and in other places is marked with incised designs for Roman games of chance. The site is a lofty one, the ground falling away rapidly to the East and West, and it must have been close to, or perhaps included in, the Antonia. But apart from the fact that it is quite improbable that the Pretorium was here (see PRAETORIUM), it is almost certain that the lithostroton was a mosaic pavement (compare Es 1:6), such as was very common in those days, and the site is irretrievably lost.</p><p>E. W. G. Masterman</p>