the Week of Proper 28 / Ordinary 33
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Bible Dictionaries
Gabbatha
Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible
or GABBATHA ( John 19:13 ). The meaning of this word is most uncertain; possibly ‘height’ or ‘ridge.’ It is used as the Heb. or Aramaic equivalent of the Gr. lithostrôton or ‘ pavement .’ There is no mention in any other place of either Gabbatha or ‘the Pavement.’ That it was, as has been suggested, a portable tessellated pavement such as Julius Cæsar is said to have carried about with him, seems highly improbable. Tradition has identified as Gabbatha an extensive sheet of Roman pavement recently excavated near the Ecce Homo Arch. It certainly covered a large area, and the blocks of stone composing it are massive, the average size being 4 ft. × 3 ft. 6 in. and nearly 2 ft. thick. The pavement is in parts roughened for the passage of animals and chariots, but over most of the area it is smooth. The paved area was on a lofty place, the ground rapidly falling to east and west, and was in close proximity to, if not actually included within, the Antonia.
E. W. G. Masterman.
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Hastings, James. Entry for 'Gabbatha'. Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible. https://www.studylight.org/dictionaries/eng/hdb/g/gabbatha.html. 1909.
