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Bible Dictionaries
Praetorium

Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible

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PRÆTORIUM (Gr. praitôrion ) occurs only once in AV [Note: Authorized Version.] ( Mark 15:18 ). Elsewhere it is represented by ‘common hall’ ( Matthew 27:27 , RV [Note: Revised Version.] ‘ palace ’), ‘judgment hall’ ( John 18:28; John 18:33; John 19:9 , Acts 23:25; RV [Note: Revised Version.] in all ‘ palace ’) and ‘palace’ ( Philippians 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 Philippians 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.

Bibliography Information
Hastings, James. Entry for 'Praetorium'. Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible. https://www.studylight.org/​dictionaries/​eng/​hdb/​p/praetorium.html. 1909.
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