Praeto'rium. (Praetorium, in the Revised Version translated, palace). Matthew 27:27; John 18:28; John 18:33; John 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, Acts 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, Philemon 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, Acts 28:30, although still under the custody of a soldier.