Every major Roman city had a basilica which was used for banking, law courts, and other commercial transactions. In Jerusalem, the Royal Stoa was the center of this activity. In the forty years prior to the Great Revolt it served as the seat of the Sanhedrin, Judaism's supreme judicial court, which was moved from the Chamber of Stone to the "Shop" ("Chanuyot" in the Talmud), referring to the commercial activities conducted in the Stoa. A fragment of a monumental inscription found near the eastern Huldah gates below the Stoa refers to the "Zeqenim" (elders) and may indicate the Sanhedrin's meeting place near the gates or in the Stoa above.