page_title: Gabbatha
section_title: Etymology
hierarchical_section_title: Gabbatha / Etymology
caption_attribution_description: English: Roman Pavement of Ecce Homo
context_page_description: Gabbatha is the Aramaic name of a place in Jerusalem that is also referred to by the Greek name of Lithostrōtos. It is thought by Christians to be the place of the trial of Jesus before his crucifixion c. 30/33 AD. The site of the Church of Ecce Homo is traditionally thought to be its location, but archaeological investigation has proven this unlikely. Herod's Palace is a more likely location.
context_section_description: Lithostrōtos occurs in the Bible only once, in John 19:13. 
  It states that Pontius Pilate:
  brought Jesus forth, and sat down in the judgment seat, in the place that is called Lithostrotos, and in Hebrew Gabbatha.
  The name "Gabbatha" is an Aramaic word, the language spoken commonly at the time in Judea. It is not a mere translation of Lithostrotos, which properly means the tessellated or mosaic pavement where the judgment-seat stood, but which was extended to the place itself in front of Pilate's praetorium, where that pavement was laid. This was proved by the practice of St. John, who elsewhere gives Aramaic names as distinctly belonging to places, not as mere translations of the Greek. This is proved also because "Gabbatha" is derived from a root (meaning 'back', or 'elevation') which refers not to the kind of pavement, but to the elevation of the place in question. It thus appears that the two names "Lithostrotos" and "Gabbatha" were due to different characteristics of the spot where Pilate condemned Jesus to death. The Aramaic name was derived from the configuration of that spot, with the Greek name derived from the nature of its pavement.
caption: Roman pavement once thought to be the site of Jesus' trial with Pontius Pilate
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