Antonia (Tower)
Fortress of Jerusalem, located northwest of the Temple, where a Roman garrison is stationed.
Residents
Alexander, legionary, Longinus, the officer of Golgotha, Proculus, physician of the Antonia, Quintilian, the NCO of Caesarea on the Sea, Quintus Felix, legionary, legionaries among others: Bassus, Licinius, Marcus Gratus, Vital.
Temporarily Pontius Pilate, Claudia Procula, and the Roman women.
Description
This fortress is situated on a 27 m high rock, overlooking all the surroundings. This true rectangular palace, 160 m by 135 m, contained apartments, courtyards, military quarters, baths. Its walls rose 21 m above the rock of Bezetha on which it was built. The corners of the fortress were topped with towers, three of which were 27 m high, while the fourth tower overlooked the Temple by 35 m. A deep moat, sometimes lined with polished stones, separated the citadel from the hill of Bezetha. Gates for the guards and a staircase connected the Antonia to the northern and western porticoes of the Temple. At its eastern gate, an underground passage, upon which Herod had built a tower, led inside the Temple. A Roman legion resided in the fortress and monitored the porticoes of the Temple, especially during Jewish festivals, to prevent crowd violence. The Roman women lived there at least occasionally. The fortress also had a garden, since Judas and Simon the Zealot (Apostle) had a meeting there with the Roman women, including Claudia Procula[1].
Notable events
It was probably in one of these courtyards that Pontius Pilate held the hearings leading to the condemnation of Jesus.
Its name
Reference to Mark Antony.
Where is it mentioned in the work?
EMV 41
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EMV 604
Learn more about this place
Citadel transformed by Herod the Great into a fortress and dedicated to Mark Antony, the Roman master of the East.
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31°46'49.6"N 35°14'02.3"E