Praetorium

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This article is part of the series on: Military of ancient Rome (Portal) 800 BC - AD 476
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Model of the praetorium in Roman Cologne. It occupied a surface area of about 3½ hectare and must have been one of the largest buildings in Germania Inferior.

Map of a castra with: 1 Praetorium 2 Via Praetoria 3 Via Principalis 4 Porta Principalis Dextra (right gate) 5 Porta Praetoria (main gate) 6 Porta Principalis Sinistra (left gate) 7 Porta Decumana (back gate)

Praetorium was originally the name of the headquarters of a Roman army. The praetorium was the commander's tent or building in a Roman fortification, a castra or castellum.

Later, praetorium was used for the residence of a procurator (governor) of a Roman province. The term was also used for the emperor's headquarters.

The word (also spelled prœtorium or pretorium) was derived from the Greek praitórion, meaning military headquarters.

Praetor ("leader") was originally the title of the highest-ranking civil servant in the Roman Republic but later became a position directly below the rank of consul. A general's lifeguard was known as the cohors praetoriae, out of which developed the Pretorian Guard, the emperor's lifeguard.

[edit] Biblical meaning

In the New Testament, praetorium refers to the palace of Pontius Pilate, the Roman procurator of Judea. According to the New Testament, this is where Jesus Christ was tried and condemned to death.