Aelia Capitolina was a Roman colony founded during the Roman emperor Hadrian's visit to Judaea in 129/130 CE. It was founded on the ruins of Jerusalem, which had been almost totally razed after the siege of 70 CE. This act marked a significant transformation of the city from a Jewish metropolis to a small pagan settlement dedicated to the cult of Capitoline Jupiter.
Pontius Pilate was the fifth governor of the Roman province of Judaea, serving under Emperor Tiberius from 26/27 to 36/37 AD. He is best known for being the official who presided over the trial of Jesus and ultimately ordered his crucifixion. Pilate's importance in Christianity is underscored by his prominent place in both the Apostles' and Nicene Creeds. Because the gospels portray Pilate as reluctant to execute Jesus, the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church believes that Pilate became a Christian and venerates him as both a martyr and a saint, a belief which is historically shared by the Coptic Church, with a feast day on 19 or 25 June, respectively.
A cardo was a north–south street in ancient Roman cities and military camps as an integral component of city planning. The cardo maximus, or most often the cardo, was the main or central north–south-oriented street.
The Pool of Bethesda is referred to in John's Gospel in the Christian New Testament, in an account of Jesus healing a paralyzed man at a pool of water in Jerusalem, described as being near the Sheep Gate and surrounded by five covered colonnades or porticoes. It is also referred to as Bethzatha. It is now associated with the site of a pool in the current Muslim Quarter of the city, near the gate now called the Lions' Gate or St. Stephen's Gate and the Church of St. Anne, which was excavated in the late 19th century.
The Via Dolorosa is a processional route in the Old City of Jerusalem. It represents the path that Jesus took, forced by the Roman soldiers, on the way to his crucifixion. The winding route from the former Antonia Fortress to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre—a distance of about 600 metres (2,000 ft)—is a celebrated place of Christian pilgrimage. The current route has been established since the 18th century, replacing various earlier versions. It is today marked by 14 Stations of the Cross, nine of which are outside, in the streets, with the remaining five stations being currently inside the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.
Judaea was a Roman province from 6 to 132 CE, which at its height incorporated the Levantine regions of Judea, Idumea, Samaria, and Galilee, and parts of the costal plain including Philistia, extending over the territories of the Hasmonean and Herodian kingdoms. The name Judaea was derived from the Iron Age Kingdom of Judah, that was centered predominantly in Judea.
The Antonia Fortress was a citadel built by Herod the Great and named for Herod's patron Mark Antony, as a fortress whose chief function was to protect the Second Temple. It was built in Jerusalem at the eastern end of the Second Wall, at the north-western corner of the Temple Mount, and was connected to the Temple by porticoes.
The Latin term praetorium originally identified the tent of a general within a Roman castrum (encampment), and derived from the title praetor, which identified a Roman magistrate. Originally, praetor ("leader") was the title of the ranking civil servant in the Roman Republic, but later identified a rank of office below the rank of consul.
Marie-Alphonse Ratisbonne, NDS was a French Jew who converted to Christianity and became a Jesuit priest and missionary. He later was a co-founder of the Congregation of Our Lady of Sion, a religious congregation dedicated to the conversion of Jews to the Christian faith.
Gabbatha is the name of a place in Jerusalem that is also referred to by the Greek name of Lithostrōtos. It is recorded in the gospels 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.
The Congregation of Our Lady of Sion is composed of two religious congregations in the Roman Catholic Church founded in Paris, France. One is composed of priests and religious brothers, founded in 1852, and the other is composed of religious sisters, founded in 1843, both by Marie-Théodore Ratisbonne, along with his brother Marie-Alphonse Ratisbonne, "to witness in the Church and in the world that God continues to be faithful in his love for the Jewish people and to hasten the fulfillment of the promises concerning the Jews and the Gentiles"..
Jerusalem's role in first-century Christianity, during the ministry of Jesus and the Apostolic Age, as recorded in the New Testament, gives it great importance, both culturally and religiously, in Christianity. Jerusalem is generally considered the cradle of Christianity.
Bezetha, also called by Josephus the New City, was a suburb of Jerusalem during the late Second Temple period. It was located north and north-west of the Temple, built opposite the Antonia Fortress and extending as far as Herod's Gate westward and beyond. Originally, this part of the city was outside the area enclosed by the second wall, but during the reign of Agrippa I, had been enclosed by the newer third wall. In Josephus' time, the hill on which Bezetha was built could be distinguished by its elevation in relation to the tower of Antonia, which was built beyond the intermediate valley below, between Bezetha and the north side of the Temple Mount. Topographical maps still show the contours in elevation.
The Church of the Flagellation is a Roman Catholic church and Christian pilgrimage site located in the Muslim Quarter of the Old City of Jerusalem, near St. Stephen's Gate. It is part a Franciscan monastery which also includes the Church of the Condemnation and Imposition of the Cross. The monastery stands at the traditional Second Station of the Cross on the Via Dolorosa.
The Church of the Condemnation and Imposition of the Cross is a Roman Catholic church located within the Franciscan monastery that also contains the Church of the Flagellation in the old city of Jerusalem. The monastery stands at the traditional Second Station of the Cross on the Via Dolorosa.
In the canonical gospels, Pilate's court refers to the trial of Jesus in praetorium before Pontius Pilate, preceded by the Sanhedrin Trial. In the Gospel of Luke, Pilate finds that Jesus, being from Galilee, belonged to Herod Antipas' jurisdiction, and so he decides to send Jesus to Herod. After questioning Jesus and receiving very few replies, Herod sees Jesus as no threat and returns him to Pilate.
The Southern Wall is the retaining wall of the Temple Mount at the southern end. It was built during King Herod's expansion of the Temple Mount platform southward on to the Ophel.
The Struthion Pool, effectually translated from the Greek as 'Sparrow Pool' is a large cuboid cistern beneath the Convent of the Sisters of Zion in the Old City of Jerusalem, built by Herod the Great in the first century BCE.
Herod's Palace at Jerusalem was built in the last quarter of the 1st century BC by King Herod the Great of Judea from 37 BC to 4 BC. It was the second most important building in Jerusalem, after the Temple itself, in Herod's day and was situated at the northwestern wall of the Upper City of Jerusalem. Herod lived in it as a principal residence, but not permanently, as he owned other palace-fortresses, notably at Masada, Herodium and Caesarea Maritima. Nothing remains of the Jerusalem Palace today except for portions of the surrounding wall-and-tower complex, much altered and generally known as "the Citadel". The site of the former palace is now occupied by the Tower of David Museum, a police station, and a former Turkish barracks/prison known as the Kishle.
Louis-Hugues Vincent was a French archaeologist, friar of the Dominican Order, who was educated at Jerusalem's École Biblique. He undertook important archaeological research in Palestine (region), primarily during the Mandatory Palestine period.
