Sisters of Sion, Ecce Homo Arch, Antonia Fortress

 

Introduction

 

1. We are about to descend beneath the streets of Jerusalem into one of the most dramatic and mysterious places connected with the final hours of Jesus—the underground Lithostrotos beneath the Sisters of Notre Dame de Sion, near the Ecce Homo Arch on the Via Dolorosa.

 

2. Here, hidden below the noise of the Old City, massive stone pavements, ancient cisterns, Roman arches, and the great Struthion Pool reveal layers of history buried beneath our feet.

 

3. For centuries, pilgrims believed this was the very place where Pontius Pilate judged Jesus and presented Him to the crowd with the words, “Behold the Man.”

 

4. Is this where Jesus was tried and condemned to crucifixion? Was this where the Antonia Fortress was located? What was this area like during the time of Jesus and later? And what about the Ecce Homo Arch? What fascinating evidence can we uncover about the layout of this area in ancient Jerusalem.

 

5. As we walk on these ancient stones through these tunnels and rooms, we'll discover a story that is fascinating. We'll see a place where faith, tradition, Roman power, and archaeology all meet in the heart of Jerusalem.

 

Location

 

1. These sites are located just outside the Temple Mount area on its northwestern side.  

 

2. Today, Umariya Elementary School and a convent of the Sisters of Zion lie atop some of their ruins.

 

3. Some of the ruins can be accessed through the Convent of the Sisters of Zion.

 

4. Tradition places the Antonia Fortress as the beginning point of the Via Dolorosa (painful path). 

 

Orientation to the Key Sites

 

Sisters of Sion Convent

1. The land was purchased in 1857 by Marie-Alphonse Ratisbonne, a French Jewish convert to Catholicism who founded the Sisters of Zion to build bridges between Christians and Jews. The Sisters excavated the ruins and preserved them.

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2. For centuries, Christians believed this area was the courtyard of the Antonia Fortress—the Roman military garrison where Pontius Pilate condemned Jesus. According to John 19:13, Pilate sat on his judgment seat at a place called the Lithostrotos (Stone Pavement), or Gabbatha in Aramaic. The arch outside the convent was believed to be the spot where Pilate presented Jesus, saying, "Ecce Homo" (Behold the Man).  

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3. The Archaeological Reality

Modern archaeology (spearheaded by the brilliant Catholic archaeologist Father Pierre Benoit in the 1970s) proved that the stone pavement and the Ecce Homo arch actually date to 135 CE, built by the Roman Emperor Hadrian a century after Jesus. Hadrian rebuilt Jerusalem as a pagan city called Aelia Capitolina, and this area was his eastern public forum (marketplace).

 

The Temple Mount

1. It was first built by King Solomon in around 967 BC and was a walled platform upon which the temple Solomon built would stand. The mountain was originally Mount Moriah, and in order to build the temple on it, had to be leveled. Solomon's original platform measured 500 cubits square (861 feet, 262.5 meters).

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2. Later, the Hasmoneans added onto the southern part of the platform in around 140 BC. The addition lines can still be seen today.

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3. Then Herod the Great enlarged the platform as well almost doubling its size. He enlarged it to the south, west, and north. The lines of his addition can also be seen today.

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4. Exactly where the Dome of the Rock stands today is where the original temple once stood. The evidence for this is overwhelming. We have done videos about this.

 

The Via Dolorosa

1. The Via Dolorosa, meaning “The Way of Suffering” or “The Sorrowful Way,” is the traditional route through Jerusalem’s Old City that remembers Jesus carrying the cross from His condemnation to His crucifixion. Today it begins inside where the Antonia Fortress once stood, and ends at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, where Christians have long identified the place of Jesus’ crucifixion, burial, and resurrection. The route is marked by 14 Stations of the Cross—nine along the streets and five inside the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.

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2. Historically, the exact path has changed over time. Jerusalem was destroyed by the Romans in 70 AD, later rebuilt by Hadrian as Aelia Capitolina, and reshaped many times afterward, so the original first-century street route cannot be known with certainty. The Via Dolorosa as a Christian pilgrimage route developed mainly in the Crusader Period (1099 - 1260), especially through the work of the Franciscans, who were entrusted with care for many Holy Land sites and led pilgrims in devotional walks connected with the Passion of Christ.

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3. The route followed today took on its modern form around the 18th century, replacing earlier versions. Because many scholars believe Pilate’s Praetorium was likely at Herod’s Palace near Jaffa Gate, not at the Antonia Fortress, the present route may not be the exact path Jesus walked. However, it remains one of the most meaningful Christian pilgrimage routes in the world because it allows believers to prayerfully remember the suffering, sacrifice, crucifixion, and resurrection of Jesus in the city where these events took place.

 

Ecce Homo Arch

1. Most pilgrims know this arch by the words Ecce Homo, Latin for "Behold the Man." These words come from John 19:5, when Pilate presented Jesus to the crowd after the scourging and mocking.

 

2. For centuries, many Christians believed this arch marked the place where Pilate said those words. But archaeology tells us the arch itself was not standing in Jesus’ day. It was built later by the Roman emperor Hadrian, around 135 AD, when he rebuilt Jerusalem as a Roman colony called Aelia Capitolina after the Jewish revolts.

 

3. The arch was likely part of a triple-arched Roman gateway connected with Hadrian’s eastern forum or public plaza. The large central arch is the one visible today over the street, while part of one smaller side arch can still be seen inside the Ecce Homo Church. 

 

4. It was a Roman monumental gateway, built to mark a main entrance into Hadrian’s new city center, displaying Roman power, order, and victory after Jerusalem had been destroyed and reshaped. Only later did Christian tradition connect the arch with the Passion of Christ and the words “Ecce Homo.”

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The Antonia Fortress​

1. The geography of ancient Jerusalem dictated its defenses. While the city was naturally protected by steep ravines to the east, south, and west, the northern approach lacked natural barriers. Consequently, the northwestern corner of the Temple Mount was its most vulnerable point.

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2. The Birah: Following the Babylonian exile, a fortress called the Birah (citadel) was constructed near this spot by Nehemiah to protect the Second Temple on the Temple Mount originally built by King Solomon.

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3. The Baris: During the Hellenistic and Hasmonean periods (332-63 BC), the Jewish priest-kings built a heavily fortified tower known as the Baris. It housed a military garrison, protected the northern flank of the Temple Mount, and securely stored the sacred vestments of the High Priest.

 

4. Construction by Herod the Great (35–31 BC). When Herod the Great captured Jerusalem and secured his throne as the Roman client king of Judea in 37 BCE, he recognized the necessity of controlling a volatile city that largely viewed him as an illegitimate ruler. He completely rebuilt and expanded the old Baris into a formidable, state-of-the-art military complex. When completed. it was a massive, strategically vital military citadel situated on a rocky escarpment at the northwestern corner of the Temple Mount, it stood as a towering symbol of military might and imperial control over the sacred heart of Judaism.

 

5. Herod named the citadel the Antonia Fortress in honor of his Roman patron and friend, the general and triumvir Mark Antony. Because Antony was defeated by Octavian at the Battle of Actium in 31 BC and died shortly after, the fortress was certainly built and named prior to that date.  

 

6. Architecture: Our primary source for the physical appearance of the fortress is the 1st-century Jewish historian Flavius Josephus. He recorded that it was built on a steep rock outcropping 50 cubits (about 75 feet) high, covered with smooth stone slabs to prevent scaling.  The Four Towers: The citadel was rectangular and featured massive corner towers. Three were 50 cubits high, but the southeastern tower was 70 cubits (about 105 feet) high. This specific tower offered a direct, unobstructed view down into the courts of the Temple Mount, allowing soldiers to monitor the massive crowds below.  

 

7. Interior and Function: Though built as an impregnable fortress, Josephus noted it was designed with the luxury of a palace, containing baths, broad courtyards, and barracks large enough to house a full Roman cohort. Subterranean passages and staircases connected the fortress directly to the northern porticoes of the Temple.  

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Pools of Bethesda

1. The Pools of Bethesda are located just inside the Lions’ Gate, beside the Church of St. Anne, near the traditional beginning of the Via Dolorosa. In Jesus’ day, this area was near the Sheep Gate, where animals connected with Temple sacrifice may have passed, and the pools served as a large water and purification complex.

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2. They consist of two pools, a northern and southern pool. The northern pool was built by King Hezekiah in around 700 BC, and the southern pool was built by the Hasmoneans in around 150 BC. The were living water pools nearby the Temple Mount for purification and water reservoirs.

 

3. The Gospel of John says that Jesus healed a man there who had been unable to walk for 38 years, and John describes the pool as having five porticoes. For many years, critics thought this detail was strange, but excavations revealed a large pool complex with two basins separated by a central wall, which helps explain the “five porticoes” description.

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4. Archaeologically, the site appears to have had a northern pool used as a reservoir and a southern pool with steps, likely used as a mikveh, or Jewish ritual bath. Water could flow from the northern reservoir into the southern pool, which may help explain the Gospel tradition about the “stirring” of the water. The pools were monumentalized in the time of Herod the Great, in the 1st century BC, and became associated with healing and purification.

 

Pool of Israel

1. The Pool of Israel was once a huge open reservoir located just inside the Old City near the northeastern corner of the Temple Mount, close to today’s Lions’ Gate / St. Stephen’s Gate. It was one of Jerusalem’s largest reservoirs, measuring roughly 360 feet long, 125 feet wide, and about 80 feet deep, and it helped collect and store rainwater for the city and the Temple Mount area. It also likely functioned as a kind of defensive ditch or moat along the vulnerable northern side of the Temple Mount. It existed before the time of Herod the Great reigned over Israel (37 - 4 BC) but was refortified by him. 

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Struthion Pool

1. It is also called the Sparrow Pool. Probably because it was the smallest of the pools on the northern side of the Temple Mount.

 

2. Before Hadrian covered it in 135 AD, it was an open-air pool or reservoir. It was connected with the water system north of the Temple Mount and the defensive area of the Antonia Fortress.

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3. The pool is described as about 54 meters long and 14 meters wide, with a depth around 5 meters. It was originally an open-air reservoir, and Josephus refers to the pool called Struthion.

 

4. Hadrian later installed vaulting over it so his plaza could cover it. 

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5. The pool itself belongs to the late Second Temple-period world (515 BC - 70 AD). The covering vaults above it are later. So, think of two layers: below, a first-century or pre-70 water installation; above, Hadrian’s second-century Roman city.

 

6. In summary, the pool as from the time of Herod and associated with the Antonia Fortress. Then, Hadrian covered it with two parallel vaults around 135 AD and built the paved forum above.

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Church of the Holy Sepulchre

1. The church marks the spot of Golgotha, where Christ was crucified, buried, and rose again. The evidence supporting this is overwhelming. 

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2. It is where the Via Dolorosa ends. Five of the stations of the Via Dolorosa are located by or inside the church.

 

Touring Underneath the Sisters of Sion Convent

 

1. Descending Down in Time

1. As we descend down the stairs from the Sisters of Sion meeting area, we are traveling back in time. Jerusalem is a city built on a 'layer cake' of its own ruins. Every time the city was destroyed, the next empire built right on top of the rubble. This first lower level is from the time of Hadrian (135 AD).

 

2. Struthion Pool

1. Struthion is Greek for "sparrow"—likely a nickname because it was considered a smaller pool compared to the massive Temple Mount reservoirs. It was originally carved out around 140 BC by the Hasmonean kings and later expanded by King Herod.

 

2. Its purpose was to catch rainwater and provide drinking water for the Antonia Fortress, a massive Roman military barracks that stood right above it.  But here is the catch: In the time of Jesus, this pool was open to the sky. It acted as a massive, open-air defensive moat for the fortress. If Jesus walked past the Antonia Fortress during his life, He would have walked past this open ravine under the blazing sun.

 

3. So, why is it in a dark cave today? Remember Emperor Hadrian in 135 AD? When he wanted to build his new paved marketplace (the forum), he didn't want a giant open pool in the middle of it. So, his engineers built these beautiful, soaring stone barrel-vaults right over our heads. He put a 'roof' on the pool, and then laid his stone plaza directly on top of it.  At the far wall of the pool there is a cinderblock wall blocking the far end of the water. In 1970, Israeli archaeologists digging the famous Western Wall Tunnels accidentally broke through the rock into the Sisters of Sion side of the pool. That wall was built to divide the Sisters of Sion Convent's private property from the public tunnels. If you take the tunnel tour today, your grand finale is walking along the other half of this exact same body of water.

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3. Lithostrotos (Stone Pavement)

1. We have now moved up one layer, standing on the "roof" of the pool. Welcome to the Lithostrotos, a Greek word meaning "The Paved Place."  In the Gospel of John (19:13), it states: "When Pilate heard this, he brought Jesus out and sat down on the judge's seat at a place known as the Stone Pavement (which in Aramaic is Gabbatha)."

 

2. When early archaeologists discovered these massive, beautiful flagstones in the 1800s, they fell to their knees. They were convinced they had found the exact courtyard of the Antonia Fortress where Jesus stood trial.  

 

3. Take a look at the stones. Notice how massive they are. Notice the rough grooves carved into the rock by Roman stonemasons to keep horses and chariots from slipping on the wet stone. But here is the archaeological truth. Because these stones sit on top of the vaulted roof Hadrian built over the pool in 135 AD, these paving stones cannot be from the time of Jesus. They belong to Hadrian’s 2nd-century Roman forum. But don't be disappointed just yet—what we are about to see proves how closely these stones echo the exact events of the Gospels.  

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4. The "Game of the King"
1. Now look closely at the faint carvings etched into the stone right here. Do you see the geometric shapes? The faint circle radiating like a crown? The Greek letter 'B'? 

 

2. This is one of the most chilling artifacts in Jerusalem. This is a game board, carved by bored Roman soldiers while on guard duty. It is called the Game of the King. Roman soldiers played this with knuckle-bone dice. The winner was allowed to pick a condemned prisoner to be the mock "King." They would dress the terrified prisoner in a fake royal robe, put a makeshift crown on his head, give him mock orders, beat him, and at the end of the festival, execute him. 

 

3. Even though these specific etchings date to a century after Christ, they were carved by the exact same type of Roman legionaries who occupied the Antonia Fortress. The Gospels tell us that Roman soldiers stripped Jesus, put a scarlet robe on Him, twisted together a crown of thorns, struck Him, and mocked Him, yelling, "Hail, King of the Jews!"

 

4. When you look at this game board, the mockery of Jesus is no longer just a story on a page. You are looking at the exact cultural and psychological reality of the Roman military machine that crucified Him.

 

Was the Antonia Fortress Where Jesus was Tried?

 

1. Some believe Jesus appeared before Pilate here and was condemned to death by crucifixion. Others believe that Pilate’s Headquarters, also called Pilate’s Palace or Praetorium, was the place Christ appeared before Pilate. 

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2. If the stones of the Lithostrotos are from a century later, we have to ask: Where was the actual trial of Jesus? Where was Pilate's Praetorium?

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3. For centuries, pilgrims assumed Pilate stayed right here at the Antonia Fortress, which is why the Via Dolorosa starts at the Antonia Fortress today. However, Roman history tells us a different story. Pontius Pilate usually lived in luxury on the Mediterranean coast in Caesarea. When he came to Jerusalem for Passover, he did not sleep in a sweaty, cramped military barracks with the grunts.

 

4. Historical records from ancient writers like Flavius Josephus and Philo indicate that Roman governors like Pilate did not stay in the cramped Antonia Fortress when visiting Jerusalem. They stayed in the most luxurious location in the city: Herod's Palace (located on the western side of the city near the modern Jaffa Gate/Tower of David). Therefore, the actual Praetorium (trial site) was almost certainly across town.

 

5. So why do we walk the Via Dolorosa here, on the east side?
Because faith and tradition are powerful. During the Crusader and medieval periods, the ruins of Herod's palace were repurposed, and pilgrim routes shifted based on safety and the locations of churches. The Franciscans finalized this route in the Middle Ages. The Via Dolorosa is a spiritual journey—a physical meditation on the Passion of Christ—not an exact GPS map. 

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Was the Present-Day Temple Mount Once the Antonia Fortress?

 

1. Some believe that the Antonia Fortress encompassed all the current Temple Mount and that the original Temple Mount was in the City of David. However, Scripture clearly states that at the dedication of the temple that Solomon built, in 2 Chronicles 5, that the Ark of the covenant was brought, “out of the City of David” to the temple. “Then Solomon assembled to Jerusalem the elders of Israel and all the heads of the tribes, the leaders of the fathers’ households of the sons of Israel, to bring up the ark of the covenant of the Lord out of the City of David, which is Zion” (2 Chron. 5:2).

 

2. If the Ark was brought out of the City of David to the temple, then the temple couldn't have been in the City of David. There is also overwhelming historical and archaeological evidence, and the writings of the famous Jewish historian Flavius Josephus, that contradict the belief that the Antonia Fortress encompassed all the Temple Mount.

 

This Area and the Antonia Fortress in the Bible

 

While we're not certain Jesus was tried before Pilate here in the area of the Antonia Fortress, we do know the Apostle Paul was arrested here.

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Paul addressed an angry mob from the Antonia Fortress.

 

Acts 21:27–40: When the seven days were almost over, the Jews from Asia, upon seeing him [Paul] in the temple, began to stir up all the crowd and laid hands on him, 28 crying out, “Men of Israel, come to our aid! This is the man who preaches to all men everywhere against our people and the Law and this place; and besides he has even brought Greeks into the temple and has defiled this holy place.” 29 For they had previously seen Trophimus the Ephesian in the city with him, and they supposed that Paul had brought him into the temple. 30 Then all the city was provoked, and the people rushed together, and taking hold of Paul they dragged him out of the temple, and immediately the doors were shut. 31 While they were seeking to kill him, a report came up to the commander of the Roman cohort that all Jerusalem was in confusion. 32 At once he took along some soldiers and centurions and ran down to them; and when they saw the commander and the soldiers, they stopped beating Paul. 33 Then the commander came up and took hold of him, and ordered him to be bound with two chains; and he began asking who he was and what he had done. 34 But among the crowd some were shouting one thing and some another, and when he could not find out the facts because of the uproar, he ordered him to be brought into the barracks. 35 When he got to the stairs, he was carried by the soldiers because of the violence of the mob; 36 for the multitude of the people kept following them, shouting, “Away with him!” 37 As Paul was about to be brought into the barracks, he said to the commander, “May I say something to you?” And he said, “Do you know Greek? 38 Then you are not the Egyptian who some time ago stirred up a revolt and led the four thousand men of the Assassins out into the wilderness?” 39 But Paul said, “I am a Jew of Tarsus in Cilicia, a citizen of no insignificant city; and I beg you, allow me to speak to the people.” 40 When he had given him permission, Paul, standing on the stairs, motioned to the people with his hand; and when there was a great hush, he spoke to them in the Hebrew dialect.

 

Faith Lesson from the Antonia Fortress

 

1. Paul suffered at the Antonia Fortress for his faith. Are we willing to boldly proclaim our faith and suffer as a result if necessary?

 

2. Paul shared his testimony often. Do we have our testimony memorized, and do we share it when talking to others about God?