CHAPTER XVI.
Description of Pilate's Palace and the adjacent Buildings.
The palace of the Roman governor, Pilate, was built on the north-west side of the mountain on which the Temple stood, and to reach it persons were obliged to ascend a flight of marble steps.

It overlooked a large square surrounded by a colonnade, under which the merchants sat to sell their various commodities.

A parapet, and an entrance at the north, south, east, and west sides alone broke the uniformity of this part of the market-place, which was called the forum, and built on higher ground than the adjacent streets, which sloped down from it.

The palace of Pilate was not quite close, but separated by a large court, the entrance to which at the eastern side was through a high arch facing a street leading to the door called the 'Probatica,' on the road to the Mount of Olives.

The southern entrance was through another arch, which leads to Sion, in the neighbourhood of the fortress of Acre.