Difference between revisions of "Castle"

<p> The word παρεμβολή, translated ‘castle’ six times in Acts, meant in the [[Macedonian]] dialect an encampment, and in the Septuagintit is used for the camp of the [[Israelites]] in the desert (&nbsp;Exodus 29:14, etc.). In the vivid narrative of St. Paul’s arrest in Jerusalem (&nbsp;Acts 21:22) it probably denotes the barracks of the Roman soldiers who were stationed at the castle of Antonia, though the Revised Versionas well as the Authorized Versionidentifies it with the castle itself. </p> <p> The history of this fort goes back to the time of Nehemiah, who speaks of procuring ‘timber to make beams for the castle (the <i> Bîrah </i> ) which appertains to the house’ (2:8; cf. 7:2). Probably on the same site John Hyrcanus, high priest from 135 to 105 b.c., built the Hasmonaean castle which [[Josephus]] calls ‘Baris’ ( <i> Ant </i> . xv. xi. 4; <i> Bellum Judaicum (Josephus) </i> i. xxi. 1). ‘When Herod became king, he rebuilt that castle, which was very conveniently situated, in a magnificent manner, and because he was a friend of Antonius, he called it by the name of Antonia’ ( <i> Ant </i> . xviii. iv. 3). Situated at the corner of the north and west cloisters of the Temple, it commanded, especially from its lofty S.E. tower, a view of the whole sacred precincts, while two staircases (ἀναβαθμοί, &nbsp;Acts 21:35, καταβἀσεις, Jos. <i> Bellum Judaicum (Josephus) </i> v. v. 8) led down from it to the cloisters; and in the Roman period the soldiers of the cohort (σπεῖρα), which was always stationed in the city, ‘went several ways among the cloisters, with their arms, on the [[Jewish]] festivals, in order to keep watch over the people’ (Jos. <i> loc. cit </i> .). </p> <p> The narrator of St. Paul’s arrest was evidently well acquainted with this locality, and he graphically reproduces the details of the scene. [[News]] of a Temple riot-no uncommon occurrence-came up (ἀνέβη φἀσις) to the commander of the cohort (χιλίαρχος, ‘military tribune’ Revised Version margin), who at once took soldiers and ran down (κατέδραμεν) to the fanatical crowd, probably just in time to prevent bloodshed (&nbsp;Acts 21:31-32). As St. Paul was about to be conducted up one of the staircases leading to the barracks, he was swept off his feet by the rising human tide, and had literally to be carried out of danger by the soldiers; but, recovering himself on the upper steps, he asked and obtained permission to address the baffled and still raging crowd, who turned a sea of angry faces upon him from below. His beckoning hand and his [[Aramaic]] speech secured a temporary silence, which enabled him to tell his vast audience the story of his conversion, but he could not get beyond the fatal word ‘Gentiles’ (&nbsp;Acts 22:21), and, leaving behind him a yelling mob, he was marched into the barracks. [[Fort]] [[Antonia]] was for some days his place of confinement. [[Hither]] came his nephew with a message which saved him from falling into the hands of fanatical conspirators (&nbsp;Acts 23:16), and here Christ Himself seemed to stand by him with words of good cheer (&nbsp;Acts 23:11). From the castle he was taken by night to Antipatris, and thence to [[Caesarea]] (&nbsp;Acts 23:31-33). </p> <p> Literature.-T. Lewin, <i> Life and [[Epistles]] of St. Paul </i> 3, 1875, ii. 135ff.; Conybeare-Howson, <i> Life and Epistles of St. Paul </i> , 1856, ii. 311ff.; H.A. A. Kennedy, <i> Source of NT Greek </i> , 1895, p. 15; articles ‘Castle’ and ‘Jerusalem’ in <i> Encyclopaedia Biblica </i> , ‘Castle’ in <i> Hasting's Dictionary of the Bible (5 vols) </i> . </p> <p> James Strahan. </p>

<p> See FORTRESS. </p>

<p> is the rendering in the A. V. of the following words in certain passages: </p> <p> אִרְמוֹן, ''Armon´, A Fortress'' (&nbsp;Proverbs 18:19; elsewhere uniformly "palace"); טִירָה, tirah´, a wall ("row," &nbsp;Ezekiel 46:23), hence an ''Enclosure,'' e.g. ''A Fortress'' ("palace," &nbsp;Song of [[Solomon]] 8:9), or a nomade ''Hamlet'' of palisades (&nbsp;Genesis 25:16; &nbsp;Numbers 21:10; &nbsp;1 Chronicles 6:54; "palace," &nbsp;Ezekiel 25:4; poetically "habitation," &nbsp;Psalms 69:25); בִּרָנִיטת, ''Biranith´'' [from the synonymous בִּירָה, birah´, "palace;" (See [[Baris]]) ], a [[Citadel]] (&nbsp;2 Chronicles 17:12; &nbsp;2 Chronicles 27:4); מִגְדָּל, migdal´ (&nbsp;1 Chronicles 27:25), a [[Tower]] (as elsewhere rendered); מְצָד, ''Metsad´'' (&nbsp;1 Chronicles 11:7), or מְצוּדָה, metsudah´ (&nbsp;1 Chronicles 11:5), a fort or stronghold (as elsewhere usually rendered); ἀκρόπολις '', Acropolis'' (&nbsp;2 Maccabees 4:27; &nbsp;2 Maccabees 5:5); πύργος, a [[Tower]] along a wall (&nbsp;2 Maccabees 10:18; &nbsp;2 Maccabees 10:20; &nbsp;2 Maccabees 10:22); παρεμβωλή, a military ''Enclosure'' (&nbsp;Acts 21:34; &nbsp;Acts 21:37; &nbsp;Acts 22:24; &nbsp;Acts 23:10; &nbsp;Acts 23:16; &nbsp;Acts 23:32) or station ("camp," &nbsp;Hebrews 11:34; &nbsp;Hebrews 13:11; &nbsp;Hebrews 13:13; &nbsp;Revelation 20:9). (See Tower); (See Palace) etc. </p> <p> Castles among the Hebrews were a kind of military fortress, frequently built on an eminence (&nbsp;1 Chronicles 11:7). The priests' castles, mentioned in &nbsp;1 Chronicles 6:54, may also have been a kind of tower, for the purpose of making known anything discovered at a distance, and for blowing the trumpets, in like manner as the Mohammedan imams ascend the minarets of the mosques at the present day to call the people to prayers. The castles of the sons of Ishmael, mentioned in &nbsp;Genesis 25:16, were watch-towers, used by the nomad shepherds for security against marauders. The "castle" in &nbsp;Acts 21:34, refers to the quarters of the Roman soldiers at Jerusalem in the fortress Antonia (q.v.), which was adjacent to the Temple and commanded it. (See Fortification). </p>