Ecco Homo

Latin for "Behold the Man," the words uttered by Pontius Pilate when he presented Jesus to the crowd during his trial and they demanded that he should be crucified (Jn 19:5, RSV - "So Jesus came out, wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe. Pilate said to them, "Behold the man!"). Ecco Homo has thus become a short-hand reference to the event, and several paintings about the incident are so named, the most famous is probably the one by Antonio Ciseri(). Ecce Homo is also the name of the place (one of the "stations of the cross" on the Via Dolorosa that supposedly retraces Jesus journey from Gatheseme to Golgotha) where the incident was supposed to have occurred. The present spot, however, could not have been where the actual event took place because during Jesus' time it was occupied by a pool (the Struthion Pool) which was later paved over to provide the flat expanse of the Lithostrothon below where the street is now sited.

See Where ☰

The Ecce Homo along the Via Dolorosa.

The Lithostrothon, in the basement of the Ecce Homo, below street level, once thought to be where the trial of Jesus took place.