Matthew 27:27

The soldiers in view were probably Pilate’s troops. The Praetorium or courtyard probably refers to the one in Herod’s palace near the Jaffa Gate or, less likely, the one in the Antonia Fortress. All the soldiers of the cohort present evidently took Jesus into the central courtyard. A cohort consisted of 600 soldiers. These soldiers would have been auxiliaries drawn from the non-Jewish population of surrounding areas since there was no Roman legion stationed in Palestine at this time. [Note: France, The Gospel . . ., p. 1062.]