A tower or fortress built by Herod the Great near the temple at Jerusalem in which he placed a guard to watch over the approaches to the sacred edifice. Josephus (Wars v. 5,8) says it was situated "at the corner of two cloisters of the court of the temple; of that on the west, and that on the north; it was erected upon a rock fifty cubits in height and was on a great precipice." Where this precipice was is not known, for it is a much disputed question upon what part of the temple area the temple was built. There is a tower, now called Antonia, on the N.W. angle, and there are indications of a similar one having stood on the S.E. angle.