The King’s Game 

“And the soldiers led him away into the hall, called Praetorium; and they call together the whole band. And they clothed him with purple, and platted a crown of thorns, and put it about his head, And began to salute him, Hail, King of the Jews! And they smote him on the head with a reed, and did spit upon him, and bowing their knees worshipped him. And when they had mocked him, they took off the purple from him, and put his own clothes on him, and led him out to crucify him.” Mark 15:16-20 

On the Via Dolorosa in the Muslim Quarter of Jerusalem, you can visit a site that many believe to be directly related to the crucifixion of Jesus. The basement of the Convent of the Sisters of Zion preserves some remains from ancient Jerusalem, including pieces of the Antonia Fortress. In Acts 21, Paul was about to be beaten to death on the nearby Temple Mount, but a group of soldiers from this fortress rushed in and saved his life. Paul then stood on the steps of the fortress and addressed the crowd in Hebrew.  

The Crucifixion of Jesus Christ 

However, the main attraction at the convent is what many believe to be the Pavement, also known as the Lithostratos, mentioned by John. “When Pilate therefore heard that saying, he brought Jesus forth, and sat down in the judgment seat in a place that is called the Pavement, but in the Hebrew, Gabbatha.” Etched into the floor of the building is a game. In Roman times, it was known as Basileus, or the King’s Game.  

The tradition of playing Basileus is thought to have originated from the topsy-turvy revelry of the holiday of Saturnalia. When the game was played by soldiers in the Roman Empire, a condemned prisoner would be dressed up as the “king.” Each soldier would take turns throwing dice made of sheep bones. The winner of each round would then get to decide how the prisoner was to be mocked or tortured for sport. In Scripture, this included a crown of thorns, a purple robe, ridicule, spitting, hitting Him with sticks, and pretend reverence. Inevitably, the dice would land on the life line. Ironically, the life line meant the prisoner should die, and thus ended the brutal game.  

The Purple Robe

Scholars have long been intrigued by the fact that Jesus was dressed in purple. John 19 specifically says that the soldiers dressed Jesus in a purple robe. Purple was a luxury item in the Roman Empire. Laws passed by Julius Caesar and his heir Augustus restricted purple robes to the emperor and nobles. Elected government officials such as senators were only allowed to wear a purple stripe, but not a whole robe of purple. So where did the soldiers get a purple robe? One theory is that the rambunctious soldiers swiped it from a statue of Julius Caesar, or of one of the other emperors who had been elevated to being worshipped as a god.  

While Scripture does not say for certain that Jesus suffered through the King’s Game, many of the details of His torture fit with what ancient writers described when they wrote about Basileus. All of the prisoner “kings” who faced the indignities of the King’s Game died violently. However, to our knowledge, only one of them spoke words of forgiveness to His torturers. And we know for certain that only one of them rose from the grave.  

The soldiers dressed Him in a purple robe to ridicule Him. They gave Him a crown of thorns to wear, and they bowed before Him in laughing disbelief. Yet, soon He will return to Jerusalem as earth’s eternal King. One day soon, every knee will bow before Him, including those who stripped Him and beat Him. Christian, in your season of distress, or even of persecution, remember that we serve a King greater than Pontius Pilate, the Roman emperors, or any ruler today. His story did not end in the underground dungeons of Jerusalem, or even on His cross, but He is alive and ruling today! If you have not accepted Jesus as your Savior, please do so before it is too late.

“And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name: That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth;” (Philippians 2:8-10).

About John Buckner

Related Resource: Study Mark

The second Gospel Record, Mark, is the shortest. It shows us the works of Christ and the heart of the perfect Servant. Study Mark HERE