Nope. In the Bible, the Antonia is called the Greek word for castle. Excavations have been done recently in 2003 that highlight Herod’s palace as the praetorium. Most of the structure you see as the Antonia was rebuilt by Hadrian after Titus destroyed it. We also have Philo indicating that
*Tradition dating back to the medieval period places the praetorium—where the trial of Jesus was held, according to the Gospels2—in the Antonia Fortress in the northeastern part of the Old City. The Antonia Fortress, however, would have been too small to be the residence and headquarters of the governor; its main purpose, furthermore, was to serve as a military observation tower. Scholarly consensus today associates the praetorium with Herod’s palace on the western side of the city.3
“Herod’s palace was not a building—it was a compound,” Shimon Gibson told Bible History Daily. “The compound was ideal for Roman governors.”
In The World of Jesus, Gibson explains why it’s likely the praetorium was located in Herod’s palace complex:
[T]here can be no doubt that on the occasions when [Pilate] stayed in Jerusalem, particularly during the Jewish festivities, he took up residence at Herod’s old palace situated on the west side of the city, also known as the praetorium. The word praetorium might refer to a palace or a judicial military seat, but it is likely that in Jerusalem it referred to the entire palace compound, which on the north included palatial buildings used for residential purposes and on the south, military barracks.
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*raditionally, it has been thought that the vicinity of the Antonia Fortress later became the site of the Praetorium, and that this latter building was the place where Jesus was taken to stand before Pilate (see Pilate’s court). However, this tradition was based on the mistaken assumption that an area of Roman flagstones, discovered beneath the Church of the Condemnation and Imposition of the Cross and the Convent of the Sisters of Zion, was the pavement (Greek: lithostratos) which the Bible describes as the location of Pontius Pilate’s judgment of Jesus;[5] archaeological investigation now indicates that these slabs are the paving of the eastern of two 2nd century Forums, built by Hadrian as part of the construction of Aelia Capitolina.[4] The site of the Forum had previously been a large open-air pool, the Struthion Pool, which was constructed by the Hasmoneans, is mentioned by Josephus as being adjacent to the Fortress in the 1st century,[6] and is still present beneath Hadrian’s flagstones; the traditional scene would require that everyone was walking on water.
Like Philo, Josephus testifies that the Roman governors stayed in Herod’s Palace while they were in Jerusalem,[7] and carrying out their judgements on the pavement immediately outside it;[8] Josephus indicates that Herod’s palace is on the Western Hill (Upper City)[9] and it has recently (2001) been rediscovered under a corner of the Jaffa Gate citadel. Archaeologists now therefore conclude that in the 1st century, the Praetorium – the residence of the governor (Praefectus – later Procurator) – was on the Western Hill, rather than the Antonia Fortress, on the diametrically opposite side of the city.[4]*
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