<P> The Ancient Greek bēma (βῆμα) means both' platform' and' step', being derived from bainein (βαίνειν,' to go'). The original use of the bema in Athens was as a tribunal from which orators addressed the citizens as well as the courts of law, for instance, in the Pnyx . In Greek law courts the two parties to a dispute presented their arguments each from separate bemas . </P> <P> By metonymy, bema was also a place of judgement, being the extension of the raised seat of the judge, as described in the New Testament, in Matthew 27: 19 and John 19: 13, and further, as the seat of the Roman emperor, in Acts 25: 10, and of God, in Romans 14: 10, when speaking in judgment . </P> <P> The bimah (Hebrew plural: bimot) in synagogues is also known as the almemar or almemor among some Ashkenazim (from the Arabic, al - minbar, meaning' platform'). </P> <P> The post-Biblical Hebrew bima (בּימה),' platform' or' pulpit', is almost certainly derived from the Ancient Greek word for a raised platform, bema (βῆμα). (A proposed link to the Biblical Hebrew bama (בּמה),' high place' is far less likely .) </P>

Where does the term bema seat come from