Caesarea,
Israel New
Testament
Period Pontius Pilate, (26-37
AD) Limestone,
inscribed 82.0 cm H, 65.0 cm W Building Dedication 4
Lines of Writing (Latin) Date
of Discovery: 1961 Israel Museum (Jerusalem) AE 1963
no.
104
Inscription by Pontius
Pilate
It wasn't
long ago when
many scholars were questioning the actual existence of a
Roman
Governor with the name Pontius Pilate, the procurator who
ordered
Jesus' crucifixion. In June 1961 Italian archaeologists led
by Dr.
Frova were excavating an ancient Roman amphitheatre near
Caesarea-on-the-Sea (Maritima) and uncovered this
interesting
limestone block. On the face is a monumental inscription
which is
part of a larger dedication to Tiberius Caesar which clearly
says
that it was from "Pontius Pilate, Prefect of
Judea."
It
reads:
Line
One:
TIBERIEUM,,
Line
Two:
(PON)
TIUS
Line
Three:
(PRAEF)
ECTUS IUDA (EAE)
This is the
only known
occurrence of the name Pontius Pilate in any ancient
inscription.
Visitors to Caesarea's theater today see a replica, the
original is
in the Israel Museum in Jerusalem. It is interesting as well
that
there have been a few bronze coins found that were struck
form 29-32
AD by Pontius Pilate.
Who was
Pontius
Pilate?
Pontius Pilate's family name,
Pontius, indicates that he was of the tribe of
Pontii.
It was one of the most famous of the ancient Samnite names.
The
surname or cognomen Pilatus indicates the familia, or branch
of the
gens Pontius. The name is uncertain, though some think it
may have
meant "armed with the pilum" (a spear or javelin). One
interesting
note is about another man in Roman history bearing the name.
Lucius
Pontius Aquila was a friend of Cicero and one of the
assassins of
Julius Caesar on the Ides of March (44 BC) when the would-be
king
was murdered.
The only
information
regarding Pontius Pilate is the New Testament and two Jewish
writers: Josephus and Philo of Alexandria. By far our
greatest
amount of information comes from the Jewish writer Flavius
Josephus
who composed his two great works, the Antiquities of the
Jews and
the Jewish War, towards the end of the first century. There
are also
several "less reliable" traditions and legends. One early German legend says that Pilate was an illegitimate
son of
Tyrus, king of Mayence, who had Pilate taken to Rome as a
prisoner.
After he had apparently committed a murder he was sent to
Pontus,
where he enlisted in the Roman Army and proved himself by
winning
many victories against the barbarous tribes in the
north.
Tacitus, when
speaking of
the cruel punishments inflicted by Nero upon the Christians,
tells
us that Christ, from whom the name "Christian" was derived,
was put
to death when Tiberius was emperor by the procurator Pontius
Pilate
(Annals xv.44). Apart from this reference and what is told
us in the
New Testament, all our knowledge of him is derived from two
Jewish
writers, Josephus the historian and Philo of
Alexandria.
The Roman
Procurator
Tiberius
Caesar, who
succeeded Augustus in AD 14, appointed Pontius Pilate as
governor of
Judea in 26 AD. Pilate arrived and made his official
residence in
Caesarea Maritima, the Roman capital of Judea. Pilate was
the 5th
procurator of Judea. The province of Judea, formerly the
kingdom of
Archelaus, was formed in 6 AD when Archelaus was exiled and
his
territory transformed into a Roman province. Although it
included
Samaria and Idumaea, the new province was known simply as
Judea or
Judaea. It generally covered the S. half of Palestine,
including
Samaria. Judea was an imperial province (i.e. under the
direct
control of the emperor), and was governed by a
procurator.
The
procurator was devoted
to the emperor and directly responsible to him. His primary
responsibility was financial. The authority of the Roman
procurators
varied according to the appointment of the emperor. Pilate
was a
procurator cum porestate, (possessed civil, military, and
criminal
jurisdiction). The procurator of Judea was somehow under the
authority of the legate of Syria. Usually a procurator had
to be of
equestrian rank and experienced in military
affairs.
Under the
rule of a
procurator cum porestate like Pontius Pilate, the Jews were
allowed
as much self-government as possible under imperial
authority. The
Jewish judicial system was run by the Sanhedrin and
court met
in the "hall of hewn stone", but if they desired to inflict
the
death penalty, the sentence had to be given and executed by
the
Roman procurator.
Pontius
Pilate and the
Jews
According to
history Pilate
made an immediate
impression upon
the Jews when he moved his army headquarters from Caesarea
to
Jerusalem. They marched into the city with their Roman
standards,
bearing the image of the "divine emperor" and set up their
headquarters right in the corner of the Temple in a
palace-fortress
called "Antonia," which outraged the Jews. Pilate quickly
learned
their zealous nature and political power within the province
and,
according to Josephus, ordered the standards to be returned
to
Caesarea (Josephus Ant. 18.3.1-2; Wars 2.9.2-4).
Pilate made
some other
mistakes according to history before the time when he
ordered the
crucifixion of Jesus. One time he placed on the walls of his
palace
on Mt. Zion golden shields bearing inscriptions of the names
of
various gods. Tiberius had to personally order the removal
of the
shields. Another time Pilate used Temple revenue to build
his
aqueduct. There is another incident only recorded in the
Bible where
Pilate ordered the slaughter of certain Galileans (Luke
13:1) who
had supposedly been offering sacrifices in the Temple. Here
are some
details:
"On one
occasion, when the soldiers under his command came to
Jerusalem, he caused them to bring with them their
ensigns,
upon which were the usual images of the emperor. The
ensigns
were brought in privily by night, put their presence
was soon
discovered. Immediately multitudes of excited Jews
hastened to
Caesarea to petition him for the removal of the
obnoxious
ensigns. For five days he refused to hear them, but on
the
sixth he took his place on the judgment seat, and when
the
Jews were admitted he had them surrounded with
soldiers and
threatened them with instant death unless they ceased
to
trouble him with the matter. The Jews thereupon flung
themselves on the ground and bared their necks,
declaring that
they preferred death to the violation of their laws.
Pilate,
unwilling to slay so many, yielded the point and
removed the
ensigns."
(The
Standards-
Josephus, War 2.169-174, Antiq 18.55-59)
"At
another time he
used the sacred treasure of the temple, called corban
(qorban), to pay for bringing water into Jerusalem by
an
aqueduct. A crowd came together and clamored against
him; but
he had caused soldiers dressed as civilians to mingle
with the
multitude, and at a given signal they fell upon the
rioters
and beat them so severely with staves that the riot
was
quelled."
(The
Aqueduct-
Josephus, War 2.175-177, Antiq 18.60-62)).
"Philo
tells us
(Legatio ad Caium, xxxviii) that on other occasion he
dedicated some gilt shields in the palace of Herod in
honor of
the emperor. On these shields there was no
representation of
any forbidden thing, but simply an inscription of the
name of
the donor and of him in whose honor they were set up.
The Jews
petitioned him to have them removed; when he refused,
they
appealed to Tiberius, who sent an order that they
should be
removed to Caesarea."
(from
International
Standard Bible Encyclopaedia)
The
Trial of Jesus
and Pontius Pilate
Pilate had traveled to Jerusalem in order
to maintain
order during the huge festival of Passover. This festival
was always
a problem time for the Romans, especially since Jewish
resentment
had always run especially high during national or religious
holidays.
According to
the Scriptures
the Jewish authorities brought Jesus to Pontius Pilate and
began
prosecution by saying,
"Luke
23:1-2 Then the
whole multitude of them arose and led Him to Pilate. And
they began
to accuse Him, saying, "We found this fellow perverting the
nation,
and forbidding to pay taxes to Caesar, saying that He
Himself is
Christ, a King."
The main
charges brought
before Pilate about Jesus were political and not religious.
Jesus
was accused of being a political threat to Rome and to
Caesar's
authority.
Pilate spoke
with Jesus
(see John 18:33-19:12) and considered the charges being
brought
against Jesus.
1. He
subverts the
nation 2. He opposes payment of taxes 3. He claims to
be a
King
These were,
of course,
false accusations because Jesus refused the title of king in
a
political sense, and did not oppose paying taxes. He
criticized the
leaders on religious issues, not political.
Pilate's
verdict on all
three counts were "I find no case against Him." For
whatever
reason Pilate tried to avoid judging Jesus. He wanted to
give the
responsibility to the Jewish authorities, then he tried to
detour
the responsibility to Herod. He also tried to invoke the
custom of
releasing a prisoner in honor of the Jewish Passover and let
the
multitudes decide, but they chose a murderous criminal named
Barabbas. Finally he had Jesus scourged in hope that the
Jewish
Sanhedrin would feel pity.
John
19:15-16 "But they
cried out, "Away with Him, away with Him! Crucify Him!"
Pilate said
to them, "Shall I crucify your King?" The chief priests
answered,
"We have no king but Caesar!" Then he delivered Him to them
to be
crucified. So they took Jesus and led Him
away."
Pilate did
not want to be
responsible for the death of Jesus, and he would not until
the
Jewish rulers threatened to report him to Caesar, which they
had
done before. They cried "let His blood be upon us and on our
children" (Matt 27:25) and how fearfully this was fulfilled.
(See Masada)
When all else
failed Pilate
washed his hands of the whole situation in the presence of
all the
people and turned Jesus over to his soldiers for crucifixion
and
ordered a sign made for Jesus' cross. The sign on the
vertical beam
of the cross read in Greek, Latin and Hebrew: "Jesus of
Nazareth,
the King of the Jews." The Sanhedrin were outraged and the
chief
priests came to Pilate and said:
John 19:21-23
"Do not
write, 'The King of the Jews,' but, 'He said, "I am the King
of the
Jews." ' "Pilate answered, "What I have written, I have
written."
What
Happened to Pontius
Pilate?
Scripture
gives us no
further information concerning Pilate, but Josephus, the
Jewish
historian records that Pilate, the Roman procurator of Judea
succeeded Gratus. According to Josephus (Ant, XVIII, iv, 2)
Pilate
held office in Judea for 10 years. Afterwards he was removed
from
office by Vitellius, the legate of Syria, and traveled in
haste to
Rome to defend himself before Tiberius against certain
complaints.
Before he reached Rome the Tiberius had died and Gaius
(Caligula)
was on the throne, AD 36. Josephus adds that Vitellius came
in the
year 36 AD to Judea to be present at Jerusalem at the time
of the
Passover. This would indicate that Pilate had already left
for
Rome.
Josephus
(Ant, XVIII, iv,
1, 2) gives an account of what really happened to Pontius
Pilate and
his removal from office. A religious fanatic arose in
Samaria who
promised the Samaritans that if they would assemble on Mt.
Gerizim,
he would show them the sacred vessels which Moses had hidden
there.
A great multitude of people came to the "sacred mountain" of
the
Samaritans ready to ascend the mountain, but before they
could they
were attacked by Pilate's cavalry, and many of them were
slaughtered. The Samaritans therefore sent an embassy to
Vitellius,
the legate of Syria, to accuse Pilate of murdering innocent
people.
Vitellius, who wanted to maintain friendship with the Jews,
removed
Pilate from office and appointed Marcellus in his
place.
Pilate was
ordered to go to
Rome and answer the charges made against him before the
emperor.
Pilate set out for Rome, but, before he could reach it,
Tiberius had
died.
From this
point onward
history knows nothing more of Pilate.
Tradition
and
Legend
Eusebius (4th
cent AD)
tells us (Historia Ecclesiastica, II), based on the writings
of
certain Greek historians, that Pilate soon afterward,
"wearied with
misfortunes," had killed himself. (Hist. Eccl.
2.7.1).
Various
apocryphal writings
have come down to us, written from the 3rd-5th centuries AD,
giving
legendary details about Pontius Pilate becoming a Christian,
and his
wife, traditionally named Claudia Procula, was a Jewish
proselyte at
the time of the death of Jesus and afterward became a
Christian.
There are
other traditions
mentioned in the false Gospels (non-canonical Apocryphal
Gospels)
concerning Pontius Pilate.
Church
tradition portrayed
Pilate in very favorable terms. In the second century Gospel
of
Peter, Jesus is condemned not by Pilate but by Herod
Antipas.
Tertullian asserted that Pilate was a Christian at heart and
that he
wrote a letter to Tiberius to explain what had happened at
Jesus'
trial (Apology 21). The fourth or fifth century Gospel
of
Nicodemus (which contains the Acts of Pilate), does not make
Pilate
a Christian, but depicts him as more friendly towards Jesus
than any
of the canonical gospels. Pilate was soon canonized by the
Coptic
and Ethiopic churches.
The
Biblical
Comparison
The Bible
clearly mentions
Pontius Pilate as the Roman procurator of Judea at the time
of Jesus
Christ. Since this dedication stone found in Caesarea
Maritima was
the first inscription mentioning his actual name, and that
he indeed
was the Roman procurator who had made his official residence
in
Caesarea, the discovery of The Pilate Inscription is a
monumental
discovery that verifies again that the Bible is a Book of
history.
The Evidence of
Archaeology
The evidence
of archaeology
helps to give us:
1. Confidence
that the
places and people mentioned in the Bible are accurate, even
though
those places and people existed thousands of years in the
past.
2. Confidence
that the
details of the Biblical accounts have not changed over the
centuries
since it was written as we have a "fixed fact" in
history.
3. Confidence
that
everything that the Lord speaks will be fulfilled in its
time.
Isa
46:8-10 "Remember
this, and show yourselves men; Recall to mind, O you
transgressors. Remember the former things of old, For I am
God,
and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like
Me,
Declaring the end from the beginning, And from ancient
times
things that are not yet done, Saying, 'My counsel shall
stand, And
I will do all My
pleasure,'
