The Pilate
Inscription

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,'

Written by Rusty Russell (Bible
History Online)

Webmaster: [email-masked]

http://www.bible-history.com/index.htm