Pontius Pilate

Pontius Pilatus (known in English as Pontius Pilate) was the governor of the small Roman province of Judea from 26 CE until 37, although Tacitus believed him to be the procurator of that province. His biographical details before and after this time are unknown.

Pilate is famous primarily as a crucial character in the New Testament account of Jesus, but most of our knowledge of him comes from the account of the Romano-Jewish historian Flavius Josephus.

Pilate is said to have displayed a serious lack of empathy for Jewish sensibilities, for example by displaying Roman religious symbols and by appropriating Temple funds for the construction of an aqueduct. He then responded harshly to the resulting unrest, possibly because, due to political machinations, the powerful neighboring Roman province of Syria was unable to provide him military support.

In approximately 36, Pilate used arrests and executions to quash a Samaritan religious uprising. After complaints to the Roman legate of Syria, Pilate was recalled to Rome; he is believed to have committed suicide.

In 1961, a block of limestone was found in the Roman theatre at Caesarea, the capital of the province of Judea, bearing a damaged dedication by Pilate of a Tiberieum. This dedication states that he was prefectus (usually seen as praefectus), that is, governor, of Judea. The word Tiberieum is otherwise unknown: some scholars speculate that it was some kind of structure, perhaps a temple, built to honor the emperor Tiberius. This inscription is currently in the Israel Museum in Jerusalem.

Pilate in the Gospels

According to the New Testament, Jesus was brought to Pilate by the Jewish authorities in Jersusalem after they had arrested him, questioned him, and received answers from him that they considered blasphemous.

Pilate's main question to Jesus was whether he considered himself to be the "king of the Jews."

In the continuing interrogation by Pilate, related in the Gospel of John, Jesus states that he "came into the world ... to bear witness to the truth; and all who are on the side of truth listen to my voice", to which Pilate replies, "What is truth?"

In the Gospel of Matthew, after condemning Jesus to death, Pilate washes his hands with water in front of the crowd, who had demanded that Jesus be crucified, and says, "I am innocent of this man's blood. It is your concern."

The question of responsibility for Jesus' death

In all New Testament accounts, Pilate hesitates to condemn Jesus until the (Jewish) crowd insist. Some have suggested that this may have been an effort by early Christian polemicists to curry favor with Rome by placing the blame for Jesus' execution on the Jews. Nevertheless, the Nicene Creed states unambiguously that Jesus "was crucified under Pontius Pilate".

Since the Second Vatican Council, the Roman Catholic Church has stated clearly that "neither all Jews indiscriminately at that time, nor Jews today, can be charged with the crimes committed during [Jesus'] Passion...." Nor does the church consider Pilate responsible. Instead, it holds that all sinners are responsible for Christ's sufferings.