WAS PONTIUS PILATE A FICTIONAL FIGURE?

Pontius Pilate went down in history as the vacillating Roman ruler of Judea at the time of Jesus. Manipulated by the Jewish leaders, Pilate jettisoned truth and justice for the sake of expediency. He caved in to the lynch mob’s demands and had Jesus crucified. This is the four Gospels’ unflattering picture of Pilate. For centuries scholars and skeptics have debated the Bible’s characterization of Pilate. Some scholars argued that the Gospel accounts are not historically accurate. Some suggested that Pilate was merely a mythical character, a fictional creation—the “fall guy” in the Jesus story. Apart from the Gospels, the only early evidence that Pilate ever existed came from Jewish writers Philo and Josephus, along with a brief mention by the Roman, Tacitus. It seemed that no “hard evidence” existed. Perhaps the skeptics were right? Did Pontius Pilate ever really exist?

The “Pilate Stone”

All this changed in 1961 when a team of Italian archaeologists unearthed a limestone block in the Israeli city of Caesarea-by-the-sea. Part of it was damaged; but enough remained to decipher the original writing. It was inscribed with Roman (Latin) letters this dedication to the Emperor Tiberius, reads (conjectured missing letters in brackets):

[DIS AUGUSTI]S TIBERIÉUM

[...PO]NTIUS PILATUS

[...PRAEF]ECTUS IUDA[EA]E

[...FECIT D]E[DICAVIT]

Translated from Latin to English, it reads:

To the Divine Augusti [this] Tiberieum

...Pontius Pilate

...prefect of Judea

...has dedicated [this]

The second line bears the name—“Pontius Pilate” and he’s identified as the “prefect of Judea.” Here, at last, after nineteen centuries, was “hard evidence” that Pontius Pilate really existed. Unlike some recent “discoveries” (e.g. the “James Ossuary”) this find—the “Pilate Stone” has been deemed authentic. It’s highly significant because, to date, it is the only universally accepted archaeological object bearing the name “Pontius Pilatus.” The article below, by Ann Wroe, describes its significance.—Nigel Tomes

PONTIUS PILATE: A NAME SET IN STONE

Until 1961, there was no concrete archaeological evidence that Pontius Pilate, the fifth governor of Judaea, ever existed. There were accounts of him, of course, not least the accounts in the Gospels. But the records of his administration had disappeared completely--no papyri, no rolls, no tablets, no (authentic) letters to Rome. The Roman ruins that remained in Israel seemed to have nothing to do with him. Even his aqueduct -- a project that got him into plenty of trouble at the time –[Pilate hijacked Temple funds to finance the project] seemed to have crumbled away.

In the summer of 1961, however, Italian archaeologists found a piece of limestone, 82cm wide by 68cm high, in the ruins of a sports stadium in Caesarea, beside the sea. The stadium had not been there in Pilate's time; he had yelled at his gladiators in another place. But the stone bore his name—“Pontius Pilate”--and much else besides.

Because it is the only artifact we have -- the only proof of him, and also the only object we can be sure he looked at and thought about -- even the tiniest aspects of it have a huge importance. Until there are more discoveries, this is as close as we are going to get.

So we have the name set in stone, Pontius Pilate….We also have his title, Praefectus Judaeae—“Prefect of Judea.” This is important, partly because it settles the debate about what he called himself.

Pilate—a Cavalry Commander?

The word "prefect" had a military tang to it; this man was not just an administrator or a revenue-raiser, but also, when required, a fighter on horseback on the wilder fringes of the empire. Pilate often looks like an effete lawyer in the endless paintings of the trial of Jesus, but he ended his career in Judea just as a prefect should, commanding cavalry, putting down an insurrection in Samaria with sufficient violence to get himself recalled to Rome.

The chief word on the inscription is something of a puzzle: Tiberieum. It appears to mean a complex of buildings in honor of Tiberius, centering round a temple where his image was worshipped...So here is Pilate audaciously, even rashly, honoring his emperor, as both Josephus and Philo—Jewish historians of that era--tell us he did on other occasions… It gives a new [credence] to the reported taunt by the Jews to Pilate at Christ's trial: "If you let this man go, you are not Caesar's friend."…

One Physical Link to Pilate

It is fairly miraculous that the stone should have survived at all. The sea could have worn the lettering away. The builders who subsequently used it, when the Tiberieum itself had fallen into ruin, could have cut it in such a way that the name was illegible. It might have been thrown away as rubble, never recovered. As it is, it seems almost incredible: our one physical link to the man who, Christians believe, gave the human order that brought about mankind's eternal salvation.

Ann Wroe, the author of `Pilate: the biography of an invented man,' wrote this piece for The Independent, Sat. 3 April 1999