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"Pilate" redirects here. For other uses, see Pilate (disambiguation) . Pontius Pilate ( of the Roman Province Of Judea from AD 26 until around AD 36 . In modern times he is best known as the man who, according to the Christian Gospel s, presided over the trial of Jesus and ordered his Crucifixion , instigating the Passion . Pilate's biographical details before and after his appointment to Judea are unknown, but have been supplied by legend, which included the detail that his wife's name was Procula (she is canonized as a Saint in Orthodox Christianity ) and that his birthplace was Fortingall in Perthshire , Scotland ; Tarraco (now Tarragona ) in Spain , or Forchheim and its suburb Hausen in Germany . Pilate himself is venerated as a saint by the Ethiopian Orthodox Church . TITLE(S) An inscription found at Caesarea Palaestina refers to him as Prefect , while Tacitus speaks of him as Procurator of that province. PILATE ACCORDING TO EARLY SECULAR ACCOUNTS Most of the information about Pilate comes from the accounts of the 1st century Jewish historian Josephus in '' Antiquities Of The Jews '' and '' The Wars Of The Jews ''. Pilate is said to have displayed a serious lack of empathy for Jew ish sensibilities, for example by displaying Roman Battle Standards . The two accounts of the event in Josephus' writings may be summarised as follows: On one occasion, when the soldiers under his command came to Jerusalem, he made them bring their ensigns with them, upon which were the usual images of the emperor. The ensigns were brought in secretly by night, but their presence was soon discovered. Immediately multitudes of excited Jews rushed to Caesarea to petition him for the removal of the obnoxious ensigns. He ignored them for five days, but the next day he admitted the Jews to hear their complaint. He had them surrounded with soldiers and threatened them with instant death unless they ceased to trouble him with the matter. The Jews then threw themselves to the ground and bared their necks, declaring that they preferred death to the violation of their laws. Pilate, unwilling to kill so many, succumbed and removed the ensigns Josephus does not name the leader of this act of nonviolent resistance. However, in a heavily disputed passage known as the '' Testimonium Flavianum '', which many scholars think was artificially inserted by a later writer, just four verses later, it states that Pilate ordered the crucifixion of someone called ''Jesus'', identified by the reference in Book 18.64 to ''Christians being so named after him'', and that he was the Son of God; an unlikely statement for someone who remained a Jew for the whole of his life. Benjamin Urrutia therefore argues that the anonymous leader at the incident with the standards in 18. 55-59 was probably Jesus of Nazareth, although mainstream historians reject this conclusion as baseless. Philo Of Alexandria states that on one other occasion Pilate dedicated some gilt shields in the palace of Herod Antipas 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. (Philo, ''Legatio ad Gaium'', 38) Pilate is also said to have appropriated Temple funds for the construction of an Aqueduct , as the following summary of Josephus' two accounts shows: At another time he used the sacred treasure of the temple, called Corban ( ::cf. Josephus, Jewish War 2.175-177; Antiquities 18.60-62. Pilate may possibly have responded so harshly to the unrest because, due to political machinations, the powerful neighboring Roman province of of Syria, Pilate was recalled to Rome , where he disappears from historic record. Pilate's supposed suicide is merely a legend, and not derived from any historic account. . The word "Pilatus" can be clearly seen.]] THE "PILATE INSCRIPTION" AS HISTORICAL SUPPORT FOR PILATE'S EXISTENCE For centuries, there has been a debate over the existence of a historical Pilate. He is not mentioned in official imperial records from his time. There has been an ogoing debate over his rank. Was he govenor, prefect or procurator? Evidence for his existence was greatly enhanced in 1961, when a block of limestone was found in the Roman theatre at in Jerusalem , where its Inventory number is AE 1963 no. 104. PILATE IN THE CANONICAL GOSPEL ACCOUNTS - Christ before Pilate, 1881]] According to the Canonical Christian Gospels, Pilate presided at the trial of Jesus of Nazareth and, despite stating that he personally found him not guilty of a crime meriting death, handed him over to crucifixion. Pilate is famous primarily as a pivotal character in the New Testament account of Jesus; According to the New Testament, Jesus was brought to Pilate by the Sanhedrin , who had arrested Jesus, and questioned him themselves. The Sanhedrin had, according to the Gospels, only been given answers by Jesus that they considered blasphemous, and Pilate's main question to Jesus was whether he considered himself to be the ''King of the Jews'', and thus a political threat. Though not a claim made by the Synoptic Gospels , the Gospel Of John states that Jesus said to Pilate that he is a king and ''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 famously replies, ''What is truth?''. The Gospel Of Mark implies the opposite situation occurred, by instead stating that Jesus side-stepped the question with the reply that one should pay the Roman Tax es. The Gospel Of Luke deviates from the others by reporting that in the presence of Pilate, the priests repeatedly accused Jesus of things, but Jesus remained silent, causing Pilate to hand Jesus over to the jurisdiction of Herod Antipas . Although initially excited at meeting Jesus, about whom he had heard, Luke states that Herod ended up mocking Jesus, and so sends him back to Pilate. The Synoptics and John then state that it had been a tradition of the Jews to release a prisoner at the time of the Passover . Pilate offers them the choice of an insurrectionist named '' Barabbas '' or Jesus, somewhat confusing because ''Barabbas'' had the full name ''Jesus Barabbas'', and ''Barabbas'' (''bar-Abbas'') means ''Son of the Father'', so the crowd had been given the choice of ''Jesus Son of the Father'' or ''Jesus''. The crowd state that they wish to save ''Barabbas'' (i.e. ''Jesus Son of the Father''). According to the Synoptics, Pilate is aware that the priests had handed Jesus over because they considered him a threat, but Pilate himself does not feel that Jesus is any threat to the Roman Empire, and, upholding a Roman tradition of sparing ''the subjugated'', asserts that Jesus is innocent of the charges. Pilate is forced to condemn Jesus to crucifixion, due to the pressure of the crowd, who according to the Synoptics had been coached to shout against Jesus by the Pharisees and Sadducees . The Gospel Of Matthew adds that before condemning Jesus to death, Pilate washes his hands with water in front of the crowd, saying ''I am innocent of this man's blood; you will see''. The question of responsibility for Jesus' death In all New Testament accounts, Pilate hesitates to condemn Jesus until the crowd insists. 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, and an anti-Jewish tendency is certainly noticeable in the Gospel of John. It has been hypothesised that it was part of the process by which Pauline Christians marginalised the still-observant Jewish Christians of the Levant ( Ebionite s). Roman magistrates had wide discretion in executing their tasks, and some question whether Pilate would have been so captive to the demands of the crowd (Miller 49-50). Summarily executing someone to calm the situation would however have been a tool a Roman governor could have used, and Pilate's reputation for cruelty and violence in secular accounts of the era makes it quite plausible he would have had no hesitation in using this tool. The Nicene Creed adopted in AD 325 at the First Council Of Nicaea and completed in the Second Ecumenical Council which was in Constantinople, stated unambiguously that Jesus ''was crucified under Pontius Pilate''. The main reason for the inclusion in the creed was to state the belief in Jesus as a real Person, living in a precise moment and place, i.e. A Historical Jesus . In modern times, Western traditions regard Pilate as guilty, but those of Eastern Orthodoxy argue that he was clearly exonerated, and did all that he could to release Jesus. PILATE IN THE APOCRYPHA Little enough is still known about Pilate, but mythology has filled the gap. A body of fiction built up around the dramatic figure of Pontius Pilate, about whom the Christian faithful hungered to learn more than the canonical gospels revealed. (AD 37 - 41), was exiled to Gaul and eventually committed suicide there, in Vienne . Other details come from less respectable sources. His body, says the ''Mors Pilati'' ('Death of Pilate') was thrown first into the . Its final disposition was in a deep and lonely mountain tarn, which, according to later tradition, was on a mountain, still called Pilatus (actually ''pileatus'' or 'cloud-capped'), overlooking Lucerne . Every Good Friday the body re-emerges from the waters and washes its hands. There are many other legends about Pilate in the folklore of Germany particularly about his birth according to which Pilate was born in the Franconian city of Forchheim or the small village of Hausen only 5 km away from it. His death was (unusually) dramatized in a medieval mystery play cycle from Cornwall, the Cornish ''Ordinalia''. Pilate's role in the events leading to the crucifixion lent themselves to melodrama, even tragedy, and Pilate often has a role in medieval Mystery Play s. In the Eastern Orthodox Church , Claudia Procula is commemorated as a saint, but not Pilate, because in the Gospel accounts Claudia urged Pilate to have nothing to do with Jesus. In some Eastern Orthodox traditions, Pilate committed suicide out of remorse for having sentenced Jesus to death. ''Acts of Pilate'' See Also: Acts of Pilate The 4th century Apocryphal text that is called the '' Acts Of Pilate '' presents itself in a preface (missing in some mss) as derived from the official acts preserved in the '' Praetorium '' at Jerusalem. Though the alleged Hebrew original of the document is attributed to Nicodemus , the title ''Gospel of Nicodemus'' for this fictional account only appeared in mediaeval times, once the document had been substantially elaborated. Nothing in the text suggests that it is in fact a translation from Hebrew or Aramaic. This text gained wide credit in the Middle Ages , and has considerably affected the legends surrounding the events of the crucifixion, which, taken together, are called the Passion . Its popularity is attested by the number of languages in which it exists, each of these being represented by two or more variant 'editions': Greek (the original), Coptic, Armenian and Latin versions. The Latin versions were printed several times in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. One class of the Latin manuscripts contain as an appendix or continuation, the ''Cura Sanitatis Tiberii'', the oldest form of the Veronica legend. The ''Acts of Pilate'' consist of three sections, whose styles reveal three authors, writing at three different times.
The well-informed Eusebius (325), although he mentions an ''Acta Pilati'' that had been referred to by Justin and Tertullian and other pseudo-Acts of this kind, shows no acquaintance with this work. Almost surely it is of later origin, and scholars agree in assigning it to the middle of the 4th century. Epiphanius refers to an ''Acta Pilati'' similar to this, as early as 376, but there are indications that the current Greek text, the earliest extant form, is a revision of an earlier one. Minor Pilate literature There is a Pseudepigrapha letter reporting on the crucifixion, purporting to have been sent by Pontius Pilate to the Emperor Claudius, embodied in the pseudepigrapha known as the Acts Of Peter And Paul , of which the Catholic Encyclopedia states, "This composition is clearly apocryphal though unexpectedly brief and restrained." There is no internal relation between this feigned letter and the 4th century Acts Of Pilate (''Acta Pilati''). This Epistle or Report of Pilate is also inserted into the Pseudo-Marcellus ''Passion of Peter and Paul''. We thus have it in both Greek and Latin versions. The ''Mors Pilati'' ("Death of Pilate") legend is a Latin tradition, thus treating Pilate as a monster, not a saint; it is attached usually to the more sympathetic Gospel Of Nicodemus of Greek origin. The narrative of the ''Mors Pilati'' set of manuscripts is set in motion by an illness of Tiberius, who sends Volusanius to Judea to fetch the Christ for a cure. In Judea Pilate covers for the fact that Christ has been crucified, and asks for a delay. But Volusanius encounters Veronica who informs him of the truth but sends him back to Rome with her ''Veronica'' of Christ's face on her kerchief, which heals Tiberius. Tiberius then calls for Pontius Pilate, but when Pilate appears, he is wearing the seamless robe of the Christ and Tiberius' heart is softened, but only until Pilate is induced to doff the garment, whereupon he is treated to a ghastly execution. His body, when thrown into the Tiber, however, raises such storm demons that it is sent to Vienne ( Via Gehennae ) in France and thrown to the Rhone. That river's spirits reject it too, and the body is driven east into "Losania," where it is plunged in the bay of the lake near Lucerne , near Mont Pilatus— originally ''Mons Pileatus'' or "cloud-capped" as John Ruskin pointed out in ''Modern Painters''— whence the uncorrupting corpse rises every Good Friday to sit on the bank and wash unavailing hands. This version combined with anecdotes of Pilate's wicked early life were incorporated in Jacobus De Voragine 's Golden Legend , which ensured a wide circulation for it in the later Middle Ages. Other legendary versions of Pilate death exist: Antoine De La Sale , reported from a travel in Central Italy on some local traditions asserting that after the death the body of Pontius Pilate was driven until a little lake near Vettore Peak , (2478 mt. in Sibillini Mounts ) and plunged in. The lake, today, is still named (in Italian) Lago Di Pilato . In the Cornish cycle of Mystery Play s the "death of Pilate" forms a dramatic scene in the ''Resurrexio Domini'' cycle. More of Pilate's fictional correspondence is found in the minor Pilate apocrypha, the ''Anaphora Pilati'' ('Relation of Pilate,'), an 'Epistle of Herod to Pilate,' and an 'Epistle of Pilate to Herod,' spurious texts that are no older than the fifth century. The '' (The last days of Pilate). PILATE IN LATER FICTION Plays and movies dealing with life of Jesus Christ often include the character of Pontius Pilate due to the central role he played in the final days of Christ's life. Authors have also found reason to make Pilate a main character and fill in unknown details of his life. Pilate has been interpreted in a number of different ways. At times he was portrayed as a weak and harried bureaucrat. Some portrayals show Pilate as a hard governor who ruled with an iron fist. Also, some authors have portrayed Pilate as a man who sees clearly how the story of Jesus will affect human history. Other writers have portrayed a Pilate oblivious to the signifigance of the young Galilean Thaumaturgist he condemns to death. In the Vestibule of Hell in Dante 's '' Divine Comedy '', a figure is seen "who made the great refusal." This is interpreted to be either Pontius Pilate, or Pope Celestine V . A ruthless, but human and complex, Pontius Pilate is portrayed in the classic work of Mikhail Bulgakov , '' The Master And Margarita ''. In it, he exemplifies the statement "Cowardice is the worst of vices" and, thus, serves a model, in an allegorical interpretation of the work, of all the people who "washed their hands" by silently or actively agreeing with the crimes of Joseph Stalin . Pilate appears in two stories in Karel Čapek 's collection ''Apocryphal Tales''. In "Pilate's Evening", the weary governor wonders why Jesus' friends and relatives did not come to try and save him, and wishes that they had. "Pilate's Creed" features a dialogue between Pilate and Joseph Of Arimathea . Their argument reflects the conflict between Sceptical Humanism (Pilate's famous "What is truth?") and Religious certainty (Joseph's reply, "The truth in which I believe"). In ''The Flame and the Wind'', a novel by John Blackburn , the aged Pilate is wracked by guilt over Jesus' death and directs his heir to find out if Jesus was really the Son Of God . The imperial bureaucrat has retired to Sicily to become a gentleman farmer in the Anatole France short story ''The Procurator of Judea''. Notable figures who have played Pontius Pilate in various dramas include Telly Savalas ('' The Greatest Story Ever Told ''), Rod Steiger ('' Jesus Of Nazareth ''), Hurd Hatfield ('' King Of Kings '') Frank Thring ('' Ben-Hur ''), Richard Boone ('' The Robe ''), and Gary Oldman ('' Jesus ''). In the Mel Gibson film '' The Passion Of The Christ '' Pontius Pilate was portrayed by the Bulgarian actor Hristo Naumov Shopov . In Martin Scorsese 's controversial '' The Last Temptation Of Christ '', David Bowie portrayed a somewhat sympathetic Pilate. In the Monty Python film '' Life Of Brian '', Michael Palin plays a Comical Pilate who cannot pronounce the letter R and is a close friend of Roman legion commander Biggus Dickus . Barry Dennen played the harried, hesitant verson of Pilate in both the Broadway and silver screen versions of '' Jesus Christ Superstar ''. In the summer of 2004, as part of its New Works festival, the , the piece explores the life of Pontius Pilate in the style of a Mystery Play . The workshop was developed by RSC artistic director Michael Boyd and ran for only five performances. EXTERNAL LINKS
REFERENCES The references to Pilate, outside the New Testament: Josephus, ''Antiquities of the Jews'' 18.35, 55-64, 85-89, 177; Jewish War'' 2.169-177; Philo, ''Legatio ad Gaium'' (''Embassy to Gaius'') 38; Tacitus, '' Annals '' 15.44. |
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