Pontius Pilate Warning: You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you log in or create an account, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.Anti-spam check. Do not fill this in! ==Archaeology== ===Caesarea inscription=== {{main|Pilate Stone}} [[File:Pilate Inscription.JPG|thumb|The Pilate Stone. The words <small>[...]TIVS PILATVS[...]</small> can be clearly seen on the second line.]] A single inscription by Pilate has survived in Caesarea, on the "[[Pilate Stone]]". The (partially reconstructed) inscription is as follows:{{sfn|Vardaman|1962|p=70}} {{Lang|la| :S TIBERIÉVM :{{silver (color)|PON}}TIVS PILATVS :{{silver (color)|PRAEF}}ECTVS IVDA{{silver (color)|EA}}E|italics=no}} Vardaman "freely" translates it as follows: "Tiberium [?of the Caesareans?] Pontius Pilate, Prefect of Judea [ ... has given?]".{{sfn|Vardaman|1962|p=70}} The fragmentary nature of the inscription has led to some disagreement about the correct reconstruction, so that "apart from Pilate's name and title the inscription is unclear."{{sfn|Taylor|2006|pp=565–566}} Originally, the inscription would have included an abbreviated letter for Pilate's [[praenomen]] (e.g., ''T.'' for Titus or ''M.'' for Marcus).{{sfn|Demandt|2012|p=40}} The stone attests Pilate's title of prefect and the inscription appears to refer to some kind of building called a ''Tiberieum'', a word [[Hapax legomenon|otherwise unattested]]{{sfn|Taylor|2006|p=566}} but following a pattern of naming buildings about Roman emperors.{{sfn|Demandt|2012|pp=41–42}} Bond argues that we cannot be sure what kind of building this referred to.{{sfn|Bond|1998|p=12}} [[Géza Alföldy|G. Alföldy]] argued that it was some sort of secular building, namely a lighthouse, while Joan Taylor and Jerry Vardaman argue that it was a temple dedicated to Tiberius.{{sfn|Taylor|2006|pp=566–567}}{{sfn|Vardaman|1962}} ===Ameria inscription=== A second inscription, which has since been lost,{{sfn|MacAdam|2017|p=134}} has historically been associated with Pontius Pilate. It was a fragmentary, undated inscription on a large piece of marble recorded in [[Amelia, Umbria|Ameria]], a village in [[Umbria]], Italy.{{sfn|Bormann|1901|p=647}} The inscription read as follows: {{lang|la| :PILATVS :IIII VIR ::QVINQ|italics=no}} :([[Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum|CIL]] [http://db.edcs.eu/epigr/edcs_id.php?s_sprache=en&p_edcs_id=EDCS-21500305 XI.2.1.4396]) The only clear items of text are the names "Pilate" and the title [[quattuorvir]] ("IIII VIR"), a type of local city official responsible for conducting a [[census]] every five years.{{sfn|MacAdam|2001|p=73}} The inscription was formerly found outside the church of St. Secundus, where it had been copied from a presumed original.{{sfn|MacAdam|2001|p=73}} At the turn of the 20th century, it was generally held to be fake, a forgery in support of a local legend that Pontius Pilate died in exile in Ameria.{{sfn|Bormann|1901|p=647}} The more recent scholars Alexander Demandt and Henry MacAdam both believe that the inscription is genuine, but attests to a person who simply had the same [[cognomen]] as Pontius Pilate.{{sfn|Demandt|1999|p=82}}{{sfn|MacAdam|2001|p=73}} MacAdam argues that "[i]t is far easier to believe that this very fragmentary inscription prompted the legend of Pontius Pilate's association with the Italian village of Ameria [...] than it is to posit someone forging the inscription two centuries ago—quite creatively, it would seem—to provide substance for the legend."{{sfn|MacAdam|2017|p=134}} ===Coins=== {{main|Roman Procurator coinage#Pontius Pilate}} [[File:Prutah Of Pontius Pilate.jpg|thumb|Bronze prutah of Pontius Pilate (worn, clipped, 15mm, 1.97g.). <br/> '''Obverse:''' ΤΙΒΕΡΙΟΥ ΚΑΙΣΑΡΟΣ surrounding [[lituus]]. <br/> '''Reverse:''' Wreath surrounding date [[Greek numerals|LIϚ]] (year 16, 29/30 CE). Found in Lebanon.]] As governor, Pilate was responsible for minting coins in the province: he appears to have struck them in 29/30, 30/31, and 31/32, thus the fourth, fifth, and sixth years of his governorship.{{sfn|Bond|1998|pp=20–21}} The coins belong to a type called a "perutah", measured between 13.5 and 17mm, were minted in Jerusalem,{{sfn|Taylor|2006|pp=556–557}} and are fairly crudely made.{{sfn|Bond|1996|p=243}} Earlier coins read {{Lang|grc|ΙΟΥΛΙΑ ΚΑΙΣΑΡΟΣ|italics=no}} on the obverse and {{Lang|grc|ΤΙΒΕΡΙΟΥ ΚΑΙΣΑΡΟΣ|italics=no}} on the reverse, referring to the emperor Tiberius and his mother [[Livia]] (Julia Augusta). Following Livia's death, the coins only read {{Lang|grc|ΤΙΒΕΡΙΟΥ ΚΑΙΣΑΡΟΣ|italics=no}}.{{sfn|Bond|1996|p=250}} As was typical of Roman coins struck in Judaea, they did not have a portrait of the emperor, though they included some pagan designs.{{sfn|Bond|1998|pp=20–21}} E. Stauffer and E. M. Smallwood argued that the coins' use of pagan symbols was deliberately meant to offend the Jews and connected changes in their design to the fall of the powerful Praetorian prefect [[Sejanus]] in 31.{{sfn|Bond|1996|p=241}} This theory was rejected by Helen Bond, who argued that there was nothing particularly offensive about the designs.{{sfn|Bond|1996|pp=241-242}} Joan Taylor has argued that the symbolism on the coins show how Pilate attempted to promote the [[Roman imperial cult]] in Judaea, in spite of local Jewish and Samaritan religious sensitivities.{{sfn|Taylor|2006|pp=562-563}} [[File:Coin-of-Pilate.jpg|thumb|Bronze prutah minted by Pontius Pilate in Jerusalem.<br />'''Reverse:''' Greek letters ΤΙΒΕΡΙΟΥ ΚΑΙΣΑΡΟΣ and date [[Greek numerals|LIϚ]] (year 16 = 29/30), surrounding [[simpulum]].<br />'''Obverse:''' Greek letters ΙΟΥΛΙΑ ΚΑΙΣΑΡΟΣ, three bound heads of barley, the outer two heads drooping.]] ===Aqueduct=== Attempts to identify the [[Roman aqueduct|aqueduct]] that is attributed to Pilate in Josephus date to the 19th century.{{sfn|Lémonon|2007|p=155}} In the mid-20th century, [[Amihai Mazar|A. Mazar]] tentatively identified it as the Arrub aqueduct that brought water from [[Solomon's Pools]] to Jerusalem, an identification supported in 2000 by Kenneth Lönnqvist.{{sfn|Lönnqvist|2000|p=64}} Lönnqvist notes that the [[Talmud]] ([[Lamentations Rabbah]] 4.4) records the destruction of an aqueduct from Solomon's Pools by the [[Sicarii]], a group of fanatical religious [[Zealots]], during the [[First Jewish-Roman War]] (66–73); he suggests that if the aqueduct had been funded by the temple treasury as recorded in Josephus, this might explain the Sicarii's targeting of this particular aqueduct.{{sfn|Lönnqvist|2000|p=473}} However, more recent research, published in 2021, dates the construction of another one of the aqueducts providing water to Solomon's Pools, namely the Biar Aqueduct (also known as Wadi el-Biyar Aqueduct), to the mid-first century AD, probably during the time of Pilate.<ref name=NH>{{cite news |last= Hasson |first= Nir |title= Notorious Pontius Pilate Is the One Who Built Jerusalem Aqueduct, Study Finds | newspaper=[[Haaretz]] |date= 19 December 2021 |url-access= subscription |url= https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/2021-12-19/ty-article-magazine/.premium/notorious-pontius-pilate-is-the-one-who-built-jerusalem-aqueduct-study-finds/0000017f-f1bf-d487-abff-f3ff0dae0000 |access-date= 23 June 2022}}</ref> ===Inscribed ring=== In 2018, an inscription on a thin copper-alloy sealing ring that had been discovered at [[Herodium]] was uncovered using modern scanning techniques. The inscription reads {{Lang|grc|ΠΙΛΑΤΟ(Υ)|italics=no}} ({{transliteration|grc|Pilato(u)}}), meaning "of Pilate".{{sfn|Amora-Stark|2018|p=212}} The name Pilatus is rare, so the ring could be associated with Pontius Pilate; however, given the cheap material, it is unlikely that he would have owned it. It is possible that the ring belonged to another individual named Pilate,{{sfn|Amora-Stark|2018|pp=216–217}} or that it belonged to someone who worked for Pontius Pilate.{{sfn|Amora-Stark|2018|p=218}} Summary: Please note that all contributions to Christianpedia may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. If you do not want your writing to be edited mercilessly, then do not submit it here. You are also promising us that you wrote this yourself, or copied it from a public domain or similar free resource (see Christianpedia:Copyrights for details). Do not submit copyrighted work without permission! Cancel Editing help (opens in new window) Discuss this page