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! ==Art, literature, and film== ===Visual art=== ====Late antique and early medieval art==== [[File:Court of Pilates - Sant'Apollinare Nuovo - Ravenna 2016.jpg|thumb|Mosaic of Christ before Pilate, [[Basilica of Sant'Apollinare Nuovo]] in [[Ravenna]], early sixth century. Pilate washes his hands in a bowl held by a figure on the right.]] Pilate is one of the most important figures in [[Early Christian art and architecture|early Christian art]]; he is often given greater prominence than Jesus himself.{{sfn|Hourihane|2009|p=2}} He is, however, entirely absent from the earliest Christian art; all images postdate the emperor [[Constantine the Great|Constantine]] and can be classified as early [[Byzantine art]].{{sfn|Hourihane|2009|p=67}} Pilate first appears in art on a Christian [[sarcophagus]] in 330 CE; in the earliest depictions he is shown washing his hands without Jesus being present.{{sfn|Kirschbaum|1971|p=436}} In later images he is typically shown washing his hands of guilt in Jesus' presence.{{sfn|Hourihane|2009|p=52}} 44 depictions of Pilate predate the sixth century and are found on ivory, in mosaics, in manuscripts as well as on sarcophagi.{{sfn|Hourihane|2009|p=53}} Pilate's iconography as a seated Roman judge derives from depictions of the Roman emperor, causing him to take on various attributes of an emperor or king, including the raised seat and clothing.{{sfn|Hourihane|2009|pp=57–60}} [[File:Magdeburger Reliefs Verhör Geisselung.jpg|thumb|left|Panel from the [[Magdeburg Ivories]] depicting Pilate at the [[Flagellation of Christ]], German, tenth century]] The older Byzantine model of depicting Pilate washing his hands continues to appear on artwork into the tenth century;{{sfn|Hourihane|2009|p=85}} beginning in the seventh century, however, a new iconography of Pilate also emerges, which does not always show him washing his hands, includes him in additional scenes, and is based on contemporary medieval rather than Roman models.{{sfn|Hourihane|2009|p=85}} The majority of depictions from this time period come from France or Germany, belonging to [[Carolingian art|Carolingian]] or later [[Ottonian art]],{{sfn|Hourihane|2009|p=144}} and are mostly on ivory, with some in frescoes, but no longer on sculpture except in Ireland.{{sfn|Hourihane|2009|pp=86, 93–95, 111–116}} New images of Pilate that appear in this period include depictions of the [[Ecce homo]], Pilate's presentation of the scourged Jesus to the crowd in [[s:Bible (American Standard)/John#19:5|John 19:5]],{{sfn|Hourihane|2009|pp=98–100}} as well as scenes deriving from the apocryphal ''[[Acts of Pilate]]''.{{sfn|Hourihane|2009|p=86}} Pilate also comes to feature in scenes such as the [[Flagellation of Christ]], where he is not mentioned in the Bible.{{sfn|Hourihane|2009|p=92}} [[File:Bernwardstür (28).JPG|thumb|Christ before Pilate on the [[Hildesheim cathedral doors]] (1015). A devil whispers in Pilate's ear as he judges Jesus.]] The eleventh century sees Pilate iconography spread from France and Germany to Great Britain and further into the eastern Mediterranean.{{sfn|Hourihane|2009|p=144}} Images of Pilate are found on new materials such as metal, while he appeared less frequently on ivory, and continues to be a frequent subject of gospel and psalter manuscript illuminations.{{sfn|Hourihane|2009|p=144}} Depictions continue to be greatly influenced by the ''Acts of Pilate'', and the number of situations in which Pilate is depicted also increases.{{sfn|Hourihane|2009|p=144}} From the eleventh century onward, Pilate is frequently represented as a Jewish king, wearing a beard and a [[Jewish hat]].{{sfn|Hourihane|2009|pp=146–151}} In many depictions he is no longer depicted washing his hands, or is depicted washing his hands but not in the presence of Jesus, or else he is depicted in passion scenes in which the Bible does not mention him.{{sfn|Hourihane|2009|pp=151–153}} Despite being venerated as a saint by the [[Coptic Church|Coptic]] and [[Ethiopian Church]]es, very few images of Pilate exist in these traditions from any time period.{{sfn|Hourihane|2009|p=415}} ====High and late medieval and renaissance art==== [[File:Christ before Pilate Bible moralisee Oxford-Paris-London BNF Lat11560 f183v.jpg|left|thumb|upright=1.4|A depiction of Christ before Pilate, from a thirteenth-century [[Bible moralisée]]]] In the thirteenth century, depictions of the events of Christ's passion came to dominate all visual art forms—these depictions of the "Passion cycle" do not always include Pilate, but they often do so; when he is included, he is often given stereotyped Jewish features.{{sfn|Hourihane|2009|pp=227–228}} One of the earliest examples of Pilate rendered as a Jew is from the eleventh century on the [[Bernward Doors|Hildesheim cathedral doors]] (see image, above right). This is the first known usage of the motif of Pilate being influenced and corrupted by the Devil in Medieval Art. Pilate is typically represented in fourteen different scenes from his life;{{sfn|Hourihane|2009|p=238}} however, more than half of all thirteenth-century representations of Pilate show the trial of Jesus.{{sfn|Hourihane|2009|p=255}} Pilate also comes to be frequently depicted as present at the crucifixion, by the fifteenth century being a standard element of crucifixion artwork.{{sfn|Hourihane|2009|pp=240–243}} While many images still draw from the ''Acts of Pilate'', the ''[[Golden Legend]]'' of [[Jacobus de Voragine]] is the primary source for depictions of Pilate from the second half of the thirteenth century onward.{{sfn|Hourihane|2009|pp=234–235}} Pilate now frequently appears in illuminations for [[Book of hours|books of hours]],{{sfn|Hourihane|2009|pp=228–232, 238}} as well as in the richly illuminated [[Bible moralisée|''Bibles moralisées'']], which include many biographical scenes adopted from the legendary material, although Pilate's washing of hands remains the most frequently depicted scene.{{sfn|Hourihane|2009|pp=245–249}} In the {{lang|fr|Bible moralisée|italics=yes}}, Pilate is generally depicted as a Jew.{{sfn|Hourihane|2009|p=252}} In many other images, however, he is depicted as a king or with a mixture of attributes of a Jew and a king.{{sfn|Hourihane|2009|p=293}} [[File:Obilman Ecce Homo.jpg|thumb|''Ecce Homo'' from the Legnica Polyptych by Nikolaus Obilman, [[Silesia]], 1466 CE. Pilate stands beside Christ in a [[Jewish hat]] and golden robes.]] The fourteenth and fifteenth centuries see fewer depictions of Pilate, although he generally appears in cycles of artwork on the passion. He is sometimes replaced by Herod, Annas, and Caiaphas in the trial scene.{{sfn|Hourihane|2009|pp=296–297}} Depictions of Pilate in this period are mostly found in private devotional settings such as on ivory or in books; he is also a major subject in a number of panel-paintings, mostly German, and frescoes, mostly Scandinavian.{{sfn|Hourihane|2009|p=303}} The most frequent scene to include Pilate is his washing of his hands; Pilate is typically portrayed similarly to the high priests as an old, bearded man, often wearing a Jewish hat but sometimes a crown, and typically carrying a scepter.{{sfn|Hourihane|2009|p=297}} Images of Pilate were especially popular in Italy, where, however, he was almost always portrayed as a Roman,{{sfn|Hourihane|2009|pp=303–304}} and often appears in the new medium of large-scale church paintings.{{sfn|Hourihane|2009|p=305}} Pilate continued to be represented in various manuscript picture bibles and devotional works as well, often with innovative iconography, sometimes depicting scenes from the Pilate legends.{{sfn|Hourihane|2009|pp=312–321}} Many, mostly German, engravings and woodcuts of Pilate were created in the fifteenth century.{{sfn|Hourihane|2009|pp=321–323}} Images of Pilate were printed in the ''[[Biblia pauperum]]'' ("Bibles of the Poor"), picture bibles focusing on the life of Christ, as well as the ''[[Speculum Humanae Salvationis]]'' ("Mirror of Human Salvation"), which continued to be printed into the sixteenth century.{{sfn|Hourihane|2009|pp=308–311}} ====Post-medieval art==== [[File:What-is-truth02.jpg|thumb|left|[[Nikolai Ge]], ''What is truth?'', 1890]] In the [[modern period]], depictions of Pilate become less frequent, though occasional depictions are still made of his encounter with Jesus.{{sfn|Kirschbaum|1971|p=438}} In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, Pilate was frequently dressed as an Arab, wearing a turban, long robes, and a long beard, given the same characteristics as the Jews. Notable paintings of this era include [[Tintoretto]]'s ''Christ before Pilate'' (1566/67 CE), in which Pilate is given the forehead of a philosopher, and [[Gerrit van Honthorst]]'s 1617 ''Christ before Pilate'', which was later recatalogued as ''Christ before the High Priest'' due to Pilate's Jewish appearance.{{sfn|Wroe|1999|p=38}} Following this longer period in which few depictions of Pilate were made, the increased religiosity of the mid-nineteenth century caused a slew of new depictions of Pontius Pilate to be created, now depicted as a Roman.{{sfn|Wroe|1999|p=38}} In 1830, [[J. M. W. Turner]] painted ''Pilate Washing His Hands'', in which the governor himself is not visible, but rather only the back of his chair,{{sfn|Wroe|1999|p=185}} with lamenting women in the foreground. One famous nineteenth-century painting of Pilate is ''Christ before Pilate'' (1881) by Hungarian painter [[Mihály Munkácsy]]: the work brought Munkácsy great fame and celebrity in his lifetime, making his reputation and being popular in the United States in particular, where the painting was purchased.{{sfn|Morowitz|2009|pp=184–186}} In 1896, Munkácsy painted a second painting featuring Christ and Pilate, ''Ecce homo'', which however was never exhibited in the United States; both paintings portray Jesus's fate as in the hands of the crowd rather than Pilate.{{sfn|Morowitz|2009|p=191}} The "most famous of nineteenth-century pictures"{{sfn|Wroe|1999|p=182}} of Pilate is ''What is truth?'' ({{Lang|ru|"Что есть истина?"|italics=yes}}) by the Russian painter [[Nikolai Ge]], which was completed in 1890; the painting was banned from exhibition in Russia in part because the figure of Pilate was identified as representing the [[tsarist]] authorities.{{sfn|Wroe|1999|pp=182–185}} In 1893, Ge painted another painting, ''Golgotha'', in which Pilate is represented only by his commanding hand, sentencing Jesus to death.{{sfn|Wroe|1999|p=185}} The [[Scala sancta]], supposedly the staircase from Pilate's praetorium, now located in Rome, is flanked by a life-sized sculpture of Christ and Pilate in the ''Ecce homo'' scene made in the nineteenth century by the Italian sculptor [[Ignazio Jacometti]].{{sfn|Hourihane|2009|p=392}} [[File:Pasión-Ecce_Homo.jpg|thumb|right|''Ecce Homo'' by [[Josep Maria Subirachs|Subirachs]] from [[Sagrada Familia|Basilica of the Sagrada Familia]] in Barcelona.]] The image of Pilate condemning Jesus to death is commonly encountered today as the first scene of the [[Stations of the Cross]], first found in [[Franciscan]] [[Catholic church]]es in the seventeenth century and found in almost all Catholic churches since the nineteenth century.{{sfn|MacAdam|2001|p=90}}{{sfn|MacAdam|2017|pp=138–139}}<ref>''The Catholic Encyclopedia'' (1907). s.v. [http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/15569a.htm "The Way of the Cross"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190327091210/http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/15569a.htm |date=27 March 2019 }}.</ref> ===Medieval plays=== Pilate plays a major role in the medieval [[passion play]]. He is frequently depicted as a more important character to the narrative than even Jesus,{{sfn|Hourihane|2009|p=363}} and became one of the most important figures of medieval drama in the fifteenth century.{{sfn|Hourihane|2009|p=296}} The three most popular scenes in the plays to include Pilate are his washing of hands, the warning of his wife Procula not to harm Jesus, and the writing of the ''titulus'' on Jesus' cross.{{sfn|Hourihane|2009|p=297}} Pilate's characterization varies greatly from play to play, but later plays frequently portray Pilate somewhat ambiguously, though he is usually a negative character, and sometimes an evil villain.{{sfn|Hourihane|2009|pp=363–364}} While in some plays Pilate is opposed to the Jews and condemns them, in others he describes himself as a Jew or supports their wish to kill Christ.{{sfn|Hourihane|2009|p=364}} In the passion plays from the continental Western Europe, Pilate's characterization varies from good to evil, but he is mostly a benign figure.{{sfn|Hourihane|2009|p=365}} The earliest surviving passion play, the thirteenth-century {{lang|la|Ludus de Passione|italics=yes}} from [[Klosterneuburg]], portrays Pilate as a weak administrator who succumbs to the whims of the Jews in having Christ crucified.{{sfn|Hourihane|2009|p=237}} Pilate goes on to play an important role in the increasingly long and elaborate passion plays performed in the German-speaking countries and in France.{{sfn|Hourihane|2009|pp=365–366}} In [[Arnoul Gréban]]'s fifteenth-century ''Passion'', Pilate instructs the flagellators on how best to whip Jesus.{{sfn|Hourihane|2009|pp=283–284}} The 1517 {{lang|de|Alsfelder Passionsspiel|italics=yes}} portrays Pilate as condemning Christ to death out of fear of losing Herod's friendship and to earn the Jews' good will, despite his long dialogues with the Jews in which he professes Christ's innocence. He eventually becomes a Christian himself.{{sfn|Hourihane|2009|pp=366–367}} In the 1493 {{lang|de|Frankfurter Passionsspiel|italics=yes}}, on the other hand, Pilate himself accuses Christ.{{sfn|Hourihane|2009|pp=367–368}} The fifteenth-century German Benediktbeuern passion play depicts Pilate as a good friend of Herod's, kissing him in a reminiscence of the kiss of Judas.{{sfn|Hourihane|2009|p=252}} Colum Hourihane argues that all of these plays supported antisemitic tropes and were written at times when persecution of Jews on the continent were high.{{sfn|Hourihane|2009|pp=368–369}} The fifteenth-century Roman {{lang|it|Passione|italics=yes}} depicts Pilate as trying to save Jesus against the wishes of the Jews.{{sfn|Hourihane|2009|p=364}} In the Italian passion plays, Pilate never identifies himself as a Jew, condemning them in the fifteenth-century {{lang|it|Resurrezione|italics=yes}} and stressing the Jews' fear of the "new law" of Christ.{{sfn|Hourihane|2009|pp=364–365}} Hourihane argues that in England, where the Jews had been expelled in 1290 CE, Pilate's characterization may have been used primarily to satyrize corrupt officials and judges rather than to stoke antisemitism.{{sfn|Hourihane|2009|p=265}} In several English plays, Pilate is portrayed speaking French or Latin, the languages of the ruling classes and the law.{{sfn|Wroe|1999|pp=177–178}} In the Wakefield plays, Pilate is portrayed as wickedly evil, describing himself as Satan's agent ({{lang|la|mali actoris|italics=yes}}) while plotting Christ's torture so as to extract the most pain. He nonetheless washes his hands of guilt after the tortures have been administered.{{sfn|Hourihane|2009|p=286}} In the fifteenth-century English Townley Cycle, Pilate is portrayed as a pompous lord and prince of the Jews, but also as forcing Christ's torturer to give him Christ's clothes at the foot of the cross.{{sfn|Hourihane|2009|p=243}} It is he alone who wishes to kill Christ rather than the high priests, conspiring together with Judas.{{sfn|Hourihane|2009|pp=297, 328}} In the fifteenth-century English York passion play, Pilate judges Jesus together with [[Annas]] and [[Caiaphas]], becoming a central character of the passion narrative who converses with and instructs other characters.{{sfn|Hourihane|2009|pp=243–245}} In this play, when Judas comes back to Pilate and the priests to tell them he no longer wishes to betray Jesus, Pilate browbeats Judas into going through with the plan.{{sfn|Wroe|1999|pp=213–214}} Not only does Pilate force Judas to betray Christ, he double-crosses him and refuses to take him on as a servant once Judas has done so. Moreover, Pilate also swindles his way into possession of the [[Potter's field]], thus owning the land on which Judas commits suicide.{{sfn|Hourihane|2009|p=328}} In the York passion cycle, Pilate describes himself as a courtier, but in most English passion plays he proclaims his royal ancestry.{{sfn|Hourihane|2009|p=297}} The actor who portrayed Pilate in the English plays would typically speak loudly and authoritatively, a fact which was parodied in [[Geoffrey Chaucer]]'s ''[[Canterbury Tales]]''.{{sfn|Hourihane|2009|p=352}} The fifteenth century also sees Pilate as a character in plays based on legendary material: one, {{Lang|fr|La Vengeance de Nostre-Seigneur|italics=yes}}, exists in two dramatic treatments focusing on the horrible fates that befell Christ's tormenters: it portrays Pilate being tied to a pillar, covered with oil and honey, and then slowly dismembered over 21 days; he is carefully tended to so that he does not die until the end.{{sfn|Hourihane|2009|p=317}} Another play focusing on Pilate's death is Cornish and based on the {{lang|la|Mors Pilati|italics=yes}}.{{sfn|Hourihane|2009|p=318}} The {{lang|fr|Mystère de la Passion d'Angers|italics=yes}} by [[Jean Michel (poet)|Jean Michel]] includes legendary scenes of Pilate's life before the passion.{{sfn|Hourihane|2009|p=365}} ===Modern literature=== Pontius Pilate appears as a character in a large number of literary works, typically as a character in the judgment of Christ.{{sfn|MacAdam|2001|p=90}} One of the earliest literary works in which he plays a large role is French writer [[Anatole France]]'s 1892 short story {{lang|fr|"Le Procurateur de Judée"|italics=no}} ("The Procurator of Judaea"), which portrays an elderly Pilate who has been banished to [[Sicily]]. There he lives happily as a farmer and is looked after by his daughter, but suffers from gout and obesity and broods over his time as governor of Judaea.{{sfn|Wroe|1999|p=358}} Spending his time at the baths of [[Baiae]], Pilate is unable to remember Jesus at all.{{sfn|Demandt|2012|p=107}} [[John Masefield]]'s play in verse, [[Good Friday: A Play in Verse|Good Friday]] was written in 1916. Pilate is the protagonist.<ref name=JMSYT>[[John Masefield Society]]: ''[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xmp_IDlvzPw Good Friday: A Play in Verse (1916)]''</ref> Pilate makes a brief appearance in the preface to [[George Bernard Shaw]]'s 1933 play ''[[On the Rocks: A Political Comedy|On the Rocks]]'' where he argues against Jesus about the dangers of revolution and of new ideas.{{sfn|Wroe|1999|p=195}} Shortly afterwards, French writer [[Roger Caillois]] wrote a novel ''Pontius Pilate'' (1936), in which Pilate acquits Jesus.{{sfn|MacAdam|2017|p=133}} Pilate features prominently in Russian author [[Mikhail Bulgakov]]'s novel ''[[The Master and Margarita]]'', which was written in the 1930s but only published in 1966, twenty six years after the author's death.{{sfn|Langenhorst|1995|p=90}} Henry I. MacAdam describes it as "the 'cult classic' of Pilate-related fiction."{{sfn|MacAdam|2017|p=133}} The work features a novel within the novel about Pontius Pilate and his encounter with Jesus (Yeshu Ha-Notsri) by an author only called the Master. Because of this subject matter, the Master has been attacked for "Pilatism" by the Soviet literary establishment. Five chapters of the novel are featured as chapters of ''The Master and Margarita''. In them, Pilate is portrayed as wishing to save Jesus, being affected by his charisma, but as too cowardly to do so. Russian critics in the 1960s interpreted this Pilate as "a model of the spineless provincial bureaucrats of Stalinist Russia."{{sfn|Wroe|1999|p=273}} Pilate becomes obsessed with his guilt for having killed Jesus.{{sfn|Ziolkowski|1992|p=165}} Because he betrayed his desire to follow his morality and free Jesus, Pilate must suffer for eternity.{{sfn|Bond|1998|p=xiii}} Pilate's burden of guilt is finally lifted by the Master when he encounters him at the end of Bulgakov's novel.{{sfn|Wroe|1999|p=371}} The majority of literary texts about Pilate come from the time after the Second World War, a fact which Alexander Demandt suggests shows a cultural dissatisfaction with Pilate having washed his hands of guilt.{{sfn|Demandt|2012|p=107}} One of Swiss writer [[Friedrich Dürrenmatt]]'s earliest stories ("Pilatus," 1949) portrays Pilate as aware that he is torturing God in the trial of Jesus.{{sfn|Demandt|2012|p=108}} Swiss playwright [[Max Frisch]]'s comedy {{lang|de|Die chinesische Mauer|italics=yes}} portrays Pilate as a skeptical intellectual who refuses to take responsibility for the suffering he has caused.{{sfn|Demandt|2012|pp=107–109}} The German Catholic novelist [[Gertrud von Le Fort]]'s {{lang|de|Die Frau des Pilatus|italics=yes}} portrays Pilate's wife as converting to Christianity after attempting to save Jesus and assuming Pilate's guilt for herself; Pilate executes her as well.{{sfn|Demandt|2012|p=108}} In 1986, Soviet-Kyrgiz writer [[Chingiz Aitmatov]] published a novel in Russian featuring Pilate titled {{lang|ru|Plakha|italics=yes}} (''The Place of the Skull''). The novel centers on an extended dialogue between Pilate and Jesus witnessed in a vision by the narrator Avdii Kallistratov, a former seminarian. Pilate is presented as a materialist pessimist who believes mankind will soon destroy itself, whereas Jesus offers a message of hope.{{sfn|Langenhorst|1995|p=90}} Among other topics, the two anachronistically discuss the meaning of the last judgment and the second coming; Pilate fails to comprehend Jesus's teachings and is complacent as he sends him to his death.{{sfn|Ziolkowski|1992|pp=167–168}} ===Film=== Pilate has been depicted in a number of films, being included in portrayals of Christ's passion already in some of the earliest films produced.{{sfn|McDonough|2009|pp=278–280}} In the 1927 silent film ''[[The King of Kings (1927 film)|The King of Kings]]'', Pilate is played by Hungarian-American actor [[Victor Varconi]], who is introduced seated under an enormous 37 feet high [[Aquila (Roman)|Roman eagle]], which Christopher McDonough argues symbolizes "not power that he possesses but power that possesses him".{{sfn|McDonough|2009|p=283}} During the ''Ecce homo'' scene, the eagle stands in the background between Jesus and Pilate, with a wing above each figure; after hesitantly condemning Jesus, Pilate passes back to the eagle, which is now framed beside him, showing his isolation in his decision and, McDonough suggests, causing the audience to question how well he has served the emperor.{{sfn|McDonough|2009|pp=284–285}} The film ''[[The Last Days of Pompeii (1935 film)|The Last Days of Pompeii]]'' (1935) portrays Pilate as "a representative of the gross materialism of the Roman empire", with the actor [[Basil Rathbone]] giving him long fingers and a long nose.{{sfn|Wroe|1999|pp=38–39}} Following the Second World War, Pilate and the Romans often take on a villainous role in American film.{{sfn|Winkler|1998|p=167}} The 1953 film ''[[The Robe (film)|The Robe]]'' portrays Pilate as completely covered with gold and rings as a sign of Roman decadence.{{sfn|Wroe|1999|p=39}} The 1959 film ''[[Ben-Hur (1959 film)|Ben-Hur]]'' shows Pilate (the Australian actor, Frank Thring Jr.) presiding over a chariot race, in a scene that Ann Wroe says "seemed closely modeled on the Hitler footage of the [[1936 Summer Olympics|1936 Olympics]]," with Pilate bored and sneering.{{sfn|Wroe|1999|p=186}} Martin Winkler, however, argues that ''Ben-Hur'' provides a more nuanced and less condemnatory portrayal of Pilate and the Roman Empire than most American films of the period.{{sfn|Winkler|1998|p=192}} [[File:Ponzio Pilato 1962 Marais.png|thumb|Jean Marais as Pontius Pilate in {{lang|it|Ponzio Pilato|italics=yes}} (1962)]] Only one film has been made entirely in Pilate's perspective, the 1962 French-Italian ''[[Ponzio Pilato]]'', where Pilate was played by [[Jean Marais]].{{sfn|Wroe|1999|p=39}} In the 1973 film [[Jesus Christ Superstar (film)|''Jesus Christ Superstar'']], based on the [[Jesus Christ Superstar|1970 rock opera]], the trial of Jesus takes place in the ruins of a Roman theater, suggesting the collapse of Roman authority and "the collapse of all authority, political or otherwise".{{sfn|McDonough|2009|p=287}} The Pilate in the film, played by [[Barry Dennen]], expands on [[John 18:38]] to question Jesus on the truth and appears, in McDonough's view, as "an anxious representative of [...] moral relativism".{{sfn|McDonough|2009|p=287}} Speaking of Dennen's portrayal in the trial scene, McDonough describes him as a "cornered animal."{{sfn|McDonough|2009|p=290}} Wroe argues that later Pilates took on a sort of effeminancy,{{sfn|Wroe|1999|p=39}} illustrated by [[Michael Palin]]’s Pilate in ''[[Monty Python's Life of Brian]]'', who lisps and mispronounces his r's as w's. In [[Martin Scorsese]]'s ''[[The Last Temptation of Christ (film)|The Last Temptation of Christ]]'' (1988), Pilate is played by [[David Bowie]], who appears as "gaunt and eerily hermaphrodite."{{sfn|Wroe|1999|p=39}} Bowie's Pilate speaks with a British accent, contrasting with the American accent of Jesus ([[Willem Dafoe]]).{{sfn|McDonough|2009|pp=290–291}} The trial takes place in Pilate's private stables, implying that Pilate does not think the judgment of Jesus very important, and no attempt is made to take any responsibility from Pilate for Jesus's death, which he orders without any qualms.{{sfn|McDonough|2009|pp=291–293}} [[Mel Gibson]]'s 2004 film ''[[The Passion of the Christ]]'' portrays Pilate, played by [[Hristo Shopov]], as a sympathetic, noble-minded character,{{sfn|Grace|2004|p=16}} fearful that the Jewish priest Caiaphas will start an uprising if he does not give in to his demands. He expresses disgust at the Jewish authorities' treatment of Jesus when Jesus is brought before him and offers Jesus a drink of water.{{sfn|Grace|2004|p=16}} McDonough argues that "Shopov gives us a very subtle Pilate, one who manages to appear alarmed though not panicked before the crowd, but who betrays far greater misgivings in private conversation with his wife."{{sfn|McDonough|2009|p=295}} 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