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! ===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=363β364}} 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=365β366}} In [[Arnoul GrΓ©ban]]'s fifteenth-century ''Passion'', Pilate instructs the flagellators on how best to whip Jesus.{{sfn|Hourihane|2009|pp=283β284}} 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=366β367}} In the 1493 {{lang|de|Frankfurter Passionsspiel|italics=yes}}, on the other hand, Pilate himself accuses Christ.{{sfn|Hourihane|2009|pp=367β368}} 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=368β369}} 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=364β365}} 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=177β178}} 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=243β245}} 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=213β214}} 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|MystΓ¨re 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}} Summary: Please note that all contributions to Christianpedia may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. 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