Pontius Pilate is
famous primarily as
a crucial character
in the
New Testament
account of
Jesus, but most
of our knowledge of
him comes from the
account of the
Romano-Jewish
historian
Flavius Josephus.
Pilate is said to
have displayed a
serious lack of
empathy for
Jewish
sensibilities, for
example by
displaying Roman
battle standards --
considered minor
deities in the
Roman religion
-- and by
appropriating
Temple funds for
the construction of
an
aqueduct. He
then responded
harshly to the
resulting unrest,
possibly because,
due to political
machinations, the
powerful neighboring
Roman province of
Syria was unable
to provide him
military support.
In 1961, a block
of limestone was
found in the Roman
theatre at
Caesarea, the
capital of the
province of Judea,
bearing a damaged
dedication by Pilate
of a Tiberieum.
This dedication
states that he was
prefectus
(usually seen as
praefectus),
that is, governor,
of Judea. The word
Tiberieum
is otherwise
unknown: some
scholars speculate
that it was some
kind of structure,
perhaps a temple,
built to honor the
emperor
Tiberius. This
inscription is
currently in the
Israel Museum in
Jerusalem.
New Testament,
Jesus was brought to
Pilate by the Jewish
authorities in
Jersusalem after
they had arrested
him, questioned him,
and received answers
from him that they
considered
blasphemous.
Pontius Pilate's
main question to
Jesus was whether he
considered himself
to be the "king of
the Jews."
In the continuing
interrogation by
Pilate, related in
the
Gospel of John,
Jesus states that he
"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
replies, "What is
truth?" Pilate then
offers the Jews the
choice of a prisoner
to release ? said to
be a
Passover
tradition ? and they
choose a rebel named
Barabbas over Jesus.
John 18 makes it
apparent that Pilate
could not have cared
less about the
conflict between
Jesus and the
priests, or about
executing Jesus; he
certainly does not
seem to see Jesus'
"kingdom" as any
sort of a threat to
Rome.
In the
Gospel of Matthew,
after condemning
Jesus to death,
Pilate washes his
hands with water in
front of the crowd,
who had demanded
that Jesus be
crucified, and
says, "I am innocent
of this man's blood.
It is your concern."
The question of
responsibility for
Jesus' death
In all
New Testament
accounts, Pilate
hesitates to condemn
Jesus until the
(Jewish) crowd
insist. 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.
Nevertheless, the
Nicene Creed
states unambiguously
that Jesus "was
crucified under
Pontius Pilate".
Since the
Second Vatican
Council, the
Roman Catholic
Church has
stated clearly
that "neither all
Jews
indiscriminately at
that time, nor Jews
today, can be
charged with the
crimes committed
during [Jesus']
Passion...." Nor
does the church
consider Pilate
responsible.
Instead, it holds
that all
sinners are
responsible for
Christ's sufferings.
Pilate in
mythology
Little enough is
still known about
Pontius 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.
Eusebius (Historia
Ecclesiae book
ii: 7), quotes some
early apocryphal
accounts that he
does not name, which
already relate that
Pilate fell under
misfortunes in the
reign of
Caligula (37 -
41 A.D.), 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 Tiber, but the
waters were so
disturbed by evil
spirits that the
body was taken to
Vienne and sunk in
the Rhone: a
monument at Vienne,
called Pilate's
tomb, is still to be
seen. As the waters
of the Rhone
likewise rejected
Pilate's corpse, it
was again removed
and sunk in the lake
at Lausanne. 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'),
close to 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, and 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
plays.
Acts of
Pilate
The 4th century
forgery, 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 is even
later in
origin.Nothing in
the text suggests
that it is in fact a
translation from
Hebrew.
This forgery
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 Acta
Pilati consist
of three sections,
whose styles reveal
three authors at
three different
times.
The first section
(i-xi) contains a
fanciful and
dramatic
circumstantial
account of the trial
of Jesus, based upon
Luke, xxiii.
The second part
(xii-xvi) regards
the Resurrection. An
appendix, detailing
the Descensus ad
Infernos was
added to the Greek
text. This
'Harrowing of Hell'
has chiefly
flourished in Latin,
and was translated
into many European
versions. It doesn't
exist in the eastern
versions, Syriac and
Armenian, that
derive directly from
Greek versions. In
it, Leucius and
Charinus, the two
souls raised from
the dead after the
Crucifixion, relate
to the Sanhedrin the
circumstances of
Christ's descent to
Limbo.
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 fourth
century. Epiphanius
refers to an
Acta Pilati
similar to our own,
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 forged
letter reporting on
the crucifixion,
purporting to have
been sent by Pontius
Pilate to the
Emperor Claudius
embodied in the
pseudepigraphic
forgery 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.
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
