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129-675: The Park is located in the northern Ophel of Jerusalem at the foot of the Temple Mount 's Southern Wall . It contains archaeological finds from the Bronze Age in 3,000 BC up to the Ottoman Period in the early 20th century. The area of the property is around 20 dunams , and is partly bounded by the Ophel Road. Its entrance is through an underpass on the access road to the Western Wall. Ophel

258-470: A Tiberieum , a word otherwise unattested but following a pattern of naming buildings about Roman emperors. Bond argues that we cannot be sure what kind of building this referred to. 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. A second inscription, which has since been lost, has historically been associated with Pontius Pilate. It

387-520: A "royal structure" and a corner tower with a base measuring 23 metres (75 ft) by 18 metres (59 ft) from which watchmen could keep watch on the Kidron Valley . According to Mazar, the built structures are similar to the First Temple era fortifications of Megiddo , Beersheba and Ashdod . Mazar told reporters that "A comparison of this latest finding with city walls and gates from the period of

516-715: A change which Ann Wroe suggests reflects the fact that, following the legalization of Christianity in the Roman Empire by the Edict of Milan (312), it was no longer necessary to deflect criticism of Pilate (and by extension of the Roman Empire) for his role in Jesus's crucifixion onto the Jews. Bart Ehrman , on the other hand, argues that the tendency in the Early Church to exonerate Pilate and blame

645-414: A complete biography for him and portrayed him as villainous and cowardly. Many of these legends connected Pilate's place of birth or death to particular locations around Western Europe , such as claiming his body was buried in a particularly dangerous or cursed local area. Pilate has frequently been a subject of artistic representation. Medieval art frequently portrays scenes of Pilate and Jesus, often in

774-766: A follower of Christ. His beheading is accompanied by a voice from heaven calling him blessed and saying he will be with Jesus at the Second Coming . The Evangelium Gamalielis , possibly of medieval origin and preserved in Arabic, Coptic, and Ge'ez , says Jesus was crucified by Herod, whereas Pilate was a true believer in Christ who was martyred for his faith; similarly, the Martyrium Pilati , possibly medieval and preserved in Arabic, Coptic, and Ge'ez, portrays Pilate, as well as his wife and two children, as being crucified twice, once by

903-455: A king who was skilled in astrology and named Atus lived in Mainz . The king reads in the stars that he will bear a son who will rule over many lands, so he has a miller's daughter named Pila brought to him whom he impregnates; Pilate's name thus results from the combination of the names Pila with Atus . A few years later, Pilate is brought to his father's court where he kills his half-brother. As

1032-678: A large mikvah , the southern steps to the Herodian Temple compound, leading up to the Double and Triple Gates of the Temple compound, the Monastery of the Virgins , and several large residential and administrative structures ( qasr -type "palaces"), probably Umayyad, to the south of the ophel . A discovered artefact of particular importance is the ophel inscription , a 3,000-year-old pottery shard that bears

1161-612: A majority of modern treatments of Pilate dating to after the Second World War. Pilate has also frequently been portrayed in film. Sources on Pontius Pilate are limited, although modern scholars know more about him than about other Roman governors of Judaea . The most important sources are the Embassy to Gaius (after the year 41) by contemporary Jewish writer Philo of Alexandria, the Jewish Wars ( c.  74 ) and Antiquities of

1290-529: A menorah on the walls, as well as another painting of a menorah on stone, which was discovered in a room that had collapsed. Holes were discovered in all entrances to the rooms, which are hypothesized to have been small alcoves for mezuzot . Christians during the Byzantine period may have occupied the building, and Jews were allowed to return to the building when the Arab period began. The synagogue served for 60 years until

1419-504: A military command before becoming prefect of Judaea; historian Alexander Demandt speculates that this could have been with a legion stationed at the Rhine or Danube . Although it is therefore likely Pilate served in the military, it is nevertheless not certain. Pilate was the fifth governor of the Roman province of Judaea, during the reign of the emperor Tiberius . The post of governor of Judaea

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1548-590: A pile of stones from the wall, which had been thrown from high above by the Romans during the Siege of Jerusalem in 70 AD. The majority of those stones were cleared and moved into another part of the garden. Reich and colleague Yaakov Billig additionally excavated 15 ancient coins from under the road, the latest coin having been minted under the reign of Pontius Pilate , indicating that the road had been built after he began his rule. The paving stones, which were unworn, imply that

1677-432: A police than a military force, and Pilate's duties extended beyond military matters. As Roman governor, he was head of the judicial system. He had the power to inflict capital punishment , and was responsible for collecting tributes and taxes, and for disbursing funds, including the minting of coins. Because the Romans allowed a certain degree of local control, Pilate shared a limited amount of civil and religious power with

1806-405: A policy of promoting the imperial cult , which may have caused some of the friction with his Jewish subjects. Schwartz suggests that Pilate's entire tenure was characterized by "continued underlying tension between governor and governed, now and again breaking out in brief incidents." According to Josephus in his The Jewish War (2.9.2) and Antiquities of the Jews (18.3.1), Pilate offended

1935-436: A portrait of the emperor, though they included some pagan designs. 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. This theory was rejected by Helen Bond, who argued that there was nothing particularly offensive about the designs. Joan Taylor has argued that

2064-508: A presumed original. 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. 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. MacAdam argues that "[i]t is far easier to believe that this very fragmentary inscription prompted

2193-516: A report. Benjamin died in 1995 before his final report was issued, and a team headed by his daughter published the rest of the report from the site. At the end of the 1990s, the site was declared a park by the Israeli government, and the Davidson Center Museum was opened, displaying artifacts discovered within its limits. Previous excavations in the park showed that the area near the junction of

2322-473: A result, he is sent as a hostage to Rome, where he kills another hostage. As punishment he is sent to the island of Pontius, whose inhabitants he subjugates, thus acquiring the name Pontius Pilate. King Herod hears of this accomplishment and asks him to come to Palestine to aid his rule there; Pilate comes but soon usurps Herod's power. The trial and judgment of Jesus then happens as in the gospels. The emperor in Rome

2451-490: A severe lack of employment in the region. Discovered by Mazar in 1968, one of the stones from the landslide, where it fell to its location of discovery, was found near the southwestern corner of the Temple Mount. It was the cornerhead of one of the walls that had been thrown by the Romans during the Temple Mount's dismantling. The "Trumpeting Place" stone bears an inscription that states "To the house of takiah to..." before

2580-474: A single amnesty in the year of Jesus's crucifixion. The Gospels' portrayal of Pilate is "widely assumed" to diverge greatly from that found in Josephus and Philo, as Pilate is portrayed as reluctant to execute Jesus and pressured to do so by the crowd and Jewish authorities. John P. Meier notes that in Josephus, by contrast, "Pilate alone [...] is said to condemn Jesus to the cross." Some scholars believe that

2709-501: A spot in the city wall or its citadel. Here, too, the context indicates part of a fortification—either a fortified hill, or something like a tower or enceinte and, judging by the root of the word, probably a bulging or rounded one. 31°46′27″N 35°14′10″E  /  31.77417°N 35.23611°E  / 31.77417; 35.23611 Pontius Pilate Pontius Pilate ( Latin : Pontius Pilatus ; Greek : Πόντιος Πιλᾶτος , romanized :  Póntios Pilátos )

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2838-513: A title also held by the Jewish kings Herod Agrippa I and Herod Agrippa II and by close advisors to the emperor. Both Daniel Schwartz and Alexander Demandt do not think this especially likely. Various disturbances during Pilate's governorship are recorded in the sources. In some cases, it is unclear if they may be referring to the same event, and it is difficult to establish a chronology of events for Pilate's rule. Joan Taylor argues that Pilate had

2967-518: A type called a "perutah", measured between 13.5 and 17mm, were minted in Jerusalem, and are fairly crudely made. Earlier coins read ΙΟΥΛΙΑ ΚΑΙΣΑΡΟΣ on the obverse and ΤΙΒΕΡΙΟΥ ΚΑΙΣΑΡΟΣ on the reverse, referring to the emperor Tiberius and his mother Livia (Julia Augusta). Following Livia's death, the coins only read ΤΙΒΕΡΙΟΥ ΚΑΙΣΑΡΟΣ . As was typical of Roman coins struck in Judaea, they did not have

3096-627: A variety of movable objects, some dated to the First Temple period, many to the Second Temple period , as well as the Byzantine and Early Muslim periods, the latter including major findings from the Umayyad and Fatimid periods. The findings included remains interpreted by archaeologist Eilat Mazar to be a 70- or 79-metre-long segment of city wall including a gatehouse leading to a royal structure, and

3225-481: A watchtower overlooking the Kidron Valley . Eilat Mazar believes these are the remains of the fortifications that, according to the biblical First Book of Kings , once encompassed the city. Eilat Mazar, who re-excavated the remains in 2010, believes them to date to the late 10th century BCE, associating them with King Solomon , which is controversial and not supported by past and contemporary archaeologists. Also present were several Hellenistic-period buildings,

3354-541: Is a biblical term for an elevated part of the city where the administrative center was located. Its ascent to the Temple was from the City of David through the Ophel, which is mentioned in the Book of Chronicles . The excavation team had to decide which layer to preserve on site, as there were multiple layers of history on location continuously for 3,000 years. In the end, it was decided that

3483-581: Is exiled by the emperor Nero , after which he commits suicide. A similar narrative plays out in the Vindicta Salvatoris (8th century). In the Mors Pilati (perhaps originally 6th century, but recorded c.  1300 CE ), Pilate was forced to commit suicide and his body thrown in the Tiber. However, the body is surrounded by demons and storms, so that it is removed from the Tiber and instead cast into

3612-535: Is given by the Christian apologist Justin Martyr around 160. Tibor Grüll believes that this could be a reference to Pilate's actual records, but other scholars argue that Justin has simply invented the records as a source on the assumption that they existed without ever having verified their existence. Beginning in the fourth century, a large body of Christian apocryphal texts developed concerning Pilate, making up one of

3741-526: Is known about the circumstances that led to his appointment to the governorship. Coins that he minted have survived from Pilate's governorship, as well as a single inscription, the so-called Pilate stone . The Jewish historian Josephus , the philosopher Philo of Alexandria, and the Gospel of Luke all mention incidents of tension and violence between the Jewish population and Pilate's administration. Many of these incidents involve Pilate acting in ways that offended

3870-477: Is largely stereotyped and rhetorical, portraying Pilate with the same words as other opponents of Jewish law, while portraying Tiberius as just and supportive of Jewish law. It is unclear why the shields offended against Jewish law: it is likely that they contained an inscription referring to Tiberius as divi Augusti filius (son of divine Augustus). Bond dates the incident to 31, sometime after Sejanus's death in 17 October. In another incident recorded in both

3999-478: Is nevertheless forced to execute Jesus by the increasingly angry crowd, but Jesus tells Pilate that he does not hold him responsible. This book enjoys "a quasi-canonical status" among Ethiopian Christians to this day and continues to be read beside the canonical gospels during Holy Week . Seven of the Pilate texts mention Pilate's fate after the crucifixion: in three, he becomes a very positive figure, while in four he

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4128-550: Is presented as diabolically evil. A fifth-century Syriac version of the Acts of Pilate explains Pilate's conversion as occurring after he has blamed the Jews for Jesus' death in front of Tiberius; prior to his execution, Pilate prays to God and converts, thereby becoming a Christian martyr. In the Greek Paradosis Pilati (5th century), Pilate is arrested for the crime of executing Jesus, although he has since converted to be

4257-413: 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, or that it belonged to someone who worked for Pontius Pilate. Due to his role in Jesus' trial, Pilate became an important figure in both pagan and Christian propaganda in late antiquity. Perhaps

4386-402: Is suffering from a terrible disease at this time, and hearing of Christ's healing powers, sends for him only to learn from Saint Veronica that Christ has been crucified, but she possesses a cloth with the image of his face. Pilate is taken as a prisoner with her to Rome to be judged, but every time the emperor sees Pilate to condemn him, his anger dissipates. This is revealed to be because Pilate

4515-487: Is that which was built by King Solomon in Jerusalem in the latter part of the tenth century BCE." The wall has been excavated twice before, once in the 1860s and again in the 1980s. In 1867 Charles Warren conducted an underground survey in the area, describing the outline of a large tower but without attributing it to the era of Solomon. Israel Finkelstein and other archaeologists from Tel Aviv University have flagged concern that, with reference to her 2006 dating of

4644-548: Is the biblical term given to a certain part of a settlement or city that is elevated from its surroundings, and probably means fortified hill or risen area. In the Hebrew Bible , the term is used about two cities: Jerusalem , as in 2 Chronicles 27 :3 and 33 :14 and Nehemiah 3 :26 and 11 :21, and Samaria , mentioned in 2 Kings 5 :24. The Mesha Stele , written in Moabite , a Canaanite language closely related to Biblical Hebrew ,

4773-567: Is the only extra-biblical source using the word, also in connection to a fortified place. Ophel , with the definite article ha-ophel , is a common noun known from two Canaanitic languages, Biblical Hebrew and Moabitic . As a place name or description it appears several times in the Hebrew Bible and once on the Mesha Stele from Moab . There is no ultimate agreement as to its exact meaning, and scholars have long been trying to deduce it from

4902-567: Is the period the Bible describes as the reign of King Solomon. Claiming that broken pottery in the "royal structure" enabled the team to date the building. One storage jar bears an inscription in Hebrew . Mazar told the Jerusalem Post that "The jars that were found are the largest ever found in Jerusalem," and "the inscription found on one of them shows that it belonged to a government official, apparently

5031-478: Is unclear whether any hearing took place, as new emperors often dismissed outstanding legal matters from previous reigns. The only sure outcome of Pilate's return to Rome is that he was not reinstated as governor of Judaea, either because the hearing went badly, or because Pilate did not wish to return. J. P. Lémonon argues that the fact that Pilate was not reinstated by Caligula does not mean that his trial went badly, but may simply have been because after ten years in

5160-453: Is unknown; his cognomen Pilatus might mean "skilled with the javelin ( pilum )", but it could also refer to the pileus or Phrygian cap , possibly indicating that one of Pilate's ancestors was a freedman . If it means "skilled with the javelin", it is possible that Pilate won the cognomen for himself while serving in the Roman military ; it is also possible that his father acquired

5289-517: Is wearing Jesus's coat; when the coat is removed, the Emperor condemns him to death, but Pilate commits suicide first. The body is first thrown in the Tiber, but because it causes storms it is then moved to Vienne, and then thrown in a lake in the high Alps. One important version of the Pilate legend is found in the Golden Legend by Jacobus de Voragine (1263–1273 CE), one of the most popular books of

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5418-440: The Acts of Pilate ), Pilate is portrayed as forced to execute Jesus by the Jews and as distraught at having done so. One version claims to have been discovered and translated by a Jewish convert named Ananias, portraying itself as the official Jewish records of the crucifixion. Another claims that the records were made by Pilate himself, relying on reports made to him by Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea . Some Eastern versions of

5547-503: The Embassy to Gaius , although he is writing only a few years after Pilate's tenure as governor. A single inscription by Pilate has survived in Caesarea, on the " Pilate Stone ". The (partially reconstructed) inscription is as follows: Vardaman "freely" translates it as follows: "Tiberium [?of the Caesareans?] Pontius Pilate, Prefect of Judea [ ... has given?]". The fragmentary nature of

5676-563: The Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church believes that Pilate became a Christian and venerates him as both a martyr and a saint , a belief which is historically shared by the Coptic Church , with a feast day on 19 or 25 June, respectively. Although Pilate is the best-attested governor of Judaea, few sources regarding his rule have survived. Nothing is known about his life before he became governor of Judaea, and nothing

5805-523: The Jewish Wars (2.9.4) and the Antiquities of the Jews (18.3.2), Josephus relates that Pilate offended the Jews by using up the temple treasury ( korbanos ) to pay for a new aqueduct to Jerusalem. When a mob formed while Pilate was visiting Jerusalem, Pilate ordered his troops to beat them with clubs; many perished from the blows or from being trampled by horses, and the mob was dispersed. The dating of

5934-522: The Jews and Jewish Christians . Others have tried to explain Pilate's behavior in the Gospels as motivated by a change of circumstances from that shown in Josephus and Philo, usually presupposing a connection between Pilate's caution and the death of Sejanus. Yet other scholars, such as Brian McGing and Bond, have argued that there is no real discrepancy between Pilate's behavior in Josephus and Philo and that in

6063-569: The Samnites in the third and first centuries BC, respectively, before their full incorporation to the Roman Republic . Like all but one other governor of Judaea, Pilate was of the equestrian order , a middle rank of the Roman nobility. As one of the attested Pontii, Pontius Aquila (an assassin of Julius Caesar ) was a tribune of the plebs ; the family must have originally been of plebeian origin and later became ennobled as equestrians. Pilate

6192-642: 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. However, more recent research, published in 2021, dates

6321-556: The temple treasury to construct an aqueduct , as recorded by Josephus, without the cooperation of the priests. Similarly, Helen Bond argues that Pilate is depicted working closely with the Jewish authorities in the execution of Jesus. Jean-Pierre Lémonon argues that official cooperation with Pilate was limited to the Sadducees, noting that the Pharisees are absent from the gospel accounts of Jesus's arrest and trial. Daniel Schwartz takes

6450-480: The "Excavations of the Temple Mount", even though the Mount itself was not excavated. The dig and many of its discoveries brought forth great interest in both the academic community, as well as among the general public. The excavation ended in 1978, although another of smaller reports were published afterwards, along with many scholarly analyses of the published findings. In 1989, Mazar and his granddaughter Eilat published

6579-542: The "Solomonic city wall" in the area to the south of the Temple Mount known as the ophel , "the biblical text dominates this field operation, not archaeology. Had it not been for Mazar's literal reading of the biblical text, she never would have dated the remains to the 10th century BCE with such confidence". 2 Kings 5:24 speaks of the ophel of Samaria, where Gehazi took the presents he received from Naaman of Aram . Traditionally translated as "hill", it can as well have meant "tower" and can quite likely be understood as

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6708-526: The Elder , the governor of Syria (term 35–39), who had Pilate recalled to Rome to be judged by Tiberius . Tiberius, however, had died before his arrival. This dates the end of Pilate's governorship to 36/37. Tiberius died in Misenum on 16 March in 37, in his seventy-eighth year (Tacitus, Annals VI.50 , VI.51 ). Following Tiberius's death, Pilate's hearing would have been handled by the new emperor Caligula : it

6837-430: The First Temple, as well as pottery found at the site," enable her to "postulate, with a great degree of assurance" that the wall dates form the late 10th-century BCE. Mazar told reporters that "A comparison of this latest finding with city walls and gates from the period of the First Temple, as well as pottery found at the site, enable us to postulate, with a great degree of assurance, that the wall that has been revealed

6966-478: The Gospel accounts are completely untrustworthy: S. G. F. Brandon argued that in reality, rather than vacillating on condemning Jesus, Pilate unhesitatingly executed him as a rebel. Paul Winter explained the discrepancy between Pilate in other sources and Pilate in the gospels by arguing that Christians became more and more eager to portray Pontius Pilate as a witness to Jesus' innocence, as persecution of Christians by

7095-467: The Gospel of Nicodemus claim that Pilate was born in Egypt, which likely aided his popularity there. The Christian Pilate literature surrounding the Gospel of Nicodemus includes at least fifteen late antique and early medieval texts, called the " Pilate cycle ", written and preserved in various languages and versions and dealing largely with Pontius Pilate. Two of these include purported reports made by Pilate to

7224-444: The Gospels' portrayal of Pilate cannot be considered historical, since Pilate is always described in other sources ( The Jewish War and Antiquities of the Jews of Josephus and Embassy to Gaius of Philo ) as a cruel and obstinate man. Brown also rejects the historicity of Pilate washing his hands and of the blood curse , arguing that these narratives, which only appear in the Gospel of Matthew , reflect later contrasts between

7353-580: The Gospels. Warren Carter argues that Pilate is portrayed as skillful, competent, and manipulative of the crowd in Mark, Matthew, and John, only finding Jesus innocent and executing him under pressure in Luke. N. T. Wright and Craig A. Evans argue that Pilate's hesitation was due to the fear of causing a revolt during Passover , when large numbers of pilgrims were in Jerusalem . According to Josephus' Antiquities of

7482-465: The Great petitioned him to remove the shields, but Pilate refused. Herod's sons then threatened to petition the emperor, an action which Pilate feared would expose the crimes he had committed in office. He did not prevent their petition. Tiberius received the petition and angrily reprimanded Pilate, ordering him to remove the shields. Helen Bond, Daniel Schwartz, and Warren Carter argue that Philo's portrayal

7611-459: The Jewish Sanhedrin . Pilate was subordinate to the legate of Syria ; however, for the first six years in which he held office, Syria's legate Lucius Aelius Lamia was absent from the region, something which Helen Bond believes may have presented difficulties to Pilate. He seems to have been free to govern the province as he wished, with intervention by the legate of Syria only coming at

7740-537: The Jews ( c.  94 ) by the Jewish historian Josephus , as well as the four canonical Christian gospels , Mark (composed between 66 and 70), Luke (composed between 85 and 90), Matthew (composed between 85 and 90), and John (composed between 90 and 110), each authored anonymously; he is also mentioned in the Acts of the Apostles (composed between 85 and 90) and in the First Epistle to Timothy (written in

7869-560: The Jews (18.4.1–2), Pilate's removal as governor occurred after Pilate slaughtered a group of armed Samaritans at a village called Tirathana near Mount Gerizim , where they hoped to find artifacts that had been buried there by Moses . Alexander Demandt suggests that the leader of this movement may have been Dositheos , a messiah -like figure among the Samaritans who was known to have been active around this time. The Samaritans, claiming not to have been armed, complained to Lucius Vitellius

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7998-494: The Jews and not Pilate were responsible for Jesus' death; he therefore also assumed that Pilate did not die a shameful death. Pilate's supposed suicide is also left unmentioned in Josephus, Philo, and Tacitus. Maier argues that "[i]n all probability, then, the fate of Pontius Pilate lay clearly in the direction of a retired government official, a pensioned Roman ex-magistrate, than in anything more disastrous." Taylor notes that Philo discusses Pilate as though he were already dead in

8127-505: The Jews and once by Tiberius, for his faith. In addition to the report on Pilate's suicide in Eusebius, Grüll notes three Western apocryphal traditions about Pilate's suicide. In the Cura sanitatis Tiberii (dated variously 5th to 7th century), the emperor Tiberius is healed by an image of Jesus brought by Saint Veronica , Saint Peter then confirms Pilate's report on Jesus's miracles, and Pilate

8256-412: The Jews by moving imperial standards with the image of Caesar into Jerusalem. This resulted in a crowd of Jews surrounding Pilate's house in Caesarea for five days. Pilate then summoned them to an arena , where the Roman soldiers drew their swords. But the Jews showed so little fear of death, that Pilate relented and removed the standards. Bond argues that the fact that Josephus says that Pilate brought in

8385-479: The Jews nor Herod do so. The Gospel includes a scene in which the centurions who had been guarding Jesus' tomb report to Pilate that Jesus has been resurrected. The fragmentary third-century Manichaean Gospel of Mani has Pilate refer to Jesus as "the Son of God" and telling his centurions to "[k]eep this secret". In the most common version of the passion narrative in the apocryphal Gospel of Nicodemus (also called

8514-413: The Jews prior to this time reflects an increasing "anti-Judaism" among Early Christians. The earliest attestation of a positive tradition about Pilate comes from the late first-, early second-century Christian author Tertullian , who, claiming to have seen Pilate's report to Tiberius, states Pilate had "become already a Christian in his conscience." An earlier reference to Pilate's records of Jesus's trial

8643-547: The Rhone, where the same thing happens. Finally, the corpse is taken to Lausanne in modern Switzerland and buried in an isolated lake (perhaps Lake Lucerne ), where demonic visitations continue to occur. Beginning in the eleventh century, more extensive legendary biographies of Pilate were written in Western Europe, adding details to information provided by the bible and apocrypha. The legend exists in many different versions and

8772-411: The Roman authorities increased. Bart Ehrman argues that the Gospel of Mark , the earliest one, shows the Jews and Pilate to be in agreement about executing Jesus (Mark 15:15), while the later gospels progressively reduce Pilate's culpability, culminating in Pilate allowing the Jews to crucify Jesus in John (John 19:16). He connects this change to increased "anti-Judaism". Raymond E. Brown argued that

8901-440: The Roman provinces and applied to non-Roman citizens that provided the prefect with greater flexibility in handling the case. All four gospels also mention that Pilate had the custom of releasing one captive in honor of the Passover festival; this custom is not attested in any other source. Historians disagree on whether or not such a custom is a fictional element of the gospels, reflects historical reality, or perhaps represents

9030-414: The Southern Wall to the Western Wall is rich in finds from the Second Temple period. Due too this, it was decided to deepen excavations of the site for this eldest layer, dismantling the staging of the finds from later layers. The decision also cancelled the deepening of the excavation up to the First Temple period, or earlier periods. One of the most striking finds located in the Second Temple compound of

9159-427: The Temple Mount in the middle of the Southern Wall. In order to continue the garden, the excavators broke a hole through the wall to have a contiguous garden. West of the palace are the remains of a synagogue from the period of Muslim rule. The building was presumably two stories and included a courtyard in the building boundaries. The identification of the building as a synagogue is largely based on two red paintings of

9288-638: The Temple Mount. Benjamin Mazar of the Archaeological Institute at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem was appointed chief archaeologist for the project. The land, owned by the Jerusalem Waqf , was leased for him to do his archaeological dig. The excavation lasted for a decade, and became one of the largest archaeological projects in Israeli history. Archaeologists' publications called their research

9417-616: The Umayyad Palace was built on it. Named for American-Jewish billionaire, Bill Davidson , the Davidson Center (est. 2001) features a museum within the garden of a chronological timeline of the city through various artifacts discovered on-site. The building is a modern one, but is located inside of one of the administrative centers dated to the Umayyad period. Ophel Ophel ( Hebrew : עֹפֶל , romanized :  ʿōp̄el )

9546-479: The author attributes Jesus's persecution under Pilate's governorship. Ignatius further dates Jesus's birth, passion, and resurrection during Pilate's governorship in his epistle to the Magnesians (11.1). Ignatius stresses all these events in his epistles as historical facts. Bond argues that Jesus's arrest was made with Pilate's prior knowledge and involvement, based on the presence of a 500-strong Roman cohort among

9675-426: The cognomen through military skill. In the Gospels of Mark and John, Pilate is only called by his cognomen, which Marie-Joseph Ollivier takes to mean that this was the name by which he was generally known in common speech. The name Pontius suggests that an ancestor of his came from Samnium in central, southern Italy, and he may have belonged to the family of Gavius Pontius and Pontius Telesinus , two leaders of

9804-512: 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. 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 ΠΙΛΑΤΟ(Υ) ( Pilato(u) ), meaning "of Pilate". The name Pilatus

9933-430: The different contexts it appears in. When used as a common noun, it has been translated as "tumors" ( 1 Samuel 5:9, 12; 6:5 ), and in a verbal form it was taken to mean "puffed up" ( Habakkuk 2:4 ), this indicating that the root might be associated with "swelling". When referring to a place, it seems from the context to mean either hill, or fortified place, or a mixture of the two, i.e., a fortified hill, and by considering

10062-463: The earliest alphabetical inscription found in Jerusalem. Although consensus on the dating of the wall has not been reached by the archaeological community, Mazar maintains that, "It's the most significant construction we have from First Temple days in Israel," and "It means that at that time, the 10th century (BCE), in Jerusalem there was a regime capable of carrying out such construction." The 10th century

10191-848: The earliest apocryphal texts attributed to Pilate are denunciations of Christianity and of Jesus that claim to be Pilate's report on the crucifixion. According to Eusebius ( Church History 9.2.5), these texts were distributed during the persecution of Christians conducted by the emperor Maximinus II (reigned 308–313). None of these texts survive, but Tibor Grüll argues that their contents can be reconstructed from Christian apologetic texts. Positive traditions about Pilate are frequent in Eastern Christianity, particularly in Egypt and Ethiopia, whereas negative traditions predominate in Western and Byzantine Christianity. Additionally, earlier Christian traditions portray Pilate more positively than later ones,

10320-524: The eastern ridge from the First Temple -period ophel, touching the "eastern cloister of the temple" ( Jewish Wars , V, iv, 2 ) and in the context of "the temple and the parts thereto adjoining ... and the ... ' Valley of the Cedron '" ( Jewish Wars , V, iv, 1 ). This takes us to the area of the saddle right next to the southeast corner of Herod's Temple Mount. Benjamin Mazar and Eilat Mazar began excavating an area identified as Jerusalem's ophel , lying on

10449-538: The emperor (the Anaphora Pilati to Emperor Tiberius and the Letter of Pilate to Claudius to Claudius ) on the crucifixion, in which Pilate recounts Jesus' death and resurrection, blaming the Jews. Another purports to be an angry reply by Tiberius, condemning Pilate for his role in Jesus' death, the Letter of Tiberius to Pilate . Another early text is an apocryphal letter attributed to "Herod" (a composite character of

10578-428: The emperor died before Pilate arrived in Rome. Nothing is known about what happened to him after this event. On the basis of events which were documented by the second-century pagan philosopher Celsus and the Christian apologist Origen , most modern historians believe that Pilate simply retired after his dismissal. Modern historians have differing assessments of Pilate as an effective ruler: while some believe that he

10707-546: The end of his tenure, after the appointment of Lucius Vitellius to the post in 35. Like other Roman governors of Judaea, Pilate made his primary residence in Caesarea , going to Jerusalem mainly for major feasts to maintain order. He also would have toured around the province in order to hear cases and administer justice. As governor, Pilate had the right to appoint the Jewish High Priest and also officially controlled

10836-408: The founder of the name, had undergone the death penalty in the reign of Tiberius, by sentence of the procurator Pontius Pilate, and the pernicious superstition was checked for a moment..." (Tacitus, Annals 15.44). Josephus also mentioned Jesus 's execution by Pilate at the request of prominent Jews ( Antiquities of the Jews 18.3.3); the text may have been altered by Christian interpolation , but

10965-429: The garden and formed a ruling complex for royalty. The garden displays the remains of only one of them, "#2," whose roof once was connected by a bridge to the al-Aqsa Mosque . Some of the walls were built using stones that had once belonged to the Temple Mount prior to the Roman destruction. The palace was sometimes as three stories high, and archaeologists theorize that the palaces were destroyed during an earthquake in

11094-638: The gospels in particular providing a theological rather than historical perspective on Pilate. Besides these texts, dated coins in the name of emperor Tiberius minted during Pilate's governorship have survived, as well as a fragmentary short inscription that names Pilate, known as the Pilate Stone , the only inscription about a Roman governor of Judaea predating the Jewish–Roman wars to survive. The sources give no indication of Pilate's life prior to his becoming governor of Judaea. His praenomen (first name)

11223-561: The gospels, the Pilate cycle . Attitudes split by region: in texts from the Eastern Roman Empire , Pilate was portrayed as a positive figure. He and his wife are portrayed as Christian converts and sometimes martyrs. In Western Christian texts, he was instead portrayed as a negative figure and villain, with traditions surrounding his death by suicide featuring prominently. Pilate was also the focus of numerous medieval legends, which invented

11352-405: The incident is unknown, but Bond argues that it must have occurred between 26 and 30 or 33, based on Josephus's chronology. The Gospel of Luke mentions in passing Galileans "whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices" ( Luke 13 :1). This reference has been variously interpreted as referring to one of the incidents recorded by Josephus, or to an entirely unknown incident. Bond argues that

11481-404: The inscription has led to some disagreement about the correct reconstruction, so that "apart from Pilate's name and title the inscription is unclear." Originally, the inscription would have included an abbreviated letter for Pilate's praenomen (e.g., T. for Titus or M. for Marcus). The stone attests Pilate's title of prefect and the inscription appears to refer to some kind of building called

11610-427: The largest groups of surviving New Testament Apocrypha . Originally, these texts served both to unburden Pilate of guilt for the death of Jesus as well as to provide more complete records of Jesus's trial. The apocryphal Gospel of Peter completely exonerates Pilate for the crucifixion, which is instead performed by Herod Antipas . Moreover, the text makes explicit that while Pilate washes his hands of guilt, neither

11739-488: 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." 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. The coins belong to

11868-634: The mid-eighth century . It was not rebuilt following its destruction. It was subsequently abandoned, and the remains were used several centuries later in fortifications by the Fatimid Caliphate . In the 16th century, the Ottoman Empire used the outer wall of the palace and mounted a city wall onto it. Because of that, the Ottoman wall only reaches the corner of the palace, and then turns at a 90-degree angle northwards and connections in an arbitrary manner to

11997-596: The more difficult method, he discovered many important findings. In the 1960s, when the Old City was under Jordanian control, Kathleen Kenyon was granted ability to excavate there, mostly near the City of David. Following the Six-Day War in 1967, Israeli archaeologists began excavating in and around the Old City. Due to religious tension, it was decided that they would not excavate by the Temple Mount, and they instead searched around

12126-466: The narrative [...] Despite extensive differences, however, there is a certain agreement amongst the evangelists regarding the basic facts, an agreement which may well go beyond literary dependency and reflect actual historical events. Pilate's role in condemning Jesus to death is also attested by the Roman historian Tacitus , who, when explaining Nero 's persecution of the Christians, explains: "Christus,

12255-481: The note in the Gospel of Luke ( Luke 23 :12) that Pilate had a difficult relationship with the Galilean Jewish king Herod Antipas as potentially historical. He also finds historical the information that their relationship mended following the execution of Jesus. Based on John 19 :12, it is possible that Pilate held the title "friend of Caesar" ( Latin : amicus Caesaris , Ancient Greek : φίλος τοῦ Kαίσαρος ),

12384-399: The number of Galileans killed does not seem to have been particularly high. In Bond's view, the reference to "sacrifices" likely means that this incident occurred at Passover at some unknown date. She argues that "[i]t is not only possible but quite likely that Pilate's governorship contained many such brief outbreaks of trouble about which we know nothing. The insurrection in which Barabbas

12513-519: The ophel fortifications in 2 Chronicles 27:3 and 33:14, leading to the conclusion that this must have been an area of great strategic importance, and either very close to or identical with the "stronghold of Zion" conquered and reused by David in 2 Samuel 5 :7). Josephus , writing about the First Jewish–Roman War (66–70 CE), uses the Graecised form ophlas , and places it slightly higher up

12642-448: The park is a paved street adjacent to the Western Wall. The street was part of the complex, from which pilgrims could access the western entryway of the Temple. Along the street, adjacent to the wall, a series of shops were uncovered, perhaps for ritual items related to worship. The continuation of the street was discovered in 2007 on the slopes of the City of David near the Pool of Siloam , where

12771-417: The park would be divided into 3 sections, each based on a single layer excavation, to varying depths. They are as follows: British archaeologist Charles Warren was the first to excavate the area in the 1860s. Ottoman authorities forbade him to dig on or near the Temple Mount, claiming that it would damage a site holy to Islam. To circumvent the rules, he travelled through tunnels and underground shafts. Using

12900-476: The party that arrests Jesus in John 18:3. Demandt dismisses the notion that Pilate was involved. It is generally assumed, based on the unanimous testimony of the gospels, that the crime for which Jesus was brought to Pilate and executed was sedition, founded on his claim to be king of the Jews . Pilate may have judged Jesus according to the cognitio extra ordinem , a form of trial for capital punishment used in

13029-538: The person responsible for overseeing the provision of baked goods to the royal court." Aren Maeir , an archeology professor at Bar Ilan University said he has yet to see evidence that the fortifications are as old as Mazar claims. Whilst acknowledging that 10th century remains have been found in Jerusalem, he describes proof of a strong, centralized kingdom at that time as "tenuous". A section of wall 79 metres (259 ft) long and 6 metres (20 ft) high has been uncovered. The discoveries include an inner gatehouse,

13158-469: The position it was time for him to take a new posting. Joan Taylor, on the other hand, argues that Pilate seems to have ended his career in disgrace, using his unflattering portrayal in Philo, written only a few years after his dismissal, as proof. The church historian Eusebius ( Church History 2.7.1), writing in the early fourth century, claims that "tradition relates that" Pilate committed suicide after he

13287-403: The potential fate of Pontius Pilate can be gleaned from other sources. The second-century pagan philosopher Celsus polemically asked why, if Jesus was God, God had not punished Pilate, indicating that he did not believe that Pilate shamefully committed suicide. Responding to Celsus, the Christian apologist Origen , writing c.  248 AD , argued that nothing bad happened to Pilate, because

13416-594: The powerful Praetorian Prefect Sejanus , who was executed for treason in 31. Other scholars have cast doubt on any link between Pilate and Sejanus. Daniel R. Schwartz and Kenneth Lönnqvist both argue that the traditional dating of the beginning of Pilate's governorship is based on an error in Josephus; Schwartz argues that he was appointed instead in 19, while Lönnqvist argues for 17/18. These proposed dates have not been widely accepted by other scholars. Pilate's title of prefect implies that his duties were primarily military; however, Pilate's troops were meant more as

13545-422: The presumed meaning of the root, it might signify a "bulging or rounded" fortification. Biblical verses in which it has been translated either as "fortified place " (tower, citadel, stronghold etc.) or "hill" are 2 Kings 5:24 , 2 Chronicles 27:3; 33:14 , Isaiah 32:14 , Nehemiah 3:26; 11:21 , and Micah 4:8 . On the Mesha Stele, named for the king of Moab who erected it, Mesha says: "I built Q-R-CH-H (Karhah?),

13674-510: The reference to the execution is generally considered authentic. Discussing the paucity of extra-biblical mentions of the crucifixion, Alexander Demandt argues that the execution of Jesus was probably not seen as a particularly important event by the Romans, as many other people were crucified at the time and forgotten. In Ignatius 's epistles to the Trallians (9.1) and to the Smyrnaeans (1.2),

13803-467: The religious sensibilities of the Jews. The Christian gospels record that Pilate ordered the crucifixion of Jesus at some point during his time in office; Josephus and the Roman historian Tacitus also record this information. According to Josephus, Pilate was removed from office because he violently suppressed an armed Samaritan movement at Mount Gerizim . He was sent back to Rome by the legate of Syria to answer for this incident before Tiberius, but

13932-766: The rise to the north of the Wadi Hilweh neighbourhood, in 1968. The term is commonly used by archaeologists with this meaning. The excavation work was a joint project of Hebrew University , in cooperation with the Israel Antiquities Authority , the Israel Nature and Parks Authority , and the East Jerusalem Development Company , with funding provided by Jewish American couple, Daniel Mintz and Meredith Berkman. Notable structures found during these excavations include architectural remains and

14061-420: The road ends. Parts of the street had already been discovered by Warren in the 19th century prior to the formal establishment of the park, and Mazar had further excavated other parts of it, but the rest of the street (about 75 meters) had been discovered by Ronny Reich . The street is around 750 meters long and eight meters wide, and is bounded on both sides by high stone curbs. It was almost entirely covered by

14190-403: The road was not used long after its construction was completion. The road had initially been attributed to King Herod , but more contemporary scholars date it to Agrippa II . Josephus states in the early days of Roman commissioner Albinus (AD 62-64), the streets began to be paved with white stone due to make up for the fact that the completion of the construction of the Temple Mount had caused

14319-678: The scene where he washes his hands of guilt for Jesus's death. In the art of the Late Middle Ages and the Renaissance , Pilate is often depicted as a Jew. He plays an important role in medieval passion plays , where he is often a more prominent character than Jesus. His characterization in these plays varies greatly, from weak-willed and coerced into crucifying Jesus to being an evil person who demands Jesus's crucifixion. Modern authors who feature Pilate prominently in their works include Anatole France , Mikhail Bulgakov , and Chingiz Aitmatov , with

14448-596: The second half of the 1st century). Ignatius of Antioch mentions him in his epistles to the Trallians , Magnesians , and Smyrnaeans (composed between 105 and 110). He is also briefly mentioned in Annals of the Roman historian Tacitus (early 2nd century), who simply says that he put Jesus to death. Two additional chapters of Tacitus's Annals that might have mentioned Pilate have been lost. The written sources provide only limited information, and each has its own biases, with

14577-545: The sound was able to be heard by all residents of the area. The second compound of the park displays the remains from the period of occupation by the Byzantine Empire , whose inhabitents lived on top of the remnants of the ruins of the Jewish period. The neighborhood was dense with construction by the end of the 4th century in the Eastern part of the Ophel and included many churches, shops, and homes. There are many mosaics among

14706-660: The standards by night, shows that he knew that the images of the emperor would be offensive. She dates this incident to early in Pilate's tenure as governor. Daniel Schwartz and Alexander Demandt both suggest that this incident is in fact identical with "the incident with the shields" reported in Philo's Embassy to Gaius , an identification first made by the early church historian Eusebius . Lémonon, however, argues against this identification. According to Philo's Embassy to Gaius ( Embassy to Gaius 38), Pilate offended against Jewish law by bringing golden shields into Jerusalem, and placing them on Herod's Palace . The sons of Herod

14835-530: The still extant Herodian cased-in Temple Mount is bordered to the south by a saddle, followed by the ridge in case, also known as the southeastern hill, which stretches down to the King's Garden and the lower Pool of Siloam . If the ophel was, as it seems, close to its centre, the use of the term ophel ridge" for the entire southeastern hill including the saddle, seems to be wrong. Two kings of Judah , Jotham and Manasseh , are described to have massively strengthened

14964-510: The surviving floors, some of which have geometric designs. It is theorized that the neighborhood was destroyed during the Persian invasion of 614 , and it was not rebuilt afterwards. The third and most recent layer, the early Muslim compound, is dated to the seventh century. Mazar uncovered four palaces from the reign of al-Walid I during the Umayyad Caliphate . These cover the entire area of

15093-540: The symbolism on the coins shows how Pilate attempted to promote the Roman imperial cult in Judaea, in spite of local Jewish and Samaritan religious sensitivities. Attempts to identify the aqueduct that is attributed to Pilate in Josephus date to the 19th century. In the mid-20th century, 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. Lönnqvist notes that

15222-560: The text becomes illegible. The house of takiah potentially refers to a place where the Israelites blew the shofar to announce the begin of holidays and the Sabbath , as explained by Josephus. The location of impact indicated that the location of the stones discovered by Mazar had been at the top of the corner connecting the Western and Southern Walls at a high point overlooking the city to ensure

15351-765: The various Herods in the Bible), which claims to respond to a letter from Pilate in which Pilate spoke of his remorse for Jesus' crucifixion and of having had a vision of the risen Christ; "Herod" asks Pilate to pray for him. In the so-called Book of the Cock , a late-antique apocryphal passion Gospel only preserved in Ge'ez (Ethiopic) but translated from Arabic, Pilate attempts to avoid Jesus's execution by sending him to Herod and writing further letters arguing with Herod not to execute Jesus. Pilate's family become Christians after Jesus miraculously cures Pilate's daughters of their deaf-muteness. Pilate

15480-586: The vestments of the High Priest in the Antonia Fortress . Unlike his predecessor, Valerius Gratus , Pilate retained the same high priest, Joseph ben Caiaphas , for his entire tenure. Caiaphas would be removed following Pilate's own removal from the governorship. This indicates that Caiaphas and the priests of the Sadducee sect were reliable allies to Pilate. Moreover, Maier argues that Pilate could not have used

15609-404: The wall of ye'arim [forests], and the wall of ophel and I built its gates and I built its towers." Here ophel is commonly translated as "citadel". The location of the ophel of the Hebrew Bible is easy to make out from the references from 2 Chronicles and Nehemiah: it was on the eastern ridge, which descended south of Solomon's Temple , and probably near the middle of it. In current terms,

15738-533: Was a fragmentary, undated inscription on a large piece of marble recorded in Ameria , a village in Umbria , Italy. The inscription read as follows: 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. The inscription was formerly found outside the church of St. Secundus, where it had been copied from

15867-514: Was a particularly brutal and ineffective governor, others believe that his long time in office implies reasonable competence. According to one prominent post-World War II theory, Pilate's mistreatment of the Jews was motivated by antisemitism , but most contemporary historians do not accept this theory. In Late antiquity and the Early Middle Ages , Pilate became the focus of a large group of New Testament apocrypha expanding on his role in

15996-573: Was caught up, if historical, may well be another example." At the Passover of most likely 30 or 33, Pontius Pilate condemned Jesus of Nazareth to death by crucifixion in Jerusalem. The main sources on the crucifixion are the four canonical Christian Gospels , the accounts of which vary. Helen Bond argues that the evangelists' portrayals of Pilate have been shaped to a great extent by their own particular theological and apologetic concerns. [...] Legendary or theological additions have also been made to

16125-483: Was extremely widespread in both Latin and the vernacular, and each version contains significant variation, often relating to local traditions. The earliest extant legendary biography is the De Pilato of c.  1050 , with three further Latin versions appearing in the mid-twelfth century, followed by many vernacular translations. Howard Martin summarizes the general content of these legendary biographies as follows:

16254-421: Was likely educated, somewhat wealthy, and well-connected politically and socially. He was probably married, but the only extant reference to his wife , in which she tells him not to interact with Jesus after she has had a disturbing dream ( Matthew 27 :19), is generally dismissed as legendary. According to the cursus honorum established by Augustus for office holders of equestrian rank, Pilate would have had

16383-443: Was of relatively low prestige and nothing is known of how Pilate obtained the office. Josephus states that Pilate governed for ten years ( Antiquities of the Jews 18.4.2), and these are traditionally dated from 26 to 36/37, making him one of the two longest-serving governors of the province. As Tiberius had retired to the island of Capri in 26, scholars such as E. Stauffer have argued that Pilate may have actually been appointed by

16512-489: Was recalled to Rome due to the disgrace he was in. Eusebius dates this to 39. Paul Maier notes that no other surviving records corroborate Pilate's suicide, which is meant to document God's wrath for Pilate's role in the crucifixion, and that Eusebius explicitly states that "tradition" is his source, "indicating that he had trouble documenting Pilate's presumed suicide". Daniel Schwartz, however, argues that Eusebius's claims "should not lightly be dismissed." More information on

16641-530: Was the fifth governor of the Roman province of Judaea , serving under Emperor Tiberius from 26/27 to 36/37 AD. He is best known for being the official who presided over the trial of Jesus and ultimately ordered his crucifixion . Pilate's importance in Christianity is underscored by his prominent place in both the Apostles' and Nicene Creeds . Because the gospels portray Pilate as reluctant to execute Jesus,

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