Pontius Pilate (Rome)

Pontius Pilate was the fifth Roman prefect of Judea, serving under Emperor Tiberius from 26 to 36 and residing at Caesarea. Josephus (Antiquities 18.55–62; War 2.169–177) records two clashes. He brought army standards bearing the emperor's image into Jerusalem by night, backing down only after Jewish protesters at Caesarea bared their necks rather than accept them. He also took money from the Temple treasury to build an aqueduct, and had soldiers in civilian clothes club the crowds who protested. Philo (Embassy to Gaius 299–305) calls him inflexible and cruel. He was recalled in 36 after attacking Samaritans gathered at Mount Gerizim.

The Gospels name him as the official who sentenced Jesus to crucifixion, which Tacitus also mentions (Annals 15.44). In 1961 Italian archaeologists at Caesarea found the Pilate Stone, a dedication of a building in honor of Tiberius naming "[Pon]tius Pilatus, [Praef]ectus Iuda[ea]e," the only inscription from his time with his name and title. His small bronze coins carry Roman cult symbols such as the augur's staff and the libation ladle.