Antonio Ciseri, Ecce Homo (1871), Pilate presenting Jesus to the crowd, Palazzo Pitti, Florence
Antonio Ciseri · Public domain · Source

Person

Pontius Pilate

Also called: Pontius Pilatus, Pilate

Roman prefect of Judaea (in office 26–36) who sentenced Jesus to crucifixion; a stone bearing his name was found at Caesarea in 1961

He governed the Roman province of Judaea as prefect from 26 to 36. Josephus and Philo of Alexandria describe a stubborn official who angered the Jews by bringing standards bearing the emperor’s image into Jerusalem and by spending Temple funds on an aqueduct. The Gospels say he washed his hands, saying he found no guilt in Jesus, yet sentenced him to the cross. After a massacre of Samaritans in 36 he was removed by the governor of Syria and sent back to Rome, and nothing certain is known of his later life. His name lives on in the Apostles’ Creed: “suffered under Pontius Pilate”.

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1 related event

1
AD 30Crucifixion of Jesuskey figure
At Passover around AD 30 Jesus was crucified in Jerusalem on the sentence of the Roman governor Pontius Pilate. The Roman historian Tacitus and the Jewish historian Josephus also recorded it.

People who appear alongside

Jesus4 BC – AD 30
The central figure of Christianity, who preached God’s love and salvation in Roman-ruled Palestine and was crucified in Jerusalem around AD 30
Peter the Apostle
Foremost of Jesus’ twelve disciples, a fisherman from the Sea of Galilee who led the church in Jerusalem and, by tradition, was martyred in Rome; Catholics honour him as the first pope

Themes this person appears in

Greece and Rome2000 BC – AD 476
From the Aegean civilisation to the fall of the Western Roman Empire — the classical civilisation built by the democracy of the polis and the Roman republic and empire