Pontius Pilate
The Roman prefect of Judea who tried Jesus. The gospels present him as convinced of the prisoner's innocence yet unwilling to face the crowd: he sent him to Herod, offered Barabbas in his place, had him flogged in hope that it would be enough, and finally washed his hands. He fixed the charge above the cross — 'Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews' — and refused to change the wording. Outside the New Testament he is attested by Tacitus, Josephus and an inscription found at Caesarea; he was eventually recalled to Rome after complaints about his brutality.
What we know — and how we know it
Reinhard Dietrich — CC BY-SA 4.0 (via Wikimedia Commons)
ArchaeologyA dedication stone from Caesarea names 'Pontius Pilatus, prefect of Judea', and a copper-alloy ring inscribed 'of Pilatus' was found at the Herodium.
Scan by NYPL — Public domain (via Wikimedia Commons)
Ancient writersPilate is described by the Jewish writers Philo and Josephus, and named by the Roman historian Tacitus — a governor attested across three literary traditions.
Where in scripture
MatthewMarkLukeJohnActs1 Timothyand they bound him, and led him away, and delivered him up to Pontius Pilate, the governor.
Matthew 27:2
So when Pilate saw that nothing was being gained, but rather that a disturbance was starting, he took water, and washed his hands before the multitude, saying, “I am innocent of the blood of this righteous person. You see to it.”
Matthew 27:24 — Washes his hands
Pilate answered them, saying, “Do you want me to release to you the King of the Jews?”
Mark 15:9
Now in the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, Pontius Pilate being governor of Judea, and Herod being tetrarch of Galilee, and his brother Philip tetrarch of the region of Ituraea and Trachonitis, and Lysanias tetrarch of Abilene,
Luke 3:1
Now there were some present at the same time who told him about the Galileans, whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices.
Luke 13:1
Pilate therefore went out to them, and said, “What accusation do you bring against this man?”
John 18:29
Pilate therefore said to them, “Take him yourselves, and judge him according to your law.” Therefore the Jews said to him, “It is not lawful for us to put anyone to death,”
John 18:31
Pilate therefore entered again into the Praetorium, called Jesus, and said to him, “Are you the King of the Jews?”
John 18:33
Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible, a public-domain translation.
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