Discovered
In
1961, while excavating an ancient Roman amphitheater near Caesarea-on-the-sea,
Maritima, a limestone slab approximately 2’ x 3’, was found by the Italian
archaeological team led by Dr. Antonio Frova. It is now housed at the Israel
Museum in Jerusalem. The left half of the stone has been chipped away, probably
as a secondary usage to fit the stone into a set of steps leading into the
theater.
[
]S TIBERIÉVM
[ ]TIVS
PILATVS
[ ]ECTVS
IVDA[ ]E
[ [É[ ]
According to Craig A. Evans, Professor
of New Testament, Acadia Divinity College, restoration of the partially
preserved words in the second and third lines was not difficult:
[PON]TIVS
PILATVS
[PRAEF]ECTVS
IVDA[EA]E[1]
Restoration
of the first and fourth lines was more difficult. The entire inscription may
have originally read “To the people of Caesarea, Pontius Pilate, Prefect of
Judea, has given the Tiberieum”. The Tiberium was a temple dedicated to Emperor
Tiberius.
How significant?
This
discovery is yet another one of many examples of archaeological evidence
corroborating the Biblical accounts many centuries after the Bible’s
completion. The stone’s inscription matches very well with the description
provided by Luke, in which he not only mentions Pilate as the governor of
Judea, but also mentions Emperor Tiberius. Also, as detailed in the citations
below, many Biblical and extra-biblical accounts were written about Pilate.
This does not prove in itself the reliability of the Bible, but added
cumulatively with numerous other archaeological and documentary historical
discoveries, builds a very compelling case leading to the conclusion that the
Bible is factually trustworthy. And, if the Bible is consistently over time
proven to be accurate in the details that are able to be verified, it is
reasonable to conclude that the details as yet unverified should also prove to
be accurate.
Who was Pontius Pilate?
Pontius
Pilate was the Roman procurator or prefect, from A.D. 26 – 36, of Judea, a
region occupied by Jews. Philo of Alexandria (c. 20 B.C. – 50 A.D.), described
as a Hellenized Jew, wrote:
“Pilate was one of the emperor's
lieutenants, having been appointed governor of Judaea. He, not more with the
object of doing honour to Tiberius than with that of vexing the multitude,
dedicated some gilt shields in the palace of Herod, in the holy city; which had
no form nor any other forbidden thing represented on them except some necessary
inscription, which mentioned these two facts, the name of the person who had
placed them there, and the person in whose honour they were so placed there.” [2]
Jewish
historian Flavius Josephus records the initial appointment of Pontius Pilate:
“When Gratus had done those things, he went
back to Rome, after he had tarried in Judea eleven years, when Pontius Pilate
came as his successor. And now Herod the tetrarch, who was in great favor with
Tiberius, built a city of the same name with him, and called it Tiberius. He
built it in the best part of Galilee, at the lake of Gennesareth.”[3]
Josephus
also mentions that Pilate was later ordered to appear before Tiberius in Rome
to answer accusations of the murder of some Samaritans:
“…to answer before the emperor to the
accusations of the Jews. So Pilate, when he had tarried ten years in Judea,
made haste to Rome, and this in obedience to the orders of Vitellius, which he
durst not contradict; but before he could get to Rome Tiberius was dead.”[4]
Roman
historian Cornelius Tacitus (c. A.D. 56 - c. 120), wrote:
“Christus, from whom
the name had its origin, suffered the extreme penalty during the
reign of Tiberius at the hands of one of our procurators, Pontius Pilatus, and a most mischievous superstition, thus checked for the moment,
again broke out not only in Judaea, the first source of the
evil, but even in Rome…”[5]
Others
have disagreed with the designation, stating that Pilate was praefectus, not procurator.
Greek
historian Eusebius mentions a letter allegedly written by Pilate to Tiberius:
“The story of the resurrection from
the dead of our Saviour Jesus, already the subject of general discussion all
over Palestine, was accordingly communicated by Pilate to the Emperor Tiberius.
For Pilate knew all about Christ’s supernatural deeds, and especially how after
death He had risen from the dead and was now generally believed to be a god. It
is said that Tiberius referred the report to the senate, which rejected it.”[6]
However,
as translator of Eusebius’ work, G. A. Williamson, notes on the same page, “It
can hardly be doubted that Pilate sent such a report, but none of the various
extant versions is regarded as genuine.”
Biblical references to Pilate
References
to Pontius Pilate are made in six books of the New Testament, with some
selected references here:
·
“…the
chief priests with the elders and scribes and the whole Council, immediately held
a consultation; and binding Jesus, they led Him away and delivered Him to
Pilate.” (Mark 15:1)
·
“…all
the chief priests and the elders of the people conferred together against Jesus
to put Him to death; and they bound Him, and led Him away and delivered Him to
Pilate the governor.” (Matthew 27:1-2)
·
“Now
in the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, when Pontius Pilate was
governor of Judea, and Herod was tetrarch of Galilee, and his brother Philip
was tetrarch of the region of Ituraea and Trachonitis, and Lysanias was
tetrarch of Abilene.” (Luke 3:1) Notice the amount of detailed information in
this verse, which is standard for Luke.
·
“…when
Pilate heard these words, he brought Jesus out, and sat down on the judgment
seat at a place called The Pavement, but in Hebrew, Gabbatha.” (John 19:13)
·
“For
truly in this city there were gathered together against Your holy servant
Jesus, whom You anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the
Gentiles and the peoples of Israel,” (Acts 4:27)
·
“I
charge you in the presence of God, who gives life to all things, and of Christ
Jesus, who testified the good confession before Pontius Pilate…” (1 Timothy
6:13)
Dating of the historical records
The
Biblical accounts were completed in the first century A.D., with Matthew
writing around the 60s and Mark possibly as early as the 50s. Luke, Acts, and 1
Timothy were most likely written prior to A.D. 62.[7] John was probably the
latest, written as late as the 90s. Philo wrote around 40 A.D. Other
extra-biblical historical records mentioning Pontius Pilate were written after
most of the Biblical accounts: Josephus wrote Antiquities of the Jews around 93 A.D. and Tacitus wrote Annals
around 115 A.D. Other than Tacitus, the other writers were alive during the
governorship of Pilate and their writings were close enough to the events to be
considered reliable.
[Biblical
references are from the NASB version.]
[1]Craig
A. Evans, Bulletin
for Biblical Research, “Jesus and the Ossuaries”, 13.1 (2003), 31-34.
[2]Philo
Judaeus, On the Embassy to Gaius: The
First Part of the Treatise on Virtues, translation by Charles Duke Yonge,
XXXViii (299).
[3]Flavius
Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews,
Book XVIII, Chapter 2, paragraphs 2-3.
[4]Ibid.,
Chapter 4, paragraph 2.
[5]Tacitus,
The Annals, Book XV.
[6]Eusebius,
The History of the Church from Christ to
Constantine, translated by G. A. Williamson, (New York, NY: Dorset Press), p. 75.
[7]The
Apologetics Study Bible, General Editor Ted Cabal, (Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers, 2007), pp. 1402,
1403, 1464, 1508, 1800.
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