The first inscription naming Pontius Pilate was found in a Roman theater in 1961
Did you know a stone found in 1961 at Caesarea, on Israel's coast, carries Pontius Pilate's name and his official title, prefect of Judea?
In 1961, archaeologists digging the Roman theater at Caesarea Maritima found a limestone block carved in Latin. The team was Italian, led by Antonio Frova. Caesarea was the port city where Rome's governors of Judea kept their headquarters. The block stands nearly three feet tall, and builders had reused it when the theater was rebuilt.
Only part of the inscription survives. Enough remains to read the name Pontius Pilatus and the end of his title, prefect of Judea. The stone records a building Pilate dedicated in honor of the emperor Tiberius. What kind of building it was is still debated.
Pilate governed Judea from about 26 to 36 CE. Until 1961 he was known only from written sources: the Gospels, the Jewish writers Philo and Josephus, and the Roman historian Tacitus.
The stone also settled a question about his title. Tacitus, writing some eighty years after Pilate, calls him procurator. Judea's governors carried that title from the 40s CE on. The stone shows that in Pilate's own day the title was prefect, a military rank.
Luke dates the start of John the Baptist's preaching by the same two men the stone names: "in the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, Pontius Pilate being governor of Judea" (Luke 3:1). Luke's Greek word for "governor" is a general one, and it names no rank.
Where to see it: read Luke 3:1-2. The original stone is in the Israel Museum, Jerusalem, and a replica stands at the theater in Caesarea; both are widely photographed.
Sources
- Pilate inscription, Caesarea Maritimafound 1961 by the Italian expedition under A. Frova; Israel Museum, Jerusalem; the text is partly restored, including the first letters of the title; Pilate's term c. 26-36 CE; Tacitus, Annals 15.44 ('procurator'); Luke 3:1, the participle hegemoneuontos, from the general term hegemon; what kind of building the 'Tiberieum' was is debated
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