Pontius Pilate, the fifth Roman Procurator of Judea, is infamous in all our hearts because he is the one who sentenced Jesus Christ to be crucified. We know the story. We know that his wife begged him to not have anything to do with this righteous Jesus because of a dream she had. We know that he met face to face with Jesus and talked with Him. But outside the Biblical record, how do we even know he existed?
Archaeology is a very tricky science and evidence sometimes comes in very small bits and pieces. We often can date a site by small pieces of pottery with small lines or curves or markings that will tell us the approximate time period of that shard. It’s like putting together a puzzle, but not all the pieces are available.
Pilate lived in Caesarea Maritima, a beautiful city on the Mediterranean coast of Israel and a city built by King Herod that was one of the jewels of that whole region. Pilate served as Procurator for about ten years, from 26 to 36 A.D. Contemporary or later sources describe him as a cruel and unsympathetic ruler who was especially insensitive to Jewish religious feelings.
Pilate is briefly mentioned in the Annals of the Roman historian Tacitus (early 2nd century), who simply says that he put Jesus to death. Two additional chapters of Tacitus’s Annals that might have mentioned Pilate have been lost.
The Pilate Stone, discovered in Caesarea Maritima, provides archaeological evidence of Pontius Pilate’s role as prefect of Judea, solidifying his historical presence outside of biblical texts.
In June 1961, Italian archaeologist Maria Teresa Fortuna Canivet was working on a campaign in Caesarea Maritima under the direction of Dr. Antonio Frova. They were excavating in the area of the ancient theatre built by Herod the Great (whom I call Herod the Great Builder, and anything but great) around 22-10 BC.
The Herodian theater in Caesarea Maritima where the Pilate Stone was found repurposed as a step. The discovery confirmed Pilate’s existence and provided vital historical context.
A limestone block had been placed in the theater as a replacement for a step and was found by Canivet.
The Pilate Stone inscription includes the words “Pontius Pilate” and “Prefect of Judea,” offering critical historical evidence of the man who sentenced Jesus Christ.
The partial inscription on the stone in Latin reads (conjectural letters in brackets):
[DIS AUGUSTI]S TIBERIÉUM
[…PONTI]US PILATUS
[…PRAEF]ECTUS IUDA[EA]E
[…FECIT D]E[DICAVIT]
The translation from Latin to English for the inscription reads:
To the Divine Augusti [this] Tiberieum
…Pontius Pilate
…prefect of Judea
…has dedicated [this]
The artifact is a fragment of the dedicatory inscription of a later building, probably a temple, that was constructed, possibly in honour of the emperor Tiberius, dating to AD 26 to 36.
The stone was then reused in the 4th century as a building block for a set of stairs belonging to a structure erected behind the stage house of the Herodian theatre, and it was discovered there, still attached to the ancient staircase, by the archaeologists. Thus, you could say that people were stepping on Pilate’s name for centuries.
Archaeologists display the Pilate Stone during its discovery. This inscription is one of the few direct references to Pontius Pilate, validating his historical presence in Judea.
The original stone is now displayed in the Israeli Museum of Antiquities in West Jerusalem.
That is quite a legacy for one whose name has gone down in infamy for all time.
Now, you can picture this.
