Pontius Pilate

Pontius Pilate was the most famous and most hated of these governors. He held the prefecture from 26 to 37 CE, or from 19 to 37 according to a recent proposal. Philo charges him with bribes, insults, plunder and summary executions. His affronts to Jewish tradition led to several clashes, but what cost him his post was his handling of the Samaritans.1

There were exceptions: Philo praises Petronius, a governor who helped avert a war under Caligula. On the whole, though, Pilate seems to represent well the procurators of the decades before the revolt: violent when it came to keeping order, short of troops, possibly corrupt and without understanding of Jewish customs.2

At the root of Christianity stands a Jew who taught and worked wonders from place to place and was executed in Jerusalem while Pontius Pilate was governor. His Hebrew name was probably Yehoshua or Yeshua; he became known by the Greek form, Jesus. 'Christ' is a title, not a name: christos renders the Hebrew for 'anointed' into Greek, and his followers used it to present him as a king of David's line.3

Other Gospel characters have proven existence: Herod, Pontius Pilate and even Caiaphas, high priest when Jesus died. That Jesus was crucified scholars do not doubt; it was the cruel punishment that Rome used against bandits and slaves to intimidate anyone who dared challenge the order. But each Gospel tells of the execution in its own way, and they disagree even about its timing. The book's timeline dates the death to 30 CE.4