The Roman horseman Pontius Pilate entered the annals of the ancient world as the fifth governor of Judea. The years of his reign were associated with various historical and fateful deeds. The most significant of them is the judgment of Jesus Christ; the scourging, the laying of the crown of thorns and the execution of the Righteous.
Until the 60s of the 20th century, the historical figure of Pontius Pilate was recognized by many researchers and religious scholars as purely legendary. Proof that such a Roman official did rule over Judea comes from a limestone slab found by Italian archaeologists in Palestine. A text was engraved on the stone table, which featured the name and position of Pontius Pilate, who "represented Tiberius to the Caesareans" and "dedicated a temple to the people of Caesarea in honor of Tiberius." Among the artifacts from this period are coins minted by the Roman prefect (29 AD) and a ring found in 2018, on the inside of which the name of the hegemon is engraved.
For a long time, the fifth governor of Judea remained a man without a biography for history. The personality of Pontius Pilate has been outlined over time through the compilation of information from various sources. Among them:
- manuscripts and works of ancient philosophers (Josephus Flavius, Philo of Alexandria, Cornelius Tacitus, Eusebius of Caesarea);
- religious treatises ("New Testament", "Gospel");
- apocryphal writings ("Testimony of the Greek Hermidius", "Reports of Pilate to Tiberius");
- secular studies of historians and religious scholars (article by Brakhaus and Efron "Pilate", the work of Arthur Drews "The Myth of Christ");
- literary and artistic works (the book by Anatole France "The Procurator of Judea", the poem by Georgy Petrovsky "Pilate", the novel by Mikhail Bulgakov "The Master and Margarita").
Due to such a variety of sources, there are discrepancies and contradictions in the life of Pontius Pilate. They are contained in everything - from the date of birth to the last days of his earthly existence.
The origin of the Roman horseman
Most often, in the absence of a sufficient number of written monuments of the studied era, the ethnic roots and origin of the historical character are determined by analyzing the name and surname. So where does the man appointed by Tiberius to command the imperial guard (prefect) and who received the title of Roman horseman and the post of procurator of Judea come from? Who is he - a warrior of German origin (Cheruske) or an Italian (Samnite) who was in the mercenary troops of the Romans?
The only thing that most historians agree on is that the future procurator was unlikely to be Roman by birth and his exact name is unknown.
The first version is supported by the fact that Pilate is a nickname indicating the occupation of his ancestors (javelin thrower, spearman). Pont is a city in Germany, near Bamberg. In confirmation of Pilate's Germanic roots, the following event is cited: in the battle of Idistaviso, the future procurator of Judea commanded a cavalry turma of the Romans. A brave warrior - a Cherusk named Ingomar (illegitimate son of the king of Mainz - Tyr) was named Pilate for his keen eye. His fiefdom became the city of Lugdun in Gaul (on the modern map Lyon, France).
Another medieval Maintian legend has a romantic color and says that Pilate (Pila-Atus) was formed from the addition of the names of his parents who lived in Rhine Germany: the astrologer king Atus and his wife, the miller's daughter, whose name was Pila.
Researchers who insist on Pilate's Italic roots claim that he came from the middle Samnites, born in the province of Abruzzo on the Adriatic. The direct translation of the nickname Pontius means "hairy", and the name Pilate is translated as "Black Sea".
But there are also scholars who are trying to prove that Pilate is an aristocrat from the noble Roman family of Pontius, who belonged to the privileged class of equites (horsemen). In Latin pilatus means "spear-bearer". His wife was the illegitimate daughter of Tiberius, the granddaughter of Emperor Augustus Octavian - Claudius, which determined Pilate's diplomatic career.
Thus, over the past two millennia, on the chased profile of the "iron praetor", the mark on his exact ethnic origin has been practically erased.
Rule of the Hegemon of Judea
Of all the conquered lands, Judea was perhaps the most troubled acquisition of the Roman Empire. Tiberius needed an iron hand to suppress the hidden resistance of local residents, their categorical unwillingness to become subjects of Rome and join the high imperial culture. The usual tool of the Romans - assimilation did not work here, and therefore tyranny was launched. Thus, at the behest of his father-in-law, taking into account his cruel and ruthless character, Pontius Pilate became the Roman governor of this region.
According to the German scientist G. A. Müller, Pila-Atus Pontus the Fifth was appointed Procurator of the Provinces of Judea, Samaria and Idumea in 26 AD. Having replaced his predecessor Valery Grat (15 - 25 AD) in this post, he stayed in power for about fifteen years.
The official duties of the procurator were: the personification of the power of Rome, the maintenance of public order, the supervision of the receipt of taxes, the administration of justice. Possessing supreme power in Judea, the Roman official had the right not only to decide matters of life and death, but also, at his discretion, could appoint or overthrow the Jewish high priests.
Pilate was cruel, cunning, merciless. His rule was based on lies, provocations, violence and executions without trial or investigation. Any opposition to the authorities was inevitably punished. Striving only for profit, the covetous man and the bribe-taker set exorbitant fees from the population. Judging by the works of ancient historians, Pilate's contemporaries knew him as a cynical and cruel tyrant: "everyone in Judea whispered that he was a beast and a fierce monster."
Such a harsh style of government by the Roman governors was considered the norm for that time. However, the policy of Rome in the subordinate territories was emphatically tolerant, and Pontius Pilate was distinguished by the fact that he showed complete disrespect for the religious traditions of the Jewish people. The procurator saw his task in showing who is the boss in the Holy Land. In an effort to "bend the natives under him," the governor was often guided not so much by the state interests of Rome as by ordinary human harm and a desire to annoy the hated Jews.
- A direct desecration of the faith of local residents was Pilate's decision to decorate all public places with banners with portraits of the emperor. None of his predecessors dared to do this, knowing that for the Jews any image is prohibited by the Law of Moses.
- The strongest conflict with the local population erupted over the announcement of the construction of an aqueduct in Jerusalem. The fact was that Pilate ordered to take the money missing for the water supply from the temple treasury (korvan).
- He ended his reign with the massacre of the Samaritans, who tried to unauthorizedly carry out excavations on Mount Gorezin, where, in their opinion, the prophet Moses hid the sacred vessels. It was a blatant insult to the religious feelings of his subjects and an absolutely ruthless extermination of the Jewish population.
Punishment for what you have done
The Jewish king Agrippa the First, dissatisfied with the oppression and injustice towards his people, more than once filed complaints to Rome against the procurator. However, they had no result. The governor acted tough, but quite in the spirit of his time, and by the standards of Roman customs, he was not considered a criminal. In addition to this, Pontius Pilate was allowed a lot, since he was a relative of Tiberius, and was also under the patronage of Lucius Aelius Siyan, a companion and temporary assistant of the emperor.
The patience of the Jews was overflowing when, by order of the ruler, the massacre of the Samaritans was carried out on Mount Gorezin. On the basis of the denunciation of the high priest Caiaphas, the Roman legate in Syria, Lucius Vittelius, removed the procurator from office. Pontius Pilate was summoned to the emperor in Rome for a trial and never returned to Judea.
At the same time, there is no documented information about the further fate of the former Roman official.
There are such versions regarding the end of his earthly life:
- Pontius Pilate appeared before the emperor. His punishment was exile to Gaul (the city of Vienne), where, unable to bear the shame and hardship, the procurator committed suicide.
- Wanting to avoid punishment for his atrocities in Judea, Pontius Pilate, without waiting for the decision of his fate, took his own life by stabbing himself with his own knife. The body was thrown into the Tiber, but the river did not accept it. The excitement of the water was also when trying to drown a dead man in the Rhone River. Equally unsuccessfully, the body was thrown elsewhere, until it was immersed "in a deep well surrounded by mountains, where it is still located." In the modern world, this is a high-mountain lake near Lucerne (Switzerland), which has long turned into a raised swamp.
- According to some reports, having taken the right path, the former ruler of Judea converted to Christianity. He lived the rest of his days righteously and was martyred during the persecution of Nero for 64 years.
- The most widespread legend is that “Pilate unexpectedly escaped the wrath of the emperor (while the procurator was on his way to Rome, Tiberius died). The ex-governor of Judea retired with impunity and found his last refuge in the mountains."
Christians believe that the procurator who repented of his deed gained immortality. Thirsty for deliverance from the pangs of conscience, in search of forgiveness and peace, the Roman horseman Pontius Pilate appears on Good Friday on a flat mountain peak in the Swiss Alps (this is the main mountain in Lucerne called Pilatusberg). In the light of the Easter full moon, he washes his hands, trying in vain to cleanse himself of participation in the bloody crime - the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. Pontius Pilate cannot get rid of the vision of the executed Yeshua, with whom his soul dreams of reuniting on the lunar path.
