Pilate Inscrition Stone

Pilate stone or Pilate Inscrition Stone is a carved limestone bearing the name of Pontius Pilate the Roman prefect of Judean province during 26–36 CE.

circa 30 CE

Original inscription stone bearing the name of located at the Israel Museum in Jerusalem. The partially damaged block is a dedication to the deified Augustus and Livia ("the Divine Augusti"), the stepfather and mother of emperor Tiberius, originally placed within a Tiberieum, probably a temple dedicated to Tiberius.

circa 30 CE

The inscription reads as follows
[DIS AUGUSTI]S TIBERIÉUM (To the Divine Augusti [this] Tiberieum)
[...PONTI]US PILATUS (...Pontius Pilate)
[...PRAEF]ECTUS IUDA[EA]E (...prefect of Judea)
[...FECIT D]E[DICAVIT] (...has dedicated [this]).

circa 30 CE

Replica casting on display in Caesarea Maritima it constitutes the earliest surviving record and a contemporaneous evidence for the historical existence of this person; otherwise known from the New Testament, Jewish literature and brief mentions in retrospective Roman histories.

See Also

• Pontius Pilate
• Caesarea

References

• "The Pilate Inscription". K.C. Hanson. 10 August 2015. Retrieved 11 April 2017.
• Archaeology and the Galilean Jesus: a re-examination of the evidence by Jonathan L. Reed 2002 ISBN 1563383942 p. 18.
• Studying the historical Jesus: evaluations of the state of current research by Bruce Chilton, Craig A. Evans 1998 ISBN 9004111425 p. 465.
• A History of the Jewish People, H.H. Ben-Sasson editor, 1976, p. 247: "When Judea was converted into a Roman province [in 6 CE, p. 246], the Romans moved the governmental residence and military headquarters from Jerusalem to Caesarea. The centre of government was thus removed from Jerusalem, and the administration became increasingly based on inhabitants of the Hellenistic cities (Sebaste, Caesarea and others).
• Historical Dictionary of Jesus by Daniel J. Harrington 2010 ISBN 0810876671 p. 32.
• Jerry Vardaman, A New Inscription Which Mentions Pilate as 'Prefect' , Journal of Biblical Literature Vol. 81, 1962. pp. 70–71.
• Craig A. Evans, Jesus and the ossuaries, Volume 44, Baylor University Press, 2003. pp. 45–47.
• Josephus, Flavius. "§63". 18.89. Antiquities of the Jews. Translated by Whiston, William. Lexundria.com. Retrieved 11 April 2017. before he could get to Rome Tiberius was dead.
• "Pontius Pilate, Prefect of Judah – Latin dedicatory inscription". The Israel Museum. The Israel Museum, Jerusalem 1995–2015. Retrieved 11 April 2017.
• A.N. Sherwin-White, review of "A. Frova, L'iscrizione di Ponzio Pilato a Cesarea" in The Journal of Roman Studies, 54 (1964), p. 258.