The Pilate stone is a damaged block of carved

limestone Limestone is a type of carbonate rock, carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material Lime (material), lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different Polymorphism (materials science) ...

, with dimensions , which bears a partially intact inscription attributed to

Pontius Pilate Pontius Pilate (; ) was the Roman administration of Judaea (AD 6–135), fifth governor of the Judaea (Roman province), Roman province of Judaea, serving under Emperor Tiberius from 26/27 to 36/37 AD. He is best known for being the official wh ...

, a

prefect Prefect (from the Latin ''praefectus'', substantive adjectival form of ''praeficere'': "put in front", meaning in charge) is a magisterial title of varying definition, but essentially refers to the leader of an administrative area. A prefect' ...

of the Roman province of Judaea in the

1st century File:1st century collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Jesus is crucified by Roman authorities in Judaea (17th century painting). Four different men (Galba, Otho, Vitellius, and Vespasian) claim the title of Emperor within the span of a year; T ...

AD. It was discovered at the archaeological site of

Caesarea Maritima Caesarea () also Caesarea Maritima, Caesarea Palaestinae or Caesarea Stratonis, was an ancient and medieval port city on the coast of the eastern Mediterranean, and later a small fishing village. It was the capital of Judaea (Roman province), ...

in 1961.

Description

The limestone block was discovered in June 1961 by Italian archaeologist Maria Teresa Fortuna Canivet during a campaign led by while excavating in the area of an ancient theatre built by decree of

Herod the Great Herod I or Herod the Great () was a History of the Jews in the Roman Empire, Roman Jewish client king of the Herodian kingdom of Judea. He is known for his colossal building projects throughout Judea. Among these works are the rebuilding of the ...

, along with the entire city of Caesarea. The artifact is a fragment of the dedicatory inscription of a later building, probably a temple, that was constructed in the 1st century AD.possibly in honour of the emperor

Tiberius Tiberius Julius Caesar Augustus ( ; 16 November 42 BC – 16 March AD 37) was Roman emperor from AD 14 until 37. He succeeded his stepfather Augustus, the first Roman emperor. Tiberius was born in Rome in 42 BC to Roman politician Tiberius Cl ...

. 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, where archaeologists discovered it, still attached to the ancient staircase. The artifact is particularly significant because it is an archaeological find of an authentic 1st-century Roman inscription mentioning the name " onius Pilatus". It is contemporary to Pilate's lifetime and accords with what is known of his reported career.''Studying the historical Jesus: evaluations of the state of current research'' by Bruce Chilton, Craig A. Evans 1998 p. 465 In effect, the inscription constitutes the earliest surviving and only contemporary record of Pilate, who is otherwise known from the

New Testament The New Testament (NT) is the second division of the Christian biblical canon. It discusses the teachings and person of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus, as well as events relating to Christianity in the 1st century, first-century Christianit ...

and apocryphal texts, the Jewish historian

Josephus Flavius Josephus (; , ; ), born Yosef ben Mattityahu (), was a Roman–Jewish historian and military leader. Best known for writing '' The Jewish War'', he was born in Jerusalem—then part of the Roman province of Judea—to a father of pr ...

, writer

Philo Philo of Alexandria (; ; ; ), also called , was a Hellenistic Jewish philosopher who lived in Alexandria, in the Roman province of Egypt. The only event in Philo's life that can be decisively dated is his representation of the Alexandrian J ...

, and brief references by Roman historians such as

Tacitus Publius Cornelius Tacitus, known simply as Tacitus ( , ; – ), was a Roman historian and politician. Tacitus is widely regarded as one of the greatest Roman historians by modern scholars. Tacitus’ two major historical works, ''Annals'' ( ...

. It is likely that Pontius Pilate made his base at Caesarea Maritima, the site where the stone was discovered, since that city had replaced

Jerusalem Jerusalem is a city in the Southern Levant, on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. It is one of the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest cities in the world, and ...

as the administrative capital and military headquarters of the province in AD 6.''A History of the Jewish People'', H. H. Ben-Sasson editor, 1976, p. 247: "When Judea was converted into a Roman province n 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). Pilate probably travelled to Jerusalem, the central city of the province's Jewish population, only when necessary. The ''Pilate stone'' is currently held at the

Israel Museum The Israel Museum (, ''Muze'on Yisrael'', ) is an Art museum, art and archaeology museum in Jerusalem. It was established in 1965 as Israel's largest and foremost cultural institution, and one of the world's leading Encyclopedic museum, encyclopa ...

in Jerusalem.Craig A. Evans, ''Jesus and the ossuaries'', Volume 44, Baylor University Press, 2003. pp. 45–47 Plaster-cast replicas can be found at the

Archaeological Museum An archaeology museum is a museum that specializes in the display of archaeological artifacts. Many archaeology museum are in the open-air museum, open air, such as the Ancient Agora of Athens and the Roman Forum.David Watkin. ''The Roman Forum ...

Milan Milan ( , , ; ) is a city in northern Italy, regional capital of Lombardy, the largest city in Italy by urban area and the List of cities in Italy, second-most-populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of nea ...

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

, and on display in Caesarea Maritima.

Inscription

On the partially damaged block is a dedication to the deified

Augustus Gaius Julius Caesar Augustus (born Gaius Octavius; 23 September 63 BC – 19 August AD 14), also known as Octavian (), was the founder of the Roman Empire, who reigned as the first Roman emperor from 27 BC until his death in A ...

and

Livia Livia Drusilla (30 January 59 BC AD 29) was List of Roman and Byzantine empresses, Roman empress from 27 BC to AD 14 as the wife of Augustus, the first Roman emperor. She was known as Julia Augusta after her formal Adoption ...

(the Augustan gods or "Divine Augusti"), the stepfather and mother of emperor

, originally placed within a ''Tiberieum'', probably a temple dedicated to Tiberius. It has been deemed authentic because it was discovered in the coastal town of Caesarea, which was the capital of

Iudaea Province Judaea was a Roman province from 6 to 135 CE, which at its height encompassed the regions of Judea, Idumea, Peraea, Samaria, and Galilee, as well as parts of the coastal plain of the southern Levant. At its height, it encompassed much ...

during the time Pontius Pilate was

Roman governor A Roman governor was an official either elected or appointed to be the chief administrator of Roman law throughout one or more of the many Roman province, provinces constituting the Roman Empire. The generic term in Roman legal language was ''re ...

. The partial inscription reads (conjectural letters in brackets):

: 'DIS AUGUSTI'' TIBERIÉUM : '...PONTI''S PILATUS : '...PRAEF''CTUS IUDA 'EA'' : '...FECIT D'' 'DICAVIT''

The translation from Latin to English for the inscription reads: :''To the Divine Augusti

his His or HIS may refer to: Computing * Hightech Information System, a Hong Kong graphics card company * Honeywell Information Systems * Hybrid intelligent system * Microsoft Host Integration Server Education * Hangzhou International School, ...

Tiberieum'' :''...Pontius Pilate'' :''...prefect of Judea'' :''...has dedicated

References

External links

*
Inscription Caes. 43 at the ''Inscriptions of Israel-Palestine'' project
Michael Satlow et al. Brown University (2019), including transcription and photographs {{DEFAULTSORT:Stone, Pilate 1st century in the Roman Empire 1st-century texts Texts in Latin 1st-century inscriptions 1961 archaeological discoveries Jews and Judaism in the Roman Empire 1st-century artifacts Early Christianity-related inscriptions Latin inscriptions Pontius Pilate