The name of Pontius Pilate, the Roman official who ordered the killing of Jesus, according to the Gospel, is mentioned in thousands of sermons every year and is familiar to countless people, but little is known about his life and work.

To the very short list of clues about Pilate as a historical figure, archaeologists have added one more: a 2,000-year-old copper alloy ring bearing his name.

The ring was discovered in the late 1960s, one of thousands of artifacts found in the excavation of Herodium, an ancient fortress and palace south of Bethlehem, in the West Bank. But it was not until recently that researchers, analyzing those objects with advanced photography, were able to decipher the ring’s inscription.

It reads “of Pilates,” in Greek letters set around a picture of a wine vessel known as a krater, and is said by archaeologists to be only the second artifact from his time ever found with his name. Kraters are a common image in artifacts of that time and place.




The findings were published last week in the Israel Exploration Journal, an archaeological review in Israel.

Pilate was the prefect, or governor, of the province of Judea, on the eastern fringes of the Roman Empire, roughly from A.D. 26 to 36.


The report says it is unlikely that the ring belonged to Pilate, in part because such simple rings usually belonged to soldiers and lesser officials, not to someone as wealthy and powerful as a prefect.

“We think it implausible that a prefect would have used a simple, all-metal, copper-alloy personal sealing ring with a motif that was already a well-known Jewish motif in Judea before and during his rule,” it says.

“But in practice, we have a ring inscribed with the name Pilate and the personal connection just cries out,” Roi Porat, one of the authors of the report told The Times of Israel. The name Pilate was not common in the region at the time.


The New Testament story of Pilate presenting a scourged Jesus to an angry crowd with the words “behold the man” — “ecce homo” in Latin — was a central theme of religious art for centuries.

Beyond the Gospel, most of what little is known about Pilate comes from the surviving work of the ancient historians Flavius Josephus, a Jew, and Tacitus, a Roman.

Herodium, where the ring was found, was built by Herod the Great, a client king of the Roman Empire, and is the site of his tomb. (One of his sons, also named Herod, was king in Jesus’ time.) The site is controlled by Israel and is claimed by Palestinians.

The ring was found in a room filled with bits of glass, shards of pottery, arrowheads, coins and other items.

The language of the ring’s inscription is Greek, which Roman officials used to communicate with the peoples of the eastern Mediterranean. It could have been used for official correspondence by Pilate himself and his officials who had to sign his name.

The first archaeological find in Judea that mentioned Pilate was a fragment of carved stone, discovered in 1961, in the ancient port city of Caesarea. It is known as the Pilate stone and is kept at the Israel Museum in Jerusalem.

“It solved the problem of what actual title he had,” said Jonathan Price, professor of classics and ancient history at Tel Aviv University.

According to Mr. Price, for historians of the Roman period, Pilate was just one of a string of Roman officials who were sent to Judea to govern and keep the peace. Were it not for his biblical role, “he would be remembered as a Roman official who didn’t do so well,” he said.

During his decade-long tenure, which was longer than usual, Pilate displayed hostility to local residents and nearly provoked two uprisings.

“He was called back and called to account for what seemed to be a lack of competence,” Mr. Price said. “And after that we don’t really hear about him.”

Somebody reading one of the Harry Potter books say in 2000 years from now and sees Kings Cross Station will also make the same conclusion that Harry Potter was a good wizard who lived in London...

People use real places or people to tell their fictional stories doesn't mean it actually happened

Well, you might be correct but then i urge you to read 1 Timothy 4:3 and the happenings of the second Lateran council in 1139 AD.
Then we'll know whether because things were written in the bible mean they do not actually happen.
There still are several scriptural prophecies that I've and others also have traced down history even while I was an atheist.

Well, you might be correct but then i urge you to read 1 Timothy 4:3 and the happenings of the second Lateran council in 1139 AD.
Then we'll know whether because things were written in the bible mean they do not actually happen.
There still are several scriptural prophecies that I've and others also have traced down history even while I was an atheist.

sonmvayina:
Somebody reading one of the Harry Potter books say in 2000 years from now and sees Kings Cross Station will also make the same conclusion that Harry Potter was a good wizard who lived in London...

People use real places or people to tell their fictional stories doesn't mean it actually happened

Nazaretha1:
Well, you might be correct but then i urge you to read 1 Timothy 4:3 and the happenings of the second Lateran council in 1139 AD.
Then we'll know whether because things were written in the bible mean they do not actually happen.
There still are several scriptural prophecies that I've and others also have traced down history even while I was an atheist.

There might have been a roman governor by the name of pilate, does not mean there was a jesus... The pilate of reality was a brutal governor that the meeting he was supposed to have with jesus can never happen.. He crucified more than 500 in one day, that was why he was called back to Rome

Check Flavius Josephus, Jewish Roman historian, author of antiquity of the jews and Tacitus, Roman historian and senator. Check there statements about Jesus. Both are 1st century authors.
PS: They were not Christians, neither did they like Jesus. Tacitus regarded Christians as diseases.

sonmvayina:


There might have been a roman governor by the name of pilate, does not mean there was a jesus... The pilate of reality was a brutal governor that the meeting he was supposed to have with jesus can never happen.. He crucified more than 500 in one day, that was why he was called back to Rome

To Spiderman deniers , Spiderman's namw found on comic book

urahara:
To Spiderman deniers , Spiderman's namw found on comic book

Now calm down, I don't think Spiderman has any denials. Even the Avengers have to include him to clear the doubt surrounding him.

Nazaretha1:
Check Flavius Josephus, Jewish Roman historian, author of antiquity of the jews and Tacitus, Roman historian and senator. Check there statements about Jesus. Both are 1st century authors.
PS: They were not Christians, neither did they like Jesus. Tacitus regarded Christians as diseases.

If there was a jesus, he is not the messiah God promised the jews.. He did not fulfill any of the prophesy the messiah was supposed to accomplish.. He did not bring peace, he did not build the temple, he did not bring the jews back to their home land..
No prophet prophesied that the Messiah was coming to die for sins, there was already a solution to the problem of sin in the old testament..

So the jews where looking forward to a peaceful future, no more wars with their enemies.. The new convenant was a convenant of everlasting peace... None of those has happened..

I don't know if you are getting my points

Nazaretha1:
Check Flavius Josephus, Jewish Roman historian, author of antiquity of the jews and Tacitus, Roman historian and senator. Check there statements about Jesus. Both are 1st century authors.
PS: They were not Christians, neither did they like Jesus. Tacitus regarded Christians as diseases.

The Chrestians mentioned by tacitus where worshippers of serapis... It is that cult that the Romans rebranded as Christianity... And forged the new testament and placed it at the end of the Jewish Tanakh which they called the new testament as an insult against God almighty just as Daniel prophesied in Dan7 :25

Dear brother, firstly, I'd reiterate that the Jews misunderstood that the Messiah was not sent to bring peace on this present world but with a sword Mat 10:35 nor to build the present day physical temple Rev 21:22. Jesus's reign is not on this present earth, it's for the new heaven and the new earth in revelations and the Jerusalem that proceeds from God.
Moreover, the Messiah was prophesied by his antecedents or predecessors.

1 “But He was wounded and crushed for our sins. He was beaten that we might have peace. He was whipped, and we were healed! All of us have strayed away like sheep. We have left God’s paths to follow our own. Yet the Lord laid on Him the guilt and sins of us all. From prison and trial they led Him away to His death. But who among the people realized that He was dying for their sins – that He was suffering their punishment? I will give Him the honors of One who is mighty and great, because He exposed Himself to death. He was counted among those who were sinners. He bore the sins of many and interceded for sinners.”(Isaiah 53:5-6, 8, 12)


2 “He had done no wrong, and He never deceived anyone. But He was buried like a criminal; He was put in a rich man’s grave.” (Isaiah 53:9)


3 “Rejoice greatly, O people of Zion! Shout in triumph, O people of Jerusalem! Look, your king is coming to you. He is righteous and victorious, yet he is humble, riding on a donkey – even on a donkey’s colt.” (Zechariah 9:9)

There are about 48 prophecies about Jesus in total and the probability of one person especially even in an undeveloped world and time fulfilling all 48 is just phenomenal.
Micah 5:2, Isaiah 7:14, Isaiah 9:6-7, Deuteronomy 18:15, Psalm 91:10-12, Isaiah 53: 1-3, Zechariah 11: 12-13, Isaiah 53:8, Isaiah 53:12, Psalms 22,18, Isaiah 53, 10-11, etc

The Lord Jesus also said the gospels that Jerusalem and the temple would be besieged and destroyed and a destructive desolation will be on the temple mount. 70 years later, the Romans besieged it, destroyed the Temple and the AL Aqsa mosque is standing on the destroyed Temple Mount location till today.
Daniel also said it in Daniel 9:26
Ezekiel also said it in Ezekiel 8:16
Paul said in 1st Timothy 4:3 "Forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from meats, which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving of them which believe and know the truth." which came to pass in 1139 AD in thé second Lateran council of the Catholic Church.
Don't take my word for it, do your research to confirm it.

sonmvayina:


If there was a jesus, he is not the messiah God promised the jews.. He did not fulfill any of the prophesy the messiah was supposed to accomplish.. He did not bring peace, he did not build the temple, he did not bring the jews back to their home land..
No prophet prophesied that the Messiah was coming to die for sins, there was already a solution to the problem of sin in the old testament..

So the jews where looking forward to a peaceful future, no more wars with their enemies.. The new convenant was a convenant of everlasting peace... None of those has happened..

I don't know if you are getting my points

Yes, we do know that Christianity was filled with so much liturgy and unscriptural doctrines like Christmas and giving tithes that was a right of the Jewish levites and priests. Notwithstanding, we do know that Paul's prophecy in 1st Timothy 4:3 including others about the latter days. Archealogical findings also proved that the New Testament was not formulated by no cult although it might've been edited during emperor Constantine's reign. We do know that Josephus and Tacitus, though not Christians nor liked Christians confirmed the existence of the Messiah in their Antiquity of the jews and Annals, respectively.
Tacitus said in Annals,"
Consequently, to get rid of the report, Nero fastened the guilt and inflicted the most exquisite tortures on a class hated for their abominations, called Christians by the populace. Christus, from whom the name had its origin, suffered the extreme penalty during the reign of Tiberius at the hands of one of our procurators, Pontius Pilatus, and a most mischievous superstition, thus checked for the moment, again broke out not only in Judæa, the first source of the evil, but even in Rome, where all things hideous and shameful from every part of the world find their centre and become popular. Accordingly, an arrest was first made of all who pleaded guilty; then, upon their information, an immense multitude was convicted, not so much of the crime of firing the city, as of hatred against mankind".

Josephus in the antiquity of the jews referenced James the brother of Jesus and John the Baptist.

sonmvayina:


The Chrestians mentioned by tacitus where worshippers of serapis... It is that cult that the Romans rebranded as Christianity... And forged the new testament and placed it at the end of the Jewish Tanakh which they called the new testament as an insult against God almighty just as Daniel prophesied in Dan7 :25