Meaning of PILATE

His full name was Pontius Pilate (Mt. 27:2).
Pontius, in lat. "Pontius" indicated his relationship, by descent or adoption, with the "gens" of Pontii. Pilate could derive from "Pilatus", armed with "pilum", or javelin; He could also come from "Pileatus", wearing the "pileus", a felt cap, emblem of freedom, reserved for the freed slave.

Fifth procurator of Judea, after the deposition of Archelaus by Augustus, in the year 6 AD. (see ATTORNEY). Through the influence of Sejanus, he was appointed procurator of Judea by Tiberius, around 26 AD, to succeed Valerius Gratus.

He arrived in Judea the same year of his nomination. His wife accompanied him (Mt. 27:19). For a long time Roman law did not allow a governor to take his wife to an unpacified province, but Augustus did allow it (Tacitus, Annals 3:33).

Contrary to the policy of the previous procurators, Pilate sent a military detachment to Jerusalem under his banner. He ordered that the city be entered at night, with banners equipped with silver eagles and small images of the emperor, to provoke the Jews.

A good number of them went to Caesarea, the residence of the procurator, to demand the withdrawal of the banners. Pilate tried to intimidate them, but seeing that they were willing to allow themselves to be killed en masse, he finally acceded to their request (Ant. 18:3, 1; Wars 2:9, 2, 3).


He later took the sacred money (corbán) from the Temple treasury, to use it in the construction of an aqueduct to bring water from the mountainous regions south of the capital to Jerusalem.

The secular use of money consecrated to God caused an uprising. When the procurator arrived in Jerusalem, the Jews besieged his court. Pilate, already aware of the rebellion, mixed disguised soldiers among the crowd, hiding clubs and daggers.

When the agitation reached its paroxysm, Pilate gave the signal expected by the soldiers. Many Jews were killed or run over by the fleeing crowd. There does not seem to have been another sedition. Pilate completed the aqueduct, but it became hateful to the Jews (Ant. 18:3, 2; Wars 2:9, 4).

When he was in Jerusalem, he stayed in Herod's palace. He then hung some golden shields, covered with idolatrous inscriptions relating to Tiberius, although without the effigy of the emperor.

The people begged Pilate in vain to remove them. The nobles of Jerusalem then sent a petition to Tiberius, who ordered the procurator to take the shields to Caesarea (Philo, "Legat ad Gaium", 38).

A letter from Agrippa I, cited by Philo, presents Pilate as a man of inflexible character, as implacable as he was obstinate. Agrippa feared that the Jews would accuse Pilate before the emperor of corruption, violence, outrages to the people, cruelty, continuous executions without trial, and senseless atrocities.

Pilate was procurator when John the Baptist and Jesus began their ministries (Luke 3:1). The procurators of Judea usually went to Jerusalem on the occasion of the great festivals, during which crowds of Jews gathered.

It is possible that it was during one of these solemnities that Pilate shed the blood of some Galileans in the area of the Temple where sacrifices were offered (Lk. 13:1, 2). The Galileans were prone to exaltation during festivals (Ant. 17:10, 2 and 9).

Those executed by Pilate had surely tried to start an uprising. There is no doubt that such a summary execution of some of his subjects would enrage Herod Antipas; Whatever the cause of the enmity between him and Pilate, Herod's resentment was appeased when the procurator recognized the tetrarch's jurisdiction in matters concerning Galileans (Lk. 23:6-12), which happened when the trial took place. to the Lord Jesus.

Pilate's career and the way he treated Jesus reveal his character: worldly, willing to judge justly as long as it did not involve any personal inconvenience.

Willing to commit a crime that would benefit him, and without worrying about his duties, but rather about his interests. Having proclaimed the innocence of Jesus three times, and knowing that it was his duty to free him, he did not do so so as not to make himself more unpopular among the Jews.

He ordered the flagellation of Christ, not having found him guilty of anything. He then let the Roman soldiers, who had stopped at the slightest indication from him, to torture the prisoner again.

Finally giving in to the clamor of the Jews, Pilate acceded to their demand, handing Jesus over to death on the cross (Mt. 27; Lk. 23).
Pilate's career was abruptly interrupted. A Samaritan impostor incited his compatriots to follow him on Mount Gerizim, to look for some golden vessels hidden by Moses and that would come from the Tabernacle.

It should be noted that Moses had never been to Mount Gerizim, since he was not allowed to cross the Jordan. The Samaritans, deceived, gathered at the foot of the mountain, ready for the ascension. Since the unfortunates were armed, Pilate placed cavalry and infantry on all the roads leading to Gerizim.

They attacked these treasure hunters, killing many of them, and taking others as prisoners, later executing them. The Samaritans denounced Pilate's cruelty to the legate of Syria, Vitellius, to whom the procurator depended. He appointed another procurator, ordering Pilate to go to Rome to justify himself before the emperor.

Tiberius died on March 16, 37, before Pilate arrived (Ant. 18:4, 1 and 2). Tradition reports that Pilate was banished to Gaul, to Vienna on the Rhône, and that he committed suicide.

There are numerous "Acts of Pilate" (Acta Pilati), but they contradict each other and are considered apocryphal.