Bible Synapse
Pilate Stone
Inscription · AD 26–36 · Time of Jesus · also called Pilate inscription
See it on the map and timeline
- Date
- AD 26–36 (the inscription, carved while Pilate was governor)
- Found
- Theatre at Caesarea, Israel, 1961. Found in June 1961 by Maria Teresa Fortuna Canivet of Antonio Frova's Italian expedition. In the 4th century it had been reused as a step in one of the theatre's staircases.
- Now
- Israel Museum, Jerusalem
- Passages
- Luke 3:1, Matthew 27:2, Mark 15:1–15, John 19:12–16
What it is
A limestone block about 82 by 65 cm, cut away on its left side, with part of a Latin dedication. The surviving letters name “[Pon]tius Pilatus” and his title, “[praef]ectus Iuda[ea]e”, prefect of Judaea, and appear to record a building in honour of the emperor Tiberius, the Tiberieum. The stone was later reused in a staircase of the theatre.
How it connects to the Bible
All four Gospels name Pilate as the Roman governor who tried Jesus and sent him to be crucified, and Luke dates John the Baptist's preaching to the time of “Pontius Pilate being governor of Judea”. This is the only inscription from Pilate's own time that certainly names him. It calls him prefect, while some later writers call him procurator.
What scholars debate
Only part of the text survives, and the restored letters, including the word for the Tiberieum, are read slightly differently by different scholars.