Who put a robe on Jesus: Herod’s soldiers or Pilate’s?

These are two different mockeries, at two different times, by two different groups of soldiers, with two different garments. When Pilate learned that Jesus was a Galilean, he sent him to Herod Antipas, ruler of Galilee, who was in Jerusalem at the time (Luke 23:6–7). Herod questioned him at length, got no answer, and then with his soldiers mocked him, put a splendid robe on him and sent him back to Pilate (Luke 23:11). Luke’s Greek, esthēta lampran, means ‘bright clothing’; Barnes and Clarke think it was white, the colour worn by Jewish kings and nobles.

Later, after Pilate had had Jesus scourged and had handed him over, Pilate’s own soldiers mocked him a second time in the praetorium. This time they used a soldier’s red cloak (chlamys kokkinē) as mock royal purple, with a crown of thorns and a reed for a sceptre (Matthew 27:27–29; see ‘Was the robe put on Jesus scarlet or purple?’). Luke does not describe this second mockery, and the other Gospels do not tell of the visit to Herod at all. Each leaves out what another tells, which is normal in independent accounts, and neither says that its mockery was the only one. Clarke notes that each group dressed Jesus as a king in the manner of its own country: Herod’s men in a bright robe, Pilate’s Romans in purple.