Otakumonkey
Chieftain
I wrote this essay in my freshman year of highschool, but I still stand by it, as I consider it one of my best works. I havn't updated it since, but I think a few people might enjoy reading it.
Pontius Pilate was the second Prefect of Judea after it was made a province to be represented by a direct representative of the Roman Emperor. Pilate was of equestrian rank, that is, of the lower Roman nobility, as contrasted with senatorial rank, a status in life that suggests that he must have had a military career before being appointed prefect. Rome instituted prefects in Judea because Herod Archelaus, one of the three sons of Herod the Great, who had ruled Judea with the title of ethnarch (in effect a puppet king controlled by Rome) had been deposed by Augustus for letting a riot take place during the Jewish Passover in which thousands of Jews were killed. To control the Jews would be no easy task, and Pilate needed to be a strong ruler to control them. Most people know of Pontius Pilate because of his acting as judge at the trial of Jesus of Nazareth. To truly understand the character of Pilate one must study the events that took place during his reign as Prefect and his reaction to them. Therefore, the standards issue will be explained, as well as the aqueduct riot will, and the trial of Jesus.
Shortly after arriving in Palestine in 26 AD, Pilate sent troops into Jerusalem with engraved portraits of Tiberus and Augustus Caesar attached to their standards. A standard was a large medallion attached to a pole that would be carried in front of a unit of soldiers designating who followed. The newly arrived prefect most likely wished to show his loyalty to the emperor by having the soldiers act in Judea as they would anywhere else. The account of the event in the Jewish War (Josephus, 169-74) states that Pilate had the soldiers make their entry at night, hinting that he knew that it was a controversial gesture and caution was needed. Pilate knew that the Jews would react in some negative way to the standards, but was not prepared for the intensity of Jewish feelings against images of defied pagans in the holy city of Jerusalem. Jews swarmed his headquarters at Caesarea another Judean city, to demand that the standards be removed from Jerusalem. The Jews said that the standards were graven images and considered sacrilegious and considered them to violate the Jewish law. Pilate was very reluctant to remove them because it might be interpreted by some as a sign of weakness or disloyalty to the emperor. On the sixth day of Jewish protest Pilate surrounded the protestors with armed soldiers, threatening the to kill the Jews if they did not go home. Astonished when the Jews laid down ready to die, Pilate did not carry through with his threat, but backed down and removed the offensive standards (Josephus, Jewish War 169-74). This incident suggests that Pilate was perhaps trying to establish a reputation at the beginning of his reign. It does not suggest that Pilate was a tyrant who would be forced to us excessive violence (Philo, Embassy to Gaius )
Pilate wished to leave some type of lasting influence on the city of Jerusalem. He decided that the city needed a proper aqueduct. The only problem was that he did not have the proper funds with which to build it. So he turned to the temple. He used the temple funds to build a twenty-to-forty mile aqueduct into the city. The only way that he could ever have used the money from the temple was if he had the cooperation of the high priests. It is recorded that Pilate was in the city of Jerusalem when the people found out that the aqueduct was built using temple funds. The people rioted. They besieged the tribunal palace where he was staying, demanding that the aqueduct be destroyed. In reaction to the rioting Pilate sent among the people soldiers dressed as civilians with orders not to use their swords, but to beat any rioters with clubs. When Pilate gave the signal, however, large numbers of Jews perished, some from the blows some trampled by the ensuing flight of the confused people. Josephus reports that the soldiers inflicted much harder blows than Pilate had ordered, hitting those who were rioting and those who were not. It would appear that Pilate had underestimated the brutality of his own soldiers. On Pilates part there appears to be was no calculated savagery against the innocent (Josephus, The Antiquities 55-59).
This is the event for which Pilate is known around the world. His involvement in this trial changed the course of human history. By the time the prophet from Nazareth, Yeshu Hanabeshi, know to us as Jesus of Nazareth, was brought by the chief priests of the Temple before Pilate for trial, Pilate had been Prefect of Judea for more than ten years. He had learned that going against the Jewish people in matters of their religion always extracted a price from him in status. When he was forced to remove the standards, the Jews considered it to be a victory over Rome. After the Standards issue, Emperor Tiberius made it clear that Pilate should respect the customs and wishes of the Jewish people (Philo, Embassy to Gaius). The chief priests who brought Jesus before him played upon Pilates insecurities resulting from his earlier experiences with them and the memory of the incident that was pivotal in removing Herod Archelaus from his throne over twenty years before (Brown, Death 695-99). All the chief priests would have to do was send an embassy to see the emperor and tell him of Pilates actions in being lenient of troublemakers and Pilate would be out of office. So Pilate, knowing the policy of his Emperor, and the opinions of the Jewish leaders, had no real choice but to declare Jesus guilty.
Who was Jesus to Pilate anyway? He was not a Roman citizen. He appeared to be an insignificant country prophet, most likely harmless, but maybe a zealot who needed to be suppressed, like the hundreds of others Pilate had already suppressed. Maybe Pilate thought that he was innocent (Wroe, Pilate, 340-66). Maybe he tried desperately to try and find away to deem Jesus innocent. Jesus offered no defense of himself (Mark 15:2-15). Pilate had no grounds on which he could declare Jesus innocent. So under pressure from Rome and pressure from the chief-priests, Pilate declared that Jesus was guilty of high treason by claming that he was King of the Jews. The chief priests demanded that Pilate issue the order for crucifixion, since the power to kill had been taken from them (Brown, Death 695-699). So from great pressure all around him, Pilate ruled that Jesus was to suffer and to die on the cross.
To truly understand the events that took place during the Passover when Jesus was arrested by the leaders of the Jews and executed by order of Pontius Pilate, it is necessary to understand the history of Roman Judea and the events that shaped the character of the Prefect Pilate: the Standards issue and the Aqueduct riots.
Work Cited
Brown, Raymond Edward. The Death of the Messiah. New York: Double Day. 1994.
Holy Bible. RIV. Mark 15:2-15. Luke 23:2-5. Matthew 27:11-26.
Josephus. Antiquities of the Jews. Copyright information and publishing not available.
Josephus. The Jewish War. Trans. G.A. Williamson, London: Penguin, 1959.
Maier, Paul L. Pontius Pilate. Grand Rapids: Kregel Publications, 1968.
Philo. Embassy to Gaius, Loeb Collection: Volume X. Trans. F.H. Colson. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1971.
Wroe, Ann. Pontius Pilate. New York: Random House, 1999.
Pontius Pilate was the second Prefect of Judea after it was made a province to be represented by a direct representative of the Roman Emperor. Pilate was of equestrian rank, that is, of the lower Roman nobility, as contrasted with senatorial rank, a status in life that suggests that he must have had a military career before being appointed prefect. Rome instituted prefects in Judea because Herod Archelaus, one of the three sons of Herod the Great, who had ruled Judea with the title of ethnarch (in effect a puppet king controlled by Rome) had been deposed by Augustus for letting a riot take place during the Jewish Passover in which thousands of Jews were killed. To control the Jews would be no easy task, and Pilate needed to be a strong ruler to control them. Most people know of Pontius Pilate because of his acting as judge at the trial of Jesus of Nazareth. To truly understand the character of Pilate one must study the events that took place during his reign as Prefect and his reaction to them. Therefore, the standards issue will be explained, as well as the aqueduct riot will, and the trial of Jesus.
Shortly after arriving in Palestine in 26 AD, Pilate sent troops into Jerusalem with engraved portraits of Tiberus and Augustus Caesar attached to their standards. A standard was a large medallion attached to a pole that would be carried in front of a unit of soldiers designating who followed. The newly arrived prefect most likely wished to show his loyalty to the emperor by having the soldiers act in Judea as they would anywhere else. The account of the event in the Jewish War (Josephus, 169-74) states that Pilate had the soldiers make their entry at night, hinting that he knew that it was a controversial gesture and caution was needed. Pilate knew that the Jews would react in some negative way to the standards, but was not prepared for the intensity of Jewish feelings against images of defied pagans in the holy city of Jerusalem. Jews swarmed his headquarters at Caesarea another Judean city, to demand that the standards be removed from Jerusalem. The Jews said that the standards were graven images and considered sacrilegious and considered them to violate the Jewish law. Pilate was very reluctant to remove them because it might be interpreted by some as a sign of weakness or disloyalty to the emperor. On the sixth day of Jewish protest Pilate surrounded the protestors with armed soldiers, threatening the to kill the Jews if they did not go home. Astonished when the Jews laid down ready to die, Pilate did not carry through with his threat, but backed down and removed the offensive standards (Josephus, Jewish War 169-74). This incident suggests that Pilate was perhaps trying to establish a reputation at the beginning of his reign. It does not suggest that Pilate was a tyrant who would be forced to us excessive violence (Philo, Embassy to Gaius )
Pilate wished to leave some type of lasting influence on the city of Jerusalem. He decided that the city needed a proper aqueduct. The only problem was that he did not have the proper funds with which to build it. So he turned to the temple. He used the temple funds to build a twenty-to-forty mile aqueduct into the city. The only way that he could ever have used the money from the temple was if he had the cooperation of the high priests. It is recorded that Pilate was in the city of Jerusalem when the people found out that the aqueduct was built using temple funds. The people rioted. They besieged the tribunal palace where he was staying, demanding that the aqueduct be destroyed. In reaction to the rioting Pilate sent among the people soldiers dressed as civilians with orders not to use their swords, but to beat any rioters with clubs. When Pilate gave the signal, however, large numbers of Jews perished, some from the blows some trampled by the ensuing flight of the confused people. Josephus reports that the soldiers inflicted much harder blows than Pilate had ordered, hitting those who were rioting and those who were not. It would appear that Pilate had underestimated the brutality of his own soldiers. On Pilates part there appears to be was no calculated savagery against the innocent (Josephus, The Antiquities 55-59).
This is the event for which Pilate is known around the world. His involvement in this trial changed the course of human history. By the time the prophet from Nazareth, Yeshu Hanabeshi, know to us as Jesus of Nazareth, was brought by the chief priests of the Temple before Pilate for trial, Pilate had been Prefect of Judea for more than ten years. He had learned that going against the Jewish people in matters of their religion always extracted a price from him in status. When he was forced to remove the standards, the Jews considered it to be a victory over Rome. After the Standards issue, Emperor Tiberius made it clear that Pilate should respect the customs and wishes of the Jewish people (Philo, Embassy to Gaius). The chief priests who brought Jesus before him played upon Pilates insecurities resulting from his earlier experiences with them and the memory of the incident that was pivotal in removing Herod Archelaus from his throne over twenty years before (Brown, Death 695-99). All the chief priests would have to do was send an embassy to see the emperor and tell him of Pilates actions in being lenient of troublemakers and Pilate would be out of office. So Pilate, knowing the policy of his Emperor, and the opinions of the Jewish leaders, had no real choice but to declare Jesus guilty.
Who was Jesus to Pilate anyway? He was not a Roman citizen. He appeared to be an insignificant country prophet, most likely harmless, but maybe a zealot who needed to be suppressed, like the hundreds of others Pilate had already suppressed. Maybe Pilate thought that he was innocent (Wroe, Pilate, 340-66). Maybe he tried desperately to try and find away to deem Jesus innocent. Jesus offered no defense of himself (Mark 15:2-15). Pilate had no grounds on which he could declare Jesus innocent. So under pressure from Rome and pressure from the chief-priests, Pilate declared that Jesus was guilty of high treason by claming that he was King of the Jews. The chief priests demanded that Pilate issue the order for crucifixion, since the power to kill had been taken from them (Brown, Death 695-699). So from great pressure all around him, Pilate ruled that Jesus was to suffer and to die on the cross.
To truly understand the events that took place during the Passover when Jesus was arrested by the leaders of the Jews and executed by order of Pontius Pilate, it is necessary to understand the history of Roman Judea and the events that shaped the character of the Prefect Pilate: the Standards issue and the Aqueduct riots.
Work Cited
Brown, Raymond Edward. The Death of the Messiah. New York: Double Day. 1994.
Holy Bible. RIV. Mark 15:2-15. Luke 23:2-5. Matthew 27:11-26.
Josephus. Antiquities of the Jews. Copyright information and publishing not available.
Josephus. The Jewish War. Trans. G.A. Williamson, London: Penguin, 1959.
Maier, Paul L. Pontius Pilate. Grand Rapids: Kregel Publications, 1968.
Philo. Embassy to Gaius, Loeb Collection: Volume X. Trans. F.H. Colson. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1971.
Wroe, Ann. Pontius Pilate. New York: Random House, 1999.
