Articles

Pontius Pilate and the Imperial Cult in Roman Judaea

Pontius Pilate depicted in a 15th century imagePontius Pilate and the Imperial Cult in Roman Judaea

Joan E. Taylor (Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies, University of Waikato, New Zealand)

New Testament Studies: Vol.52:4 (2006)

Abstract

While Pontius Pilate is often seen as agnostic, in modern terms, the material evidence of his coinage and the Pilate inscription from Caesarea indicate a prefect determined to promote a form of Roman religion in Judaea. Unlike his predecessors, in the coinage Pilate used peculiarly Roman iconographic elements appropri- ate to the imperial cult. In the inscription Pilate was evidently responsible for dedicating a Tiberieum to the Dis Augustis. This material evidence may be placed alongside the report in Philo Legatio ad Gaium (299–305) where Pilate sets up shields – likewise associated with the Roman imperial cult –honouring Tiberius in Jerusalem.



Of all the figures that appear in the New Testament and early Christian literature, Pontius Pilate is probably the most ambiguous, and yet also the most well evidenced in non-Christian writings, importantly in Philo (Legat. 299–305), Josephus (Bell. II.117–18; 167–279; Ant. XVIII.55–64; 85–89), and in Tacitus (Ann. XV.22.4). The rhetorical aspects of the literary sources have been well discussed, notably by J. P. Lémonon1 and B. C. McGing,2 and recently by Helen Bond,3 who has deftly explored the historical Pilate beneath this material. In general such studies have an ultimate goal of interpreting Pilate’s role in the execution of Jesus. A psychological interest is apparent: we find ourselves as readers wanting to know Pilate’s motivations, what exactly he was trying to achieve in his actions, what his feelings were in terms of the emperor, or the Jews.

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