History to reveal, who really was Pontius Pilate . In 1961, while excavating the ancient city of Caesarea Maritima on the coast of israel, a team of italian archaeologists make a sensational discovery. In the citys amphitheater, they uncover a stone, which bears an inscription. Much is eroded, but enough remains to reveal a name Pontius Pilate, prefect of judaea in the bible, pilate is infamous as the man who tries jesus. Pilate is a fascinating character in christian history. He does seem tormented about whether or not jesus is guilty and whether or not he should condemn him. The pilate of the gospels is uncertain. He seems deeply concerned with jesus innocence. I have the authority to set you free hes not firm and decisive about what he wants to do. The discovery of his name in stone was groundbreaking. The significance of the pilate stone is that it actually gives us hard evidence of this central figure from the story of the crucifixion of jesus, so pilate really existed. He really lived, and he really was the prefect of judaea. We actually have a literal touchstone, a point of connection, between the story of the crucifixion of jesus from the bible and actual roman history. Although we know a few things about pilate from the gospels, to fill out his story more, we need to go to the jewish historian, josephus, who tells us quite a lot about Pontius Pilate. Historian helen bond is in oxford, where the Bodleian Library has a rare copy of an ancient manuscript. This is a 600yearold edition of josephus jewish war. Josephus was a jewish aristocrat, who eventually ended up in rome where he became a writer of jewish history. Were it not for josephus, we would know very little about Pontius Pilates reign as governor of judaea. In the time of josephus, the province of judaea was ruled from the administrative capital, Caesarea Maritima. When Pontius Pilate arrives here in caesarea, he would have found a proper roman city befitting the imperial representative of rome. He would have found a manmade harbor complete with a temple to augustus at this beautiful huge hippodrome, where spectators could watch the races while they looked out over the mediterranean. According to josephus, Pontius Pilate arrived in judaea roughly 30 years after the birth of jesus. Pilate was a roman knight, which means that he belonged to the equestrian order, the lowest rank of the roman nobility. He would have owed his position in judaea to the patronage of the Roman Emperor tiberius. Pontius pilate was clearly an ambitious chap. He had been sent to judaea, not the plum appointment of all appointments. He wanted to work his way up the cursus honorum, that is, the ladder of success. He wants to make sure that he maintains law and order because if he does so, he will impress other people within the imperial bureaucracy, and thats likely to lead to a promotion. Pontius pilate lives here in this palace, and look at this place. It had a swimming pool. It had beautiful mosaic floors. This was the center of imperial roman power in judaea. When pilate and his wife are sitting in caesarea thinking about their lives, i dont think that theyre expecting to spend the rest of their life in judaea. They probably saw this as a staging post, as a stepping stone to something greater. Pilate has his work cut out if he is to succeed theres been a roman presence for almost a century, but judaeas only actually been under direct roman rule for 20 years. I doubt that most jews accepted roman rule. Most harbored the hope that one day rome would be ousted. The people did not believe that caesar was sovereign. They believed that, that god was sovereign. Pilate is immediately confronted by the challenges of the job. Close to day 1, he tried to take the roman standards into the temple precincts, and, of course, this caused a huge riot. This is a very antagonistic act because these standards display effigies of the emperor, and to the jews, this is heresy and blasphemy. Protesters from jerusalem trek over 70 miles to pilates palace. After five days, pilate calls out his troops. He expects that they are going to just disband because who wouldnt disband when theres a threat of death so imminently . Instead, the jews bare their necks to pilate, and they say that they are willing to die for the law if necessary. Pilate realizes that hes been outmaneuvered. He might be prepared to execute a few people here, but he doesnt want to massacre people. Its interesting that pilate backs down. Does this show astute political judgement, or does it just show that hes perhaps a little more weakwilled than he might have been . Pilate really does have to reappraise how is he gonna govern the jewish people who are willing to die over, really, quite small offenses, in his eye . But pilates biggest challenge is yet to come. Am i to crucify your king . Look sprints gonna do things differently, and let you decide for yourself. Theyre offering a new 100 total satisfaction guarantee. Try it out and see the savings. If you dont love it, get your money back. See . Simple. Now sprints unlimited plan comes with one of the newest phones included for just 35 a month. So switch now. Now, super stay matte inkades. From maybelline new york. Bold color. Urban edge. Liquid matte formula. Up to 16 hour wear. Super stay matte ink. Only from maybelline new york. Priceline will partner with even more vegas hotels to turn their available rooms into amazing deals. Delegates, how do you vote . wild cheering music plays sample yes. Yyyyes. Yes. Woman that is freaky. What is that . Uh mine, why . Its just that its. Lavender. Yes it is, its for men but i like the smell of it laughs likewise ee you again please. Cosmopolitan . Nope ill have a stella artois. Your stella, miss. Thank you wild night, huh . White russian . Nah, gary, gimme a stella arttoes. Excuse me. Good choice. Well, changing can do a little good. Dude abides. P3 its meat, cheese and nuts. I keep my protein interesting. Oh yea, me too. I have cheese and uh these herbs. P3 snacks. The more interesting way to get your protein. Jerusalem, the location in the bible for the ultimate act in the life of jesus. Golgotha, this place was the defining event of jesus ministry. Its where he was crucified by the romans. Millions of pilgrims have come here to follow in the footsteps of jesus, but his passion would never have reached its climax were it not for one man Pontius Pilate. The question of pilates culpability and his desire to execute jesus is a very complicated one, but it needs to be remembered that only Pontius Pilate had the authority to crucify jesus. In the bible, the way to the crucifixion begins on palm sunday, when jesus enters jerusalem. I think he had resolved, well before he ever entered the city on the donkey, to do whatever it took to accomplish the mission. Matthew describes the whole city of jerusalem being in turmoil, with people saying, who is this . And the crowds answer, this is jesus, the prophet from nazareth. He arrives just as the city prepares for passover. Passover is the largest religious event of the jewish calendar. Language like king of the jews and promises of a new kingdom is very powerful, especially when people are celebrating the liberation of the jewish people from a tyrannical power. Now we really can understand why the more zealotic disciples would say, lets get ready to rumble. Hes gonna come and kick the romans out of town. Were gonna get our capital city back. Jesus riding in to jerusalem through the streets on the back of a donkey isnt just simple transportation into the city. This is a very deliberately provocative act. Jesus is essentially claiming, i am the king of the jews, the expected messiah, coming from the east into jerusalem to bring new hope. Anyone in authority at the time would be deeply concerned that jesus was actually trying to incite some kind of rebellion. Pontius pilate is also in jerusalem, not to celebrate passover, but to keep the peace and dispense roman justice. Imagine you have thousands and thousands of people coming to the same place. Theyre staying in tents all around the city. In walks jesus with thousands of followers, and he tries to disrupt whats going on there. This is exactly what pilates job is. His job is to prevent that kind of a ruckus. So for pilate, its order in the city that he is looking to maintain. To keep jerusalem under control, pilate depends on a powerful ally. The way that rome rules in judaea is by using the high priests, so the high priests are running the show, but rome exercises its own power over the priestly class by appointing and sacking at will. According to historical account, pilate governed through the same high priest for 10 years. Caiaphas is the ultimate moral and religious authority in jerusalem, and hes also the mediator between the people and the roman government. Caiaphas ruled as high priest for a long time, suggesting that he was a pretty practical fellow. But his power depends on rome. Caiaphas has to go and ask for pilate to release to him the ceremonial robes that he has to wear. Its a real moment where rome exercises its authority over judaea, over the jewish people, over even the jewish religious authorities at the time. Jesus is about to strike at the heart of Jewish Authority in the city the temple itself. What a mass of stones. Do you see all these great buildings . Not one stone here will be left standing on another. Jesus is disturbed by the fact there was commerce going on in the temple precincts. You have all of these money changers in the gentile part of the temple, and jesus says this is preventing gentiles from being able to worship. Jesus says, my house is a house of prayer for all the nations, but you have made it a den of robbers. You change money . My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations. Its the one place where jesus seems to express anger, which leads to forceful action. Its both a demonstration of his outrage at the exploitation of the people, also a larger symbolic gesture to the destruction of the temple as a whole. Jesus is expressing his apocalyptic prophecy. He believes, in these end times, in his own lifetime, god is going to restore the temple. God is going to restore a certain kind of service and kick out foreign rule. That, of course, was sedition. It was rebellion. It was absolutely not what any jew should be involved in, since the temple was sacrosanctus, the dwelling place of god. If what jesus was saying was able to rally the people around him, that could create the kind of unrest that would be a serious problem for caiaphas and pilate. Caiaphass whole upbringing taught him that protecting the temple was the most important thing. This is the most holy place on earth, and here comes this prophet. From where . From nowhere, from galilee, trying to disrupt their activities there. Quite clearly for caiaphas, jesus had to be eliminated. But only one man in jerusalem can authorize his execution, and archaeology may have finally found the exact location where pilate put jesus on trial. Me ofn those dreams. Into action. The bookers. The doers. The hit that confirmation button and lets go ers because bookers know that the Perfect Place to stay. Is right there for the booking. Be a booker at booking. 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Modern pilgrims still follow the centuries old tradition of the via dolorosa, but a recent discovery may reveal the actual spot where jesus stood trial. In january 2015, a major discovery hits the news. These are busy days in jerusalem, where more than 2,000 years of history are recorded in one building where Pontius Pilate may have sentenced jesus. Amit reem was one of the israeli team who made the discovery, during archaeological work under the tower of david museum. In our excavation, we find enormous walls, and we interpreted them as the foundations, as the retaining wall to herods palace. And if this was king herods palace, it also is likely the spot where Pontius Pilate held the trial of jesus. Jesus was sentenced here in jerusalem in the praetorium, meaning the residence of the roman government. Herods long lost palace, the most lavish in the city, is the obvious spot for pilates headquarters. Its enormous. Its royal. This is the place where Pontius Pilatus should sit in jerusalem, only here. The possible discovery of herods palace is incredibly exciting. It reminds us, once again, that this is a reallife story that happened in a real place and in a real time. The most famous trial in history is about to begin. Romans were very clear about reserving Capital Punishment into their own hands, so the jewish authorities in jerusalem had no authority to execute anybody. So if jesus is to be crucified, then the only person who can authorize that is the roman prefect, Pontius Pilate. After disrupting the temple, jesus is a marked man. He goes, and he has the last supper with his disciples and goes then to the garden of gethsemane, thats the place where hes arrested and then brought to pilate for judgement. For pilate, trouble during passover is the last thing he needs. Whats going on . Theres been some trouble at the temple. Its possible that pilate had heard about jesus. Its nothing to worry about on the other hand, pilate was a very busy man, and jesus was just another galilean peasant causing problems. Pilate is about to discover the man before him is no ordinary criminal. Its not a big deal for a roman governor to sentence someone to die, especially for anything that sounds like treason. Take that off. Anyone who proclaims themself king or whose followers proclaim himself king is a direct threat to roman rule. What accusation do you bring against this man . He stirs up the people by teaching throughout all judaea. Pilate is really trying to figure out, is this a rabbi from galilee and some followers who think hes special, or is this someone who has come specifically in order to overthrow roman power . Are you the king of the jews . Hes trying to ascertain whether jesus is a political threat to roman power in judaea. You say so. Blasphemy, its blasphemy. In lukes account of the trial, pilates verdict is swift. I find no basis for an accusation against this man. I think that pilate himself had grave doubts that jesus was really a military threat, so how dangerous could he really be . No, no. He stirs up the people throughout all judaea, from galilee where he began, even to this place. Bring him to me. If caiaphas is not able to maintain stability and law and order in jerusalem, he might be deemed an inadequate high priest, and he would be replaced. In johns gospel, pilate summons jesus to repeat the charge against him. Are you the king of the jews . This is really the crucial question are you a political messiah . Do you have pretensions to overthrow us . Do you ask this on your own, or did others tell you about me . I am not a jew, am i . Your own nation and chief priests have handed you over to me. Pilate is almost having a conversation, which hes asking genuine questions of jesus, as opposed to interrogating someone. Are you the king of the jews . My kingdom is not of this world. Jesus says, my kingdom is not of the character of worldly kingdoms. Its not of this world. I came to bring the truth. Everybody who belongs to the truth listens to my voice. What is truth . When pilate asks jesus, what is truth . We have a great example of dramatic irony. Here is the man who is acting as judge and jury, in a sense, over this mans life. Truth should be exactly the thing that he understands. Pilate is not understanding. Jesus is not forthcoming. The jewish authorities want him over and done with. They want him dead. Then, according to matthew, pilate receives an amazing warning. Have nothing to do with that innocent man. In a dream last night, i suffered much on account of him. In the ancient world, dreams are often seen as a way in which the gods communicate with humans. We have sort of the voice of god coming into the narrative at this point and declaring jesus innocent. Matthew also contrasts a pagan woman, who already understands something about jesus, with the jewish chief priests who are intent on getting jesus killed. Behold, the man. Ohn smith. Not this john smith. Or this john smith. Or any of the other hundreds of john smiths that are humana Medicare Advantage members. No, its this john smith. Who we paired with a humana team member to help address his own specific health needs. At humana, we take a personal approach to your health, to provide care thats j