Many ancient authors mention Pontius Pilate, including Tacitus, Josephus Flavius, and Philo of Alexandria. In 1961, during excavations in Caesarea Maritima, Italian archaeologists found a fragment of a stone inscription among the ruins of an ancient theater: “Pontius Pilate, Prefect of Judea, presented [this] to the Caesareans.” This is the first archaeological confirmation that Pilate was indeed the prefect of Judea during Emperor Tiberius’ reign. Near the Israeli city of Beit Shemesh, on an excavated section of an ancient Roman road, coins minted by Pontius Pilate, Prefect of Judea, dated to 29 AD, were found.
History of Pontius Pilate
The family name, Pontius, was that of a prominent clan among the Samnites, hill cousins of the Latin Romans. They had almost conquered Rome in…